Where'd The Fun Go?
Ranked - Same Match over and over, different people moving the champions. Maybe someone will troll, just to break the monotony? Normals - Mostly people practicing for Ranked, and same idea applies. Sometimes someone will build something weird and get screamed at for 30 minutes. ARAM - For the past month? Same as Ranked. Same champions (out of a possible 134) over and over, different people moving them about. Occasionally you get the collection of this small selection of champions that absolutely destroys no matter what the enemy does. What fun. Yay.
What happened to League? The dynamic, shifting, ever flowing game of strategy and skill that this place was when it hit the market like an avalanche, inventing an entire genre of games and an entirely new sport?
- Streamlined to the point that RIOT can basically tell you the outcome of a game without needing to even see champ select.
- You can watch a movie while playing now, every champion merely habitual repeating of combinations and items.
- No actual fixes to gameplay, mechanics, or bugs... unless it means that the store is malfunctioning. That gets fixed immediately.
- RIOT stands aloof from it's playerbase, the most interaction they have any more are forum Mods.
- Most Champions released are now basically better versions of existing champions.
- Items and Champion are thrown into the mix without appropriate testing.
- The game has become entirely Item based, whereas originally the big sales point was that it was skill based.
- Champions requiring skill to play are drown under Nerfs or simply reworked so anyone can play them.
- The 'Learning Curve' of League has been demolished.
- You cannot farm IP anymore, you now basically rely on the luck of a Loot System, as if this were an MMORPG.
- Runes no longer honestly matter. Alistair with Dark Harvest? Works. Alistair with Undying? Works. etc.
- Runes are now a bigger driver of gameplay at early game than items or skill. (I've reached the point that I use my runes to secure kills, instead of any real attempt made by me.)
- The difference in Level 1 Play and Level 30+ play is the options of modes you can choose from. Runes and Masteries used to be a mitigating factor, and something to work towards.
- Customization of your Runes/Masteries used to aid your playstyle. RIOT basically now demands your playstyle fit their options.
What happened? I remember extremely long posts by Morello, right here on the forums, that spoke -against- almost every change listed above. Under Morello's design and QA this game went from some unheard of little project by former DotA designers to a powerhouse in the gaming community that set trends and made real changes to the concepts of gaming. Now it's more basic of a game, streamlined to the point of banality, than WoW... which has worked SO WELL for WoW.
I can't do it anymore. I have loved, supported, and toughed through a ton of absolute BS in this game for over 8 years now. However, honestly, it seems there is no longer a point. RIOT Games is dead, or at least the manifestation of RIOT games that drew my support, money, and patience.
