I think we're at a point where Riot is actually unable to "know better" than the playerbase (rant)

Let me start this off by saying this isn't a stab at Riot. In the past there is no doubt that they have had a better idea on how to balance the game, disregarding much of the feedback from the playerbase at little cost to the game's health. They have after all made arguably the most popular game of all time.

That said I don't think this is true anymore. The game is simply too massive for the small collection of people employed at Riot Games to be able to honestly say they know better. There just isn't any way to substitute the millions of hours of gameplay the playerbase can achieve compared to the tiny fraction Riot employees can. It's not possible.

There's no more clear evidence for this than the assassin rework. and ? Fine, good job on those, really. I can tell the people who worked on them cared about making their kits interesting. But , and ? Nothing was gained, just all the fun and expression sucked out of them, making their playstyles completely binary and clunky.

I'll be the first to admit assassins were annoying af. But is it any coincidence that after the assassin rework we enter an ADC meta? The steadily accrued stats ADCs had been given over the years was always kept in check by assassins being able to at the very least trade their own life to kill them in late game team fights.

But I don't think it's because assassins are necessarily all that weak. can still be a monster, and so can or in capable hands. But no one wants to play them. They all feel like ass. There is now so much waiting and delays baked into their kit that they're unsatisfying to play. Again, it's not that they're not strong. I don't want to play them because they're not fluid and fun anymore.

Every change made to the previously mentioned champions feels glued on and unnatural. I have a lot of trouble imagining that any of the rioters employed on reworking them consulted any of their mains or was a main themselves. And I just have to wonder, wtf? What kind of arrogance is needed to completely change much beloved and mained champions when you don't even like or competently play them yourself?

And you can say this is a salt post or whatever, and that I should "just move on and adapt." Well guess what? I did. I'm an ADC main now and I still enjoy the game because of this. ADCs are infinitely more fun than any of the assassins I spammed in S6 after the rework. In fact, if you lost a lot of your interest in this game since the assassin rework I'd suggest you try ADC. It feels similar to how they were in a way. You have an interesting laning phase with distinct matchups and you can do flashy outplays in mid/late game.

And even after I switched roles, is still my second highest mastery point champion even though I played her maybe 5 games this season. She feels nothing like she did in S6, I'm not sure why she has the same name. But I guess she has the same sound and VFX so it's the same champion.

I don't know. I'm not saying assassins were perfect or always fair. And truth is, they're probably just as broken as they were back then. But I suspect the reasons they're not being played as much has little to do with their strength. They just feel awful and have become uninteresting and a chore to play. I wish Riot had a policy to consult more with a champion's playerbase before significantly changing a champion many have come to love and have put many hours in.

Surprises for new champions are great because nothing is taken away. But as time goes on and the game gets more and more complex, Riot is becoming less able to pull off well received surprises for something like an "assassin rework" where popular and classic champions are involved. I'd rather the champion gets nerfed into the ground if they're identified as a problem until Riot has the resources to put a real effort into a rework where the enthusiasts are consulted for critical changes and something is created that everyone on both sides is happy and proud of. But I guess if I was a Rioter I'd want carte blanche myself to indulge my superior whims so I can't really say anything.