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Remove/Refund runes, make the mastery tree better

Chess435·10/18/2014, 7:44:45 PM·17 votes·1,942 views

There's really no point in having the rune system for stat customization if we can make masteries more complex and engaging for players. Running a mastery tree akin to Path of Exile's passive tree url=www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree[/url] would certainly do the trick and allow LoL to abandon the giant IP sink that delays players from buying more champs and having more fun. In Path of Exile, your class determines your starting point on the tree, and each node gives a passive benefit. League's could work similarly, with 3 starting nodes in different corners, one each for offense, defense, and utility. The area around each of the main modes would have nodes like what you would see on the current mastery tree. A node in the offence area might have +2 AD, and one in between offense and utility might have Expose Weakness. The most powerful nodes would be in far off corners, with lots of minor nodes in between. (I'll probably add more to this post after I get off work.)

16 Comments

UPfreely10/18/2014, 10:49:04 PM10 votes

I don't see whats wrong with the rune system other than its not free and extremely grindy.

67chrome10/18/2014, 8:17:52 PM5 votes

There's really no point in having the rune system for stat customization if we can make masteries more complex and engaging for players.

Complexity isn't always good. It can often be really bad.

"Less is more" is a very powerful design tool. There's a reason logo's are very simple.

For a game - simplicity also aids in readability. seeing an opponent has X AD, Armor, MR, and HP is pretty straight-forward and easy to see and feel, where complex masteries can make things more confusing and problematic much quicker.

~3 interesting interactions in passives can be cool, but going ham with 'uniqueness' in a globally-applicable system is mostly adding complexity for the sake of complexity.

Running a mastery tree akin to Path of Exile's passive tree url=http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree[/url]

That's a pretty awesome passive tree, not gonna lie. Always liked the Final Fantasy 10 style spider-web skill trees, and have had a lot of fun with PoE's tree.

would certainly do the trick and allow LoL to abandon the giant IP sink that delays players from buying more champs and having more fun.

A massive IP sink isn't bad, it allows IP to be a relevant form of currency well into LoL's future. It also allows players that pay for champions to not feel cheated out of doing so, what with runes and rune pages being a path for using that IP.

Not having anything to spend currency on is actually really bad. Without IP sinks there shouldn't be IP. Currency is only as valuable as what you can afford with it.

The Yetii Rider10/18/2014, 10:31:25 PM5 votes

The problem with runes is that the game has to be balanced around them, they give that many stats and bonuses.

Riot balances jungle monsters' damage around hurting champions who have full armor seals, so that a player can't just ignore the jungle by running full armor seals. Problem with that is that if you [b]don't[/b] have full armor seals, you get screwed by the jungle.

The idea of having three sets of runes (offense, defense and utility) same as masteries is interesting, but they aren't freely available or nearly as interchangeable as masteries, which makes balancing around them much more unfair for a player who [b]doesn't[/b] buy armor or HP/level seals as soon as they hit level 30.

Runes do need to go. Especially runes that really screw the game balance up like % crit chance runes and penetration runes.

cshakes10/18/2014, 7:55:02 PM5 votes

As someone who plays Path of Exile: I like this idea.

I really, really, really like this idea.

Now, to make it work with League's level system... Maybe gain 3 points per level? That'd give you 90 points to play with. For PoE, the maximum amount of points achievable is 120, but most builds only involve around 80 "core" points with some ideas on what to do with any bonus points. Oh, and we need keystones. I kind of want Mind Over Matter (30% of damage taken from mana instead of life) and Point Blank (projectiles deal up to 50% more damage at the start of their path, but deal less damage the further they travel).

Or, if the Keystones idea is too hard to balance, how about new items with actives/passives lifted off the Keystones?

Nausicäa 10/18/2014, 10:14:22 PM3 votes

NAh runes are good, they just need to be free

SlackerboyTC10/19/2014, 2:53:23 AM3 votes

id much rather have more mastery development than runes, runes are just annoyances

Gunpoint10/19/2014, 3:33:16 AM3 votes

Yeah you know, I find having to buy runes to be irritating, but I find it REALLY REALLY irritating that you have to spend 6300 IP FOR A RUNE PAGE. A RUNE PAGE!

dj2themax10/19/2014, 2:51:40 AM1 votes

Nothing wrong with rune they just need to be free or cheaper because right now I have to use 3 set rune pages because i cant buy all the runes

LunariarWarrior10/19/2014, 9:03:42 AM1 votes

Personally, I really don't want this, seeing how much IP I sunk into runes lmao. Like I bought all Tier 3 Marks, Glyphs, and Seals, nearly completing all Tier 3 Quints. I seriously don't know what I'd do with all the IP if I got refunded it. xD