DEAR RIOT: 11 things that could revive League.

If League of Legends were a Demacian monarch, it would be 67 right now with an idiot heir who jams his toe every time he tries to display the kingdom's banner. Within the next few years, the game will start to lose players more and more quickly, and it'll eventually fade from the industry entirely.

Here are a few suggestions I have to breathe new life into the game. It could require taking the whole thing down and releasing a sequel, but it would hardly be the first game to ever do that. No game lasts forever in the state it stared in.

1. Make the game more accessible. League is too complicated. It appeals to hardcore otaku who have been playing since season 2, but new players find it very unwelcoming. The toxic community and smurfing epidemic is bad enough for this without the game's own mechanics adding to the problem. Simplifying the mechanics a bit is a good way to go about this, but more importantly, improve the quality of the bots. Improve the quality of the tutorials. Make the game simple at the start and ease players in. Maybe teach them a new set of increasingly more nuanced elements every five or ten levels.

When I was first starting out, I had no idea why the ADC was supposed to take all the farm. I had no idea what zoning was, or the importance of ganks, or what "bait dragon" meant. To be honest I wasn't even sure why feeding was so bad. In games I'd played of a similar pace, death just meant that you'd respawn and get back out there. It was part of the fun to face an opponent who was able to send you to respawn. I stopped playing several times when I was first starting out because teams trashed me for not understanding complex mechanics or just how important the gold balance was.

Fix this, and new players will be more likely to stay around.

2. Let us experiment. (Ignore the weird numbering, my paragraphs set this back to number 1. It's 2.) Reinforcing a stale meta hurts players who come from anywhere else. Players who were around when there was no meta and eased into it are fine following the leader and doing as the pros do. But casual whales and players coming from other games are more likely to enjoy a game where you're free to play the way you want to. To experiment with every champion and see if you can play them in unexpected ways to good effect. This was the funnest thing about League in season 2, and it's almost entirely gone now, between Riot's own enforcement of the meta and the way players lash out when you take a nonstandard pick.

3. Replace items. You've tried valiantly to fix items several times now. You're constantly tweaking them in an attempt to keep everything balanced. But it's pointless, because the same few items per role are always taken, regardless of what changes are implemented. I won't go into how you might go about this, because I have a few ideas but they'll run this post way too long. I simply suggest finding a way, because items unnecessarily clutter the game while creating the illusion that we get to build the champion the way we want, only to find out that most items simply aren't "right". Replace them with something that retains a sense of individuality in the way a player chooses to build, but is tied directly to each champion.

4. Stop throwing esports at us. For otaku who want to keep up with their favorite teams, have a place for them. Have a hub that's easy to get to and has all the stats, streams, builds and analysis shows they could ever want. For the rest of us, looking at constant esports promos just reminds us of two things: First, that you care about your marketable pros more than we peasants who keep your game afloat... and second, that most of us will never make money playing your game. For many, the game begins to feel pointless when you think "Well, the whole point is to climb to challenger and I'll never get there." Then you go back to a more casual game.

5. Separate the rankings. Don't have the normal ranked system be where you climb to Challenger. Allow those who seriously think they can make a living playing video games compete for a spot on the challenger's circuit within their own rankings ladder, and let those of us who just want to see where our skills stack up against the world compete on another. Part of what makes ranked play so toxic and unenjoyable is the amount of people in Bronze who truly believe their teammates are the only thing holding them back from a lucrative career of smashing four keys. Let the serious players compete together, and let the players who just want to have fun compete together.

6. Give us runes and masteries upfront. There is absolutely no reason to level-gate runes and masteries, aside from a false sense that you're gaining something by playing the game. You have hextech crafting now, so why not instead make runes free and give a substantial hextech reward for leveling up? This is especially hurtful mid-level. When you're sitting around 18 and getting queued with 25's or even 30's. They already have more knowledge of the game than you, and now they're also competing with more runes and masteries, of a higher value than yours? That gets frustrating for mid-level players very quickly.

7. Reward players at different levels. Not every player is going to push for platinum. Not every player wants to. I never played ranked at all until season 4 or so. I actually grinded my way to 30 almost solely on custom games with my friend. But those players exist, and are a pretty sizable portion of gamers. It would be wise to offer rewards per tier. The best players in the lower tiers each win an existing skin at the end of the season, or maybe some RP. Then as you go up the ladder, the rewards start getting better until you get into the exclusive skins and icons that platinum players get now. Giving less serious players something to strive for would help keep them interested in your game for the long haul.

8. Rework your champion release schedule. Back when you release a champion every two weeks, yes, there was some imbalance. But people always had something to look forward to. They always had a reason to check back in. The way it is now, we get maybe two or three champions a year, along with the occasional overhaul rework. It's sporadic and people who lose interest have no indication of when to check back for new content. I'm not business major, so I can't recommend how you might pace this, but I would strongly suggest a change in your champion release schedule. Because honestly, aside from visuals, I don't notice a huge difference between the quality of Syndra and Illaoi anyway.

9. Shorter games. Many people, especially in Asia which is a huge market, don't have the time for 40, 50, 60 minute games. Shortening the length of the game and making the action more condensed, more fast-paced would be healthy for both business and the fun level of the game. Heroes of the Storm, for example, has a model in which you're effective from level one and fights start as soon as you get into the lanes. Games are over in 20 minutes or less, and the whole game is full of action and engagement. I suggest drawing on this mentality to reduce the length of your games, which would allow you to hold more players' interest in the long term. If you're worried about esports, just increase the number of games played in a series. Problem solved!

10. Listen to your players. Don't make it a token thing. Don't have the occasional red post letting everyone know how cool your guys are because you understand the memes of the week. Don't have a forum where people can come to sound off on eachother without reaching your ears. Really listen. Hire people specifically to track and prioritize complaints filed from Facebook to the League forums, and address them not just internally, but to the players. If you're not going to do something that a lot of people are demanding, explain why. Let us know you're taking our thoughts into consideration.

11. Don't forget the rank and file. Zhuge Liang had a great deal to say about leadership, and how a leader can be successful. A lot of it had to do with how a leader treated the least of his subordinates. This is because the lower rungs are the driving force behind any endeavor. In feudal Japan, farmers were honored by the wise as the most important caste behind samurai and ronin; even above merchants and craftsmen. This is because those wise leaders recognized that without the most basic component of food to feed their armies, daimyo could do nothing with their positions.

You, Riot, are the leaders of this game. You make all the executive decisions. However, don't forget that you made this game for the enjoyment of all its players. Don't let high-level play dictate every decision made in the game. Don't tune everything for LCS play to the detriment of your bronze and silver players. Remember that in any group, the best of the best are very few as a matter of course. This is because the vast majority are average. What defines "average", in fact, is the fact that it's the state of the majority.

We average, rank and file players are your farmers. The game thrives when players pay money for skins and champions. If your average, rank and file players stop feeling heard or stop enjoying the game, they'll stop playing the game, which will lead to less revenue. The absolute most important element to keeping this game successful is not esports, but the average Bronze, Silver low Gold or unranked player.

I think I'll be stepping away from League, as I've had a bit much of the direction it's been taking. But I leave these points with the best of will, hoping this game that was once so fun, where I've enjoyed many hours of laughter, triumph, and competitive spirit, will one day be able to return to that state where it was so fun. Best of luck to you!

Bonus You might also want to change "LCS". If esports ever really takes off, Major League Baseball might sue. ;)