Recent MSI 2017 Esports Riot survey. In-depth survey FEEDBACK
[Yesterday I posted a thread about Riots recent Esports MSI 2017 survey, and while and there were some questions mentioned that I felt needed a more argumented asnwer. The reason I am doing this, which I explain later, is so someone at Riot at least takes this feedback into account, and because NA is Riots HQ, I thought I post the thread here. Im not asking for likes or anything like that, I just what my message to go foward.]
Afternoon EU NA,
For those that are unaware, Riot have recently been sending out Riot Surveys based around the 2017 MSI esports event that is currently taking place. A few days ago, I completed the survey, and there were some questions that stood out from the rest, and these questions were mostly sneaked in, almost as if Riot wanted us to not notice the importance of said questions so that we would give a generic untruthful answer, and, most of these important questions couldnt just be answered with a simple "agree or disagree".
So, taking that into account, I took my time to think about how I should do this thread, and I believe if im ready to give legitimate feedback about some of these questions and about the survey as a whole.
Before I actually start, I want to give a bit more context as to why I want to make this thread. As I was doing the survey, it kept getting furious because "90%" of the questions were constantly being repeated. Out of all the questions, around 20 of them (give or take) were original, and only a few of them were very important quesitons. This frustrated me because it was giving Riot´s statistics team/department an image that wasnt professional (from my perspective). When you are making a survey you want to make as many different questions as possible, and when 50% of the questions are repeats, it gives me the image that the people in charge of the survey ARE NOT taking the survey professionally serious. Out of all the Surveys I have done (around 5, not a lot), this one was a complete JOKE.
However, while this survey was very sloppy, there were some questions that stood out, at least for me, and I am going to explain why. While League of Legends is just a Free to play game FOR US, for Riot, League is more than just a game, its a product (a product they love and care for), and they need to make money out of it. Some questions around the MSI survey had to do with money, whether or not Riot wants to admit it. Other questions had to do with their E-sports venues, both outside and inside of the stadium; questions about Riot´s relationship with professional players (to much focus around professional players rather than the community, not targetted around balance changes); and balance changes around esports events as a whole; as well as the MSI play-in system and overall progression for the upcoming Worlds 2017.
Now, you may ask, "dude, these questions are very professional", and they are, sadly, there were only around 10-15 questions based around those topics. The rest were constant repeats.
So, now that I gave you some context on what I want to talk about as well as give feedback about these important topics, because the survey only lets you pick a generic "I disagree or I agree", please take into account that what I am about to say is my own personal opinion, and while most of you might disagree or agree, I only ask that you keep an open mind around what I am about to say, and I encourage you to read all the way through it despite some topics being ridiculous.
[NOTE: I dont remember the questions WORD BY WORD, because I completed the survey 3 days ago and I didnt take the survey in english, however, Im going to give you all the GENERAL IDEA that the questions were talking about].
##1. Do you believe that the MSI is just a way for Riot to grab money. If you want to know my asnwer, I said yes. However, I want to give more context, because a survey doesnt let you explain. In my own eyes, the MSI is a "mini worlds" that only exists to grab in some money. Just think about it for a second. Why have a "mini worlds" when Worlds is only 4 months away. Simple asnwer, lets make an irrelevant event just so we can get a bit more of money with live event tickets, releasing the esports skins from the vault, and making new MSI icons for Rp (and the free 1ip icon).
Just look at MSI 2015. There was nothing on the line. There was no first seed competition for worlds, there was no guarenteed seed for the Wild card region. It was just a Riot official IEM esport event. Also, MSI gave Riot a legitimate excuse to make a second "Pre-season" patch called the Mid-Season patch. Because lets face it, without a Mid season patch, the MSI wouldnt be fun because teams would be playing the same champions they played during their respective Spring Splits. And now, talking about balances...
##2. Do you find the blances AND changes for the Mid season patch justified? My answer was neither yes or no. For me, the Mid Season patch is just an excuse and a "fake title" for the Mid Season Invitational. While Riot has improved with the Mid Season patches over the last three years, this patch isnt a Mid Season patch. This Patch is self-centered around MSI and ONLY MSI. Again, like mentioned before, Riot has improved around the focuses of what the Mid Season patch represents, rather than just being another "Worlds Patch", with Class updates like mages, supports, tanks, etc. But again, the Mid Season Patch is just another Esports patch, which is fine, I understand the purpose, HOWEVER, when making an Esports patch (centered around the professional players world wide), and treating it like a "preseason patch" (centered around the entire LoL community), it tends to create massive chaos, which arguably is completely normal. However, because most of these changes are centered around pro play, some champions tend to get out of hand, both in Challenger tier levels of play all the way to Bronze (Laugh if you want, but its true). While Bronze players are not the best players in the world, they in generally feel the changes aswell (again, not like a Diamond 1+ player, but they notice the changes even if they are not 100% aware).
So you may ask, "why were you bothered or thought to much about this question?". This question was a "double edge sword", while it was talking about the Mid Season Patch, it was also talking about being an E-sports patch, mainly because this question was in an E-sports survey, so all questions are centered in an E-sports envioroment.
##3. Do you like the new Play-in system?. If you havent seen the Wildcard regions fight for a spot in the MSI, then you might be unaware of what the Wildcards were fighting for. While the rest of the regions (EU, LCK, LPL, LMS, NA) fight for a chance to get a first seed spot at Worlds 2017, the Wildcard regions were fighting for a chance to get their region a aguarenteed spot at worlds, which is incredibly huge considering that other regions have a permanent spot. However, the Wildcard region(s) that make it to the MSI also have the opportunity to fight for a first seed (#GAMWIN).
If you wondered what I answered, I said NO. Here is my PERSONAL issue... I like to take things both literal and serious when it comes to the use of the word International, having experienced the greatest opportunity to study for 6 years straight in Shanghai China at an International American School with students that are from literally all over the world (places that I never knew existed), the use of the word International carries a lot of meaning for me at an extreme personal level in many ways, it means that there is NO cultural barrier of any kind. Its undescribable, its something that you have to experience on your own. The word International carries a lot of weight and while this may seem like a complete joke to you, Both MSI and Worlds arent 100% International, and that´s because Riot separates over half of all the Esports regions and identifies them as Wildcard regions. Now, laugh all you want, but that´s discriminating (in its own E-sports way). Like I said before, the word International carries weight, and when over half of the regions have to fight separetly to enter the main International event, then in its core, its not international. Sure, 3 continents is enough to consider an event International, but its not because that translates to 3 (MSI) or 9 (Worlds) teams.
You either eliminate the Wildcard "barrier" as a whole and give every region an equal chance to compete with eachother (like seeing OCE, or LAN or LAS have the chance to play against EU or the LCK or the LMS), or you take away the Permanent and Guaranteed seedings that EU, NA, LMS, LPL and the LCK have at worlds. This would make the MSI trully mean something. Because not only would the wildcard regions have to fight for a seed at worlds, but every region would have to fight for a chance to even compete at worlds. Only then, would an event trully be International and only then would an event such as Worlds actually have the best teams compete.
Lets face it, the distance between what a Wildcard region represents (low skill) in comparison to a region that isnt a Wildcard like EU, LPL, LCK (high skill) is getting shorter each year, and this year is the most obvious, with Gigabyte Marines taking TSM to game 5, and most other regions to 35+ minute games. Now I dont know about you but when ONE wildcard team can actually compete against SKT, win against TSM 3 times, win against G2, and make a game difficult for both FW and Team WE, I believe that Riot should reconsider the entire wildcard system.
Its true that some wildcard regions arent strong, whether it is because the world of Esports isnt popular or taken as serious. However, if we give them the chance and opportunity to let them compete at the same MAIN event without making them compete at a wildcard event, most of the regions would actually earn enough experience to massively improve.
So, to answer my question, I dont like the play-in system. Because Riot keeps shunning the Wildcard regions.
##4. Do you believe Riot Games ignores their community and instead focuses too much around E-sports? (Just to be clear, this is not a question about Riot balancing the game for Pro players)
This was a no brainer. I believe Riot Games focuses too much around the E-sports scene and ignores most of their community. Yes, League of Legends is a competitive online game, but that is no way, shape or form a reason to ignore the community. In the video game industry, the most important aspect are the players, the community, the people that support your game by PLAYING it, not spectating it. Look, I like E-sports, its fun, engaging, blood pomping, etc... But it should not, under any circumstance, be a priority above your community. Focus on your game and your loving community, and then focus on E-sports as a second, or even third priority, but it should never be your first priority. And Esports has been your number one priority since 2014.
Riot doesnt do anything for their community. Now, Im not talking about skins suggested by the fans, or VGUs, lores, create cinematics with our favorite champions, or novels, NO, Im talking about a one on one interaction with Riot and the community. Ladies and Gentlemen, there was a time when Riot centered their focus more around their players rather than esports, its true! But now it seems that anything that has to do with the community is shut down, like /ALL CHAT or Summoner SHOWCASE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0ArtBbfXJI&list=PLOYk3oZd8EOqd9WbzSIquduxJQauQXhh6
http://i.imgur.com/4ZeUXNf.jpg
THIS is the Riot Games we want back, a company that cares, with passion, about their community.
/ALL CHAT and Summoner SHOWCASE were mini shows that were centered around the community, with special guests like proffesional cosplayers, youtubes, Viners, and even made highlights for gaming events like PAX and E3 and they were all about, you guest it, the community.
With /ALL Chat being shut down since the end of ALL-STARS Barcelona 2016, its clear to say that Riot Games doesnt care about their players.
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Now, because Im doing this thread for NA, for the NA community, you people dont experience getting "shunned" by Riot, because you guys have video gaming events like Pax Prime, Pax East, Past West, Pax South (if I remember correctly), and E3 (eventhough E3 is more about marketing, and the SONY vs MICROSOFT Conference "wars").
Here in Europe, while we do have Gamescom, aka, "Europe´s E3", not everyone has the opportunity to travel to another country despite Europe being smaller (plane tickets, hotels, language barrier, and Riot unfortunately doesnt go to other gaming events in other European countries like Paris Games Week, Madrid Games Week, UK EGX, and many more.
Sure, Rioters from Europe go to these gaming events, but they go by themselves just like I would go to my country´s "E3". Riot NA goes to PAX and have their own panels to talk to you guys face to face and even get small teasers. I find that every interesting and the fact that everyone from EU that doesnt live in Germany and cant go to Gamescom, its a huge disappointment and its why I say that Riot ignores their community.
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[This last question(s) that I want to bring up, you might consider useless, but if you remember what I mentioned before, at the beginning of this thread, League of Legends needs to make money in some way, and their best way to make a profit is by making skins, which is what the last question(s) will be about. Please try to look at this last question from a wider perspective no matter how ridiculous it may be.]
##5. Do you like Conqueror Karma? Do you believe another champion would have fit in this theme better than Karma? Do you believe it represents what the MSI is all about? Is Conqueror Karma a good quality skin? Would this skin make you want to buy future Conqueror skins in future MSI events?
I may have cheated here because this question actually had multiple questions all in one. And ironically, I remembered perfectly the ones I hated the most, simply because I didnt expect these questions to show up. However, because Riot cant stop talking about skins, I guess I found it fair to talk about it.
If you guys wanted to know my answers, they were: NO; YES; NO; No comment; No comment.
a) & b) I dont like Conqueror Karma, not because its a skin for Karma, I actually like most of the Karma skins. I dont like the skin because its a excuse to make another Esports skin. I dont like that the Champion selected is Karma either, reason being because there were other champions that have been played more than Karma and I find it a "violation" of the rules Riot talked about for the selection of this skin; Im going to quote the MSI promo page here...
"For the Conqueror skin line, we chose an esports-resonant champion based on pro play rates at Worlds to give us enough time to create a high-quality skin. Similarly, the Championship skin launching at Worlds will use top play rates from MSI. For both of these skin lines, we also consider other factors like how well the champion fits the skin’s aesthetic and champion usage among all players."
Karma was not the most played champion at worlds, nor was she the most played during the spring split in ANY region. She started being played during the Spring split finals. This is why I believe that Karma shouldnt have been the selected champion.
c) I believe the Conqueror skinline does not represent what the MSI is all about. The MSI is at its core a Worlds event before the summer split even starts. But, because there is already a skinline for Worlds (the Championship Skinline), trying to make a new theme that serves the same purpose as Championship and needs to be at the same level, you end up with a forced idea. And we all know that when you force an idea it never ends well. And here is why. Conqueror Karma fits the Lunar Revel event more than the MSI. Look at the skin, look at the splash, rename it Warring Kingdoms Karma and it looks like every other Warring Kingdoms skin, but with less dragons. The only reason Conqueror Karma is MSI related is because the MSI trophy appears at the end of the recall, but without that, its just a Lunar Revel skin.
d) Conqueror Karma is neither a bad or good quality skin. When it comes to the skin model, its perfect, same goes for the particles and recall, etc. However, because this skin is suppose to represent what the MSI is all about (which it doesnt) the skin is of very bad quality.
Let me give more context. When making an Esports skin like Championship or any of the Team skins, it should not only look the part but also "speak" the part.
When you look at any of the Championship skins, you know for a fact that they represent worlds, Mostly because of the design and color scheme, but also because of one or two MAIN distinct features, whether the skin represents the number of their season or the use of the pedastel/throne.
Championship Riven has the Roman number 2 when you activate her Ultimate
http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Riven_7.jpg
Championship Thresh has the Season 3 ranked icon on his back (splash and ingame) and on his Throne (splash); when he recalls he is on top of a pedestal.
http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Thresh_2.jpg
Championship Shyvana when recalling she walks toward the top of a pedestal, claiming victory
http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Shyvana_5.jpg
Championship Kalista also walks up a pedestal, just like Shyvana
http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Kalista_2.jpg
And Championship Zed walks up to his Throne and sits on it, claiming that he IS the champion.
http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Zed_10.jpg
You look at these skins and they look UNIQUE, no other skins look like the championship skinline, the colors they use and the model in which the armor looks like. The skins are over the top visually (which is what makes the theme work). However, you look at Conqueror Karma and she doesnt represent much.
The name of the skineline doesnt represent MSI, why conqueror? why would you conquer the MSI and not Worlds? Worlds seems more important to conquer, dont you think? The color scheme, Conqueror Karma looks like a glorified Lunar Revel skin (Lunar Revel is the Chinese New Year event), and its not to blame because the Lunar revel is all about RED and GOLD (mostly), if you picked those colors to represent last years MSI then it does make sense because it was in Shanghai. But the MSI isnt based around a Region´s theme.
The skin in itself is not bad, but the message "This skin represents MSI" is not there. The only reason I know this skin is for MSI is because of the Marketing strategy behind the skin and because of the special morder with the MSI symbol.
Keep the theme if you wish but try to look for a different angle. The MSI skin looks like a Lunar Revel skin and it shouldnt. The MSI is a special esports event, and if you are going to make a skin for it, it should ba just as special and UNIQUE in design.
e) And for the very last question, Yes I would buy future MSI skins, but in order for me to buy it, you need to put in the effort. Figure out which champions REALLY deserve the skin, figure out a UNIQUE model and color Scheme, because its too close from Lunar Revel, make it more obvious and ostentatious (just like the Championship skins).
You got to let the world know that Conqueror Karma is an MSI skin without the need of a special MSI border. If you want some real feedback for MSI Conqueror Karma, future Conqueror skins need to be more ostentatious. That is the key word Im giving you.
Now again, the skin itself IS great, its perfect, but because it doesnt represent what MSI trully is, the quality of the skin is just not there. I am repeating this for the fourth time because the skin needs to make an impact both visually and in understanding. Just by hearing the word Conqueror or by looking at the skin model without looking at the name, I should be able to identify the skin as the MSI skinline and currently, it looks like the Warring Kingdoms Skinline. Look at the championship skins, for players that have left for an entire season and that later came back, they can perfectly identify the championship skin for the season they have left, because visually all Championship skins are the same, they are that easy to identify because no other skin looks even remotely close, and this is not the case for the Conqueror skinline.
Again, laugh as much as you guys want, but if Riot wants serious feedback, then I have to be serious when defending my point, even if its just a skin. I dont care if people buy the skin or not, but if Riot wants to know, on a serious level, if the Conqueror skinline represents the MSI, Im giving my response by saying that this skin doesnt represent the MSI at all, both visually (skin model, particles, etc) and ideally (the message).
So yeah, this may have been an awkward thread, but its a thread I have been trying to make for 3 days now. I have been trying to pin point on exactly what I want to talk about and trying to sound as calm as I can possibly be. I made this thread because I got frustrated over a silly Survey, but let me remind you that these surveys are one of Riots primary ways to gather feedback, and when I see questions that deserve a legitimate and well argumented asnwer, then I feel the urge to talk about it because its the only way I can guarantee myself that someone at Riot will hear me and send this message forward.
And that is about it. Agree or disagree, discuss about what I wrote if you feel the desire to do so, just remember please that these are all my personal opinions and ideas, and I only ask to keep an open mind and at the very least try to understand my point of view is possible first, before commenting.