I don't even know why i play this game anymore

deadlychuck·Jan 18, 2015·106 votes·9,399 views

It feels like World of Warcraft, where the only reason i play is because i have so much time invested and my friends.

The game doesn't feel like there is any chance of exploration in builds or gameplay because for the sake of balance riot has systematically removed all of the stuff in the game that made it interesting. They've constantly pushed the power of the meta up, to the point where anything that isn't in the meta is almost impossible, and not building the most optimal way on champions means you are miles behind by build alone.

Sure, people will always crunch numbers and find the "best" way to build or do something, but that just means that the other options should be close enough to the "best" options that skill and knowledge can overcome that gap. The game lost that. The game has become so simplified. Yeah there is more complexity in the game, but it's complexity in the sense of, "riot gave you a lot of different things to do", rather than "riot made a complex game with a lot of different interactions".

112 Comments

Lost In TimeJan 18, 201527 votes

Itemization is stale and they keep removing fringe/niche items every season

MrScytheJan 18, 20156 votes

{quoted}

Itemization is stale and they keep removing fringe/niche items every season

Agreed, I was so annoyed when they removed the Sword of the Divine. Having that thing on Twitch was a godsend. It was amazing for "breaking the meta" builds too like full AD Sion. Executioner's calling was also one of my favorites for Yasuo, it was a cheap early game item that gave 2 stats Yasuo needed to have a sustained early/mid game. You could sell it later for something else too, which seems to be somehting Riot is completely trying to discourage now.

The only reason I still play is because the majority of my friends play this game too...

aaronconlinJan 19, 20152 votes

I really miss Executioner's Calling. That was my go-to item for laning against heavy sustain champions.

SexyTaylorSwiftJan 18, 201515 votes

Whenever I feel like that, I just start playing a new champ at a different role lol. Don't look up builds or anything, just wing it. Then I feel like a noob again :D

BallisticMouseJan 18, 20154 votes

The recommended are pretty accurate now a day though.

deadlychuckJan 18, 20158 votes

I actually do this a lot, the problem is that while you might be able to make it work in the laning phase and even mid game, having a miss balanced late game team is almost impossible.

SchneidRproJan 18, 20156 votes

I think you might enjoy dota more than lol. Dota's interactions rely more on item diversity while in lol interactions come more from the champion's kits.

I played both for awhile when I first got into mobas, but in the end I decided I liked lol's champion kits a lot more so I stuck with lol.

Deep Terror NamiJan 18, 201514 votes

If you don't like a game, just quit. Spur of the moment; give away anything you can to friends and destroy the rest, delete your characters, delete the game off your hard-drive, remove links to the websites, and just get rid of it entirely. Don't think about it, just do it.

SEKAIJan 18, 201526 votes

For those who used to love the game may criticise on why they no longer like it, what they think went wrong or discussion about the flaws on certain aspects of the game etc.

If this is just a guy who tries a game out and found that he doesn't like, sure he makes a few points (like first impressions, let's plays or review) then just leave, it won't tax on him. But for those who had Invested in that particular game, there is nothing wrong voicing his/her opinion on something he lost interest in for whatever reason after playing it for months or years, he/she has every right to.

deadlychuckJan 18, 201510 votes

thank you, i've actually been playing since November 2010, i've seen just about every change that has been made to this game, and until about 1.5-2 years ago the game was still awesome to me. Then something changed, idk if it was abrupt or slowly, but it just stopped being fun.

AbodyHUN666Jan 18, 20153 votes

I think you might be a bit burnt out. Similar things happen to me sometimes when I play a lot then I get kinda bored of the game, and it's perfectly normal. You became experienced, you don't really find new thing anymore, you have greater insight into changes and you know which changes you like and which you don't like. You should try some other games to see if you like them more and you might come back to lol some day.

Deep Terror NamiJan 18, 201517 votes

You've completely misinterpreted what I was saying.

I wasn't saying "shut up noob, quit if you don't like it", I was telling him how to move past it when he keeps getting pulled back simply because he has a lot invested in it.

The entire purpose of these games is to have fun. If you are not having fun, you need to move on, and many people find it hard to do so and it just becomes a chore.

SEKAIJan 18, 20155 votes

Ah sorry if I misunderstood your point.

ZamiakeJan 18, 20155 votes

no one cares. He has every right to voice his opinion regardless if he is staying or not. He most likely invested the money into the game after his time. I'd gladly listen to an experianced player say exactly what alot of older players are feeling.

Deep Terror NamiJan 18, 20156 votes

dafuq? did you even read what you replied to?

ZamiakeJan 18, 20154 votes

Never

Nived123Jan 18, 20155 votes

ayyy lmao

1999 01 17Jan 18, 201512 votes

I up and stopped playing for like 2 years. if it's not fun don't do it. people cling to games they no longer like way too often.

FiskJan 18, 201511 votes

Honestly, I've been playing this game for 3 years and I definitely wouldn't say the game is strategically less diverse. All of the annoying gimmicks that made champions have unhealthy game patterns (such as AP tryndamere) were removed but, basically every thing else is still there. Sure there are a few meta champs that do great but in the end people win with plenty of odd stuff. I've seen yorick and cass supports, ezreal jungle, twisted fate jungle, vayne, graves and quinn top and so much more. There are plenty of viable options in this game that you can win with. Will you ever see a pro? No because they are only ever going to play what is the absolute best, not necessarily what is viable but there is so much diversity in this game it's absurd. Have you thought maybe you've just grown tired of the game after a while? It might not be league that feels unplayable. Maybe go try a new game, download smite, dota, team fortress two, counter strike or heroes of the storm. All of those are tons of fun. Or maybe try a great mmo like wow or maplestory. You really might find that just taking a break from league for a couple of months might allow you to enjoy playing it again.

ZirzonJan 18, 20152 votes

I think a big reason that people get frustrated with the "meta" is that they remember back to when they started the game and didn't follow any meta. However, just because they didn't know about it doesn't mean it didn't exist back then. Once they gain the knowledge that certain methods of playing the game work better on average (the meta), they get the illusion that breaking the meta is no longer allowed. The truth is that they were only ignorant to the meta at the time they broke it. They miss not knowing how their champion and role choice affects the likely outcome of the game.

Unless they miss "breaking the meta" as playing something like AP Yi, which then I don't care what they say, some things deserve to be removed.

blueberrypancakeJan 18, 20152 votes

There was an LCS game where a team played Ezreal Jungle a long time ago. And very recently back in December a new EU LCS team beat TSM with TF Jungle. I like how you said play a different game for a while. I play Hearthstone a lot when I'm having a hard time in LoL. Then I eventually change my main position so its enjoyable again. I went from a Shen to XinZhao to Kayle to Nunu to Taric top for some fuckin reason to Akali then now I'm on Malphite support cuz yolo attack speed debuffs.

SEKAIJan 18, 20156 votes

Different levels of bad'ness.

A game with crazy amount of interactions and meaningful decisions and diversities being trusted into the players' hand has a price of the burden of knowledge. You've seen that in Dark Souls and you've seen that in Dota, where it's just not new player friendly, but at least in Dark Souls you can just play offline at you own pace which is not the case with Dota, new players getting completely pwned, rekt and all self esteem lost (exaggeration) is no news there.

LoL tries to cater to become a more new player or casual friendly approach, which they DID succeed I may add but they went too far with the introduction of S3, S4 tried to ease some of that and S5 while some aspect looks great and the others just leave way, way more to be desired.

I wish Riot do not simply toss the idea of "burden of knowledge" out of the window because that will, signal announcement of the game's death.

Please give us more things, not more choices, just straight up more things. Lay them out on the table, let the players decide, if you consistently do that, this game will live, for a very long time.

deadlychuckJan 18, 20157 votes

This is exactly what world of warcraft did towards the end of Wotlk, they started to conform to what the community was doing, and giving options instead of tools. They implemented gear score (even though they had already done it behind the scenes for a while) and forced people to go down the talent trees to force people into picking one of 31 (4 for druid and without the monk) play styles, this just became more true when they changed the talents to effectively the glyph system.

Now champions are designed with very specific roles and builds in mind, and balanced around being played in that way. Yeah there are a few things that slip by riot's design team AP RekSai , but riot now quickly nerfs the alternate ways of playing. Although when Azir and Gnar were released, everyone knew how they were going to be played, and there really isn't any way to play them otherwise.

SEKAIJan 18, 20157 votes

I don't mind champions being 1 dimensional, a great deal of heroes in Dota don't require a lot of brains to understand and play either, I don't think that's where the problem lies.

The problem is the lack of variety of actions between champions, the lack of different strategies like idk triple lanes, double jg, that kind of stuff and EDIT LACK OF ACTIVE ITEMS. Even though there is plenty of synergies between champions, it kinda just feel wasted to shoehole most of the entire game into 1 single strategy mindset.

Teambuild IS a step to a right direction, what should follow up is the policy change on Riot's balance department, if they do that (and the community don't sheep about meta and pro scene as much), it would truly be great.

RaptameiJan 18, 20153 votes

{quoted}

Different levels of bad'ness.

A game with crazy amount of interactions and meaningful decisions and diversities being trusted into the players' hand has a price of the burden of knowledge.

League has a much higher burden of knowledge than Dota. In Dota you can just click on people and read their spells and items, and if you hold down Alt, it gives you all of the specific technical information.

In League, well, if you don't know how Zed or Rekt works, good luck fighting against them. You can't even really tell when Sona reduces your damage, let alone know it exists unless you read her kit. You have to guess which abilities are physical and which are magic because it makes no sense. Etc.

DynamiteGazelleJan 18, 20156 votes

Agreed. Riot needs to start giving more champions some alternate scalings and uses so people can do off meta builds and still be able to at least compete.

Things like AP rek'sai nerf. Why? It was a fun build that could be decent, but is obviously just for fun because it relies entirely on one skill out of 6. Literally no reason to nerf it. Before her rework AD Nidalee was a viable off build for her, but post rework AD scalings were gutted and it's just not a good build anymore.

Champions like Ezreal, Kog'Maw, Tristana (as of now), and Twisted Fate should be the golden standard here. Each able to build AD or AP and have a reasonably good time doing it. Of course this doesn't have to work for every champion, but they definitely shouldn't nerf off builds a la Rek'Sai because they're not really a threat to game health anyways.

Ezreal KogMaw Tristana TwistedFate RekSai Nidalee

Incest420Jan 18, 20153 votes

Your opinion on game balance is lacking heavily... Nerfing the ap scaling was necessary on reksai not for the 'ap reksai' build but for the insane trinity force build. If you didnt see that insane winrate over the last week or 2 of her being released she was an absolute monster in soloque and still is. As for off meta builds, there are plenty of different build paths for different champions to make them viable in ranked play, sure ad carries are a little sparce but if you build a runaans on say jinx or kalista I feel like you're no less potent if you're positioning well and adapting your play style accordingly. No champion should have a golden standard as to being able to play more than one way there are far too many champions and way too much to balance to cater to you wanting to play a select few champions in as many different ways as you please while keeping the competitive scene in tact.

Blunts4BrekfastJan 18, 20156 votes

Yea this game is super frustrating. For me its not so much the staleness as it is Riot constantly changing the champions I enjoy.

Oh, you like giving allies armor and mana? New raka doesnt have that.

Oh, you like giving allies xp even if they are in a different lane? New zilean doesnt have that.

Oh, you like doing fiddle's combo? New fear makes them run straight out of your drain lowering your dmg a crazy amount.

Oh, you like giving allies invincibility on a short cd? New kayle has a big increase on her ult cd but now it costs zero mana ??? (as a kayle player this still makes me say WTF, we dont need free invincibility. Hell, teemo cant even press W to speed HIMSELF up for free, but I can make someone else invincible for free? wtf?)

Yeah, the game is frustrating. For lots of reasons. But it can be fun too I guess.

FiskJan 18, 20153 votes

Not sure if sarcastic.... xD

BallisticMouseJan 18, 20155 votes

item 3070 This is too accurate.

KalarepaJan 18, 20155 votes

That's why I play only ARAMs and temporary modes. The "meta" killed all the joy from trying new things in this game. And no, the meta doesn't really change. It's the same 2 solo lanes + jungle + ranged ADC with 0 cs support bot lane since S2.

And when something counters the meta (especially when it counters AD carries), then instead of trying different ways to play the game, people mindlessly stick to the meta and cry to Riot for nerfs. And Riot always listens.

People don't think outside of the box anymore. It's like forbidden sin to even think about trying 2 junglers or 2 bruisers bot or anything else.

RaptameiJan 18, 20154 votes

{quoted}

That's why I play only ARAMs and temporary modes. The "meta" killed all the joy from trying new things in this game. And no, the meta doesn't really change. It's the same 2 solo lanes + jungle + ranged ADC with 0 cs support bot lane since S2.

And when something counters the meta (especially when it counters AD carries), then instead of trying different ways to play the game, people mindlessly stick to the meta and cry to Riot for nerfs. And Riot always listens.

This is because the game is much more about collecting champions than Dota. In Dota, champion select is part of the game and you are expected to pick in accordance with your team's chosen strategy, because picking what you "like" will make you directly responsible for a ton of losses.

In League, people get so attached to their champions (skins, paywall) that they expect to be able to play those champions all the time no matter what, so the idea of picking with the aim of assembling a specific team comp to do something specific is out of the question. A Dota scenario where your team decides to go AoE deathball and you have to pick Amumu or Galio would not be accepted by the community.

CaesarFlickermanJan 18, 20153 votes

Paywall? Go on.

CaesarFlickermanJan 18, 20158 votes

People don't think outside of the box anymore. It's like forbidden sin to even think about trying 2 junglers or 2 bruisers bot or anything else.

Then get friends.

I know that comes off as rude, but I read all of this as stunts you attempted in solo queue without even screening your teammates and getting butthurt about it.

2pudge1cupJan 18, 20155 votes

Part of the reason why I've liked this genre is because although maps are the same, there's enough variety that no two games feel the same.

With LoL's system of slotting things, I don't get that feeling after playing a while. It feels like the opposite where the games are always the same.

Take a break. Maybe you'll come back recharged. Maybe you'll just move on entirely. It's never a good idea to play something because you feel "invested." Play what's fun.

Stars ShaperJan 18, 20155 votes

Because is less time consuming than MMOs added to the fact that there are no good RPGs out.

lDontLiftIcarryJan 18, 20155 votes

riot removed what made this game my favorite moba after aeon of strife. They removed depth.

If you don't know what depth is then you don't know the right reasons to love a game.

Games like broodwar had depth. Tons of it. There was more depth in an ounce of broodwar than there ever will be in any other game I've ever played.

There was more depth in UT2004 than there ever will be in any FPS i've ever played Same with Halo 1(combat evolved)

ZamiakeJan 18, 20153 votes

If you want a game with tons of depth then hit me up we can play Mech Warrior Online. Crap tons of depth there if you want to be any good

MalganaJan 18, 20155 votes

"We don't enforce the meta." - Riot 2012. "That thing you're doing? stop doing it. NOW." - Riot 2014.

RIP proxy singed, early top lane tower pushing strats, and itemization for anything that isn't an ADC or Riots favorite blind monk.

Lets face it though, Lee could build literally anything and still wreck people like it's nothing, maybe OP should play him to get the insane amount of itemization paths he wants.

Kitsuki05Jan 18, 20154 votes

Dude half of what I ever do is play unconventionally. Riot is constantly implementing new things that add more interactions to champions (zz'rot portal anybody?) Just because they disable stupid stuff like AP Rengar who blows up entire teams by pressing W twice in a row, doesn't mean they remove all creativity. You just have to think more creatively than "ooo I know, build the opposite of what I'm supposed to!"

ZamiakeJan 18, 20154 votes

100% The day they stole iron bulwark i finally saw what they were trying to build today. A boring ass game with little that can actually be built without completely ruining your chances.

I mean seriously riot? I am support and i more or less play the same dam thing every time. Sight stone and play as passively as possible becuase they nerf fucking every support worth anything

MeanFacedJohnnyJan 18, 20154 votes

Shureylia's Reverie and F.O.N. for me. New support items suck and if you want to tank you will build the same 3-4 items every game. I feel you.

Sadistic CheeseJan 18, 20154 votes

I agree with you to an extent. It's a shame there's such an enforced meta, but you'd be surprised at the variation. I suppose this could be one of those situations where, like Starcraft or Chess, you don't have creative freedom over strategy unless you're at the very lowest or very highest levels; but given what I've heard, the meta is surprisingly flexible.

The Korean and Chinese metas for example, can be staggeringly different in terms of champion pool than what we do here on the NA server. Granted my friends and I have a running joke that the Koreans and Chinese players play whatever the hell they feel like since they're so godly at it all that counter-picks mean nothing. But I don't think that that's always the case.

Sure, in Solo Queue you're gonna find a lot of people who will demand you stick to the meta. Particularly in Ranked. Furthermore yes, nerfs and such do sometimes get pulled according to meta; though sometimes even that is questionable (still kinda scratching my head as the Sona Nerf Train continues to run her over....poor woman.)

Have you tried gathering a group and doing 10-man premade games? I occasionally do it with friends and often that's where we pull out the most absurd stuff. I think a buddy of mine and I actually discovered the pure delight of Xerath/Caitlin bot-lane through that. (the poke is real. Sadly I have a tendency to over-harass and run short on mana.) Things slip through the cracks that are entirely plausible. (It's silly but I still think Shen Support is in that category, though I don't use it much anymore.)

Riot buffs and nerfs according to the meta, yes. But more than that we as a community play to the meta that we made. It's not always fun, but you might be surprised what comes up that falls through the cracks every now and again. It's not much, and I don't break the meta often, but it's usually enjoyable when I do.

FatesDefilerJan 18, 20153 votes

It feels like the game, while releasing in many new territories and trying to gain new players, has been simplified to the point of almost every decision being binary. Taking the balance between damage and resistance items into account, it seems like the game is purposely balanced to remove all thought from the item buying process and simply make it into 'whoever buys the most, biggest swords wins.' maybe it was done intentionally, maybe not, but the game's in a worse condition than I've seen it since I started playing when the original ninja trio was released. Since snowdown was removed, I don't play anymore than maybe a couple bot games a week.

lDontLiftIcarryJan 19, 20153 votes

I've moved on from alot of games in my time. League will soon be replaced by gigantic and black desert online when I get a better computer.

Im done with this game after 5 years. I played alpha. I owned black alistar. etc etc etc.

I've seen it all when it comes to this game I was there. I experienced it and felt the changes. The game was at its peak before ahri was released. and then everything after and including ahri was just the decent into madness for me personally. The champion kits lacked depth and instead had alot of damage and things to do instead of that.

champions like jayce that have alot of stuff to do but require in reality very little skill to completely squash the enemy in lane simply because his stats were and still are so high.

Spikers(people who play w/e's fotm.. this includes pros) Don't really care because they just want their elo or their wins or actually enjoy the broken champion kits.... w/e their reason. Its not my reason. I fell in love with a moba that had depth. I lost my love for a moba that sacrificed depth for ingenuity and complexity.. This game has become more often then not a chore for me to play now and I feel sad when I admit it.

The only reason I can't move on is I'm limited because of the people I support in real life and the lack of funds this allows me for "me" time. At the end of every month I barely have 100 dollars to spend on anything I want. And thats assuming I don't have extra bills or something. This money goes into the bank for those random accidents. And then is used up generally 2-3 times a year for doctor visits from sickness or car falling apart.. w/e... I don't get to just start over on a new game. I'm stuck with older games. Games I've loved since day 1 of their release. I'm not complaining.

I'm just saying thats how it is for me.

I've watched giants like runescape die. Broodwar come and go. Guild wars 1 have its time. I've seen the hype of games like firefall and what they promise. I've seen what activision did to CoD after CoD4 I've seen the halo franchise be turned to ashe by releases like Destiny sundering the name of bungie and 304 destroying the story that made halo 1-3 so amazing to play.

I've seen lots of things.

But riots is special in the fact that they can change. Before they're truely run by some higher corporate hand. but they won't They change for the sake of change. And not for the sake of the community. And this will be their downfall in the end.

-bows my head in silence- May you truely see your mistakes before it is too late riot. may you truely.

PL55Jan 18, 20152 votes

When I first started playing, I loved this game because of how many things I could do and the people playing with me were learning too. Now that I have every champion that I want and hit level 30 a while ago it feels like there is no reason to play anymore. Also my teammates will hate my guts if I mess up once and pretty much forget all the good things I did for them, and this is in normals. In ranked people feel they have an excuse to be rude and troll.

MeanFacedJohnnyJan 18, 20152 votes

Have to agree mostly. Started this game when Brand was released, (whenever that was) and apart from the limited edition game modes and team builder, the game has really fell off from what it used to be. Any more I get urges to play here and there, and for the most part I do have fun when I play, but the main reason I still play is out of a sense of obligation because I've invested so much time and money into this game.

I enjoy games like Dragons and Titans, or Infinite Crisis because they are not so bogged down by the "meta" or the "pro scene", but still return to this game only because I've invested so much into it. (That being said my buddy and I played a Leona/Blitz bottom lane last night and had a blast. Lost the game but only lost our lane when they 5 manned us bot. And no one ever bitched at us. It was a nice change of pace. Draven died many deaths.)

But yeah, this game is becoming more and more cookie cutter simplicity.

werewolvecasterJan 18, 20152 votes

I agree with you bro this game is feeling stale I have tried going to new mobas then it was kinda fun again. You just need a break from league but Riot could do more for their game.

MAZZ1M0Jan 18, 20152 votes

A lot of it is the simplified interaction with champions -the map. If the map was more complicated, more strategies and builds would be viable. It's too simplified and forces 1v1 matchups by necessity which strengthens meta.