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Does Riot Force the M.E.T.A.?

For The Alliancé·10/21/2015, 1:48:28 AM·3 votes·1,152 views

I wanted to know your opinions on this because with the recent patches changing the jungle camps so that they cant be kited anymore made me think about this subject. I remember I used to Twisted Fate as a jungler a lot, which is an off-M.E.T.A. pick and when you played him in the jungle you relied on kiting the jungle camps so they don't execute you (which a lot of mages taken into the jungle also had to rely on) but with the new patch making it impossible to kite them and kill them it made me think about this subject. I was just wondering you people's thought on it and any examples you have where it seemed to be that riot was forcing the M.E.T.A. by changing something in-game.

M.E.T.A., at least right now, is 1 top (which can vary), 1 mid (mages or assasins), 1 jg (which usually is by a champ designed for the jungle), and 2 bot ( 1 ADC and 1 support) but you are technically allowed to form your team however you want but when somebody says "Riot is forcing the M.E.T.A." It means that they are making it very difficult if not near impossible to go outside these lines because of in-game adjustments they have established through patches/designs.

19 Comments

SymbolicFear10/21/2015, 5:55:05 PM2 votes

They really do enforce it if you think about it. Tanks have been the main course this whole year, and Riot has been focusing on making tanks stronger, IE Juggernaut reworks, Devourer getting hard nerfs, and tank item introductions such as Sterak's Gage, Titanic Hydra, etc.

So yeah, they don't really try to change the meta much, there normally tends to be one or two roles/lanes that aren't effected by the meta, this time its just Mid Lane, while every other role got massive buffs/nerfs. Top and Jungle got buffed to extremes, while bot lane is dead and buried for the most part.

OperationDEEZ110/21/2015, 1:49:22 AM2 votes

The 1/1/1/2 thing isn't really a meta, it's the basic format of how people play the game.

cokeyay10/21/2015, 2:01:44 AM1 votes

i think riot is not forcing the "meta" but trying different ways to balance the game without ruining competitive scenario(what inst easy).

Deep Terror Nami10/21/2015, 2:11:00 AM1 votes

"Meta" isn't an acronym. It's short for "metagame".

Having a meta is not a bad thing. It creates organization for random players where there would otherwise be chaos. Players are the ones that create the meta though; it's basically just what seems to work best.

If you prefer a different method, and your team is willing to forgo the standard setup, then have at it.

DorkunedAuras10/21/2015, 2:20:27 AM1 votes

1/1/1/2 has officially become the standard lane setup, and for a reason. At this point, Riot has acknowledged that this isn't going anywhere, because all of this setup is the most logical way.

khorney10/21/2015, 5:40:27 PM1 votes

They did 1 1 1 2 as a standard there is no such thing as a meta either you win or lose it matters not your picks and tf in jungle it depends if you went ad he clears to slow early game and I would go ad and he is slow in general max that w and hope you don't get ganked in your own jungle. People confuse common sense with meta just because I build resistance of so e sort and bam it's meta. And just because I use lulu adc I'm all of a sudden off meta,....... She has her own peel via poly. So either your going to win or lose and so what if you picked ad malz in the mid try and win who cares. And they made 3 bushes on top because the map was perfectly symmetrical

Poop Jelly10/21/2015, 5:43:51 PM1 votes

I thought Riot's trying to expand the meta if anything, but there're some players who don't want to embrace changes. Take Mord for example, I understand Morde's mains are very upset about his identity at the moment, but I can't deny that Morde entering duo (bot) lane is very unexpected. Maybe Riot forced Morde as an old champ into bot lane from a mid/top laner was too sudden for players to grasp, so if they use the idea for the next champion, it'll probably have more sparks.

Zair Umbras10/21/2015, 6:07:19 PM1 votes

The meta is currently as it is because of the basics.

You need one Champ who's sole purpose is to help the team and give vision, Support.

You need one Ranged Attack Damage champion, AD Carry.

You need one Tanky CC-machine, Jungle or Top.

You need one Bruiser, Jungle or Top or Mid.

You need one heavy Magic Damage, preferably Ranged, Mid or Top or Jungle.

Now, ranged AD could be in the form of a ranged AD Caster, however only four exist in the game and one of them has all their 'caster' part as magic damage (Corki), one has half his ranged as magic damage (Ez), then the other two are Poke-based champions who don't see much play now (Varus and Jayce). While Jayce and Varus both have had their time, we almost always end up with an ADC at bot lane again because we just don't have any AD Ranged Casters. We have AD Ranged Marksmen and all Marksmen do is Auto Attack. We can't really have AD Ranged casters do much more than poke though since if we give them much more than that, they'll now have heavy chunking Auto Attacks AND Abilities, which would just suck. We saw that as an issue back in S2 when Jayce was making everyone cry and he was only a poke champion, so we just stick to the usual ADC.

Overall, you need One Heavy Magic Damage champ and One Heavy Attack Damage champ, Two heavy CC champs, and One Bruiserish champ.

Typically, APCs have better early games than ADC's and Bruisers and tanks have better early games than both of them, so it's understandable that the tanks and bruisers would end up in the Support, Jungle, and Top roles because Top is as long as a lane as Bot Lane, but most prefer their Bot lane to be ADC+Support for Dragon control. ADC's have the worst early games, so they get the support and go bot lane since it's the longer lane and they have the support to help them get out. Mid is the APC who is able to solo lane, but is squishy so they need the shorter lane so that they can escape much easier.

It's a pretty easy to understand META that can be seen in every game with a few changes here and there like SMITE is Ranged AD and Tanky CC-machine support long lane, Ranged AP mid, Bruiser/Tank Short Lane, and then Assassin/Bruiser Jungle.

Kat Head10/21/2015, 10:24:41 PM1 votes

Meta is basically what is best. Riot decides what is best with nerfs and buffs. Yes, Riot games dictates the meta and has for a very long time now. Even now they work to inject Chogath back into the meta. Why else buff a champ with a 51% winrate in mid lane, while having a 55% winrate with players over 100 games experience. Riot wants him to be played more, so they are now making him more over powered than he currently already is. Why ? Because they can.

Billy VoHagen10/21/2015, 1:57:39 AM1 votes

You don't seem to exactly understand the meta. Tahm Kench jungle has recently become meta, because it is very strong. AD Malzahar mid, while it can work, is not in the meta. The 1/1/1/2 is just how the game is played, not really the meta.