Story of a Casual Player - Why I Feel People Lose Interest in League of Legends
Hello!
I've been a casual League of Legends player for a long time now, but I've realized not many people know what that entails. I love to play League of Legends, and even playing Ranked can be a thrilling experience, but I never find myself playing to win, or to go up another league. Instead, I play mostly with friends, and we try our best to have fun and enjoy ourselves.
I like to look at Wikis, watch some pro players, and even browsing through the subreddit and boards reading everyone's topics. But even so, I am in no way very good at this game (Just check out my rank, no joke!), but I still play, because I enjoy it! I might come out of a game with that sinking feeling, the feeling where I know I did badly, or maybe I'll come out of a game upset, angry at a player I found to be arrogant or annoying, but I keep queuing up again, because this game is fun!
The game might not have the greatest community, or the best reputation within the gaming community, but I love it. I've found many friends playing League of Legends, and I still hang out with them to this day. I've been jumping into Summoner's Rift since Season 1, and my experience still has not faltered. I'd like to thank Riot for bringing this game to fruition!
I will admit, not many people share my views. I've talked to them, and even reflected on my own opinions, and I think I may have some idea of what some players feel is wrong about the game. I'll put a TL;DR at the end of this, just in case you're not a fan of reading.
Anyway, I'll start with...
#Ranked Games, Behavior, and Player Support Many people seem to think the system is unfair. In some ways, it can certainly be. A winning game can quickly turn into a loss if your top laner goes AFK and allows the enemy Nasus to get stacks, or perhaps flaming begins within your match, causing your team to work out of sync, and quickly turn game into something entirely not fun, ruining the experience for everyone.
You have implemented systems in order to counteract this, but many players don't think the system works as great as it can. One of my friends claims the reporting system is broken, and another person I've discussed this topic with says Riot Support enlists bots to respond to player inquiries, and getting an actual person is near impossible. A thread that was on the front page as of me typing this up goes even further to say that it took him 7 tickets before he even got a response from a human, and by the time that occurred, his temporary ban was already complete.
We've seen proof the system does it's job, but much complaint is not whether the system exists, but whether it is efficient. It may ban 2 players who have had a huge track record of AFKs and toxic manners, but what about the pool of players who thrive off the suffering of other players? Surely not all of them are getting caught.
Even with all of the systems in place to prevent this, we still see trolls, malicious AFKs, and generally rude and toxic behavior. Shouldn't a system prevent these happenings, and intimidate players to not follow these examples?
The community in it of itself is one of the core reasons, I feel, that people have a negative experience with League of Legends.
#Lore I know you guys at Riot are trying your hardest, whether allegedly or in actuality, but when will we get the lore that so many people desire? It's not a minority anymore. Many players, even those that don't frequent the boards, push for functional lore to be in the game.
I loved talking to people about the lore for League of Legends, and loved reading up on all the theories on Reddit and watching YouTube videos on them, and I've even took a stroll through the roleplaying forums back before the new Reddit style was implemented, but now we're missing that experience.
We want to know the when, how, and why. Please Riot, we loved the old lore, and while some of us are open to change, not many of us are open to waiting for as long as we have.
#The Tribunal I know this is a feature that many people want to return, and I enjoyed it while it existed as well. It gave us reassurance that the system actually was catching bad players and punishing them. It would be great to have it back, but, as I stated earlier while I talked about ranked games and the reporting system, even if we have proof that some people are being punished, it's not putting a stop to toxic behavior. We are still one of the most toxic communities in any MOBA, and even most games in general.
#Lack of Diversity Everyone I has talked to wants diversity. One even saying "I don't mind item diversity. While I don't like trolls, I'm perfectly fine with having many branching options towards customizing your build and what Summoner Spells you bring into the game. I do not like the fact that most of the Champions I play feature gameplay that is copy pasted exactly from the last game I played. I want every game to be a new, fresh experience, and not just the same game time and time again.".
I hope I would be safe to assume and generalize that in fact, most players feel that way, but yet, most build paths are set in stone, and the meta defines everything. You can build different things depending on how the game is going, but most of these are limited to "Facing Heavy AP, Facing Heavy AD" or "Majority AP, Majority AD". I love Zeke's, but I feel this is not the best way to describe item diversity, as a very small minority will build it. I want a list of items that everyone can and will build, and switch between, while also having the freedom to experiment with some "Anti-Meta" builds as well, and discover new tactics for Champions.
Mid Soraka and basically Alistar everywhere were perhaps at bit broken, but I wouldn't mind seeing new fresh takes on Champions like this, as long as it works and it isn't absolutely overpowered. Nowadays, though, almost every Soraka and Alistar I see play Support, and we have no more of that Champion Diversity that I loved to see. The Champions that best encompass this fact are Champions like Fiddlesticks, Ekko, and Vel'Koz (among others), who can go many lanes while still retaining their ability to "do good".
Wow. That was a wall of text.
A TL;DR for those of you who decided that was too much to slug through (lazy), then here is everything summarized into nice, bite-sized pieces!
I believe the Reporting System and Player Support should be improved. I believe the System should not just punish players, but also prevent people from being punished by scarring away toxic players from being toxic in the first place. I believe Lore should be acknowledged more by Riot. I believe Diversity should be something that is recognized and supported by Riot, and that it should also be improved.
Well, that's everything. Thank you for reading!