Some unpopular opinions about preseason and Riot's gameplay changes of late in general
Hold your downvotes m8's - I am not going to claim 5.22 is balanced nor going to say that the juggernauts are perfection. I am, however, going to boldly claim that I LOVE the DIRECTION that Riot's balance team has gone of late. I hope to explain to you why and possibly shed some positive light on these boards. And as a disclaimer, I've been playing since Season 2 so no I'm not some total newbie who doesn't no anything about the League of old and the so-called "good times".
**First off; Champion updates, mainly ADC's and Juggernauts. **
I honestly believe that Riot's intentions with all these reworks are fantastic, and I believe Riot sums it up pretty nicely when they say how they want to give every champ an identity. Frankly put, there are a lot - a LOT - of champs in League. In the past, there has been some valid acceptance for champs with a very simple, generic kit. Among those are many of the champs that Riot has now reworked, like Fiora, Garen, Darius, Caitlyn, and so on. With each rework is the reoccuring theme that Riot is trying to enforce - "champion identity". Garen seeking justice, Darius the lumbering reset machine, Fiora the fencer, Caitlyn the sniper - etc etc etc. This is something that is increasingly important for the growth of the game and is not something that can just be left to stay the same anymore. Not only does giving these champions unique identities make it more appealing, especially to newer players just learning the game, it opens up design space for future champions.
A very important feeling that I get from Riot's reworked champions is this feeling of a unique presence on the Rift. I feel like I have a specific threat and a specific danger as well as specific weaknesses, and I feel the same way when they're on my team or on the opponent's team. Each champion feels like it has IMPORTANCE and doesn't just feel like a ball of stats with some abilities pasted on. A presence does NOT correlate to being overpowered, although yes this was the case for several of the release juggernauts (due to community feedback mind you) and a couple of the current ADC's. A presence simply means that there are involving and interesting gameplay characteristics which makes the champion feel like it cannot be overlooked. An example of healthy presence is the new reworked Caitlyn - the feeling of being a zone-control sniper brings a unique persona that both the player, his team, and his opponents take into account and has sufficient counterplay. An example of an unhealthy presence is someone like Jax (sorry jax). His presence can be only really be described as "if this champ gets fed or it hits late game he jumps at me and I die. Also don't 1v1 him (even more true with the currently imbalanced rageblade)".
And before someone makes the "champion identity is just a rito's way of putting a mini-game on every champ loloolololol" retort, these so called "mini-games" have always been part of healthy champ design. Just look at Orianna. Orianna is what the majority of the community sees to be the quintessential healthy, balanced, engaging and fun to play champion - and her entire kit revolves around what you could call a ball "mini game". It invites teamwork, counterplay, and skillful play, and I wholeheartedly believe the majority (not all) of Riot's reworks do the same.
That was only a very brief overview of why I think Riot's direction with champ reworks are fantastic, and I don't want to go into specific case studies on each individual rework and why I think they're a step in the right direction. But as a generic statement, I believe that (almost) every rework invites counterplay, unique and important game presence, and healthy champion design that can be balanced with simple number tweaks. The main and obvious exception here being Mordekaiser, which is a very confusing ordeal that took good intentions and tried to force them down our throats. Kinda like "hey kids, we've got this delicious new idea for dessert, NOW FUCKING EAT IT, I DONT EVEN CARE IF YOUR MOUTH IS CLOSED, THIS IS HAPPENING AND THIS IS HAPPENING NOW, I DON'T CARE WHAT I HAVE TO DO TO MAKE IT HAPPEN". But anyways, enough about champs.
Next; Vision changes and tempo-based changes
These are hands-down the defining changes of Season 6, the ADC's take the backseat when it comes to the game-wide impact of these changes, and yes, they are scary. But I believe they are healthy. Why?
Because they encourage more PRO-active gameplay, and less REactive gameplay when ahead.
This may not seem to be the case in 5.22, but it sure will be in 5.23 when the minion changes actually come into effect. While people are quick to say that it is less likely for comebacks to happen this season, I disagree completely - it is simply to way in which comebacks happen which is different. In previous seasons, a comeback was generally obtained in very long games in which the losing team turtled out the disadvantage and made some clutch decisions and teamfights. In season 6 however, comebacks are going to be more like a swing, back and forth, and quicker. A comeback does not have to mean you're down for 50 mins straight then make a few clutch plays. Yes, these will be rare in Season 6, as for games to go long, the two teams must trade periods of advantage of disadvantage. YES, THIS IS ABSOLUTELY MORE THAN POSSIBLE AND WILL HAPPEN. These complaints about towers being too weak and a single lost teamfight giving too much advantage to the opposite team works BOTH ways.
In the past, a won teamfight at 15 minutes could mean maybe a tier one tower and a dragon. If the opposing team wins the next one at 20 mins, often they can get a tier one tower to make up for their first one they lost. In season 6, a won teamfight at 15 minutes means twice as much as it used to, but it also means that the opponent can also MAKE UP for twice the ground they used to. I've had some really huge comeback swings in which we were down the majority of the game then were able to win a fight, baron, AND inhib at 30 minutes - we then proceeded to get picked off and still lost the game at around minute 35. Is it harder to win fights and get back into the game when the opponent gets double the gain from their first teamfight victory than they have in past seasons? This depends on how proactive they are.
ENTER MINION CHANGES (please note these are not yet in the game)
I feel like these are in general, very misinterpreted. This is NOT simple buff for the winning team. IT IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD. With stronger minion pushing comes more responsibility of actually being proactive and doing something with this advantage. Winning lanes and teams can no longer freeze and manipulate creep waves to slowly choke their opponents out (this was EXTREMELY frustrating to play against). This is what's to blame for so much of the stagnant meta the past season - reactionary play while ahead was easier to pull of and much less risky than the "high-risk, medium reward" proactive play. Now that the reward has been changed from medium to borderline necessary, it is going to be a much more common sight to see teams actually DOING SOMETHING WITH THEIR LEAD. Instead of freezing and punishing their opponents attempts to make plays, they must make plays themselves and successful rotations around the map. If they don't, their opponent will have the waves push into them and get back into the game through increased gold income. And before someone argues that this wont matter for players who actually know what they are doing, and that a good team that gains an advantage will always be able to snowball it, keep in mind that there are almost always RISKS to making proactive plays. In a theoretical example of two equally skilled teams, the losing team may very well punish one or more of the risks the winning team attempts to pull off in their hopes of closing out the game; and as we know because of the weaker towers and longer death timers, one punished mistake can go a long way towards a comeback.
In total, I theorize that after patch 5.23, you will all be seeing MORE comebacks rather than less comebacks. Right now the game is in a state of inbalance as much of you are quick to point out, and this is largely due to numbers being off and an extremely important component to the tempo adjustments of the game being absent.
I wish I could get into items and masteries, but it's 3:50am and I am tired. Maybe some other time.
TL;DR - numbers need tweaking from masteries, items, and champions, hundreds of bugs need to be fixed, and arguably one of the most important parts of the patch needs to be implemented, which means 5.22 is somewhat of a shitshow, BUT IT IS STILL A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION TOWARDS HEALTHY, INVOLVING GAMEPLAY.
