[Debate] Naturally Toxic Game Mechanics
Hello and welcome to my weekly (at least that's what I shoot for) [Debate] post. In this post series I outline a subject with LoL, and encourage people to post their own opinions and views about the subject. I hope to spark intelligent, civil and open-minded debate amongst the community. Just in case you don’t know how to do debate that here are the guidelines:
- Don't dismiss anyone's opinions, opinions are never wrong, you just disagree with them.
- You are free to disagree with someone always, but always do your best to explain why.
- Don't get emotional, hopefully we're all adults here, keep it in 'debate' mode. No catfights allowed.
- Feel free to disagree with my OP as well! I love feedback, but this is a debate thread, I'll respond where I can!
- There is a comment reply cap! You only have a few tries to rebuttle and argue a point, so make them count!
#Naturally Toxic Game Mechanics
#####Want to help decide what topic comes next? Well you can! Poll below!
##What is a ‘Toxic Game Mechanic”?
We’ve all had that moment.
“How the hell is that fair?” | “What can I do against that?” | “Who thought this was a good idea?”| "WTF IS THIS?" | "Come on Rito!"
A Toxic Game Mechanic is any interaction in the game where you feel has an unhealthy effect on the game balance, game style, or the game in general. This can be, but is not limited to a champion ability. It can also mean an item, game logistic (turret behavior, minion number, etc.), or anything else you can think of.
##I’ve mentioned “X” for ages now!
As a player in the game, you have a right to speak your mind about a game mechanic you do not feel is no fair or not healthy. Game developers are only human and balancing such a dynamic game is downright difficult, there is always room for improvement. But to truly comprehend why you think it’s unbalanced….
###Please explain, in detail, WHY you feel it is not unfair. PLEASE do not just say “X is unfair”
…this will not only help me (and anyone else reading) why you feel the way you do, but it also opens your argument up to rebuttle. Now this may seem like a bad thing, but rebuttles actually help refine your view, because if your argument can still hold merit after someone specifically argues against it, that makes it even better. Now, your argument may change and you can’t be afraid of that. A stubborn opinion stagnates and flops, keep your argument alive by constantly refining and improving it.
##I have an idea to re-make “X”!
####Please try to NOT post ideas for additions, re-makes, etc. This thread is made for identifying toxic mechanics and arguing why they are or are not bad for the game. It can be surprisingly difficult to refrain from doing this, but please try to make the effort, thank you! I’m sure you do have an idea, and I’m sure it can be a good idea, but as an engineering student I can safely say finding the problems and making sure they are actually problems can be just as hard as fixing them. An idea for a re-make is a great thing to post as your own discussion! And I for one will be very glad if you come up with a great idea because of this discussion, but this is a very very easy way to de-rail a conversation within this specific discussion. So, again, PLEASE try to not post your own ‘fixes’. Adjusting numbers is fine and even encouraged as that can better show where a problem area is! But changing the given mechanic doesn't help!
As a quick tl;dr:
####Acceptable
I feel “X”’s main problem is “this” and “this” can be brought down a bit without shaking things up too much. But beyond that “Y" is another problem area....
####Please Don't....
Hey, but what if “X” was changed to a teleport, and then you could make “Y” a nuke, and then….
##Inb4
Whether or not these are actually toxic is completely up to you, but I wanted to knock out some of the more popular ones up-front. Feel free to explain why you think any of these are not toxic if you feel that way!
######Note: These do not reflect my own personal opinion, that comes later!
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Nidalee Spear
Nidalee Spear is considered by many to be unhealthy for gameplay as the mana gating isn’t enough to prevent spam (usually due to Athene’s) and the Q has enough damage that it only takes one hit to knock someone out of fight either by killing them or forcing them to back, allowing for an easy forced teamfight.
####Current Response: Being looked at
#####
Gragas Sustain
This is being changed in the PBE now, but one the chief things people did not like about Gragas was the fact he had such high health and mana sustain. Combine that with his built in Damage Reduction, a well-played Gragas would never be forced out of lane until he so chooses. This gets him advantage in both experience and gold that most, if not all, mid-laners could not do anything about. i.e. Blew all of their own mana and he’s still there, laughing.
####Current Response: Re-worked
#####
Kassadin Mobility
The fact that Kass has his own incredibly low-cooldown, longer ranged blink than flash meant he had unrivaled mobility and thus made him insanely difficult if not impossible to gank and otherwise isolate.
####Current Response: Core thematic mechanic to Kassadin (why people play him), mana-gating, reduced range on his kit forces him to dive a team to get enough damage out to be relevant.
#####
Hyperbolized Health Regen
As an incredibly useful out-of-combat stat, Health Regen itself is not a problem, but champions/items that bring enough health regen to be a useful in-combat stat (Mundo, prime example) is not currently in a good state for the game. GW is only on carries, and tanks have the regen, forcing inappropriate targeting. Most ways to introduce counter-elements can bring in severe problems in other areas (active heals, lifesteal, etc.).
####Current Response: Being looked at
#####
Cookie Cutter Marksman Builds
The lack of items and useful stats available to marksman make item choice very limited to do well as a marksman. This makes choice non-existent and takes away from the overall “fun factor” of playing marksman.
####Current Response: There will always be math-crafted “cookie cutter” builds. The amount of desired stats (AD, AS, Armor Pen, GA) makes additions of new items without being redundant very difficult.
#####
Rengar Ultimate
Especially in Season 4, the ability to pounce from anywhere at any angle unseen makes skill and counter-play almost inexistent against it, save for a very lucky pink ward. Combined with Rengar’s double Q-nuke squishy targets simply do not have any way to play against this mechanic.
####Current response: Re-work
####There are plenty more, but these are the more popular right now and as such would inevitably pop up. Feel free to discuss them!
##The Question
###What part of League do you feel provides an unhealthy or “Toxic” experience for the game at large? Why?
Make sure that you’re not repeating someone else’s opinion! Read through the parent comments and if you find someone who feels about whatever element it is the same way you do upvote it, reply as well if you feel it can be better said or is differing slightly in an area.
##My Personal Take
Currently really just Rengar Ultimate, as the stealth + ms + lack of stealth detection in S4 makes him deleting a carry from your team pretty much guaranteed if he isn’t shut down, combine that with his split-pushing capability his ultimate can really spark unhealthy interactions with the rest of the game. His current PBE re-work Ultimate is a great approach to fix it imho, so even that complaint isn't going to be relevant soon. Really, my main view is that different ELO's bring different problems when it comes to toxic mechanics.
High Elo toxic mechanics can be things that allow for forgiveness to the few mistakes that can be made (i.e. Thresh Lantern, Rengar Ult, Hyperbolized Health Regen) but seem rather balanced in lower Elo.
Lower Elo though, have problems with things that can abuse the higher number of kills/deaths, lack of objective pushing and seemingly invisible power (i.e. Kill resets, split-pushing, increased gold generation).
So really a "toxic game mechanic" will always mean something either completely or a little different to one person or another, and as such need to be a case-by-case thing.
##Game Design Terms That May Help
Moved to here to save space and make for a better standalone read.
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