Denial abilities and a discussion of the current state of the game.

A lot of people seem to be putting up posts about how League isn't fun anymore... or that it's less fun than it was. It's true the game was more exciting when it was young, but is that really the case? I see more rage threads and videos these days than I see awesome or funny things like the old Dunkey vids, Xin Zhao being a man, the full-revive boogaloo or the jungle soraka whambulence squad. Gone seem to be the days of SivHD videos and people picking all support teams and playing fun games. The meta is solid and the games are brutally one-sided stomps most of the time. No one seems to be enjoying them either... just raging at each other and bitching at whomever they want to blame for a loss or feel superior to. I don't know what happened. Am I just remembering it wrong? I feel like the game used to be more fun. I've been trying to think on the things that have changed since I started playing back in the ancient days of season 3, and it's been a LOT.

But the thing I'm going to talk about is what I'm calling "denial abilities". I don't mean any ability that stops the enemy champion from doing stuff. MOST CC does that. I mean abilities like 's ult. Or 's. These two have been around forever and these abilities are nothing new. Trynd presses R... kite him until it ends, then ignite. Frustrating to new players and the unprepared, but laughed at by most veterans. Newer champions however seem to be LOADED with these kinds of abilities and on a much larger scale. 's wind wall can single-handedly change a fight by denying the enemy back line their spells and auto attacks for 4 seconds... or he can thwart a game-changing ult or stop a stun or skillshot that would have killed him. All this on a non-ultimate ability and on a melee carry! (lol wut best support skill in the game on a carry?) can save an ally from certain death with a single button press. Then he can save HIMSELF from being blown up by pressing a second button to pop his shield as he runs away at high speed with his poor, mis-positioned adc in his stomach. can pluck her support from certain death. can too, to anyone able to click his lantern. has wind wall lite, able to block an enemy ability entirely for himself or an ally. can hourglass people, monsters or even towers. can save her entire team from death. can press R to immediately get himself out of the terrible situation he put himself in. It goes on and on. This is without even mentioning the pile of champs who got revive passives for a while. Poppy is about to hit live servers with TWO denial powers... her ult and her ability to deny dashes. You could even argue that the % damage and true damage (and god help us... % true damage!) that we keep seeing everywhere is a denial trait too, denying the enemy the ability to build against the champion's damage easily. I'll ignore that last part for this, since it's not an ability really... but it bears mentioning at least once.

Are these things healthy for the game though? It feels to me like the game is very bipolar because of this. Very feast or famine. If your champ gets around or can deal with the denial ability the enemy champ throws at you... you'll likely beat them, since these champs are built around their ability to shut down enemies with those skills to survive. If you CAN'T? Well... then prepare to be frustrated all match at not being able to do much. You might still win if they misplay or just bundle their rotations, refuse to group, etc... but you personally will be annoyed as hell dealing with having half of what you do rendered useless by your opponent. These abilities are EVERYWHERE now. I rarely play a game without seeing a champion who has them. Newer champs all seem loaded with utility powers and denial abilities now, and I'm not certain if it's why the game has become a lot less fun of late... but it might be.

I understand that it's preseason right now, so balance is a joke, the community has ALWAYS been toxic and certain champions... coughcough have ALWAYS been infuriatingly able to snowball off of a single kill in lane, leaving you feeling like you don't want to even go back to lane and keep playing the game. It's most likely a combination of all of it. Fighting a champion who throws up a big "NO" flag at you constantly in lane is ten times more infuriating now that most games are won off the lead gained in the early-early game. There aren't really comebacks anymore... so screaming "FACE THE WIND" and repeatedly denying all your attempts to affect him in lane is a ton more obnoxious now that you know that you're trying to get that all-important early lead.

I'm curious what other people think... about denial abilities and about the state of the game in general. Is the current lack of satisfaction with things just because preseasons blows and is an unbalanced mess? Do you like or dislike these kinds of abilities? Do you think they're healthy for the game? Do you think they succeed in adding counterplay and interesting matchups to the game, or do you think they pigeonhole you into picking the champions who can get around whatever denial power your opponents have to stand a chance? Do you think something else is the problem? IS the game less fun for you? Is it just preseason bitching? Let's make this a discussion.