I agree. Games are incredibly snowbally, and what with the paper mâché towers, Rift Herald and that huge bonus gold from first tower blood, it feels extremely difficult to get back into the game. Unless you are in lower rating, where people are more likely to make throws, it often feels unlikely for a game to go longer than 20-25 minutes, and even then, the odds are stacked in favour of the team who had the edge in the early game.
In my opinion, here are some changes I would implement or look at implementing to remedy this issue:
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Reverting the tower nerfs; I felt that they were fine as they were before, as now it is incredibly easy to push with a lead well before the 20 minute mark, with Rift Herald only adding to this issue. I would definitely buff the turrets and bring back the lasers on the Inhibitor and Nexus turrets. As is, being exactly like every other tower, they fall just as easily, making it way to easy for a team to snowball and barrel down the Nexus with little difficulty, which leads me onto my next point...
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Balancing, specifically when it comes to snowballing and 'stomps'. The game is not really at all enjoyable when you're behind, and with the Rift Herald, weak towers, and first blood tower gold, it feels like you're just a sitting duck for the enemy team to steamroll down the midlane, knocking over towers in seconds and granting very little if any chance for a turnaround. Heck, even if you do win a good fight when behind, chances are if your Inhibitor turrets are already down, and especially if the super minions have spawned, then your Nexus towers have already probably dropped to 1/3 health, which leaves you with the conundrum of choosing whether to seek out objectives like dragon, Baron, etc., when there's a high likelihood that the super minions will just finish the game either way. Do you stay at base, clear out minions, and wait for the enemy team to push down your towers while you try to defend anyway? Or seek out advantages and let the supers leave your towers in a position where a gentle breeze could knock them down? Maybe I'm not explaining this well; it's nearly 1:00 in the morning, so I'm perhaps not the most awake for this, but my point is that snowballing seems far too powerful and easy to achieve, and it is near impossible for teams to launch comebacks, especially in elos where their opponents are more coordinated and know which objectives to take.
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Rift Herald; not only does this beast not honestly feel competitive, but it only adds to the snowball effect. The enemy team gets a pick, forces first tower blood with three people botlane, barrels towards Rift Herald, then proceeds to take another tower and likely a good chunk of your middle inner tower all in the space of a few minutes. I don't know, I'm probably not explaining this well at all, and there's like some higher elo players that would have more informative input, but my point is that Rift Herald is another part of the problem.
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This is something I've heard someone else comment on, but it feels as though you are no longer rewarded for playing smart. If you try to play passively and farm up for your lategame, chances are some other part of the map will snowball, whether in your favour or against, forcing the game into a chaotic midgame far earlier than before. With ward limitations as well, and not being able to purchase green wards anymore, it feels like you're forced into this perpetual state of fighting; no longer can you try to farm up and wait for your items as you're thrust into the thick of things with nearly constant fighting. In my opinion, it doesn't feel competitive at all, and it seems that the only place I can see games be drawn out longer than 25-30 minutes is in the LCS, where playing safe and smart is a core factor due to team communication.
Conclusively, while I don't know any of the specific changes that would be needed in terms of number values and percentages and the like, and while I'm sure there's a higher elo player who can much better explain this than my tired, 1:00 in the morning self, my point is that games are definitely far too short, and they have been for quite some time now. It just doesn't feel enjoyable when every game seems to be a stomp in one team's favour, with little opportunities for comebacks, which were something that made the game interesting; seeing a team that fell behind early play smart and work together to pull back the game was always enjoyable to see, and I miss those close, even games that were a true skillmatchup rather than a game of who can snowball the fastest.
This is something that definitely needs to be addressed by Riot, but I'm not sure that it's going to be their top priority for a while with the upcoming Runes Reforged. My concern with these new runes is the the effect they are going to have on the game's already volatile balancing, and whether or not these could even result in shorter games.
