State of the Season: Preseason Progress

Riot·Jan 4, 2016·10 votes·83,157 views

Welcome to our experimental "State of the Season" dev blog, where we'll check in every so often with an update on the state of the game from a high-level perspective. Expect to hear thoughts on what we think’s going well, what's a problem, and what we're planning in the foreseeable future.

The first of these is easier because it's all about preseason:

Goals/Expectations of Preseason

Preseason's a time where we focus more on revising systems and challenging established parts of the game than usual. We do this in order to make long-term improvements that just aren’t possible to do bit by bit. That means game balance will be a lot more variable than usual toward the end of each year - which is also why ranked play takes a break and competitive play's much quieter than usual. At the start of the new year, however, we'll shift back to more standard balance patches, particularly from 6.2 onwards.

Game Pacing

For those who speak English, we have some preliminary thoughts on game pacing in the Dev Corner and will have more formal details early this year.

As a summary, however, our goal this season was to introduce changes to games where they could either resolve when they were considered ‘over,’ or allow a team that plays well to come back. So far, overall game length is down slightly (around 7%), which we feel is within an appropriate range. We saw game pacing get a little too stompy in 5.22, but with the changes in 5.23 & 5.24, things appear to be stabilizing if not improving.

Objectives

Rift Herald's currently looking a bit underutilized and we believe it’s still too expensive (in terms of health lost) for many champions to take. We don't want to make the Herald a mandatory objective, but do want to see it used more. There's likely also some learning curve as well, so we're curious to see how teams do or don't work it into their strategies.

Similarly, Dragon doesn't look like it's attractive enough either, which leads to a consistent focus on taking turrets instead. That's not new to preseason, being something we saw as a trend toward the end of 2015, particularly in the World Championships. We're currently exploring changes here to put more value on Dragon, which would potentially include making the second buff stack more appealing.

Keystones

We think that Keystone masteries so far have done a good job of demonstrating how masteries can have appreciable in-game effects in a satisfying way. Satisfaction aside, we don’t think the trees are delivering enough choice, both because some masteries are too dominant or weak, and because many don't have real choices at some tiers. To improve that, we're planning both new masteries and balance adjustments throughout the season.

Our first steps here will be to flesh out the T1 and T2 keystones, and then consider additional T3 Keystones. For the next addition, for example, we're considering a T2 Ferocity keystone that functions like the old Expose Weakness Mastery, amping damage a target takes from your allies if you've recently damaged it.

Marksmen

We're fairly happy with both marksmen and their items so far, in terms of the different experiences they offer and increased amounts of item choice/diversity. There have been some balance outliers we've had to adjust (Quinn, Kog'Maw, Graves, Lucian, Miss Fortune, Essence Reaver, etc) and we expect there'll be some need for additional refinement in the next few patches as well.

As far as specifics plans go... we think Cull's almost certainly too weak, so we'll be looking to buff it a bit so its users can survive in lane to farm. Phantom Dancer also needs help and we're planning on having it offer some constant movement speed, like the other Zeal items, rather than only being about in-combat mobility.

Junglers

There are some AP junglers that aren't well supported in the jungle who we think should be. To help, we’re exploring replacing Runeglaive with a new AP-focused jungle item so it has a less exclusionary design (ie: something that supports broader mage patterns). We're also considering whether we'll need to tweak jungle monster stats as well, with a focus on initial clear capabilities, but will have more details in the future.

Vision

Vision's a subtle system and changes to it take longer for teams to ‘figure out’ and adapt to than most. Understanding that, vision is an area where we're still deep in assessment on the impact of preseason.

So far, it's looking like Blue Trinket's too strong, whilst Yellow trinket in the mid and late game's too weak, so we'll be making changes to both. We've also got some tweaks for the combination Sightstone + gold generation items, which at present have an excessive amount of their power in mana regen, making them unappealing for quite a few champions.

Mages

For our next class update we'll probably be looking at some immobile mages. This will definitely be a long-term project, so a very rough guess is they won’t be out before the middle of the season. We can, however, talk through some details in terms of which champions we're thinking of working on (and why), early this year.

Conclusion

Overall we feel the preseason changes are trending in a good direction, though there’s plenty of work still ahead, both in the refinement of existing changes and some new content. Now that the new year is upon us, we’ll be pushing for more communication and transparency in the coming months. Do let us know if there are topics - preseason-related ones especially - on your mind that the above hasn’t covered, would love to talk about them where possible.

1,174 Comments

Gajeel ReedfoxJan 5, 20161094 votes

Reduce surrender time to 15 mins.

SukishooJan 5, 201623 votes

10*

ShukuchiJan 5, 201633 votes

0 min, 0 sec lol

QuasiStickfigureJan 5, 201678 votes

surrender before we even get into queue

HoldMyPlankJan 5, 201650 votes

Uninstall

DarkRitualJan 5, 2016115 votes

When your team forgets to ban Mundo

Jungle 0r DodgeJan 5, 201663 votes

10 Minutes is reasonable time for afk/dc's to come back. Should not have to wait 20 min because Troll McTrollington quit before game began.

SukishooJan 5, 201621 votes

Yeah. I hate it when that happens :/

Troll McTrollington

I liek this... should make an account named that XD

Final Raid BossJan 5, 2016228 votes

this should've happened a long time ago, even more so now because games end quicker. i don't see why they have to go on for 20 minutes before the team can vote to end it, if the majority want to end it at 10 minutes then why can't they? one of the worst things is continuing to play in a game you or the rest of your team don't want to be in. defending against an inevitable loss isn't fun.

adjothJan 5, 2016116 votes

That fine and all, but some people want to surrender when they shouldn't. And you end up turning the game around before that 20 min marker where a majority of your team doesn't want to surrender. I think rather than a time oriented surrender vote, for any pre-20 min surrender attempts, to be kill oriented. For example if your enemy has a 20 kill lead the option to surrender at any point in time becomes available. This would allow you to ff if you legitimately have a teammate feeding on purpose. Not to say you don't still have potential to win, it just gives you that option. Naturally you'd have to play around with this number, maybe instead of 20 you do 15 kills, or the option for an early surrender can only happen after 10 mins rather than any point in time.

GreeciusJan 6, 201649 votes

Essentially, kills can literally mean nothing in some situations. For example, I played in a game where my team was ten kills behind the other day but one due to better use of objectives, cs, and towers. Simply put, it should be based on gold not kills. As gold ends up being the deciding factor in nine out of ten games.

LykosJan 5, 2016616 votes

In my opinion if they implimented a Ten minute surrender then it should have to be a full team voting yes or nothing, then it returns to normal at 15 minutes.

MEME IniquityJan 5, 201634 votes

Honestly thats deffinatly appropriate.... i agree alot
Some people dont so its most likely not going to happen

Earl EulrichJan 5, 2016429 votes

there´s a lot of contradictions:

drake has no priority vs game-length is improving -> obviously drake has no priority because you almost never get to 5drakes anymore, as games are deceided way to early by snowballing and vision-denial (blue/pinkwards don´t do well if you can´t defend them). SO obviously gamelength isn´t healthy and buffing drake won´t fix the real issues at hand.

masteries: the only satisfying thing about the masteries are the actual keystones, as they are right now you could just offer 1pt and only keystones and do away with everything else, as it´s just sth. you fill to get to the keystone anyway.

marksmen/items...i feel like you guys are beyond help if you think the current state is even remotly acceptable (crit is more feast or famine than ever, ad-caster itemization is dead, diversity is still not really there if you want to be competitive).

jungle: still the question - why replace runeglaive when you easily could just add the new item and leave runeglaive as an option (maybe even helping - heavens forbid - actual diversity in the jungle)?

vision: there´s not enough of it, especially if the jungler doesn´t go sightstone/wardenchant - and even if he does most of the vision comes with pink/bluewards that can be easily taken out once a team has a lead...so we´re back to S2 where the winning team would oracle down any wards and have their opponents in utter darkness so they have to make mistakes -> no comeback available

mages: considering the last reworks...i´d be happier you forget about this one and invest the time in actually salvaging what´s left of the game after this preseason first.

more work ahead: oh yea, here we can agree.

Inori x ShuJan 5, 2016149 votes

what this guy says, and can you fix the damage that freaking tanks can put out. literally just left a game my lane lucian and thresh left bot lane 8/1 and the 4/1 voli legit tore the entire team apart and was unkillable. One point he could literally 1v4 the entire team, this isnt just peeling issues, darius, garen, mundo. the list goes on at how difficult these champs are to deal with. I was 12/5 on caitlyn and this garen legit was full tank just Q me then ulted me for 1100 damage and killed me.There seriously needs to be a balance on this, there is a reason these people build tank, ITS TO TANK, NOT DO THE MOST DPS

DorkunedAurasJan 5, 201622 votes

IF you are the villain, then garen ult will kill you at about 35% hp. As caitlyn, who presumably has built no HP of any kind, you will NEVER lose 1100 hp from garen ult.

The exaggeration here is real.

Inori x ShuJan 5, 201634 votes

i 100% gaurantee looked at the damage chart his ult did 1087 damage MAGIC DAMAGE: 175 / 350 / 525 (+ 28.6 / 33.3 / 40% of target's missing health)

Shroom JunkieJan 5, 2016135 votes

i 100% tee

fixed

The Khaos DragonJan 5, 201647 votes

As a Garen main, I think you don't quite understand. A tank should be able to wreck a squishy opponent. Why? Because most tanks are bringing swords to gun fights! If I can get close enough to take down a squishy hero, there is no reward if my damage is so low, that the squishy types can ignore me. This is what happened so many times before the juggernaught patch. As Garen, I have no CC, just a couple second silence. There is no slow, or stun. No knock-up. If Garen manages to tank through the high damage available, he should have the possibility of being rewarded with enough damage to matter. And if I manage to surprise an opponent, then no mercy. The opponent needs to learn to not get caught out. The difficulty level of playing Garen is not in figuring the right buttons to push when, it is finding the right balance of armor, mgc res, health, speed (or I never get into a fight at all), and damage for the team comp being faced. Get just one aspect out of balance, and you're going to suck the whole match, in at least one way.

deXfactor777Jan 6, 201628 votes

I completely agree with you. Juggernauts are slow moving champions that will punish you if you allow them close, that is the point of them. The EASY, emphasis on easy, way to counter them is kiting. The problem that a lot of people are complaining about when a Juggernaut does a ton of damage to someone usually it is because the player isn't playing smart. For example, if you are a squishy champion, I'll use Caitlyn in this example, you should not be the one face checking bushes (bushes are Garen 's favorite hiding place). Also, if this Caitlyn is not staying behind her frontline and doing damage from the back, like she should, she should be punished for bad placement. There are counters to every champion and ways to outplay every champion.

Inori x ShuJan 6, 201630 votes

the thing is garen isnt slow at all nor is have of the juggernauts + deadmans pl8 i mean there is barely any stopping him and they doesnt stop flash engages from these guys

PotentAcidPandaJan 5, 201642 votes

I can agree on all points here, but Rito is trying to be another game. League diversity is dying, if i want to play a Beat-Em-Up Moba full of up characters I would just play Smite...

Yordle XayahJan 5, 2016355 votes

Dear Riot: I'd like to see a world where picking a Tank leads to you being a beefy front line, not both a front line and a damage dealer. A world where the support is a source of utility, not even more damage. Where building over 3K HP doesn't let you perform still like an assassin, soloing the enemy carries. Make picking a role meaningful, don't blurr the line between what everyone does, where everyone can be everything. Be tank, a damage dealer and a utility source all at the same time.

Inori x ShuJan 5, 201637 votes

SO MUCH OF THIS PLEASE LISTEN TO THIS

honorspellJan 5, 2016188 votes

exactly. i don't want to be a damage dealer when i pick Rammus or Nautilus , i want to show up, and just be a cc bringing monster (i would say juggernaut but Darius ruined that word) i wan't to set up kills for allies and take damage from enemies ( i love that defensive keystone with DR, i forgot its name).

furthermore, they mentioned the immobile mages as they are called and i was thinking i want them to differentiate from assassins with more than just the "i go in"/"i don't go in" thing. im thinking more things like the Anivia and Karthus walls, where they alter the battlefield, and take control of things, rather than just being damage. Azir is another great example, while Annie is a bad example, just damage and tibbers.

(why cant i upvote this guy more)

adjothJan 5, 201626 votes

Sadly item build do just that and it's a major issue that has no real solution. If a tank does no damage then you could straight up ignore them making them mostly irrelevant. Same issues with support. The major draw back is if you build damage you'll lose out on Armor and Magic Resit where a true tank gets its power from, and support items than can buff you ADC. A potentially good fix would to reduce the natural tankness of tanks. Making them have to choose between survivability and damage, some champions are too strong in this regard cause tank = damage, like Volibear with his "w". Supports already have that constant due to the item selection and their abilities. Ultimately I believable tanks doing to much damage is an issue. Damage support aren't too much of an issue because that is somewhat their role (poke support). And is almost mandatory after laning is over to still have relevant use during a team fight. Having CC in there kit can change things thou... I'd explain more but this is already getting long. Basically, balancing is hard especially when non-meta builds come into play.

How Do You MetaJan 5, 2016316 votes

In a good direction? That direction is making me want to quit this game and I have been here for years and thousands of games. Own up to it Riot, I would love you a thousand times more if you tell us you screwed up big time and worked on fixing it, no one likes someone with too much pride to never admit they were wrong. Your entire list of things other than marksman talks about decline, that doesn't sound so positive overall to me and even there you are telling us you need to fine tune most of the reworked adcs.

The state of the season is out of control snowballing and everything is getting more frustrating. The games get decided pretty quickly because the amount of gold you get for being ahead vs the amount of gold you scrape away from being behind is a big difference, along with towers being paper thin and minions getting stronger if your team is ahead. 7% shorter games is a big red flag, it's a slippery slope, you shouldn't have to wait until it gets to 50% or more shorter games before doing anything about it.

The warding game is botched, you can use wards from the blue trinket, but stealthed wards were a vital part of the vision game, and without purchasing them or using the horrible trinket, the map is always dark. I wouldn't be so annoyed if I could have had the option of purchasing a trinket upgrade as I always had for the stealth wards, but instead I am forced to make the choice of having a short duration stealth ward that has a long charge time or a one hit visible ward that gives the enemy team more gold to stay further ahead.

Everyone is taking Thunder Lords, it is because the other masteries cannot hold a candle to it, they just do not offer the same amount of usefulness unless you are a DOT mage like Malzahar or Brand and you will take Death Fire's Touch which got nerfed recently as well.

Mid Laners that use AP are taking Frost Queen's Claim because of how much worse the AP items have become and how bad mana regen is and how great the active is. I don't see anyone building TOA anymore and fewer people build Targons because a lot of the supports are mages that are too weak on their own or too dominant supporting role for easy cheese in bot lane (looking at you Brand). Almost no one builds the sight stone hybrids.

I don't understand why ADCs can get 40% cdr easier than Mages now, and they can now build 70-100% crit builds and get away with it too.

Grievous Wounds are awful, they have little to no more meaning now, they only reduce healing by 40% for self healing, not all sources of healing, GW were a counter measure for heal bots like Soraka, but now there is no way to prevent that from getting out of hand.

WE STILL HAVE THREE BANS PER TEAM AND THE CHAMPION POOL IS OVER THREE TIMES THE ORIGINAL CHAMPIONS RELEASED In a lot of my games I read people complaining "This is why you should have banned _______", but each team only has 3 bans and there is too many champions or changes to them it is impossible to shield yourself from a good portion of them.

Also I am really pissed about the Malzahar nerfs recently, they really hit him hard. Given that Riot already nerfed 6 immobile mages in one patch (Swain, Brand, Malzahar, Karthus, Anivia, Twisted Fate), I can only imagine even more nerfs for immobile mages, I am scared. There was no need to suddenly swoop in and nerf an entire class of champions just because a small minority of players play them, you did it for the sake of the glorious adcs because mages counter them.

Overall these preseason changes brought some fun parts to the game but also brought out a lot of stink, I think the last straw on my back is going to be the Mario Party Queues for "solo queue" ranked, I will pretty much not want to bother playing SR anymore and play on the other maps because I don't want to bother trying to solo queue in ranked as I already hate being singled out in premades and it will only be worse in ranked. I have played thousands of games across different maps and queues, and it looks like I am about to pack up my bags because you guys are making the game way too unstable.

Also, new client and hex tech loot, WHERE!?!?

Earl EulrichJan 5, 201618 votes

Also I am really pissed about the Malzahar nerfs recently, they really hit him hard. Given that Riot already nerfed 3 immobile mages in one patch (Swain, Brand, Malzahar), I can only imagine even more nerfs for immobile mages, I am scared but oh well I can learn new champions.

4...karth also got nerfed.

How Do You MetaJan 5, 201610 votes

[{quoted}](name=Don Eulrich,realm=EUW,application-id=Ag8jgd8Q,discussion-id=efZsAuEE,comment-id=00230000,timestamp=2016-01-05T22:09:42.481+0000)

4...karth also got nerfed.

Updated, whoops, I forgot about him even though I played more of him, FFS they nerfed the unpopular champions and they fill my heart with dread when they say they are updating immobile mages. Actually it's 5 or 6, there was Anivia, Twisted Fate has some mobility I guess.

Earl EulrichJan 5, 20166 votes

gosh, really forgot about Anivia - i hope she´ll forgive me one day for that insult.

and most of those nerfes had been totally uncalled for sigh. And yea, i´m also very afraid of what they´ll do to mutilate immobile champs further with their "reworks"...

How Do You MetaJan 5, 201632 votes

"We noticed that there are still people playing immobile anti fun mages in our glorious ADC meta, time to fix that"

Tribbles FoxfolkJan 5, 2016210 votes

Can we STOP replacing AP jungle items and just make two seperate ones, please? One for casters (Fidd, etc) and one for AAers (Fizz, etc)? Would that be too much to ask? Cause ADs have 2 options: Mid-to-late winning through Sated Devourer or gank-heavy mid-game destruction through Warrior.

DarkRitualJan 5, 2016123 votes

Psssh, that would be real Diversity. That's not allowed.

God Went MIAJan 5, 2016155 votes

By Keystone masteries I assume you mean "Thunderlords" because that's the only one I've ever seen in game.

AntarcticJan 5, 2016120 votes

Personally I think what we are missing in the game is a fourth ban The champ pool has expanded dramatically as well as the champions that are just downright annoying to deal with during the preseason. We all have champs that need to be banned like Jax ,(because of his ability to burst harder than most AP mages now) DrMundo (His ability to impact the game more than someone who is fed even though he is 0/7 and has less farm) and numerous other champions. These are champs that have a severe impact on the game and there are numerous others as well. But there are also champs that you want to ban because they are impossible to deal with, but just downright annoying to. Tryndamere For example will just splitpush your team to death no matter what because of his ultimate coupled with item 3124 and a few others make him very difficult and annoying to deal with (No matter if he is behind or ahead!) As much as I'd like to say Illaoi is Impossible to deal with, the truth is she is not, however, she can literally 1v5 Your team and stop your top laner from farming if she lands 1 ability just once. These are annoying champs that you would prefer to have banned but can't because there are only 3...As more champions enter the game there becomes a wider base to pick from but only a same small base to ban. The odds grow ever in favor of more and more annoying/obviously broken champions entering the game. As a mid main, I wouldn't have complained about this much in season 5 because of my ability to at least keep these champions at bay by having the same number of items. But now since ALL the AP items cost so much, I fall behind even when I am ahead of and AD lane opponent/Pretty much any AD champ in the game. I hope you might consider adding a fourth ban or at least helping us AP laners out a bit.

SquidblimpJan 5, 2016107 votes

We need a way to place pink wards when you have a full inventory. Preferably, a pink ward trinket.

1davidjJan 5, 201674 votes

what good does replacing runeglaive's sheen effect with luden's effect do when it's just going to push out the champions that don't want to use luden's instead? Why not have both options available instead like how ADs can go for either warrior or devourer for damage?

Titanium125Jan 5, 20166 votes

Well, look at it this way. More ap junglers will be able to build an enchant, as my example was Fiddlesticks. People like Evelynn have choices still, and Elise does as well, as you can go cinderhulk on her. (Now I'm out of AP junglers ;)

KittyCatBackpackJan 5, 201679 votes

Consider AD junglers in two categories: casters, and basic attackers. Also assume you don't ever opt for Cinderhulk. AD Caster junglers like Khazix Rengar LeeSin Pantheon fit perfectly with item 1400 's AD and CDR. AD basic attackers like Warwick Shyvana Aatrox MasterYi fit perfectly with item 1403 's attack speed and on-hit effect. Both options offer very general stats. ADamage or ASpeed. That's why they're easily viable on a vast number of champions. Now consider AP champs(all of them) in two categories: Mages, and what I like to call "Weavers", a champion that naturally works basic attacks into their combos. These are essentially the AP parallels of casters and basic attackers. All mages can viably build item 3285 However, item 3100 is a much more niche choice, only viably working on weavers like Fizz Ekko Diana Lux item 1402 's current state is like and only works with those niche champions. Changing the effect to be like instead will open it up to ALL mages. It's the "a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square" effect. In this case we're changing the rectangle to a square so it can be everything :D

TL;DR - item 3285 is viable on any AP.

Call Me CorleoneJan 6, 201618 votes

You are absolutely right in saying that a luden effect is viable on all AP champs, but a lot of the times it isnt optimal. To me, unless I am putting a priority on movement speed or have bad aoe, luden is a 5th or 6th item if I am ahead. Lich bane on the other hand, is pretty core on 3 of the 4 champions you just mentioned, 1st or 2nd item almost every game. So in my eyes runeglaive is pretty key to their viability in the jungle. Junglers are already pretty strapped for cash, which is why runeglaive is an economy lich bane, just like warrior is an economy youmuu. If I now have to go into a game as fizz, ekko, or diana and buy lich on top of an enchant, there is never going to be a time where I opt for a luden effect enchant. I probably wouldn't even bother enchanting as a first item unless I could confidently stack a devourer. Completely replacing runeglaive is altering the diversity via substitution rather than addition, and probably even going to subtract from it. Sure fiddle will get some love, and it will open up jungling to one or two more mages, but it also just cut an entire build path from 3 junglers. Now the only way to build burst on those runeglaive champions is to be ahead very early, and it is pretty much committing players to being burst, which isnt healthy in an environment which thrives on adaptability and decision making. In a typical game as ekko I can go from burst to tank fairly easy if I miss that early play, or am being counter jungled or am otherwise strapped for cash. It is fairly easy to build runeglaive, make the call that I cant afford damage, and shift to tank. I'm only 2600 gold or so in the hole, and the typical follow up items transition well into a tank build, so I have time to turn things around and maybe straddle the line while I feel things out. By the time runeglaive is no longer relevant I am usually able to put myself in a position where it doesnt gut me to sell it off, and it hasnt hindered my ability to be effective. If instead I have to now devote 3200 gold for a lich bane, and another 1050 gold for a smite upgrade, I am investing almost 50% more for a slight buff. I now have to either commit to that burst build path and risk being useless if I cant turn the game around fast, or change my build much sooner, possibly even after my first full clear or first gank. It puts the game in a spot where my options are severely limited before laning phase is even close to over, which makes for very stale gameplay and a very frustrating experience. It isn't a place the game should be in, especially when it is as simple a fix as adding an item instead of replacing it. Honestly these past few patches have felt very much like riot is trying to dictate metas and shoehorn in concepts rather than truly putting things on an even playing field and letting the players figure out what works and what doesnt. They are taking a game whose roots are firmly established in letting players experiment and figure things out for themselves, and applying a form of censorship to fit how they envisioned the game on the whiteboards of the design room. They didnt intend for mid laners to have the option to take smite and use runeglaive, so they cut all functionality for it outside of the jungle. How do you do that? How do you tell a community that you dont like the innovation they birthed so you are taking it away? The irony of that example is that riot never intended for jungler to be a dedicated position. It developed from people realizing that it was possible, and running with the idea, and that is what separates League from its counterparts. At it's core, League has been a game where you can load in with an idea and run with it. Sometimes you fall on your face and realize your idea was dumb, but there are times where you spark a new meta. Times where you are the next veigar support, or runeglaive ezreal mid. That should be embraced, not banned.

DaNinjasJan 5, 201671 votes

But still no cigar item 3070 Graves

adjothJan 5, 201634 votes

Yet Gragas gets Alcohol.

AnnieBortionJan 5, 201664 votes

Tanks realllyyy need to be nerfed, as in, some of the tank champions damage output. If you're gonna make someone as tanky and as insane as Mundo, He doesn't need to be carrying the team. I was playing as Jarvan IV Jungle, and I could NOT kill Mundo Support, for the life of me, and when he ran, and I couldn't catch up, his health would be regained by that time, and he would turn around and kill me. Some other tanks like Cho'gath kindof have that problem but I don't see if often. Tanks don't need to be Carrys

MrSolomonJan 6, 201655 votes

My opinions:

Game Pacing: Games are mostly too short. Average times definitely down and more people eager to surrender. Too much snowballing at times and rarely do I see a game go past 40 minutes.

Rift Herald: The very few times I see people going for this, they never take full advantage of the buff. They usually recall right away and lose precious time on the buff, or if a small skirmish or trade happens when you catch them attempting it, they run off and ignore it for the rest of it's time. 90% of the games I do no one even attempts to ward the thing because they assume no one will ever go for it.

Dragon: Dragon doesn't seem to be worth in a shorter game after 1 or 2 dragon buffs. The only games I see 5 dragons are longer (compared to current average) games with one team having the general majority (5 dragons to 1 or 2).

Keystones: If you see a game with less than 5 Thunderlord users, contact your local optometrist because you might be seeing things. It seems to just be too strong. That extra layer of burst that's triggered so easy and a short cooldown to add on to the power. I like the others but having a free extra burst of damage every three hits a few times a minute sounds too valuable to other players. Almost mandatory to use it. Even Supports are going Thunderlords and just building full damage now.

Marksmen: Some are greatly done! Some are underwhelming ( KogMaw )... and some just make people grind their teeth out ( Quinn ). Same can be said for items. I do agree on a buff for Cull however. A risky item that paints a neon "Deny me farm and murder me." sign on your head just for a shot at bonus gold.

Junglers: I like the opportunity for AP junglers with the new AP jungle tool. I like the new itemization to allow warding without wasting a slot on Sightstone. I just wish the item 3931 + item 3124 combo was looked at however. Those two items alone can provide an extremely deadly combo and make their common champions that build em as core a major hassle.

Vision: item 2303 : I like it but item 3401 's CDR and Shield saving is a bigger value to me. item 2301 : Lux : "There I got vision now can I please snipe all the kills and carry?!" item 2302 : Sadly item 3069 's engage power is more preferred to me.

Whilst on topic of support items; item 2045 THANK YOU FOR BUFFING THIS!

Mages: I'm hoping to see some good ideas on this.

AdaloreJan 5, 201645 votes

Aww, no mention of the fairly insane amounts of Ice queen claim poaching? That item feels like it's choking out interaction with the enemies with it, especially when support, mid AND top all have it.

If you want to fix it and kill mid lane taking it, revert the active back to the ice spear, that would destroy the "Fire and catch" status that is abused with it.