Was playing mario kart instead of league; realized what bothered me most about league

I had been having a rough patch in league, despite seemingly starting out well in top Lane I'd get camped by the enemy jungler really hard and end up being pretty far behind, all while my jungler and allegedly more important bot Lane got absolutely nothing out of the enemy jungler spending all his time camping my Lane bushes to jump on me as soon as i returned to Lane.

So, i took a break and haven't played much league at all in a fair amount of time. Among other things I've done instead, i started playing a lot more online mario kart.

Yesterday, i had some pretty awful luck. Luck in mario kart - Yea, really. For about 8 races in a row, I'd get first place off the start (more optimal speed boost on the light, plus a kart with above average acceleration, and often a more optimal drift on the first turn), hit the first item box, and then get a coin while the guy in second place got a red shell (which locks on and guarantee hits you if you can't block it with another item, something i didn't have since i got a coin). While coins are relatively common in first place, red shells are relatively rare in second place - so having 8 races in a row where I'm immediately hit and passed by just about every other racer, and needing to fight from behind to pull back to the front (and inevitably get hit by a blue shell in the races where i did eventually get there) was pretty frustrating - i knew i could beat these guys but i was struggling to barely get 3rd-5th out of 12. It reminded me, a LOT, of league.

Sure, MK8 may not be a team game, but early "luck" played the same role that the enemy jungler was playing in league. I was never given a chance to use superior skill to get in a position to succeed before something i had no control over made it next to impossible. In league, that's getting ganked at level 2 when you're severely out-trading your Lane opponent but your ward isn't off cooldown yet, then ganked repeatedly without help until they inevitably are able to tower dive you. In mario kart it was getting hit by a red shell at the start of each race and then needing to pass through a bunch of racers with decent items constantly holding you back while the 1 to 3 front runners just build larger and larger leads as they don't get shells as often and hence just race freely.

So just a comment there, i think league's design premise around junglers is a little flawed. I've never liked it when junglers could gank at levels 2 or 3 without giving up a lot to the point that not getting the kill should mean they're as far behind as they would have been ahead if they got it. Give me enough time in Lane to at least place a ward to see the jungler coming before he can show up and completely turn the lane I'm looking to dominate. Yes, the jungler should be able to influence the lane, but no i don't think he should be making a big influence at level 2 or 3 without giving up a lot himself. I think smite healing you (so early ganks help take time to eat the cooldown for another heal) is the primary cause of this problem. I don't remember getting ganked early anywhere near as often in seasons where smite didn't heal you, despite playing just as aggressively. Vision changes (making the trinket scale with level) probably didn't help either. I'd suggest either removing smite's heal and balancing jungle clears without it (e.g. instead putting damage reduction against monsters on the jungle item) or making buffs expire faster but letting monster camp kills extend them slightly (so an early gank likely results in the jungler losing his red buff making the rest of his clear harder) (this could be on just the first buff, or just red, so mid laners don't lose power from blue). In the meantime I'm going to take a suggestion that i often give to others, and start trying jungle in normals to either use it myself or learn how to punish early ganks better.

As for mario kart? Well i wish red shells couldn't come out of that first box, but nonetheless the luck eventually runs its course and i won the next 4 races in a row against the same group by getting in to first and opening such a large lead that even 2 consecutive blue shells on the final lap couldn't let them catch up.