Putting the “R” back in ARAM
The TLDR… What ARAM means to me, “Hey! Some champs perform better than others in a single lane.”, Why is this a problem?, “Let’s throw a snowball at it.” - Riot, That’s ARAM, Let’s really fix it with options.
“All random all mid” This was the response I received to my question “What’s an ARAM?”. Waiting in the custom lobby waiting for the remaining slots to fill. I had been invited by a particularly effective Garen Player. The matches had been hilarious. This guy went extra ham once he had gotten ahead a bit, really putting on a show. So, I took the invite and ARAM was impressed upon an unsuspecting former me. The gentleman’s sport that is ARAM.
We played what must have seemed like a dozen matches in a row. The finer points of ARAM… increased gold over time, strategically timed suicide, being the underdog, coming back from anything… sink in slowly. Mostly awkward, hesitant exchanges between reluctant summoners who may have taken the champion they were saddled with out for a few co-op matches. Sprinkled with all out, ham teamfights where the outcome was anybodies guess. This climate of uncertainty made the solid plays of a summoner fortunate enough to pull a familiar champion seem godlike in ability. But, it was all for the lols, win or lose. a pittance of IP, no scoreboard, no stat tracking, only lols. We played like sirs.
It’s the purity of ARAM I like. Just us people and them people, play after play. No objectives to chase around, no critters to babysit, one long teamfight. I also like the randomness, the results of the combinations you get in ARAM are sometimes really surprising. Certainly, some champions fare better in general than others and some require less skill to perform well than others. Now, not to imply the following are all low skill champs but, IMO these champs are exceptional in ARAM… Sona, Ziggs, Xerath, Yi, Darius, Illaoi, Varus, Soraka, Fiddlesticks, Blitzcrank, Zac, Trundle, Lux, Zyra, Ezreal, Kalista, Galio, Thresh, Hecarim, Lulu, Victor, Nautilus, Talon, Wukong, Orianna, Karma, Caitlyn, Teemo, LeBlanc, Garen, Malzahar, Kog’Maw, Pantheon, Miss Fortune, Janna, Twisted Fate, Veigar, Zilean, Heimerdinger, Nidalee, Kennen, Vel’Koz. If I left out a few my apologies. Usually, it’s some combination of Poke, CC and AOE that wins the day in ARAM. Sometimes an ADC will get on a roll of course too.
Why is this a problem? Some of these champs being so desirable and a lack of any policy or organization in the system creates a few issues that negatively impact the ARAM Community. Firstly, a condition is present where players are dodging queues in order to obtain a specific selection of champs they are proficient in using and are advantaged in a single lane. This has lead to the rise of “ARAM Accounts”. Which are semi-disposable accounts that only have ARAM advantaged Champs unlocked. This is all done in order to greatly stack the deck in favor of drawing a “good” champ of ARAM. Some players have 2 or 3 of these types of accounts. This heavily impacts the scope of randomness in ARAM. Secondly, due to no alternative access to the features of ARAM. You have a large group of players who dislike a random selection playing a game mode with a random selection. This compounds the entire issue by creating a player base which is actively dodging queues and creating stacked ARAM Accounts to fight the system. All of this creates an unfair advantage with no opportunity to counterplay in the spirit of ARAM. All very un-sir like.
Let’s throw a snowball at it. When I think of the “Mark” Summoner Spell or snowball. The first thing that comes to mind is “Bandaid”. This was implemented in order to give range challenged champs with no hop-on a fighting chance. But, everyone uses it all the time now. I thought you guys a riot wanted levers to adjust. Not just one item every champ in a meta needs to succeed, or something like that. This snowball does not address underlying issue. Which is a lack of true randomness and no alternative access to ARAM only features.
If I get smashed by an Ali, Lux, Yi, Sona, Wukong Comp. So be it, that’s ARAM. What I can’t handle is facing these stacked comps over and over again. True, winning against these underhanded tactics is pretty sweet. But, I just want pure randomness. I can handle it if I know they got that killer comp legitimately. Not just because they dodged a couple poor queues and picked up the “right” champs in the store for All Random All Mid. ARAM is all I play and the state of randomness seems to get worse everyday.
Let’s really fix it. Ideally, I would like to see an ADAM “All Draft All Mid”. Where it’s basically the same as ARAM except you draft select like Poro King. This would fix a lot of the issues ARAM is having. But to make ARAM just right again, I believe a truly random system is necessary. Maybe something like owned champs are scrambled weekly (like free champ selection) for ARAM. The only way to be sure to have a chance to use your favorite champ is to own them all. But really, queue dodging for ARAM is epidemic. I would go as far as something draconian like a 24hr ban (Only for ARAM Mode, Other modes still playable) per dodge. These folks obviously don’t want to play a mode with random champ selection and it would save them from the repeated sin of wasting everyone’s precious gaming time.
Let’s make ARAM random again and make a home for people who don’t prefer random selection with ADAM. Let’s fix this. Let’s make ARAM a game of sirs again.
F.Y.I. I play ARAM almost every night with 2-4 friends and I just want to see it made better.
