[NEW UPDATE SUGGESTION] Support Compensation

CrimeExpert·Feb 16, 2014·4 votes·1,272 views

I, as a player who have played more than 1000+ games, am sometimes reluctant to play Support. I am pretty sure many of the players would avoid playing support unless they like the role truly. The main reason I avoid playing Support is that I cannot carry the team as Support. Yes, I can help my laner to get fed and win the game, but I cannot, by myself, win the game solely.

So, here I suggest that Riot changes the game a little bit to make all the players WANT TO play support.

Here is the suggestion:

Make Ruby Sightstone's Unique Passive as: after possessing this item for 20 miniutes, the player gains 2000 gold if the player follows the three rules.

1) A player must possess one of the three support items (Spellthief's Edge, Ancient Coin, Relic Shield or upgraded items) **2) A player must have less than 50 CS. ** 3) A player must possess Ruby Sightstone.

This will help the Support as a more carriable role. Also, a jungler like Lee Sin wouldn't qualify for this compensation because he would most likely have higher than 50 CS.

This change will help the Support players to BUY the sightstone, to NOT STEAL CS, and to BUY one of the support items. Overall, this change will bring pleasure to Support players, and in many games people would want to play SUPPORT!

Any criticism is welcoming. :D

23 Comments

MackleDogeFeb 16, 20143 votes

On a separate note, it's a good policy to allow a wide range of itemization possibilities in League so that we can have build variety and people can find items that are comfortable to them, suit the situation, and are fun. By requiring a support to buy one of those items, plus you have the sightstone (btw, upgrading Sightstone to Ruby isn't always a wise decision, so I'm not certain about that to begin with), then you have boots, means that supports really only get to spend their money on three items, which really, really limits the options.

Supports are starting to (or already are in some peoples' opinions) get to the point of itemization like top lane, which is already a problem area that Riot is looking at and trying to fix.

CrimeExpertFeb 16, 20141 votes

Very good point. The reason why I made it as the Ruby's unique passive is that many people do not buy this item anymore. So it encourages Support players to buy it. Because when I play Support I only buy up to Blue sightstone.

MackleDogeFeb 17, 20141 votes

I like the general idea of trying to encourage more people to learn and play support (it's my opinion that it helps to increase map awareness of the player and can improve teamwork and mechanics if played properly), but I disagree with your method of doing it. Just throwing money at supports isn't going to solve the problem, what supports need are more viable ways to spend their money instead of being shunted into the same utility based items. Give them more variety and better ways to spend their money, that still allow them to help the team but can allow for skillful support play as well.

CrimeExpertFeb 17, 20141 votes

What other way would there be to make people want to play Support? People like to win games. Supports can't win by themselves even if they are really good. Therefore, not many people want to support.

CrimeExpertFeb 17, 20141 votes

I think Support needs some compensation. Since many people avoid it.

MackleDogeFeb 17, 20141 votes

Just buffing things flatly like that is a bad idea, because it leads to power creep. The same thing happened with top lane fighters and bruisers. I'm not going to list out and explain power creep because it can get lengthy, but you can google explanations of it if you would like.

MackleDogeFeb 17, 20141 votes

Honestly, the best thing for supports would be Riot adjusting the numeric values of existing support items or adding variance into the available items to give supports more options. Another good thing would be Riot tuning the supports to actually have some power in real supports instead of us seeing a bunch of AP Mages or such thrown into the bot lane and people pretending it's a support champion.

In all honesty though, I think you just have to accept that supports can't directly carry most games. Each of the roles has a varying ability to carry a game with Jungler and Mid potentially having the highest overall. But just because you can't directly carry, doesn't mean you can't indirectly carry. If your team dominates in laning phase and your ADC gets fed, your support carried as well. If your team gets picks and good rotations because of vision, wards, and initiates, your support carried in that respect too. KDA isn't carrying. They can be linked, but they aren't the same thing.

CrimeExpertFeb 17, 20141 votes

To me, your suggestions are very vauge. If support items get buffed, other lanes would buy it as well.

MackleDogeFeb 17, 20141 votes

It's vague because, like you, I don't have the resources or the know how to actually fix the situation. I can't provide you numbers because neither of us are professionals that make our living balancing League. And while that is a possibility, why would a top laner buy something like Relic Shield or Coin when they are in the lane by themselves when they could buy Sunfire or Randuin's? That's like saying giving Hourglass 10 more AP will make ADCs start building it. Those items and that role don't mesh together, so they won't buy them.

CrimeExpertFeb 17, 20141 votes

Before the rework, I have seen junglers (including Chaox when he was streaming) buying Relic since it gives both the laner and himself gold. And I have seen a leblanc player buying Spelltheif as a starting item.

Anyways, you are right. I just want to play support and be able to carry. Like you said support can't directly carry most games. It is sad.

TehomCDFeb 17, 20143 votes

This would create a very strange power curve where supports would suddenly get +2k gold at somewhere between 35-45 minutes into the game. It's a pretty huge swing, and I feel small, incremental gains is a better solution overall, rather than some sort of massive 'it's now lategame, BAM' approach. For example, if Ruby sightstone granted an additional gold over time that stacked with the other items, I'd feel more comfortable with it.

DreadPirateChrisFeb 18, 20143 votes

This is a better idea than the original, I think. %-increase in gold generation from items would make the otherwise weak Ruby upgrade on Sightstone worthwhile, as well as strengthening supports. (You could make it %-increase in gold-generation on gold/5 passives only if you wanted, but honestly, I'd just as soon encourage more junglers to get Sightstones too. So tired of maps that are almost all dark because only the support is warding... if even the support is warding.)

CrimeExpertFeb 18, 20142 votes

True. Very true. Riots, please read this.

CrimeExpertFeb 18, 20142 votes

Agreed

MackleDogeFeb 16, 20141 votes

Where is the counterplay for the opposing team?

CrimeExpertFeb 16, 20141 votes

the opposing team would also have Support...?

MackleDogeFeb 17, 20141 votes

That's not counterplay. That's like saying that since your Jinx has a BT and their Janna has a BT, the teams are even.

CrimeExpertFeb 17, 20141 votes

I cannot understand the question well. :( what would the counterplay be?

MackleDogeFeb 17, 20141 votes

There isn't any possible counterplay, that's why it's a bad idea.

CrimeExpertFeb 17, 20141 votes

well 2000 gold compensation isn't going to turn around the game much, and it requires to have 20 minutes passed after buying the item. It is like stacking tears. A counterplay could be having an opposing team that can be dominant in early game.

MackleDogeFeb 17, 20141 votes

Maybe you should look into other discussions about counterplay? Try googling the concept and read up on it. 2000 gold for free is ridiculous, and there isn't a single manner in which the enemy can stop or influence that. When you're enemy is stacking a tear you can take advantage of their spell rotations, you can take advantage of them burning their mana, or you can focus their lane due to the lower base stats of tear and the fact that they can't stack it while they are dead. That is counterplay. Suddenly dropping 2000 gold onto a player when they didn't have to work for it and the opposing team can't do anything to stop it is extremely disruptive to the game and can have a huge influence. That's a free Needlessly Large Rod, that's 2/3's of a Randuin's for free.

RISE Shlack123Feb 18, 20141 votes

I would say adding a GP/10 passive to the Ruby Sightstone that stacks with other gold items would be a good start. A "boom" of gold wouldn't be balanced, though.

burdluver90Feb 18, 20141 votes

What if you got gold back for each ward placed with your sight stone? I would consider making this the final utility page mastery as opposed to an ingame item, so it wouldn't be usable by other roles unless they invest heavily into utility and buy the sight stone.

You could get an additional 2 gold per 10 seconds a ward placed with your sightstone is alive. (This means you can't just spam place wards to get extra gold and it encourages you to keep your wards alive) It also grants an incentive to destroy enemy wards - beyond just denying vision, it denies a lot of gold. Over the life of your ward, you get back 36 gold - which is a little more than half the cost to buy one.

I would also add gold incentives for pink wards if you have a sight stone. Since supports focus a lot on vision control, make it make them money too.