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RIOT: Why the opinions of the casual players matter MORE than the professional players

Zonderous··3 votes·854 views

there seems to be a HUGE misconception about how professional players' opinions being "better" or more valid than the opinions of the casual player base.

first of all, there are less than a 1,000 professional players but MILLIONS of casual players in this game. Yes, professional players play this game for money as their careers. And yes, their voices should definitely matter. BUT no way in hell should it matter more than the MILLIONS of casual players. The voices of these millions of players should be of the UTMOST priority when it comes to surveying game feature and balance suggestions. These casual players are literally the ones keeping the game alive. The careers of the professional players actually DEPEND on the casual gamer base.

also, we know that, generally, the skill level of the casual player base is lower than the skill level of the professional players. This makes the point above even more valid. Since the professional players spend hours on hours theorycrafting and practicing this game every single day, they are able to adapt to changes way QUICKER and, in a way, MORE effectively than the casual player base. Hence, gives a PRIME reason to listen to the voices of the casual player base more. No matter how drastic the change is, the professional scene will ALWAYS remain, as long as the casual player base is vibrant. Professional players will always adapt.

the suggestions that the casual player base brings up is really not that bad. It just needs a little filtering, which is honestly extremely easy since we can always tell the truly good suggestions from the bad.

8 Comments

Theorex4 votes

No, I wouldn't say casual players.

Casual players are people that swap between games.

Such as Warframe, League, Overwatch, Runescape.

Those are casuals.

The people you should be saying are middle elo - high elo, no lifers.

*Note: I define middle elo as Plat 1 to Diamond 3. I define high elo as d2+. As I have been to both of those. The game completely changes twice, within those few ranks.

Zonderous2 votes

I agree with you that people who spend more time in this game (who generally have higher ranks) should be represented with more emphasis. However, in regard to the broken matchmaking system, I believe all players regardless of rank have a say. Since we are complaining about a system of the game, not a balance or gameplay issue.

Theorex1 votes

Broken match making is true for pretty much everyone competitive game aside from games that are based around 1 v 1.

Unless you are talking about casuals where bronze players play against diamonds/masters. Trust me its boring on both ends.

When i play casuals I normally just pull out something new and try to have fun or try to improve on it. So its not like I am stomping other people.

But the post also brought up balance.

I just want to throw out a scenario where we balance for say the 50 percentile mark. So about silver1/gold5 level.

Champions like Ryze, Azir, Kalista would be WAY too strong in competitive and high elo.

And easy champions would be way worse. Like Lux, Annie, etc. To compensate for complexity they would have to add in more numbers.

That is why I think that the game should be balanced around the top .84% of players. Because this is where the players understand the ins and outs of their roles and know how to capitalize on everything. To a degree.

Ch1efBeefQueef2 votes

As a "casual" player, i can definitely say, Riot sucks the fun out of the game for me and makes it much tougher to climb with their lack of care and respect for the community.

Prime example, the LCS bigplay scuddle crab changes that have completely neutered me as a jungler and have severely dampened my ability to impact a ranked solo Q match.

Theorex1 votes

Yeah they are working on that.

They are increasing the time it takes for scuttle to respawn and increasing exp of the other camps.

But I will say, that Jungle should Hit level 3 around the same time that Top hits level 3. Thats the only way to make jungle, decent and fair for solo laners. The fact that jungle was able to gank mid at level 2 (mid's level 2.) then gank top at level 2 (top's level 2). Was really unfair. Because they would have level 3 to two solo laners at level 2. With very little loss. Because they just go right back into their jungle since both sides are doing their clears.

Ch1efBeefQueef2 votes

I'm pretty certain Riot knows that they rely on the average player. It's no secret that the majority of their changes to the game in the past few years have been solely for the benefit of their precious e-sports scene.

But it isn't their fault that they are doing this. They are a company, they are greedy, and they are going to do the least they can do for the most they can get. Its a lot more work to take care of all of us than it is to cater all their changes for the pros.

The blame lies on the community, people like you and me, who don't challenge what they do enough, and don't take a firm stance.

It is up to us to draw a line in the sand, and to remind them of where they came from. When Riot first started out, EVERYTHING was about the community and it was really nice. But we have strayed so far from that people don't even remember.

Unfortunately, things will never change, because people will continue to support their favorite LCS teams, and people will continue to return to the game despite the fact that they despise it.

This has been going on for a long time.

I tell you though, the folks at Riot would have their heads spinning in circles in a hurry if all of a sudden all the support for their game was dropped and all the support for their e-sports got dropped. You would begin to see a lot more care, effort, and communication from them if that where the case.

Zonderous2 votes

that is very true. Riot's actions are blatant, as with any other billion dollar companies out there. The core of the problem really does rely on the player base, which Riot knows, will never disappear by itself. People will always return, like you said. I guess all we can rely on is Time now, only time can help this game out.

AirKingNeo1 votes

Riot isn't listening to either sooo

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