More realism in LoL - my thoughts about resources.
Hello League of Legends community, Hello Riot.
First, sorry, my English is far from being perfect. I don’t know if the subject has already been raised, I just give here my opinion about something I find strange in League of Legends.
I play LoL since season two and I think that the game is getting greater with time, but there is a thing that is still annoying me…
Resources used by champions are quite diverse, some have fury (Tryndamere, Renekton,…), some have energy (Shen, Kennen,…), some use their HP (Dr.Mundo, Vladimir,…), some just have nothing (Garen, Katarina,…), etc. But A LOT have mana. It is like mana is the ‘default’ resource. Why?
I think mana isn’t one of the most interesting resources in the game, however it is necessary for some champions to have a mana bar, just to prevent them to have permanent poke and to force them to be thrifty. The resource itself doesn’t bother me at all; it is just its assignment to certain champions that I find abnormal.
A simple example: Garen spins his sword around him. Darius does it too with its axe. Why would Darius pay a cost for this and not Garen?
I have always thought that mana was a ‘mage’ thing. If we look at the origin of the word “mana”, Wikipedia tells this:
Mana is a word found in Austronesian languages meaning "power, effectiveness, prestige" where in most cases the power is understood to be supernatural. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mana
So mana is related to supernatural. Spinning an axe doesn’t require supernatural power. Eating citrus either. Shooting some bullets doesn’t require anything else than a gun and ammunitions. Why do Graves, Jinx or most of other ADCs spend mana for this?
Here is a list of all champions that have a mana bar and, in my opinion, should not have one:
Caitlyn, Corki, Darius, Draven, Fiora, Gangplank, Gragas, Graves, Jarvan IV, Jax, Jayce, Jinx, Kha’zix, Lucian, Master Yi, Miss Fortune, Olaf, Pantheon, Quinn, Rammus, Singed, Sion, Sivir, Talon, Teemo, Tristana, Twitch, Urgot, Vayne, Vi, Xin Zhao.
There is many champions that I wanted to add to this list, but this is difficult for two main reasons:
- There is Champions that have both ‘magical’ and ‘physical’ abilities (I am not speaking about magical or physical damages, just about the ability itself, how the champion ‘launches’ it), like Trundle, Volibear, Shaco, Hecarim,…
- Champions that are AP casters, mages or assasins, but that don’t use magical power (or at least not on all spells. Examples: Heimerdinger, Ziggs, Fizz, Blitzcrank).
What could replace mana?
I have thought about the question but didn’t find a suitable solution for all types of champions...
Champions that have fury (Renekton, Tryndamere, Reksai, Shyvana, (+Aatrox-bloodwell, Gnar-Rage)) Are AD bruisers. I think that champions like Darius, Jax, Xin Zhao, etc, should join this category. It wouldn’t necessarily require adding a new mechanic to the champion. Just put one of his passive into the fury bar and it’s done. Example: Jax ult’s passive could be transformed into fury instead of a stacking buff.
Of course it could become redundant to have many champs that have a similar role having the same resource bar. But it is even worse now, with all these mana champs.
About ADCs, I think the best solution would be to create a new resource like “ammunitions” which could also be spent by auto-attacking, as ADC’s damages come, for the majority, from auto-attacks. Riot has already initiated that system with Jhin and Graves. Casters ADCs like ezreal would keep mana.
For many champions that have mana right now, it could be cool to create a unique resource. I am aware that it would certainly need a lot of work, but in my opinion, it could bring more personality to champions. For example, Gragas could have a bar that shows his drunkenness and that fills when he drinks from his barrel. Hecarim could have a bar that fills when he runs (like Yasuo) and gives him more and more MS. When his bar is full, he can charge.
There is certainly a reason why riot put mana on so many champions, and I know that LoL is not a game that is meant to be realistic; here I am just giving my opinion about something that could bring more diversity and realism to the game.
Please tell me what you think about this, Thanks for reading!
