@Riot Can we talk about your rework prioritizations?

Koechophe··1 votes·342 views

Recently you guys have pushed through reworks on Garen, Mord, Darius, Skarner, Fiora and Gangplank. Of those, the only champion who was plagued with low win/pick rates was probably Gangplank. There were a few isolated complaints about Fiora being unbalanced, but none more than people complain about Teemo or Shaco. No one seemed to have any problem with most of those champions, yet they were given the luxury of reworks and attention.

In contrast, we have Poppy, Taric, Urgot, and Yorick, all of whom have been completely ignored by riot despite consistently low win and pick ratios, and despite calls for help on their kits. They are considered toxic when effective, so they've all been nerfed to the point where they are barely viable. I understand that you guys have different people on different projects, but these people have been a consistent problem for years and have recieved no attention. I can find posts as old as 3 years old about how poppy, or yorick, or urgot are all toxic and in need of work, but there have been numerous other champions who really didn't need reworks that recieve them first.

So why is it that you guys work on champions who are already in a relatively healthy (or at the very least usable) state while ignoring ones that you have openly acknowledged as being problematic? You can't honestly say that you've been working on those four for the last 3 years and haven't been able to come up with anything... so why do they get shoved on the back burner?

I would really like some clarification here. As a devoted player, it feels pretty crumby to see primo treatment given to healthy champions while others languish in a proverbial trash heap without any real sign or indication that they're recieving any attention. I know poppy is slated for a rework, as is taric, but why are they so far behind champs who didn't need it, and what about the other two?

Upvote and bump for clarification on this. Thanks for your time.

5 Comments

disregardable1 votes

Basically, the champion designers at Riot are creative individuals, not slave drivers. They try to make something work, and if it doesn't work, they just have to move on to something else. Better to try to create something amazing with an idea you have than try to force something that doesn't feel good.

Koechophe1 votes

The goal of gameplay and design is to make the game better, and the prioritization should be placed on champions who pose the biggest problem to game health. I'm all for riot trying new and creative things, but I don't understand why they do so at the expense of champions who sorely need attention. These guys have been a problem consistenlty for 3 ish years now. I accept that not everything they try works, but if they've really been trying for all this time, they would have produced something by now. Since they haven't, my question is, why haven't they been trying on the champs who obviously need it?

disregardable1 votes

Because that'd be trying to force ideas instead of focusing on the actual good ideas you already have....

Koechophe1 votes

Good ideas are easy. If an individual on the balance team is talented and wants to work on a champion, they can do so. You're advocating that these people be ignored because riot's balance team doesn't want to work on them. Phrase it however you want, but ideas are not the hard part; most of the work lies in creating and testing. I am questioning why riot is unwilling to do this. The answer "because they don't want to" is insufficient; It's the rework team's job to help balance the game, champions who make it unbalanced by being underpowered should be prioritized.

Brycerras1 votes

Its more accurate to say its a mixture of a few things such as: Whos played more/most - Theyd want to fix and touch up champs that are popular already to keep the ball rolling on the game. Poppy, yorick, urgot, and etc are so far behind that people stopped caring and thus theyre rarely played comparatively, and thus receive less attention for reworks, which feeds into itself as a vicious cycle. Second is more about they dont know HOW to fix these champions. The problem is that there are player expectations of how these champions operate. The problem comes down to keeping the feel and look of who these champs are but also introducing new/fresh elements that arent broken or under powered. Take poppy for example. If they scrap her kit completely for a new one, she really isnt Poppy anymore, but a new champion with an old design/model. That may get the design and model to be used more, but essentially you have a new champ, which wont satisfy old players. Fixing the old kit with mods and tweaks to make it viable but still keeping the core of what it is has the issue of power. When poppy is in good hands and all the stars align and she snowballs, she decimates fairly easily. But often enough, she is extremely easy to counter and out play. And tweaks and buffs in any direction with her current kit goes quickly from being a joke to being god mode.

So, Riot probably wants to fix these champs, but cant figure out a way to do that with out some real draw back. You can take a look at Fiora's 'new' kit, and a lot of people will tell you that it really isnt what they were expecting and isnt really what 'fiora' is or was. And keep in mind that for all teh rework, she still has essentially a few of her core mechanics still intact.

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