Discussion Thread About Riot's Envisioned Future (Please Join To Give Your Opinion)

NoGloryFound·9/17/2019, 3:16:26 PM·17 votes·9,011 views

This post was originally on EUW Boards.

Everything in the text below is mainly based on my own opinion on what is going on with League of Legends in 2019. In some cases I will use sources which I will link at the end of each part. I want to invite you all to join in the discussion and give your own opinion on the directions Riot is taking in the last months.

Balancing of the game This has to be the part that is mainly complained about by the community. Every patch there are complaints about the "disgrace" of some nerfs and buffs. I used to be one of these people. But then I informed myself about how hard it is to balance all champions at the same time, while changing the meta every now and then. However, what does annoy me as a player is that nowadays champions are being buffed whenever a skins comes out for that champion. Two of the main examples of this are: Championship Kha'zix (at the time of Worlds 2018 (1)), and now Valiant Sword Riven (with additional prestige edition (2) (3)). For those of you who don't know yet, Riven is most likely to receive some buffs in the next patch. I mean, I get that Riot wants to sell their skins, but giving ridiculous buffs to champions that aren't in the worst spot in the game just makes me frustrated as this has nothing to do with "changing the meta". Once again, in most cases I do not mind the patches anymore, as I have accepted change in League's meta.

Eternals I would like to elaborate more on the attempt of Riot to shove things down our throat to get more money (which they do with the buff + skin). A few months back Riot announced the development of so-called "Eternals". Back then Eternals consisted of two "Common" parts and just one "Unique" Eternal. All parts are buyable with 875 RP per champion. (1) About one month ago Riot has given a few updates on the Eternals based on feedback we have given them. In this update they stated that they would delay the release of Eternals to develop more Unique Eternals per champion and lowering them in price (I think it's now at 526 RP). This, in my opinion, is a positive-ish development. Additionally they have stated that only the Common parts will also be obtainable in BE, during the BE emporiums (1). Now here comes what I personally think about the entire story we call "Eternals", starting with the Common Eternals. The Common Eternals are basically statistics you can find on any League-based statistics site (OP.GG, Mobalytics, etc.), for example kills and assists on a particular champion. Knowing this I question why this feature isn't available for BE at any time. I am saying "any time" because Riot only wants the Common Eternals to be available during the Emporiums, which is only 2, max. 3, times per season. The reasoning behind my opinion is that the majority of the community is not even going to be interested in the Common Eternals as they are everywhere to be obtained for free. So money-wise Riot is putting resources in things they aren't going to sell-out on and which can be put to better use. Now going over to the Unique Eternals I have some concerns. Some of the eternals involve counting of skillshots (which normally do not grant vision) hitting a target. This feature will count the hits LIVE, meaning it will give the player information on the whereabouts of enemies in a potentially unwarded bush. The counter-argument to this is "That feature is also possible using runes such as Aery, Aftershock, Comet and lethal tempo". That is true. However, these are features ANY player no matter what level, champion or skin can use at any time, whereas an Eternal has to be BOUGHT. I am no fan of the term "pay-2-win", but features like these should not exist in a supposedly "free game".

https://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/2019/08/dev-changes-to-eternals/

Game modes and Missions As I have mentioned before some of Riot's resources could potentially be put to better use (IMO!). Lately most of Riot's resources went into Teamfight Tactics (TFT), which is understandable. Personally I am not a big fan of TFT, but I enjoy playing it every once in a while. However, I was really disappointed the resources for TFT meant I am going to have to give up on some aspects of League of Legends I have very much enjoyed in the past and present. The biggest one is the discontinuation PvE game modes. According to Riot developing and running PvE modes cost too many resources. This honestly hurts my soul as an active, loyal and committed League player. I have seen the League community grow in toxicity over the last 8 years (part of that has been the removal of Tribunal). However, every time a PvE event dropped, people started working together again and in my experience the toxicity was reduced. Opinions on PvE may differ (1), but in my opinion it is a loss for the community and therefore the "well-being" of Riot's playerbase. Additionally to this "resources"-story other maps are also less likely to occur on the regular basis we have come to know (Rotating game mode): Bilgewater, Ascension, One-for-All, the PROJECT-based map, Invasion (to adress the lack of SG event we have at the moment), Nexus Blitz. NB there were some words in the past that Nexus Blitz would become the new permanent game mode. But where is it now? It seems this was too good to last: (3). Years back we had to watch the removal of Dominion and the Crystal Scar. Now Riot has announced that another map is looking for its retirement: the Twisted Treeline (2). I for myself have spent countless hours on this map (especially before the rework, as the 3v3 jungle was my favorite), and I find it sad to see this map go. Most people will say it is due to the lack of interest in the map, which is true. However, without shame, I will say I think it is also due to the lack of effort Riot has put into making this map interesting to players. I mean, when was the last MAJOR update for this map? Without further accusations, I will hereby already say my goodbyes to my beloved Twisted Treeline...

In another thread I have already posted about my opinion about the state of missions and events lately. That is why I am only going to link that thread on behalf of the missions: (4).

Streamers and pro-scene I am not going to "waste" a lot of words into this part, as I do not know any famous streamers or pro-players personally. However, I would like to see these players put less emphasis on EVERYTHING Riot wants to put down our throats. I have seen some videos (not mentioning names) in which I have seen players complain about new buyable features in League, and basically the next day they are buying these things with sponsored money from Riot, encouraring their viewers to buy them too. Again, I do not know these players personally and I respect them for what they do, as I can't do it, but please be aware of what Riot tries to sell us through your advertisment.

Discussion Thread About Riot's Envisioned Future (Please Join To Give Your Opinion)

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