Feedback that isn't Feedback(?): Reflection on Teambuilder

~~So... The board is called Feedback, and that is exactly what this post is aimed at providing... My feedback/reflection of playing League of Legends. ~~ I clearly made a huge mistake. This is Feedback over Gameplay, which is not Feedback. Oops. But now that I think about it. Yeah. It's Feedback of Gameplay... Or PreGame, which isn't the Gameplay, yet...(?) Anyways!

TL;DR: I'd say my target is simply Team Builder was the huge decider of what kept me (and others) interested and consistent in playing LoL.

On a positive note, I actually do like the Draft Team Builder. For what it was designed to do, I think it's great. There was a time where I was playing draft with the understanding that it was amazing training in skill level for playing around on ranked. I still presently think of it as that too, and I think the Draft Team Builder does an amazing job to make this concept a much smoother process, but only for this - specifically.

However, I realized a huge part of me playing LoL is mostly just tinkering or practicing at getting better at something in mind (Like when you get that wild thought of how does Yorick jng work? So you go to try it out). Traditionally, I loved playing LoL because I knew the time frame I had to kill, I had something in mind I wanted to practice, and I'd go do it. Simply put. That's what I genuinely loved (and so did tons of others) about the old Team Builder.

Where I stand now... This past season has included tons of interesting concepts that are pretty unique, and it's really interesting to see how the gameplay is constantly evolving from season to season via masteries, champ updates, environmental changes, etc. I've actually been really impressed. Then I wondered just why I didn't play half as much this season.

Simply put, I realized every time I thought to play LoL (and would play maybe one or two matches)...** I felt it was just too much work** and time I didn't want to put into the game. The direct answer why was I had an idea or something specific I wanted to do, then logged on to try it... and generally didn't have the chance to do it, so I would go a round playing something completely different.. spend ~20-50m with that match and maybe try my odds again (whether it was Normal or Draft Team Builder). If it either didn't happen within the 2nd attempt or my team just got floored where it wasn't really a learning experience through an additional ~20-30m, I was significantly uninterested in doing it again. I had already spent what was most likely an hour on what I didn't really want to do. Win or Loss... You naturally want to try something multiple times to have a good understanding of the Do's and Dont's... So this making a process of something you want to learn, and are interested in, into a HUGE time consuming process to what use to be fairly straightforward.

I wouldn't say the in-game dynamic itself is much work... More like it presently has a lot of discouraging factors to want to sit down and play. Here are some things I generally feel discouraged by to continue playing as much as I use to:

• Normal or Draft (Team Builder) you still have a fairly equal chance of not playing what you wanted to against players (not AI) (one you're hoping your fast enough to lock in the position and champ you want, the other you're hoping you're assigned the position you want and your champ isn't possibly banned. Both instances kind of feel like the same level of tediousness.)
• ** You can only dodge a game so many times to avoid the above point.**
• Actually starting a game is also a time consuming factor for the point directly above (from other people).
• Your only chance to try something you want to is by repeating the entire process above.

Essentially, I just found myself being excited for new changes, but immediately not caring because I knew the likelihood of learning, practicing, and enjoying it just wasn't a very time efficient concept. For example: I was so excited that Yorick had a huge update. There were so many things I saw, and I pondered what the grave digger could now do. Since launch... I didn't play the initial week knowing the points listed above and that many others would too... I've tried recently, but haven't done much outside of "vs. AI" for the same reasons listed above.

To Conclude: There are so many interesting, new features in the game that naturally create excitement to try, but there is currently no real way to implement and test it outside the factors of a lot of time and a lot of chance.

That's why I (and probably many others) want the old Team Builder to still be in the game.