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Feral Flare has to go.

N49·5/10/2014, 4:59:09 PM·1 votes·737 views

I have just come out from one of the most unpleasant games in my life.

I played support Ashe, and nobody was hostile about it.

Botlane(mostly me) got countered in select, and lost lane hard, and nobody was a hostile about that either.

We lost 2 dragons and a Baron, in no small part because I warded poorly and missed my ults, and nobody was in any way hostile about it.

In the end, we pulled it together, and everything started to click, we won a bunch of team fights in a pretty decisive fashion, and emerged victorious.

By all standards, this game should have been the highlight of nearly 4 years I've been playing League of Legends, and it was... a negative one.

The sheer, undiluted vitrol spewed by our jungler throughout the game turned what would have otherwise been the most fun game in my life(a ranked one too), into something so unpleasant that I feel the necessity to share the experience as feedback regarding its source...

Feral Flare

Whenever we'd ask our jungler to gank, he'd rage about stacking the flare.

Whenever someone even came close to a monster camp, he'd rage about stealing flare stacks.

When we lost(or he didn't last hit on) Baron/Dragon, he'd rage about flare stacks.

For 90% of the game, all he did was stacking the flare. He'd only join fights if it was a shorter distance than the next monster camp, and only if it was essentially already won, to stack the flare.

The whole stacking mechanic is the most toxic thing that has ever been put into the game and junglers stacking the flare instead of helping their teams, especially in lower levels of play, has become the norm rather than the extreme. This isn't the first time I've seen a jungler neglect teamwork to stack the flare, and even adding the assists dosen't quite help.

A single item has turned what was otherwise a very positive game, into a festival of childish arguments(because while I got a pass on my Ashe, our jungler got called out on their "low contribution") and hostility.

The item(still) mechanically enables the jungler to ignore the rest of the team, and justify it as working towards the endgame. That is wrong, and it has to go away.

12 Comments

ShadowNinetails5/10/2014, 5:39:27 PM3 votes

While that does suck, there have been stacking mechanics in the game long before Feral Flare was brought in with Nasus Veigar Sion . In a way, item 3069 item 3092 item 3401 item 3207 item 3209 item 3206 have stacking mechanisms too (I know I've felt that tug to go clear a camp and get some of those Conservation stacks out or gotten caught out trying to poke an enemy because I had 3 stacks on Frost Queen).

It's just a matter of managing risk vs reward. This guy clearly figured the reward of +1 dmg on hit and 50ish gold was more important than the team getting 725 gold or winning a fight and being able to take or defend turrets. Obviously that wasn't the case, but I wouldn't blame it on the Flare, I'd blame it on the player. I know when I run Flare, that doesn't stop me from ganking (especially now that kills/assists count toward the transformation).

Kind of backward to say "don't hate the game, hate the player" but it fits. We've all had that jungler that wants to stack Flare all day just like we've all had that Nasus who never leaves Top lane or that Vayne that never leaves Bot lane (I've seriously had one say "Only 2000g until IE, don't fight") or that Ryze that's never with the team because he wants item 3040 AND item 3042 because he saw it on Mobafire. Just ignore him, take a walk to clear your head, and hit "Play Again".

MackleDoge5/10/2014, 5:26:01 PM2 votes

One stupid person with a terrible attitude is not a reason to remove an entirely viable item with a legitimate strategy attached to it from the game. Hate to break it to you, but there are farm heavy junglers regardless of feral flare. There is a decent population of junglers that don't/shouldn't gank until level 6 to begin with and there are plenty of games where there are limits to what the jungler should do in lane as far as ganks or pressure are concerned when the lanes are winning. I won't say that feral flare is balanced as an item because I feel that need some work on it still, but you don't get to take an item out of the game just because you dislike the game style associated with it. Some teams favor a farm heavy jungle, some laners like to freeze lane and not get ganks, there are a wide variety of things to account for in this game.

Nameless Voice5/10/2014, 6:05:36 PM2 votes

When I play mid, I find that I rarely get the blue buff any more - the Feral Flare jungler always takes it for the extra stacks. Not just the second or even third, he takes them all.

I also see more and more junglers who do nothing but farm the jungle, happily letting allies die and towers fall nearby while they ignore them and focus on their camps.

The teamplay of League of Legends players is never particularly high, but this item does seem to bring out the worst in people.

Worgslarg5/10/2014, 8:26:28 PM1 votes

Was playing a ranked game as nasus top, I picked her into a shyvanna, thinking that i could handle her. Shyvanna went jungle, and they picked teemo top. Our jungler, a udyr, went spirit stone.

And also feral flare. When he proceded to farm jungle for 2/3's of the game, we lost.

I love feral flare as an item, and as an alternate choice. But it encourages too much of the playstyle of stacking it. IMO, once you actually get the flare, it should be only kills/assists grant a stack.