Thoughts on Riot, Updates, Champion Balance, "Toxicity", among other things.

If anyone saw this thread last night, you know it was a jumbled mess. I still have the original saved, but I thought it would be better to assemble a bulleted list of topics rather than try to write an essay on my thoughts, because I'm terrible at putting them on paper in a concise way. This is mostly @Riot, so "you" or "your" are most likely referring to Riot.

Boards

Personally, I like this format better than the old forums. Are you looking to expand to make this more functional? I'd like to suggest something akin to how when writing an email, it will save timestamped drafts of what was being written at the time so in case of human error/power outage/whatever else so that at least some of your work was saved.

New client/patcher

Patching speeds were claimed to be increased, but it's been slower than ever. The client is still laggy, but now it looks like something I'd expect from Windows 8 (which isn't a good thing).

Suggested change: Make the overall old layout (in regards to the news links) smaller, and possibly make them scrollable. Five is too few for recent news. This would allow people to see everything without actually having to log in. The new layout is less user-friendly.

Champion Balance

Are you looking to balance every champion in the game or preserve champion identities? It's nigh impossible to do both. Personally, I don't feel as if you'll ever be able to accomplish this task, as one champion kit will always be inherently stronger than another, or in some cases, situationally stronger than every other kit. There's nothing wrong with this. It's the entire point of design; to create new, better, and/or more appealing things. There's nothing wrong with point and click crowd control. There is nothing wrong with silences as a form of crowd control. There is something wrong with adding crowd control and utility to a champion that doesn't need it to accomplish its goal.

• Kha'Zix - Thematically, to me, feels as if he's meant to be an assassin. Why would his damage be a target to "tone down" his inherent strengths, when his utility could have been altered? You go from "Isolate and devour." to "Isolate, then wait for your team to come in with you so that you can slow the target and grant your team vision of them. Your team can then do damage for you to be able to get the reset that's built into your own kit." While this arguably increases game health by discouraging a lone wolf playstyle and making you rely on your team more, you take away from the overall experience of playing Kha'Zix.

• Talon - While this may be overstepping since it hasn't gone live, there's currently a change to Talon on the PBE removing his silence. As with every other gutting removal of silence on champions, the ones being targeted have been champions with strong themes of being an anti-mage or assassin. Silences allow for them to not only do their job well, but also fill a thematic role. A cut-throat seems like it would be pretty damn silencing. Is the removal of silences as a form of crowd control a notorious plot by Azir to stay in power? Quite frankly, we need to band together to overthrow this birdbrain's fowl plot.

• Rengar - I'm torn 50/50 on the Rengar changes, but I do know one thing for sure. Stealth is effectively rendered useless when the enemy knows you're coming. The notification when Rengar is near is one-sided gameplay. It could be argued that Rengar having effective stealth is also one-sided, but in this case, the party being favored is the target, where they get free warning for doing nothing. Stealth already has an effective counter in Pink Wards. Why should his target be given a layer of defense for either a) not warding or b) warding a path that isn't where your hunter is coming from?

• Kassadin - Although I haven't particularly been against any Kassadin changes, he had effectively grown into the role of an anti-mage champion. Why was his silence removed if you also targeted his mobility and chase potential in the form of his ultimate?

• LeBlanc - As with Kassadin, I also don't have very strong feelings for LeBlanc. While I can't really form an opinion on whether or not removing her silence was the correct way in dealing with her "oppressiveness", I can say that, after losing it, she seems to have fallen out of favor very quickly. I may be wrong on this, and if anyone has statistics to prove me wrong, please post them.

• Ashe - Considered by many to be a "noob" champion or entry-level ADC, Ashe currently has a passive that allows her to build up Focus stacks. At 100 stacks, Ashe's next basic attack will be a critical hit. Ashe has grown into a niche where Attack Speed and Critical Hit Chance have become her two desired/primary stats, and her Focus passive adds another Critical Hit element to her kit. I feel as if this would belong more on a champion such as Caitlyn. As a sniper, a critical hit would fit more thematically, while her current passive promotes building attack speed. Although many players, myself included, are fine with how Caitlyn is already, I feel like this would be better for her overall design. I don't see a problem in using logic in a video game, and as such, it would make more sense to give Focus to Caitlyn and design a new, better (and possibly more interactive) passive to Ashe (or even give Caitlyn's passive to Ashe for that matter, as it synergizes more so with attack speed).

I could definitely go on about champion changes, as I also particularly disagree with the champion changes to Karma and Cassiopeia, as well as the upcoming changes to Soraka and Viktor. (Overall, champion "reworks" have missed their marks entirely, and have almost always resulted in changing the feel of a champion and haven't really ended up adding anything positive to the game.)

Lore

Do I even need to go into detail with this? I will admit the work you're doing with videos and the in-game events and such is awesome, but I see no reason why you couldn't fundamentally accomplish the same thing with the lore and background that's in place already. While it seems hypocritical seeing as I'm pushing for gameplay to fundamentally be changed from the direction it seems like it's heading, I feel as if breaking away from the lore that's been established over the years just seems wrong and creates even more work than if you'd expanded on the foundation that was in place.

Player Behavior/Toxicity

Language and negative chat has become a priority target for you in terms of dealing with, and eliminating, negative interactions between players. To me, the most directly game-changing thing about spamming chat in rage is that the time and energy you're spending typing isn't being used to play (or make plays) in the game itself. I'd be less affected by someone calling me a dumbass than someone calling me a dumbass, along with twenty other lines of anger-fueled babble, then proceeding to die because they weren't focusing their attention on the game.

Things more likely to affect my gameplay:

• Language and anger to a point where the player is no longer focusing on the game, but more so on spamming chat.
• Intentionally feeding, or running into the enemy team.
• Laners/Jungler that won't stop shoving lane/taking farm/whatever else.
• There's a big difference between a jungler walking into lane, blowing enemy Summoner Spells, getting the enemy laner low, or even killing the enemy laner, then taxing a couple creeps as compared to a jungler walking into lane, smiting the cannon minion, using some form of AoE on the wave, and then leaving. The first example can be thought of as him taking tax for helping out your lane, because you're more likely to kill your laner afterwards if the gank didn't net you a kill or assist already. The second makes you lose out on creeps, shoves the wave in the enemy laner(s)' favor, puts you behind in experience, and can potentially draw enemy jungle aggression to you because he may think "Oh, enemy jungle was just there, maybe I should gank too."
• Supports that won't stop autoattacking minions are just as annoying.
• Someone playing non-meta champions/roles to the point where they may even become whacky before having a firm grasp on the metagame itself. Meta should be encouraged, but not required. Breaking the meta should only occur after you actually know what the meta is and have a complete understanding of it. (For the most part, this has to do with Ranked play.)

People jumping into Ranked without a good knowledge of the game and its meta environment is a very bad thing. Although I'm all for making some new tutorials that cover everything from meta gameplay, last hitting, team interactions (when to follow enemy laner vs push tower, when to group for teamfights, etc), a massive problem with this is that when the meta changes, a brand new tutorial would have to be coded and deployed.

A possible alternative would be to have a team work on instructional videos (like the champion spotlights and how they cover combos and potential interaction for one specific champion, but for, well, you know, the entire game). New meta, new video showcasing possible strategies.

Effects of changes on my opinion of "Toxicity"

League of Legends has such strong potential for a great game focused on strategy and teamwork, but with the way that "Champion Balance" is being handled, the addition of automatic jungle timers as opposed to click-to-start timers, as well as the new Summoner's Rift and champion visuals, etc, it makes me feel like the game is going in the complete opposite direction. The way the game is being handled is directly creating "toxicity" in the playerbase. Nerfing every "Flavor of the Month" champion is toxic in and of itself because it only shows short term thinking and will either eventually boil down to:

• Champions being nerfed until they're right back where they started in relation to one another, but scaled down. This may (if you're lucky) preserve champion identities, but everyone will still complain about balance issues.
• Champions becoming sidegrades of one another, effectively eliminating any and all aspects of "Champion Identity", but Congratulations! You've achieved balance.

Champion Balance and Preserving Champion Identities are two entirely separate, conflicting goals.

Possible changes to create a better ranked system

Ranked, at the moment, is in shambles (to put it lightly). My general thoughts on the topic are as follows:

• "Elo hell" should not exist. There's too much solidity (or getting stuck) in ranks.
• Your rank should directly reflect your performance. You play worse, your rank goes down. You play better, your rank goes up.
• Giving "special treatment" to players who have played well in the past is directly affecting ranked interaction in a negative way. For example, if every player who was Diamond rank in a previous season gets into Gold or Platinum strictly from promos, this eliminates the interaction between "high-elo" and "low-elo" players. Every ranked Season should start as an entirely clean slate, and placement matches should NEVER place you higher than high Bronze/low Silver. Fundamentally, the "You belong in whatever rank you're stuck in." should hold true. This is not the case in the current system. You section off a group of players in favor of "special treatment", and keep them from normally interacting with the general population. When you remove these players that should be climbing just like every else, you're essentially creating "elo-hell" and "toxic" situations in low-elo.
• Getting carried is a thing. Some people might get a boost in their ranked climb because they get matched up with four players who were previously Diamond tier. Others who were previously Diamond tier might get matched up with four players that some consider "Wood Tier" players, and it makes their climb slower. This is normal. Everyone should generally wind up where they "belong" in a ranking system.
• A competitive ladder like this is going to involve quite a bit of luck. You won't always get matched up with players who are on equal or higher ground than you are. This puts you in the position where you are required to carry. This should normally be possible if you play well, but this is skewed by players who don't take the game seriously or don't understand the fundamentals of the game. These people should not be in ranked. At all. Ever. (until they either learn the game or take it seriously, of course.) You shouldn't opt for competitive play if you won't play competitively. Playing Ranked with a "It's just a game. It doesn't matter." mentality is almost as "toxic" as intentionally feeding.

Other examples that are potentially breeding "Toxicity"

• Lifetime RP rewards - Generally, this is a big no, as it breeds competition where there should be none.

• A healthy way to approach this, in the form of Summoner Icons, would be to feature icons that display, either in cash or RP value, the amount you've spent on the game. These icons would not be time-limited and could be unlocked when the amount of money/RP needed was spent. A "toxic" way to approach this would be to make new custom art icons, and things they look really cool that will have an aesthetic value to players who haven't spent money on the game. Another alternative, more refunds, also not time-limited. Three "recent purchase" refunds are way too few. Three per season for everyone would've been better, in addition to the added RP-reward tiers for people who have spent money. I think it's safe to assume that people who have bought more things have a higher chance of having bought more things that they'd like to refund.

• In the same category are the yearly icons for Holidays, such as the Santa Baron icon or icons unlocked for gifting during a Holiday. I remember some time ago (Halloween 2011 or 2012), there were icons added to achieve milestones for spending $x amount on RP during the event. These icons didn't signify the amount spent, but rather filled the role of "That icon looks really cool, but I'd have to go spend $200 to get it." They served more as a marketing point to unlock something to display. At the very least, make these recurring every year, so at some point everyone who's willing to spend the money can unlock them.

• Limited Edition skins - On a similar note, limited edition skins also have the same effect. I understand having something special for Beta players, as they are (or at least should be) near and dear to your heart. I also understand having end of season rewards such as the Victorious line of skins (if ranked were sorted out properly). But what do other "LE" or "discontinued" skins accomplish besides "Hey, I played the game before you."?

• Riot Singed - The other Riot skins were recently brought back into the store. Why has Riot Singed been discontinued?

• Judgment Kayle - What were the requirements for this? 10 ranked games in Season One? Although I'm sitting here without it, it doesn't seem it like this was something that should be so special to unlock that everyone else is excluded. Although I'm biased due to not having this skin, along with my opinion that this is the only really good skin that Kayle has, it doesn't make sense to me that this skin is no longer attainable.

• Rusty Blitzcrank - I've had people flat out tell me that if they could have any discontinued skin, it would be Rusty Blitzcrank. I'm also unclear on the reasons why this skin was discontinued. We have other recolors and such in the store now. Why is this one unavailable exactly?

• Championship Skins - With the Riot skins recently coming back into the store (with the exception of Riot Singed), it made me wonder: Why can't the Championship skins come back every season during Worlds? Championship Riven (more biased opinions incoming) is her only really good skin. This along with Championship Thresh (which is still available through mystery gifting apparently, as I've recently seen this skin gifted to someone) are no longer attainable, but serve the same purpose as the "Riot" line of skins: to commemorate an event. Both lines of skins should come back selectively.

• PAX Skins - Same deal. I don't know how to reiterate this any more. PAX still happens but PAX skins stay discontinued.

• Urfwick - Same deal. Christmas skins come back around Christmas, Halloween on Halloween. Why doesn't Urfwick come back on April Fool's Day?

I'm know I'm missing some LE skins. Black Alistar/Silver Kayle/Human Ryze? What else? The only argument I have is that they still stick to a time-limited theme and weren't really "earned."

Spirit Guard Udyr/Blackfrost Anivia

Overall, these seemed like visual upgrades that we were asked to purchase. Skins should be more focused on changing the way a champion feels. Other recolors and themed skins sell for 520/750. Although SG Udyr came with a banner and icons, I feel as if the skin itself would've belonged more into the Legendary category instead of Ultimate if you still insisted on selling it due to its quality, but it's essentially a reiteration of Udyr himself. What's really the point of making a skin that doesn't have any associated skins on other champions to go with it if it doesn't influence the overall aesthetic theme of a champion? Don't get me wrong. The skin looks amazing in my opinion, but more in a way of "Now THIS is how Udyr is supposed to look! ( if he were updated visually)". Same for Blackfrost Anivia due to her animation and visuals looking really outdated. BF Anivia fills the same void as a graphic update would for me.

The new Summoner's Rift and Champion "Texture Rebalances"

As I hinted in the beginning of the "Effects of changes on my opinion of "Toxicity" section, the new Summoner's Rift update, to me, doesn't feel like an upgrade. If anything, the graphic quality is being reduced. That makes me salty. What's the reasoning behind dulling the game down and making it flat and cartoony, as opposed to giving us better visuals and making things higher quality in terms of complexity? I like that you're working on things like the geometry of walls and adding ripple effects to river, but I'd personally prefer to see those on the rift we already have. I also think it would be better to have champions and skins keep their details, but update the models at least to higher resolution and more/better usage of shading, not the elimination of shading and model complexity altogether.

In regards to champion/skin relations to their splash arts, more QA might be good. Some examples I've seen are the Final Boss Veigar splash where the 'Q' on his glove was backwards. Small oversights, I guess.

Others mention color and detail differentials with the new splashes and texture "rebalances". It's good that you're listening to these kinds of things from the people that support the change, but to me, I see this as "We're making it worse, but it's slightly better than what we were originally going to make it." That's just in general because I disagree with the changes. (This line overall seems jumbled and doesn't say what I want it to. To reiterate, the point I'm trying (and failing) to make is: It's good that the people who like the Silverfang Akali changes nitpicked the color of her blades and you've said it's possibly being worked on, but what's wrong with Akali's noodle arms and "too much unnecessary detail" to begin with? I play on a cheap Dell laptop with integrated graphics with 2Gb of RAM. I've capped as high as ~40fps. Performance isn't an acceptable argument to warrant complete removal of textures.)

Some TL;DRs and reiterations without as much detail so I don't get myself confused trying to explain:

• Every champion should be oppressive in their own way. Champion balance is what's leading to boring and uninteractive gameplay. If every champion's broken, no one can constantly nitpick over what champions are doing too much damage or have too much CC or whatever.
• Less detail and "decluttering" or whatever on champions and the new SR map is not good. Quite the opposite, to be brutally honest. You're going from something that looks low-res and old to something new that's aimed at a younger audience and a more casual audience in terms of what they expect from their game. It seems lazy.
• Exclusivity is "toxic". More things should be generally available to everyone, aside from things that could be easily described as "earned".

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The point I'm mostly trying to get at (and reluctantly so) is this : I know you're not perfect, and I don't expect everything you do to be perfect. But are you confident in saying that the direction you're headed is what you, as a company and from the perspective of League of Legends players yourselves, want, as well as what you think would be better for the playerbase? If the answer is "Yes.", I'm expecting myself to be parting ways with League of Legends (for like the 4th time or something. I don't know anymore. I lost count.) due to conflicting opinions and the fact that this isn't what I expected. As someone who plays on a toaster and was only really starting to get into the game for the first time even though I've been around for a couple years, the future of the visuals and gameplay is not what I'm looking forward to.