the Meta defined this Worlds. Shouldnt Riot open up more strategic options?

Fraggleroc·Oct 20, 2018·13 votes·6,422 views

Few teams dared to sway from the meta champs.

My question is- what is restricting them from playing their own style? picking their comfort champs?

36 Comments

JamareeOct 20, 20189 votes

But half of the champions being picked and played are often called shit by the community or don't see any play, like Gragas, and Lee Sin, and Noc.

PoskeOct 20, 20181 votes

{quoted}

But half of the champions being picked and played are often called shit by the community or don't see any play, like Gragas, and Lee Sin, and Noc.

Gragas is known to be broken. Best tank jungler in the game Lee sin satisfaction went down with green jungle item removal Nocturne Paranoia lasting 4 fking seconds says enough

JamareeOct 20, 20183 votes

{quoted}

Gragas is known to be broken. Best tank jungler in the game Lee sin satisfaction went down with green jungle item removal Nocturne Paranoia lasting 4 fking seconds says enough

Is that why there isn't a lot of QQ about any of those champions on the forums except like a post every couple of weeks?

vgamedudeOct 20, 20189 votes

Riot has had the same strict meta for years and years at this point. There is barely any variation

GelsominoKillerOct 20, 20182 votes

C'mon, I understand the riot hate but this year's worlds meta, except for urgot and aatrox dominance, has been quite diverse, both in a champion pool wider than usual and in the variety of tactics and compositions used.

vgamedudeOct 20, 20181 votes

{quoted}

C'mon, I understand the riot hate but this year's worlds meta, except for urgot and aatrox dominance, has been quite diverse, both in a champion pool wider than usual and in the variety of tactics and compositions used.

Quite diverse? I don't know what youre basing your expectations on but a glance at bot and this games overall meta will show it hasn't been "diverse" for years.

I like how you bring up urgot and aatrox as well but not kai sa for instance.

420 gramsOct 20, 20188 votes

There's always a meta. Last year it was ardent

FragglerocOct 20, 20185 votes

How can Riot look into the faces at their players and say that the constant Urgot vs Aatrox matchup/bans at Top makes for interesting viewing experience? Esp. for its top lane players? What will be the message that is sent across from them abt this? Also, Kaisa's prominence etc...

Will there even be any comment from Meddler on they think on this?

JamareeOct 20, 20188 votes

{quoted}

How can Riot look into the faces at their players and say that the constant Urgot vs Aatrox matchup/bans at Top makes for interesting viewing experience? Esp. for its top lane players? What will be the message that is sent across from them abt this? Also, Kaisa's prominence etc...

Will there even be any comment from Meddler on they think on this?

Probably the same way the community can constantly whine about champions being shit, getting no buffs, then suddenly being OP when the pros start playing them, like Urgot and Aatrox.

JackMcSnipeyzOct 20, 20188 votes

Funny, urgot was considered weak by the boards for so long for being clunky and having zero mobility, suddenly urgot is picked in the LCS and he's top tier toxic champ.

JamareeOct 20, 20184 votes

{quoted}

Funny, urgot was considered weak by the boards for so long for being clunky and having zero mobility, suddenly urgot is picked in the LCS and he's top tier toxic champ.

Welcome to the forums.

MorticianjohnOct 20, 20181 votes

I follow the boards somewhat regular I don't think there was much said about urgot after the rework other than people complaining about his anti synergy with certain items. He did get a few changes right before worlds which helped to elevate his presence.

Additionally as is frequently mentioned -People complaining about urgot before and people complaining now could be different people -complaints from months ago don't have any relevance to the current meta. Just because they had a problem with how things were doesn't mean they are ok with the changes enacted to "fix" the issues.

GayFluffyUnicornOct 20, 20181 votes

Might be because noone here actually plays toplane.

GelsominoKillerOct 20, 20181 votes

To be fair, Urgot received a MASSIVE team fighting buff when they removed his self slow when executing ulted targets in order to help him land his aoe fear.

It was that change that skyrocketed him from nothingness into pick/ban status.

Previously, while strong in lane, the best thing Urgot could do in a team fight was to dive in a shitty position and try to execute somebody before being bursted down. Now if he gets his ult off everybody must ran away from him, so he can survive being in a riskier position.

Z3SleeperOct 20, 20181 votes

Not to mention RAKANS EVERYWHERE YEAH!

Pika FoxOct 20, 20182 votes

Urgot is only meta because of worlds. He wasnt meta before.

Kaisas been dumpstered most games.

GayFluffyUnicornOct 20, 20181 votes

It's way more interesting than seeing bruisers getting annihilated by tanks or just straight up tank v tank matchups for the last three years.

TLDR shut the fuck up .

Sharpest glassesOct 20, 20185 votes

I prefer looking at Fiora Aatrox Urgot Camille Hecarim Irelia Swain

than Shen vs Ornn Gangplank Poppy [inserttanks] every game

> it came out to 85 out of 141, or 60.3% of all champions have been played at least once, which is actually a pretty respectable amount!

ÆtheistOct 20, 20184 votes

Worlds is always defined by the meta, though. Why wouldn't people play the meta at the top level?

ModCaptainMårvelousOct 20, 20184 votes

My question is- what is restricting them from playing their own style? picking their comfort champs?

Boards.

"Ugh FUCK esports FUCK worlds FUCK balancing around pros. We are the 99% so Riot should ONLY balance around us." "Zzzzzzzzzzzzz worlds so boring only a few great picks. same 10 champs every game."

Thankfully Riot ignored the criticism for worlds balance this year and we're actually getting some GOOD ass games.

FragglerocOct 20, 20183 votes

there were only very few pocket picks played though- Hjarnan's Heimer etc

Most of the pros r playing stuff they're forced to pick up again (i.e. Urgot, Aatrox ..) maybe a month or couple months ago.

How does that affect Skill Expression? Would it be more interesting to see a pro play a champ they picked up in a month to adhere to the meta? Or see more of the genius like Hjarnan's Heimer practiced for a long time?

JamareeOct 20, 20181 votes

{quoted}

there were only very few pocket picks played though- Hjarnan's Heimer etc

Most of the pros r playing stuff they're forced to pick up again (i.e. Urgot, Aatrox ..) maybe a month or couple months ago.

How does that affect Skill Expression? Would it be more interesting to see a pro play a champ they picked up in a month to adhere to the meta? Or see more of the genius like Hjarnan's Heimer practiced for a long time?

That isn't ever really going to be a thing again.

vgamedudeOct 20, 20184 votes

{quoted}

there were only very few pocket picks played though- Hjarnan's Heimer etc

Most of the pros r playing stuff they're forced to pick up again (i.e. Urgot, Aatrox ..) maybe a month or couple months ago.

How does that affect Skill Expression? Would it be more interesting to see a pro play a champ they picked up in a month to adhere to the meta? Or see more of the genius like Hjarnan's Heimer practiced for a long time?

Theres not enough depth I guess to warrant that sort of thing, or enough gameplay depth to warrant varying strategies and to make such things viable.

ProfDrDeathOct 20, 20183 votes

Pro play will always have a relatively narrow concentration on a few main champions per role. Not just because these champions are stronger than the rest, but also because pro players have only 24 hours in their day (like the rest of us).

Since the game is not requiring hard counters (like DotA 2), it makes more sense to learn a lower number of champions more deeply.

JackMcSnipeyzOct 20, 20183 votes

Meta will always define worlds, and any game, you know that right? There will always be one pick who is on top and works well at the current climate of the game. If anything this world showed with NA and EU that if they do their own thing and not follow the korean meta, they will be way better off. Heimerdinger bot was a pick/ban agains g2! Hecarim top and ekko mid, Draven and sivir, all picks that worked well despite not being "Meta".

HügöOct 20, 20182 votes

NOO? More epic one shots. It's so fucking cool to watch someone makes 1 wrong move and gets insta blown up.

ParuParuParuParuOct 20, 20182 votes

Toplaners Bot

Boards: THIS IS SO BROKEN ADC IS SO TRASH I LOSE AGAINST BRUISER BOT WHY DOES RITO ALLOW THIS

Also Boards: Why is there no strategic diversity, why can't we have something new for once?

mack9112Oct 20, 20182 votes

Best world's ever

chipndip1Oct 20, 20182 votes

Simple: THE GAME ISN'T BALANCED AROUND PRO PLAY TO BEGIN WITH

TobykachuOct 20, 20181 votes

The way you say this makes it seem like you believe that there hasn't ALWAYS been a world's meta. Last year it was arguably at its absolute worst with Ardent and in 2015 it was the Juggernaut's patch which was also fucking awful. Sure it's not super exciting seeing a couple of champions be at an almost 100% pick ban rate, but there will always be a few champions that are "the best" and will have such stats. This worlds has been far and away the most exciting Worlds in years, so Idk what you're talking about

NyarlathοtepOct 20, 20181 votes

There will always be a meta. Even if you nerf the top ones, others will replace them.

Pika FoxOct 20, 20181 votes

Idk, from what i saw most meta champs got dumpstered like kaisa, and urgot is only meta BECAUSE of worlds, he wasnt meta before.

Sire HippingtonOct 20, 20181 votes

Actually, i think this year there is a decent amount of strategic diversity, from early high pressure styles to teamfight heavy comps to sieges comps to 1-3-1 splitpush, from all-out agressive to very controlled, there were alot different playstyles so far, and most teams did best then they played their style rather than trying to go 'meta' Even Pocket picks are stronger compared to last years, jensens Zilean and Hjarnans Heimer are very effective, same for the singed and the few toplane hecas or the dravenplayers... Though it's quite noticeable how most tanks are absent from top exept for those with a brokenly strong lane like sion or cho, Tankiness still is something that only happens if ahead or atleast well even in the midgame.

The bad thing is how dominant powerpicks are, especially since most of them were that dominant befor worlds already, so all in all the picks are rather stale and most pocket picks only come in once the powerpick alternative has been removed by bans or picks.

EcophileOct 20, 20181 votes

You expect probably too much variety. Besides top lane, there is a lot of variety in champion picks and strategies this year. The gameplay is awesome and Riot has done a great job to bring it to this point.

Stop hating for the sake of posting

GripaAviaraOct 20, 20181 votes

I don't know what to say. Watching worlds, this state has many more strategies open like 1-2 years ago.