ARSR complaint threads have got me thinking about how to make a 'random' mode that isn't "boring"...
Since Riot's implementation of All Random Summoner's Rift I've seen all too many complaints that another "random champion picked from your champion pool" is boring and lacks creativity. It's a fun gimmick, but the community seems to have drawn the line with 3 "random pick" game modes.
I've been thinking about how we could implement randomness into champ select without using the random pick method of current random modes, and I've come up with something that might be kind of interesting.
My idea is to have a Random Swap Nemesis Draft, where everyone is assigned a position on SR, picks a champion, and then two random positions have an ally's champion swapped with the enemy's champion for that role (for example, your top laner's champion is swapped with your enemy's top lane pick, and the same for the adcs). There are no bans.
The key to this mode is that everyone picks a champion that they know in and out; how to lane and trade as that champion, that champion's strengths and weaknesses, how to make plays when you play them and shut down plays when they're in an enemy's hand. You have a good chance of actually playing the champ, but you need to be prepared to deal with that champion if it's randomly given to your lane opponent.
So there's an element of randomness in what champion you play, and you could very well play a champ that you've never played before and don't even own, but at the same time, it gives you something to interact with. You pick a champion, but when you're picking you're thinking "can I play this champion well?" and "am I prepared to lane against this champion with an unknown champion if I get swapped?".
I personally feel like this would incorporate the randomness gimmick in a way that gives players enough power over the outcome of the draft to feel the outcome of the game is fair or at least warranted. (Instead of saying "if only RNG hadn't given me Nasus in ARAM" you might say "I probably should have been ready to play against Darius".)
So, what do you think? Would you play this game mode?
