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Effort/reward, why does this not exist in this game?

Niyumi·9/19/2015, 9:41:34 PM·1 votes·659 views

So, in League we have what, 126 champions? They all have varying playstyles, strengths, weaknesses, aesthetics and so on. Some champions are really hard to use, Azir, and some are pathetically easy, Caitlyn Vayne Jinx and every other ADC. Though something about the "balance" (or lack thereof) in this game really, really bothers me.

What exactly bothers me? Well, it's the fact that the effort/reward ratio is just totally non-existent.

Say you have a champion (Vayne) who just auto attacks people (meaning you don't have to aim, can't miss and there's really no way to counterplay their damage), which is the easiest method of attacking someone. They can instantly kill squishies, they can near-instantly kill tanks, and they're just hell to play against because, short of totally rendering them unable to fight, there's no way to play against them. Now, on the other side, we have a champion who relies on skillshots and complex mechanics to do their damage (Azir). Most of their damage is very easily avoidable, and since you avoided their attacks and everything is on CD, you can just eat them alive. Say you're bad at dodging, so you build a bit of MR, and you can just ignore their damage and kill them faster.

Do you see the problem there?

Champions who take next to no effort, skill or even thought are the strongest champions in the game, and kill people instantly by, literally, right clicking on them. Champions who take a huge amount of skill and effort, who have very steep learning curves, can't kill people anywhere near as quickly, and are far weaker in a fight due to their lack of lifesteal/spellvamp (item 3153) -- you attack them, they die. In what world is that "fair" or "balanced?"

In most games, the harder it is to pull something off, the greater your reward.

In Dark Souls (a popular game these days), you can dual wield; by reducing your defensive capabilities, you double your offensive output and open up new combos.

In an FPS game, you can use a sniper; by reducing your effectiveness in combat, and by barring yourself from CQC, you can kill people in one or two shots (but only if you can aim well).

In an MMO, you can build for full damage; by lowering your defensive capabilities, and making it easier for you to die, you can do far more damage and kill easier.

Do you see the trend here? In almost every game out there, the more effort required/the more difficult some thing is to do, the higher your reward. In League, we have the reverse. The easiest, most braindead champs in the game (clickers, mages with no skillshots, ADCs, champs with very, very simple kits, etc.) are the most powerful by far. If you pit any clicker and any harder champ together, odds are that the harder champ will lose, since you can dodge their damage (and their damage is lower anyway) and easily kill them.

Now, I'm not really surprised. League is a company that's very focused on money, being an F2P company and all. If people had to actually put in effort in order to win, who would throw money at Riot by the fistful? You heard of Wildstar, right? It was super hyped and everyone was excited for it, but it was a very unforgiving and difficult game (it's been nerfed since), and 80% of the people who joined left within a month.

The gaming community these days really disappoints me. I just don't know what else to say. But, Riot, you need to give the harder champs a reward for all the effort, the time spent learning and all that they do in order to perform. The easiest champs in the game should not be the most powerful, that's just in no way fair or balanced. If someone is a god with a champ like Azir, then they should rip Vayne a new one. Sadly, that's not the case.

So, Riot, can you explain your reasoning as to why there is no effort/reward factor? Why are the easiest champs oftentimes the most powerful at equal skill levels? How is that fair?

TL;DR: Just read it. :3

4 Comments

Ńord9/19/2015, 10:14:15 PM1 votes

I think the problem is that you're comparing a mid laner to an adc. It's the adc's job to do the most damage in the team fights. You make the case that they can auto attack you to death. They're designed to do that as that's their primary way of dealing damage. Champions may be harder to play as a result of their spells though adcs don't always have to rely on that to win. I do agree that adcs are powerful but they are also terribly squishy. Heck there are tons of midlaners with point and click nuke. Adcs are hardly unique in that aspect. Having said that, I think mastery of a difficult champion comes with its own rewards like superior mechanics which leads you to win the laning phase and snowball hard into late game.