The Three Phases of League

League has been around for a while now, and has gone through many changes, i'm sure a large amount of the old players have been pushed out of the game at this point so here is a history lesson for anyone who is interested. This may clarify why people are so impatient about the state of the game, including myself.

**Phase 1: Birth **

Time Frame: First year or two of League

**Meta: **

Largely undiscovered, balance was poor on a large variety of items and champions, however due to the small pool of champions and the factor that most players were still trying to figure the game out, things felt fair.

The game was somewhat competitive, but not hugely so, you could expect people to try new things, there were no distinct roles, and players just attempted to coordinate and get along with their teams, since that was the most reliable skill anyone had.

Lane phase was admittedly long, though enjoyable.

**What it was like?: **

I would say very fun, every game felt different and unique despite the low champion pool. Players often times would try new builds and strategies. There really was no cookie cutter build or static position for champions, you could expect to see an Alistar top or a duo midlane, it didn't matter.

Community:

Felt like a family, was not abnormal to make a new friend each game. Forums were packed with people discussing ideas for the games future with optimism, or discussing current topics and trying to learn more about the game. Of course with any online game there were a few bad apples.

Champions:

Each champion felt unique and had decent enough story to them as well, making them feel interesting and easy to fall in love with. Each champion felt important and could bring something useful to the game in the right hands.

**Ability to win: **

Winning mostly came down to whichever team worked best together, however it was not uncommon to see players slaughtering everyone due to their ability to gain a lead. Even this did not feel unfair as lane phase was much longer, and a player couldn't sustain such a snow bally lead without earning it over the course of 20 or 30 minutes. Nothing felt incredibly cheap with the exception of broken champ releases which would get patched soon after release.

Phase 2: Golden years

Time Frame: From around season 2 to around season 5

**Meta: **

Much more refined, with specific roles and strategies, but not limited to them. People could still pull off strats such as duo top lane and be successful with good coordination and strategy. Game balance felt fair most times, with some exceptions being new champ releases or item changes such as Feral Flair. Games were long enough, but not too long, they felt perfect.

Lots of opportunity to make a comeback with the right decision making, or with enough skill. Objectives felt important, but not game deciding most of the time.

Game was becoming a lot more competitive, but you could still have fun in normal matches and try out new strategies or champions or item builds without much issue.

Loads of variety, as long as you can justify a build or strategy in your own mind, you could eventually make it work well once practiced and mastered.

It was not too uncommon to see players trying things that "weren't meta", nor was it uncommon to see those things work.

What was it like?:

Very fun, each game felt different, losing did not feel too frustrating as your loss was usually a result of your actions and skill. Lots of variety and tons of different strategies and play styles to try. There was something for everyone, and nothing felt too forced or rigid.

**Community: **

Beginning to earn its reputation for toxicity, mostly brought on by the competitive nature of the game. Still not a bad community so long as you learn not to focus on the negativity and just make friends and stay cordial.

**Champions: **

Loads of variety being added to the game, lots of new ideas introduced new mechanics to the game play. Each champ release felt unique and had their own appeal. Sometimes a champion would come out that would be overpowered and remain in such a state for longer than previous champion releases, but nothing too insane.

Near the end of the Golden Age, some champions began to lose their purpose in the game, as newer champions could achieve what they could with more ease, or they outright overshadowed them. Though this wasn't too common, and the older champions could still be considered effective in the game in the right hands.

**Ability to win: **

Winning in this phase was usually determined by skill and decision making, as well as your ability to work as a team. The team aspect would be emphasized more with each season, but by no means was the dominating factor in your ability to win a game.

Losing felt fair most times, with the victor often having earned their victory through superior skill and decision making.

I cannot describe how winning felt during this time, it was a mix of pleasure, relief, and excitement. This was because a fair amount of games were decided on a hair with clutch plays and decision making, and massive team fights. Winning in such a manner was exhilarating, and to that note, losing was as well, which took the edge off of the defeat.

Phase 3: Downward Spiral

Time Frame: Sometime around season 6 and onward

**Meta: **

Restrictive and rigid, more so as time passed on. A growing void in the champion pool began to form where certain champions were just obsolete both due to the total champion count, as well as massive balance changes that seem to come out of nowhere. Patches continue to seem to miss the target, and instead cause more damage to the game balance then what they intended to fix in the first place. Partially due to the size of the champion pool in tandem with the assortment of items and runes.

Eventually an attempt was made to simplify runes to reduce variables to deal with for patches, which just seemed to open the wound more. Champion releases seem to be continually more over the top then ever before also throwing a wrench into the game balance.

Due to these factors the meta was kind of all over the place for a while, with many different champions becoming very powerful and dominant and then overshadowed and forgotten moments later. Games would either last too long or ended too fast, not hitting that sweet spot where a gaming session would feel satisfying.

Continuing focus on objectives and team play began to alienate solo queue players, as they have no team to coordinate with over mics. Meta favored pro play and coordinated 5v5s more then ranked solo queue.

Games became more and more decided by objective play and team coordination rather then expressions of skill, game knowledge, and strategy.

Off meta picks and builds became more and more frowned upon, and less viable as the meta became more rigid. The opportunity to try new things slowly drained from the game over the years yielding a dry stagnant forced meta eventually.

**What was it like?: **

Frustrating, but sometimes fun. Games began to lose their shine as time passed, and the game began to become boring due to the lack of new interesting mechanics being introduced to the game to fool around with. In addition to this, the risk/reward of playing off meta had begun to shift in such a way that winning with an off meta strategy or pick would often feel like an uphill battle, often not worth the time and frustration.

Essentially most fun was had when queuing with other friends and focusing on the social aspect of the game.

Community:

Toxic, angered, frustrated, disappointed. It seems that the community shifted from having a few bad apples to having a few good apples. This was brought on by a number of things. Riot's disconnect with the community, just being out of touch in general. The huge emphasis on competition, rather then fun game play. Frustrating and disappointing balance changes brought on by absurd reworks, champ releases, and patches. And general lack of fun, overall discontent with the state of the game.

Champions:

Two different types of champions were released

Type 1: Trying to be unique and spice the game up with new, interesting mechanics, but not having a place in the game because they are too unique.

Type 2: Copy pasted abilities from previous champions, with extra utility, damage, mobility, sustain slapped onto their kits for good measure. Sometimes having new unique abilities, but not often. Almost always highly over tuned and over loaded.

Champions began to feel dull due to the sheer lack of new ideas and mechanics being introduced into the game. Most champ releases felt like others champions from the game if they were to become Super Saiyans. Most champions that offered something new or interesting would often have no real place to fit into the game.

Massive void in the champion pool were a large portion of champions are mostly ignored and untouched because they are either too weak to compete in the current meta, or there is a newer, better champion who can do their job far better then they can.

Ability to win:

You tell me, i'm still trying to figure it out. Feels almost like a coin toss sometimes, i dunno.