Thought Experiment: Tools to balance ranged AA's

Brascus·Jan 14, 2017·4 votes·504 views

I think auto attacks are a little too binary restricting balancing options, so let's have a thought experiment to see how we can impact them in more interesting and interactive ways. Here are two ideas to ~~shred~~ play with:

Line of Sight - visible clear path between the player and target required for a hit, walls and minions are an obstruction
Soft Targeting - the projectile trajectory is locked on to its initial aim and does not follow its target but passes through where they were

http://i.imgur.com/0zbQysa.gif

17 Comments

DreadlocksJan 14, 20175 votes

ADC's are already weak lol.. Now you want AAs to miss?XD

BrascusJan 14, 20173 votes

You can add more power to a design element if its able to be countered in some way, its a nightmare balancing binary design elements because stat weights can hold it ransom.

DreadlocksJan 14, 20173 votes

I mean, no matter what you do, the game is going to still be about stats.

BrascusJan 14, 20171 votes

It depends how a champion is designed, older champions tend to be stat checks with lots of binary mechanics, point and clicks, empowered attacks and stat steroids. So at the beginning of LoL your statement was very true, the deciding factors were simply strategy, but Riot is phasing these mechanics out because they're quite boring to watch, and over time cause the game to stagnate because it's too predictable.

Contemporary reworks prove this, and outplay/carry potential is championed by champs designed in this newer paradigm of counter balanced skill shots and thematic trade offs.

Darius buffed his passive out the wazoo by making his Q have weaknesses is probably the best example of the impact it can have on a champions design to give it exploitable flaws in counterplay.

DreadlocksJan 15, 20171 votes

I'm saying the game is about building stats no matter how you do it.. You buy Defensive items, you get STATS you buy Offensive items, you get STATS. This isn't like StarCraft or FPS...

BrascusJan 15, 20171 votes

Stats are a tool for strategy, its not just who has the bigger stick or stronger shield, moments like Faker vs Ryu proves this.There is no stat that can influence creative exploitation of mechanics, that is the driving force behind the most interesting plays and why LoL is moving away from the damage simulator paradigm that previously narrowed creative exploitation.

ßurstJan 15, 20171 votes

It would make aa's too unpredictable, and it would make it even worse for said champs.

DreadlocksJan 15, 20171 votes

He doesn't get it xD

ErockandrollJan 15, 20171 votes

{quoted}

It depends how a champion is designed, older champions tend to be stat checks with lots of binary mechanics, point and clicks, empowered attacks and stat steroids. So at the beginning of LoL your statement was very true, the deciding factors were simply strategy, but Riot is phasing these mechanics out because they're quite boring to watch, and over time cause the game to stagnate because it's too predictable.

Contemporary reworks prove this, and outplay/carry potential is championed by champs designed in this newer paradigm of counter balanced skill shots and thematic trade offs.

buffed his passive out the wazoo by making his Q have weaknesses is probably the best example of the impact it can have on a champions design to give it exploitable flaws in counterplay.

Their might be a case with some of the older champs, but for the most part, your moving away from binary mechanics with more ability intensive kits. (Jhin being the latest ADC is quite interesting, given both his spells and his AA passive)

But also I find that binary mechanics =/= binary game play. As the ADC, your always focusing on positioning, range, what you can see, I rarely see it come down to a stats check.

ßurstJan 15, 20171 votes

IKR lol

Zero Skill TankJan 14, 20173 votes

If this was done, ranged attacks would need to be made to deal even more damage to balance it out - marksmen are already terribly weak.

Since both those options are very much in favor of mobile champions, it would competently screw immobile ones.

BrascusJan 14, 20171 votes

Immobile champs could have additional range, imagine snipers actually sniping and artillery like Xerath having a unique benefit of shooting over walls.

SpecterVonBarenJan 15, 20171 votes

The alternative is to give marksmen better defenses. If you make it so they don't die instantly when someone jumps them then having those additional weaknesses wouldn't mean as much (Not that I particularly like the OP's suggestions).

Mira Arya EntheJan 14, 20171 votes

I like the line of sight idea. Obviously ADCs themselves would need reworks and compensation buffs. Mid mages too.

BrascusJan 14, 20171 votes

I was thinking snipers like Jhin could be made more unique adding additional range, and maybe even his shots could go through minions only that they reduce its damage, on top of which he does bonus damage the longer his projectiles travel when unobstructed. Or even flip that, have it do bonus damage the more targets it goes through.

FaieJan 14, 20171 votes

We already have examples of both these mechanics in the game, and they both have their problems, regardless of the balance of the champions in particular:

Graves's auto attacks cannot pierce through minions, and this is one of the reasons he cannot be played in the ADC style.

When Twitch ults, his auto attacks no longer follow his target and do exactly what you described, and as a Twitch player, it feels awful when someone does dodge your attacks. For example, a Karma that shield herself and runs sideways is immune to your autoattacks as Twitch.

BrascusJan 14, 20171 votes

I thought people didn't play graves ADC because he's just stronger in other roles and not that he's weak as an ADC. Also Graves mechanics are based around being a shotgun, it's drawbacks make it thematically more interesting and gives it power spikes regular AA's don't get, like unloading a full shell in one targets face and getting a little push back.

I didn't know that about Twitch, though I don't see Twitch that often even when he's on the weekly roster. I'm always more terrified of Teemo showing up out of nowhere than Twitch. The alternative to balancing Twitch's ult is that it does significantly less for more reliability, or eat power out of the rest of his kit.