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Former Pro Maria claims Riot Balances too much around Casual Play

ModCaptainMårvelous·Aug 17, 2018·10 votes·2,427 views

Riot's League of Legends Patch System Seems to Cater to a Singular Audience | VPEsports

I want to highlight this to counterpoint a common argument

"Riot only caters to the LCS!!!!"

No.

Stop.

This is wrong and this season has proven it more than any other.

Runes have catered to flashy, high-highs and much more impactful choices. Riot's goal this season was to "make champions viable in more lanes", which is something that appeals to casuals far more than pros. Hell, the constant nerfs to complex strategies like lane swap and funneling is all about the casual-level enjoyment rather than pros, who say that "No it's not FUN to watch this".

This is a pill everyone has to swallow and stop parading around this falsehood. This falsehood continues to be why balance can be so topsy turvey and why Riot continues to appeal to the kneejerk reactions of the boards, reddit and sometimes twitter rants. To put it as Maria did:

For a company that exudes confidence in their approach to almost everything they seem to make a lot of knee jerk reactions to fix “problems” that if they were more hands off might fix themselves. The best players at all levels can be incredibly resourceful and as long as something isn’t clearly broken they will usually find creative ways to counter problems that don’t require the drastic measures Riot has become too keen to employ.

If we can admit and finally own up that the casual balance has caused more stagnation and balance issues than any pro-centric changes, maybe we can start moving League in a direction that awards more rewarding gameplay in higher tiers that will trickle down to lower ranks.

25 Comments

KhristophorosAug 17, 20184 votes

They do a lot of things with the intention of making LCS more exciting to watch. This is catering to casuals, the LCS viewers. And players have every right to complain about it. Why should Lee Sin and Yasuo be buffed before every worlds, or why should they be buffed every time they are slightly hurt by an item or rune change? Why at the same time do many other champions go ignored?

This is a problem and it's not due to catering to pros. It's because they allow their desire to create a more exciting spectator experience to bleed into the balancing of the game which hurts the experience of actually playing the game.

murderessAug 17, 20182 votes

Yeah, totally - that's why they didn't fix the Ardent Censer meta until worlds in S6. Boring junglers, boring toplaners, boring supports, boring mids and then the ADC to carry. It really doesn't get much more lame than the S6 meta and Riot decided to leave it as that. I'm honestly surprised that they decided to make the game fun again (similiar to season 3).

SwiftKitten88Aug 17, 20183 votes

oh noes.. the the top 1% think the other 99% dont matter.. now where have i seen this again...

please....

Douglas FunnieAug 17, 20182 votes

Wait, are you finally saying something that makes sense? Am I hearing you correctly? Are you saying that "Runes Reforged" was implemented to cater toward casual players?

If so, I can finally agree and give you a respectable upvote.

ModCaptainMårvelousAug 17, 20187 votes

The idea of reworking the rune system from a trashy ip sink with no real strategic depth into something free for all players with suboptimal choices not being absurdly negative does indeed lean towards casuals, yes.

SMOKE THISAug 17, 20181 votes

Are you kidding about the strategic depth? The new runes are a lack of strategic depth. Literally all they had to do was make old runes free once they figured out their huge importance.

BijeesnyAug 17, 20181 votes

{quoted}

The idea of reworking the rune system from a trashy ip sink with no real strategic depth into something free for all players with suboptimal choices not being absurdly negative does indeed lean towards casuals, yes.

Please explain how this rune system has real, and better, strategic depth compared to the old rune system? Please explain how deciding which stats you want to have in your rune setup isnt strategic, but having fixated stats with whooping 6 runes,all of which boils down to same thing- damage, is strategic? Just because people are lazy and want everything to be served on a silver plate, meaning that most of them went and copy/pasted rune setups, that doesn't mean old runes weren't strategic.

r43b1llAug 17, 20181 votes

lol strategic depth in runes reforged. Half of them are barely used because the flat damage runes stomp all over them

DW DianaAug 17, 20182 votes

Tbh I think they've balanced it around LCS, and then modified it for casual players. But then they've made a lot of BAD choices this year that NO ONE asked for so really it's down to Riot. They've already made it clear they can do what they want: they can listen to the community, they can listen to pro's, or the can just ignore everyone and do it anyway. Ultimately Riot make the choices, so it's on them.

Fízz v2Aug 17, 20182 votes

Of course, otherwise assassins wouldnt be unplayable in pro play for the past few years :]

r43b1llAug 17, 20182 votes

they nerf something for pro play in every patch thoough. Don't how you could say that they don't balance around pro play when Azir Galio Kalista Karma LeeSin Ornn RekSai Sejuani Shen Taliyah Zoe TahmKench all exist

D357R0Y3RAug 17, 20182 votes

but they also nerf something for casual play in every patch

OleandervineAug 17, 20182 votes

Faster games and more flashy maneuvers are not designed around casual play. Riot has been hearing complaints from eSports viewers for years that the game was nothing but a long farm fest with too much safety and that the only deciding factor in team fights was who screwed up first. So how do they address this? Towers are now made from paper. Damage has skyrocketed off the charts. Mild RNG things like dragons, scuttler spawnings, and jungle plants have become a thing. Zoe exists. There's a whole list of things that have been implemented over the last few seasons to slice the time of professional games down as well as introduce chaos into the game to eliminate the safety to a degree. Then there have been things like the habitual gutting of support items, as well as the fact that supports no longer are absolutely required to build utility anymore to be effective that have also added to decreasing game speed and removing the safety and control from team fights. To strictly claim that Riot's recent balance changes have been purely in favor of casuals is flawed, because their changes have been just as much in effort to mold a more exciting professional eSports scene as it has to give casual players more flash in their games.

Blu 1Aug 17, 20182 votes

God forbid a company listens to 99.9% of it's consumers!

JoeAnarchyAug 17, 20181 votes

well, i mean.. the casual non-pro audience is not one collective mind.. some players want faster games, some want slower. some prefer assassins, some prefer tanks. the casual audience as a whole can't decide on what it wants. where as the pro players all basically want the same thing. a game balanced enough to play competitively.

its like, if football changed its rules around for every kid playing in their backyard, pro football players wouldn't ever be able to keep up..

ModCaptainMårvelousAug 17, 20184 votes

There are ways to see casual impact, however. As the article points out, you probably noticed how Riot rushed to fix laneswapping, right? Not because the strategy was inherently a problem but because watchers said "Boo! This isn't fun! I wanna watch more fun!". Just as it happened with funneling earlier this year.

You'll also notice nerfs coming for Yorick, Garen, Wukong, Quinn, etc. despite these champions not being picked often, if at all, in pro. Again, casual changes made to sate a larger and vocal fanbase. I'm a big proponant of Riot eschewing casual balance entirely due to the trickle down effect of balance as we've seen in this and other games but I'm willing to bet it's not as monetarily viable and the community refuses to acknowledge how balancing around higher tiers is factually better for game balance and health.

Whisperwind23Aug 17, 20181 votes

{quoted}

There are ways to see casual impact, however. As the article points out, you probably noticed how Riot rushed to fix laneswapping, right? Not because the strategy was inherently a problem but because watchers said "Boo! This isn't fun! I wanna watch more fun!". Just as it happened with funneling earlier this year.

You'll also notice nerfs coming for Yorick, Garen, Wukong, Quinn, etc. despite these champions not being picked often, if at all, in pro. Again, casual changes made to sate a larger and vocal fanbase. I'm a big proponant of Riot eschewing casual balance entirely due to the trickle down effect of balance as we've seen in this and other games but I'm willing to bet it's not as monetarily viable and the community refuses to acknowledge how balancing around higher tiers is factually better for game balance and health.

You are sorta misunderstanding what casual is. The way you are presenting your argument is that everyone who isn't pro is casual which isnt true. All those changes you mentioned effected midcore - hardcore players more then casuals.

SMOKE THISAug 17, 20181 votes

Those champions don't need nerfs (except Garen - when will riot realise you can't be a tank and deal huge dmg...) it's duskblade and stormrazer and the runes and other items that need nerfs. This is the Riot curse. They fuck something up, then put out that fire by fucking something else up.

Death by GlamourAug 17, 20181 votes

ok you listed one thing that shows that they favour balancing around casuals. Which can even be turned on its head and used as a sign that they favour flashy plays in LCS to gather more viewers, the recent proposed buffs to yas and lee really add to that point.

tbf to riot they are damned if they do and damned if they don't in regards to balancing this game but a lot of the critic they get is well deserved

DrCyanideAug 17, 20181 votes

Most of the article goes directly against what you're claiming. It's example after example of pro scene doing something and the resulting changes to the game.

Riot errs on the side of caution and in the first instance something appears overpowered they “remove it from the game” by nerfing the champions involved until it’s unviable. It makes the competitive scene feel stale and forced instead of organic and creative. ... Remember how teleport on bottom laners was nerfed as soon as it appeared and saw play in the professional scene? This is them specifically balancing around professional play and how “exciting” it is to watch, whatever that means. ... Now I’m not saying that balancing around competitive play is wrong, in fact I think it’s the only way to balance the game. ... You can balance for the casual player or the competitive scene but not both. Where Riot exists is somewhere in between, choosing to cater towards the more casual players that make up a majority of their player base.

The bold statement is what gets repeated over, and over, and over, and over on the boards. Of course a pro player is going to say Riot balances too much towards casuals, because what stands out in his mind is going to be the changes that made his life harder that were targeted towards casuals. The reverse is true for 99% of the players, who see items, champions, summoner spells, tower health, or gold distribution muddled with or left in a bad spot to constantly adapt to what the competitive scene is doing.

Lee Sin and Orianna buffs right before Worlds. Tell me you honestly believe it won't happen, regardless of what state they're in for casual play.

Lil Homie bustaAug 17, 20181 votes

https://youtu.be/ztVMib1T4T4

D357R0Y3RAug 17, 20181 votes

balancing around lcs

nerfing garen wukong yorick

kappa

Leto GTAug 17, 20181 votes

No. If there's nothing player base there's no pro scene. I don't care their opinion. What matters is how I and the millions of other players experience the game, not how à few competitive players feel about the game. Competitive hype is gone because they're unable to be creative compared to the players of the old season. We've seen it all and they fail to deliver entertainment because of the stakes and how safe they are play. Every strategy and composition they play are recycled strats created by the solo Q players. My experience should be the priority and they suck at giving me any kind of entertainment even though riot has constantly tried to push diversity and higher interaction.

The Highest NoonAug 17, 20181 votes

Something I've been saying repeatedly ever since even before people started saying that Riot's changing the game based on Pro play:

Riot is only making changes that people have been demanding. It's not pro play, it's us. We're the reason these changes are happening.

Brooks107Aug 17, 20181 votes

item 3504 also i have never heard of maria, but if she played for renegades im sure she knows what she is talking about

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