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Of Auras (no tl;dr included)

JackYAqua·7/27/2014, 3:39:46 PM·7 votes·2,177 views

HI,
I'm Jack.
I'm the guy that spams the community full with item concepts, and item reworks and keeps on complaining that there aren't enough items.
Today I'd like to take a look at Auras, give you my opinion on the topic and offer solutions to suggested problems. I hope you'll like them.

If you don't have time to read all of this, please at least come back later. Thanks!

Currently Auras are a sort of problem in the League. They're awkward, because they offer invisible little buffs nobody notices, and because nobody notices them, they aren't really that much fun overall. You can't simply make the buffs more powerful so everybody has to notice them. That would make the item overpowered.
Instead I'd suggest using visual means to solve that problem.
If everyone near an aura carrier got a little ring of light around them or a visual effect comparable to the jungle buffs they would instantly know that they are receiving an aura and that they are currently stronger thanks to it.
Additionally, if a dashed or dotted line tied the Aura Carrier to the recipient (similar to Yasuo's ult), they recipient would know from whom they got the aura. There's a thread about this somewhere ... here. Please take a look at it.
Sure, it's about Sona, but the premise is the same.

Riot Whist talked about this problem in an old thread of mine as well. This is so to say my suggestion on how to solve it.

However Ghostcrawler stated another problem with Auras.

[...] there isn't a lot of teamplay or counterplay with auras. You typically don't have to decide when to use an aura or build up towards [..] it or anything -- it's just there.

It's a question of degree. If the aura is a passive to round out a champion who also has a lot of tactical abilities, then it's typically fine. If the auras have a large gameplay impact, then there is a risk that your champion doesn't have to work or pay attention to benefit from the passive benefit, your team doesn't have to pay attention to identify the window when they can most benefit from synergy with your bonus, and consequently, there isn't much the enemy team can do to shut it down.

FYI, back then I answered Challenge Accepted (⌐■_■)

So to sum up the next problem: There is no 'play' involved in Auras. Be it team-play, counter-play or simple tactics. Auras are simply (to put it bluntly) boring.

I find the root of this problem lies in the way Riot has designed auras in the past: They simply took the idea of granting others around you buffs or debuffs, made the effect work in the same way regardless of what it did and named it 'Aura'.

I say every single Aura should work differently based on what they do.

There can be Auras like Locket of the Iron Solari that grant you and everyone around you a constant simple buff. They stand for unity and strength.
These auras I'd call Sigils or Emblems. Sigils effect yourself as well. Sigils can work in several ways.

  • Everyone gets a small buff. You get stronger the more people are affected --> Tank Sigil
  • Everyone gets a small buff. The aura itself gets stronger the more people are affected --> Captain Sigil

Then, there can be Auras that are actual Auras.
Let me clarify: Imagine there's this smug idiot that's always calm and condescending. His Aura causes you to get angry, but he himself is not angry.
Or there is this Berserker, who's unkillable and who has a big bad-ass sword that crits for 1.5k dmg (Tryndamere >.>). His Aura causes you to be afraid, but he himself is not afraid.
Do you get the idea?

Auras affect others around you, but not yourself. They are however based on your character, meaning they could grant others attack speed based on your Health (just an example).

  • Everyone around you gets a buff based on what you are --> Aura
  • Everyone around you gets a debuff based on what you are --> Omen

Of course there are even more Aura-like concepts. Like the Anti-Aura ( bad name, I know). It grants you buffs based on things around you, like Irelia's passive.
I'd call these Resolve or something along the lines of that.
The Legendary Guardian is another example of this.

Another concept is a Link. This only affects yourself and a target ally, perfect for supports.

HOWEVER, these are just the concepts of the individual 'Auras'.
The mechanics can differ as well.

Currently Auras are simply passive and static. They're all around you for a certain range and that's that.
No team-play. No counter-play. No tactics. Boring.
i'd like to suggest some mechanics to solve this problem:

The first mechanic is a Pulse.
Here you either passively, active passively, trigger passively, actively or toggle-ably send out pulses

Passively is simple. Every few seconds you send out a fairly large pulse comparable to Randuin's. Allies or enemies hit by the pulse are affected for a few seconds. You have to hit the pulses to maintain the buff/debuff.
Play is existent. The enemy can dodge the pulses and you have to try and hit them.
An icon above your abilities would show how many more second until the next pulse.

NOTE: Every aura-variation would of course be tied to a weak Sigil. Everyone around you gains 5 Armor, if they're hit by a pulse this increases to 25 (for example).

Active-passively means you activate the item and it sends out X pulses over Y seconds. Afterwards the item goes on cooldown.
With this mechanic the stats granted can be stronger, because you only have it every X seconds.

Trigger passively is a bit more interesting. I'm going to use an item from Dawngate to explain this one.
Dawngate has an awesome item (my opinion) named Purity. The item's passive effect is that every 15 seconds you get this ... mark (max 1).
And if an allied Shaper (Champion) is near you the mark is consumed to send out this green little projectile that heals your ally for 15 Health.

It's not the same as a circular Pulse, but pulses can also be shaped like Sona's ult, just much smaller.
That way you can heal more than one ally.

Actively is Randuin's.

Toggle-ably is what we wish Sunfire to be. Interesting here is that a toggle can be designed just like a champion's ability. Make it cost Mana, or make it toggle-off for X second if you're stunned. Voilá, you've got counter-play.

The next mechanic is a variation of Pulse and is probably only possible with Sigils or an Aura-Resolve combo.
I'd call it Ebb and Flow.
You send out a pulse. Once it reaches its maximum range it comes back to you, and then you get buffs depending on how many were hit. Allies hit by the Ebb receive weaker buffs than when hit by the Flow. Flow = 66% | Ebb = 33% ; together they make 100%.
For example the Flow heals 10 Health and the Ebb 5, depending on the number of allies hit (you can hit 8 maximum) you gain 6 + 3 per hit Movement Speed (Aura-Resolve combo) or you restore 4 + 2 per hit Health (Sigil version).
With negative effects Ebb and Flow would switch roles. Flow would be 33% worth and Ebb 66%.
For example the Flow deals 10 magic damage and reduces the Magic Resistance by 10 and the Ebb then deal 30 magic damage.

The visuals would have to be noticeable, but also subtle so that they aren't confusing.
Lights and smoke would probably be perfect.
On the Ebb and Flow I personally think an active-> passive or just active effect would be best.
It could be tied to a Sigil that constantly grants everyone in 1100 range 5 HP5.

For Counter-play a Thread mechanic would probably be best.
This works on all Aura-variations really and is fairly simple.
Either trigger passively or active->passively (point and click) you create Threads to one or more Champions.
This Thread would look like a dashed or doted line and would grant the target(s) and/or yourself an effect.
Enemy Champions could cut it by walking between you and the recipient, however they could only see the line if they have vision of both of you. The Thread is either only negated for as long as the enemy champion stands in it, or it is forced onto a short cooldown immediately.
-> Counterplay.

The final Mechanics are Momentum, Decay and Burst-Decay.

Allies affected by your aura-variant, be it through a thread or a pulse, build up on strength for as long as they stay affected.
Pulses could build up Momentum by hitting a target multiple times in succession.
Sigils and Threads could either get stronger over time, or over distance. The closer your ally is the stronger the effect.

The opposite of this is Decay, perfect for drawn out fights.
The longer the enemy is affected by your debuff the stronger it gets. Frozen Heart (it's just an example) could slow the attack speed of enemies by 10-25% depending on how long they've been affected or how close they are to you (or both).

And lastly there's Burst-Decay.
This is simply that an effect starts out strong and gets weaker over time, as if Shurelya's decayed over time.

You see, there are many ways to design 'auras' and make them more interesting and engaging.

Here's an example (as a joke):

Ultimate aura item in perfect situation : Leona is about to wreck shiét
->Passive Sigil that grants allies 10 HP5 (easiest version) and Aura that grants allies 6% movement speed when walking towards you. ->Active Ebb and Flow Aura grants allies 13 + 7 Armor and Magic Resistance for X seconds ... ->then comes back to her as a Resolve and grants her 2% damage reduction per ally hit (max 16%) and 4 + 2 per ally hit (max 30%) movement speed for Y seconds, ->then creates a Thread to all allies near her that pauses the duration of the buffs,
->then she engages and wrecks shiét.

However most of these variations are tied to active effects.
You might ask 'Is it still an aura of if it's an active effect?'
No, not really, but with there being no actual 'auras' anymore and rather a lot of different similar effects it doesn't really matter that much. The point is to make the aura concept more engaging. This can work with or without active effects. For example Frozen Heart:

item 3110

With the suggested mechanics and aura-variations it can be changed to be more engaging and so that it has counterplay.

Frozen Heart would be a decaying Omen that creates Threads to every enemy champion near the carrier.
Minions and monsters wouldn't get threads. Poor them... ^^
The range would have to be increased for this to work perfectly, but since it's decaying it wouldn't be a buff, but rather balance.

Frozen Heart creates threads to enemy champions in 900 range. Enemies affected by a thread gain a stack every second, up to 4.
The first stack slows the attack speed by 10%, the others by an additional 3 (+1 per 225 bonus Armor). This creates a maximum of 19% (+1 per 75 bonus Armor) over 4 seconds. If an allied champion (Support) walks between the Frozen Heart carrier and the thread recipient (Marksman) the effect ends and the stacks decay one per tick. If the support leaves or dies, the Marksman gains stacks again from where he left off. -> Counterplay.

That's all. I apologize for the long text and hope you can forgive me. Please say what you thought of my ideas and if you do downvote tell me why so I can get better at his sort of thing.
If you think I missed a problem the aura-system has just say so and I'll try to come up with a solution.
Thanks for reading.

Jack ^^

7 Comments

2000boxes7/28/2014, 2:42:34 AM2 votes

you mean like the way they are already? if someone gets the aura from a golden aegis they will get those yellow and blue lines circling their feet its all the same if you stand next to someone who owns an icy heart a snow flake will appear above their heads everyone farts blue sparkles if they are affected by a talisman of ascension

PickleBabah7/28/2014, 12:34:36 AM1 votes

Marvelous! I really like this idea, I hope this gets noticed by Reds. Anyway, my thoughts: Overall: Looks a bit complicated, since there are so many types, but yes, I could see them working. However, this sort of promotes the whole "Stats > Skill" thing, which isn't exactly great, but it can slide I suppose.

My ideas: Possibly mix some active items and Auras into something pretty. Maybe a toggle? Something such as: Giant Dog That Gives Blessings: Give (# +/x some stat such as champion level) amount of Armor / Magic Resist at the cost of ( some Flat HP or % HP per second). Stat benefits do not apply when the toggle is on. Auras stack at half of the current benefit, halving for every toggle of which is on afterwards. (Or just make it a Unique Passive)

Also, something to cancel out auras if they were to come out so popular and powerful: Gigantic Cat Who Can Swim: Upon activation, cancel out all Auras within (some range ( + scaling) for (some time ( + scaling). For every Aura disabled, give X amount of X stat to all friendly units who are within X range.

Or

Puny, Scrawny Rat of Misdeed and Temptation: Upon activation, cancel out all Auras within (some range ( + scaling) for (some time ( + scaling). For every Aura disabled, lower X stat of the Aura holder and those who were affected.

YEY

Angry Monster7/28/2014, 10:48:53 AM1 votes

You make a some assumptions here for somethings. i also need like 2 days to break most of this down. I am not sure if things actually make sense. But this caught my eye on first pass through

Example

Toggle-ably is what we wish Sunfire to be.

Ok who is we? a group of your friends? Cause I am pertty sure unless you ran a poll saying players is going to far. For the rest of the idea.

Why should it cost mana to burn? Some champs need sunfire to have any wave clear(any that do not build add) What happens to non mana champs? If you make it mana cost (like tear items) you are taking it away from shen, shy, and tanks with mana(mao/naut). So anything like this is a complete failure.

There is to much info to break everything down. I will be back but this sunfire change popped out at me as a BIG issue. Hopefully you do not have more things like this.

Pushover7/28/2014, 11:01:46 AM1 votes

To me, this seems a bit overly complicated. Auras are simple to understand. People who are near you get the effect. People who are not do not get the effect.

Pulses: How much play is actually going to be generated by this item? How effective is mashing my 1 key going to be relative to trying to land my pulses correctly and not off cooldown? If it's passive, it will still make visual clutter as a wave comes out of your champion every X seconds, and you get a whopping 5 armor for being in that.

Ebb and Flow makes me think of Medusa's ability in DotA, it's a pretty cool effect. Of course, the existing Ebb and Flow on Nami is a pretty cool ability too, and somewhat similar in that you get more value for the more targets you can get with it.

Consider what adding all these passive or active mechanics would do to a new player, especially if they add visual effects. If the effect isn't too meaningful, then they will have difficulty determining whether a line is important or not. If the effect is important, then it's another ability they need to learn.

In the Leona example, a new player doesn't want to learn that an item or ability passively increases champions whose names start with A-M's movespeed by 10%, champions with names N-Z's damage by 5%, male champions attack speed by 2% + 1% for each nearby minion, female champions AP by 5 for each second they are near her. In general you can summarize any ability in League in about 2 sentences, and I'm finding a hard time figuring out how you would keep many abilities simple.

For the Frozen Heart example, how much of a difference would it really make from the current version to the new version? A support will either be standing in the way already, because they intend to block you, so Frozen Heart is worse there, or they won't be in the front because they are better off peeling from behind, like Janna or Nami. Since the AD will lose 10% attack speed already, all they are providing by standing in the way is ~10-12% attack speed after 4 seconds of being in the way. That's a whole Dagger. In the late game. If I'm supporting, I'm probably not gonna change my positioning over a Frozen Heart.

Sure, all these ideas can be added, but is it worth the increased complication and visual clutter for the tiny amount of increased counterplay available? I'd rather stick to simpler. To use the old image from DotA:

http://i.imgur.com/htsJv7E.gif

Not that I'm against adding counterplay to auras and such, just I don't think that the way currently laid out is worth the increased complication.