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Community Balancer

CryoWarrior·1/4/2016, 7:49:38 AM·1 votes·459 views

OK, so it has been apparent for some time now that Riot is updating LoL to a new gameplay standard. However, this very tool that I am using to write these lines, namely Boards, is not used to its full capacity! In my opinion, a Community Balancer should be launched. Let me explain how it works:

  • Create a permanent section within the Board's website with an appropriate label.
  • Every week, cycle through a champion or an item (or even a jungle camp!).
  • Give three possible votes: + Nerf + OK as it is + Buff
  • Allow specific comments to appear beneath. Violent / vulgar criticism of other people's views is discouraged, and if someone continually harasses fellow summoners in the comments section, they lose voting privilages for a certain time period. Just present your ideas about what could be done to update the entity in discussion.
  • If the final pole leans in one direction by at least 75%, then Riot should consider rebalancing ASAP.

Through this simple, yet powerful, community listener, everyone wins, as:

  • Riot gets instant feedback from the community. We become their "ears on the ground".
  • Summoners get to express ideas on champions and items in real time, as the game continues to change and improve.
  • Summoners (hopefully) don't have to suffer from: TahmKench or Darius, without having something to say about it :P
  • Older champions that could be updated can be prioritized by the community.

This mechanism offers effective poling of the community, but is limited in the sense that one cannot fully predict the community's response, nor is it always easy to interpret. However, I do believe that it is a solid step in the correct direction!

*edit (credits to the people's comments) : One could perform the following filtering procedure:

  • Votes of high ranked members (based on ELO) could count more, thus gaining gravity and impact -> counters amateurs who just don't get what needs rebalancing.
  • Noone below lvl 30 is allowed to vote -> counters smurf accounts.

5 Comments

Deep Terror Nami1/4/2016, 7:53:17 AM5 votes

I forget where the quote is and which Rioter said it, but they don't listen to boards balancing suggestions because we suck at it. We almost never have a clue how it would really affect the game. Even the trained individuals on the Balance teams sometimes get it horribly wrong, which means people not trained will fuck it up worse far more often.

Community balancing would just ruin the game.

Void Nargacuga1/4/2016, 7:51:48 AM1 votes

It would be nice... Until everyone with their smurf accounts comes in and spam votes option Nerf, Ok as is, or Buff. Which could heavily skew the results.

LaoBushido1/4/2016, 7:52:04 AM1 votes

um they have people who do this ....

Lord Dusteon1/4/2016, 8:07:00 AM1 votes

There's also the problem of bias and hatred towards some champions. Kalista's often not fun to play against if you are on a melee champion so a lot of players might vote to nerf her even if she is perfectly balanced at the time. In the other direction, almost nobody sees a Yorick or Urgot so people might vote to buff them even they though are fine (or have deep seated game health issues involved with their kits). Straight up community balancing would not work very well.

CryoWarrior1/4/2016, 8:15:12 AM1 votes

You could perform the following filtering procedure:

  • Votes of high ranked members (based on ELO) could count more, thus gaining gravity and impact -> counters amateurs who just don't get what needs rebalancing.
  • Noone below lvl 30 is allowed to vote -> counters smurf accounts.

Remember that this rebalancing is only a suggestion, Riot would not be strictly bound by the final vote, and also the vote needs to be at LEAST 70% in one direction to even be considered viable. What do you think?