[@Riot] A post about Gameplay and Goals, not Balance : Sivir

G1aD0S·8/5/2015, 5:56:34 AM·1 votes·731 views

Not Actual Post Stuff:

I don't mean to sound rude, (my low lvl people skills) but I'll get to the point for those who don't like walls of text: (I tend to rant on, I'll try my best)

PS: I understand and agree with Riot on Balance changes, I'm not here to rant on how Riot nerfed Sivir into being unplayable levels, I have no quarrels with the nerf bat, if a champion is too strong, its too strong.

Actual Post:

I wanna bring in something Riot said recently: > "In short, here are our goals: ... ~Each champion in League should feel distinct from one another " ----------------http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/page/gameplay-update-juggernauts

And then, Sivir.

Yes, her skill set feels relatively distinct, but will it stay that way?

Yes indeed, she feels special in the fact that she has no jumps and has to escape via movementspeed + a spell block shield.

(Rant: which btw it says it'll block 1 ability but in only blocks 1 effect, no matter how many effects/components an ability has)

With all the recent changes, she's starting to overlap with other adcs imo, more specifically with lucian + the loss of having good wave clear being a unique thing.

Sivir hasn't really lost her distinct feel quite yet, but for reasons I'm about to explain, I fear that she might.

On Sivir and Waveclear:

Waveclear used to be a lot harder to come by a few years ago, making Sivir one of the few champs that could wipe waves in seconds. With all the new items and champions, waveclear is becoming more and more taken for granted. Sivir's waveclear is still respectable, but doesn't feel anything too special or distinct from a gameplay prespective, hence, less distinct.

> And what's worse is that the fact that waveclear has been coming in the champion pool slowly enough that most people gradually don't realize/remember that this was a semi distinct high point on Sivir back in her remake.

(Rant: Kinda the same thing happened to Sivir and the intro of the furor enchantment imo.)

On Sivir and Lucian:

In the past, Lucian has been known to be kind of a mobility champ with waveclear, poke and chasing ability, something Sivir is relatively close to, but pros pick Sivir for her ulti engage/chase. But that edge has kinda dulled for Sivir:

Recent PBE change to Lucian: > Ardent Blaze (W): -- Now gives movement speed when Lucian OR his allies damage a marked target, instead of only Lucian. -- Movement speed increased to 60/65/70/75/80 from 40/45/50/55/60 -- Movement speed duration lowered to 1 from 2 seconds.

Now, I know the difference between the two is still pretty big but still, keep in mind, this is looking at it from gameplay perspective:

On top of that, Sivir's Ulti was nerfed recently: > R - On The Hunt 60% at all ranks ⇒ 40/50/60%

> Before you go on saying that the difference between the two is huge, (I know that), my point is: > Riot has deemed Sivir's Ultimate problematic due to how good she is at one of her strengths (that meshes well with current meta) and has deemed Lucian (a champion who shares simmilar strengths as Sivir, but distinguishably different champion) an appropriate candidate to buff in this same direction Sivir is getting nerfed.

Now think about what all this does to Sivir's high points/distinct points from a gameplay perspective: Imo, what this does from a gameplay perspective, is that it only serves to cut down on Sivir's high points, it also dampens them too.

Your thoughts about this plz?

PS: Through out the whole thing I don't mean to come off as rude or mad or anything, just worried sorry if my tone sounded otherwise >.< (Comeon, why is my people skills lvling up so slowly?)

> ---

From here on out this is all extra rant and all "IMHO"

I think Sivir is losing her defining points, slowly but steadily. And I think it's because her kit is too simple/linear. With Sivir's kit, you don't have any major mechanic that feels too unique. Her kit is just composed of a semi unique COMBINATION of minor, simple mechanics save for maybe 1 or 2 minor unique mechanics.

I think this is why Sivir either feels like an OP bully when she feels good or just on the better side of mediocre when she's not OP. Her gameplay feels unique and simple but as a result, most of the individual high points are dictated by stats rather than her actual experience as a whole.

Here's what I mean:

You can say, "Oh, I really felt good as Sivir by popping my Ulti just at the time, we got 3 more guys from it!" But you can just as easily feel that high point on a tank by making a super good engage, possibly with more satisfaction.

You could also say that "Oh, I really liked using my passive to kite/chase X Champion"(insert other champion with chasing/kiting highpoints) or "I liked blocking that spell with spell shield" (insert other champion with dodge/invicibility dodges/wall blocking high point)

But all of those high points can be found somewhere else, just not in a combination close to Sivir's kit...yet.

The point I'm getting to (if you're still even with me at this point) is:

The simple mechanics grant Sivir's high points nearly entirely independent of each other.
Sivir's mechanics are simple enough to be found elsewhere but in a combination odd enough to make Sivir's current particular combination unique.
I think, that if/when, in the future, some new champion/item combo grants that champion enough high points/in a simmilar enough combination to Sivir's, it's not gonna go well for either one of em.