Every other problem is a symptom a larger problem: Volatility

It's no secret that a lot of people are feeling a little disgruntled about League lately, and many members of the community have been citing a variety of different factors and reasons for "the downfall of this game". I'd like to propose that all of these ideas have a common issue, volatility, and all of the side effects of allowing this game to be volatile are causing every other issue in this game.

To quote a certain thread on Gameplay right now, "Baron, the great epic monster that grants game changing buffs to your team and a huge amount of gold...can be cheese killed as soon as it spawns in under 20 seconds by any tank and DPS champ duoing it". I know from Cowsep's stream that it's more than possible for single champions, especially Rageblade users, to solo Baron. Being able to solo Baron isn't even a new issue 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013, and I mean it goes on and on for those of you not in the know, Baron is just not a threat if you optimize to fight it.

Now here's where today's issue comes in. Baron has been changed recently to much more...rewarding, so to say. This is a common theme with any and all issues if you break them down, it's easy to start or do whatever it is that causes the issue, and you get way too much bang for your buck out of that action. Volatility in a nutshell. What you now have is a game ending siege tool that takes down towers like this https://youtu.be/TwR6gKY9gAQ without the necessary effort or hoops to achieve that sort of outcome otherwise.

Now I could list a bunch of today's issues and explain why volatility comes in. Paper thin tower defense, the snowbally nature of the game, heck you could even explain Top Lane's influence on the game with volatility, but I want to be a bit more productive. If I go through this list, in reality, I will just be repeating myself over and over. It's easy to initiate any of these issues and the outcomes are always very rewarding or extreme. However, is there any evidence in the game that lower volatility could actually be good for the game?

I'd like to present a recurring argument over RNG, Critical Strikes vs Elemental Dragons. Critical Strikes are an example of high variability, and League players only need to remember times when Tryndamere is popular or the legitimate 1 shot Vayne cases to see why random chance and extreme outcomes are not a healthy mix together. On the other hand, no single Dragon can make or break a game in the same way that, for example, Baron can. Maximum usage of Dragons is stacking multiple Dragon buffs together, a lot of effort over time for a decent but delayed reward. Minimal volatility and unlike Crit or Baron, we've never really seen any individual Elemental Drake warp the game to such an extreme that these other examples, Crit, Baron, Towers, etc., all have caused.

One last side effect of Volatility is the dramatic divide it causes between LCS players and the rest of the game. High volatility means that LCS players can't afford to take risks or the game is over, whereas the 99% of solo Q'ers use that to propel the game in whatever direction. It's why we see games "decided by 10 minutes" in solo Q a lot but Pro Games not so uncommonly can reach an hour long with huge periods of nothing happening throughout the game. Reducing volatility and forcing players to work for a given advantage will force LCS players to reach out more for an edge in a given game while also having less to fail over, 2 huge reasons for more proactive play and less periods of absolute nothing. This will also mean that Solo Q players, who don't typically think of cost reward in this manner, will simply have to deal with smaller changes in the state of the game, allowing for more comeback potential and for games to not be decided on whoever makes the first move.

I think that for the sake of the game, reducing volatility will be the key. Present any example of how you think the game is failing right now and you may find that it being way too easy for radical and extreme outcomes underly whatever problem you can name. By reducing volatility, this game will be far better than all of us can see right now.