Improving the Team Builder: Call to Arms
So the team builder, as it is now, has it's ups and downs. The main problem that I've been seeing is that there's massive, long queues for certain roles while other roles are basically far too long and have too much of a need. So to combat this problem (and in the process solve some of League's other issues people have), I decided to port in something from one of the team builder's "forefathers":
#Call to Arms
###What is Call to Arms? Call to Arms was originally an "event" implemented in World of Warcraft's dungeon finder to encourage people to queue more for healer and tanking roles as opposed to the DPS queue, which at the time were always full-to-burst.
"Call to Arms" activate when there was an overload of one queue (Usually tank or healer) and not enough of the other queues to handle it. In addition to the average dungeon bonus, being in a call to arms would give you an additional reward. Sometimes gold, sometimes extra honor or dungeon points, and sometimes a rare mount you may not be able to normally get/something extremely hard to acquire. These were given in the form of a "goodie bag".
In porting this to League, we can solve some of the overloaded queues while also encouraging people to both try new roles as well as fill in the gaps for roles that don't have enough players as is. This should solve any issues that persist with one role or one lane being overloaded while others are lacking.
###How would this work in League?
When a call to arms is active, a special icon will be next to lanes and roles. Here's a small little mock-ups I did in MS paint. It's pretty bad but you get the basic gist of what I'm aiming for:
http://i.imgur.com/A36UuXb.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/5uZjk2P.jpg
Now, when you queue for this role or lane, in addition to the normal bonus you get for playing League you might get something extra. This could be as simple as a little bonus IP or could go so far as a "grab bag" of rare goodies. Perhaps a one win IP bonus, a voucher for a mystery skin, maybe even ultra rare Call to Arms icons or ward skins that can only be obtained in this queue.
###Possible Positive Outcomes?
- People who use team builder but are more flexible can get faster queues.
- Those who are "behind" or new and want more IP to unlock more champions/runes/etc. will have this option.
- Encourage more diversity in champion roles and playing.
- Rare unlocks will encourage more playing for some who need goals to work towards at all times (such as myself).
- Serve as a tool to distribute new icons/ward skins/etc. without having to resort to holiday queues.
###Possible Negative Outcomes?
- Troll queuing for the sake of free items. (IE: Support Garen who goes 0/21/3 but gets a reward for a CtA)
- People who are unsure of their assigned role and don't do well, causing strain on the team.
- Frustration from "luck" of getting unlocks or skins compared to others.
- Might further diminish those who use other queues or play other maps.
- Possible skew for those who own many champions versus others who own fewer.
###Solutions to these negatives?
For one thing, make the reward only applicable if you're not reported on your own team. Gotta play a legit game and not upset others to be given a reward. Further more, this could serve as a gateway to other map uses as well as possibly give different rewards when it comes to queues. For an example, say Team Builder appears on the Crystal Scar or Twisted Treeline. Playing CtA on these in the team builder can award unique avatars or in-game effects (Such as a special beam color or capture effect for Alters/dominion nodes) that are only for these modes.
###Conclusion
The team builder is a great idea and so far it does help a lot when you want to play a specific role or champion. However, some roles see more representation than others and can result in longer queues. We completely have the power to alter and change this, but it will be a slow process. While this idea may or may not be successful and worth investigating, hopefully this will encourage people to start thinking up ideas on encouraging others to get into the team builder and figure out suggestions to play roles so that EVERYONE has a faster queue!
