ARAM - Add Champion Ban (Blind Pick / Draft Pick)

uwvjvBn1pN·Jan 3, 2015·2 votes·2,125 views

I did a quick search to see if someone has already started this, but I have come up empty handed. I would like to humor the idea of making a Blind Pick / Draft Pick game mode for ARAM. Blind pick would be exactly what we have now, Draft Pick would be a normal banning phase, then champions are randomized.

One problem I see here is that if you are allowed to only ban those champs that the teams have to work with, you will know before the game starts some of the champions they are bound to roll. Solution? Make ALL champions available to be banned, and the two teams will ban 6 champions, regardless of if they are available or not. Then, the champions are randomized and hidden from the opposing team, like it is now.

I think having two game modes will work, as it looks like there is enough people playing ARAM. I know before this was a mode, we would do this on the SR maps with the honor system, and randomize champions in the custom game lobby. It has grown a lot since then, and I don't see a problem with players dropping off any time soon. I see this as viable as there are a handful of champions that no one likes to play against in ARAM, and it can unbalance the fights so much that it goes from quirky fun to frustrating at times.

What do you think?

12 Comments

FDruJan 4, 20153 votes

Howling Abyss has needed blind draft for a long time, but it should probably have 10 bans.

I'd settle for random draft if they're never going to give us a real mode. I don't see how I'm going to go back to ARAM after Poro King is gone... back to playing melee with no gap closers against 5 god tier smurf champs every game I guess.

Dr JarjarbinksJan 3, 20152 votes

2 points. One, would having bans create problems for those with only a few champs? Two, this would increase lobby time significantly and with the % of lobbies ending by being disbanded would the increased frustration from additional wasted time and effort outweigh the benefits?

uwvjvBn1pNJan 3, 20152 votes

With only a few champs, possibly. That is why I think it would be better to show all champions in the banning phase, less a player has Yi, Akali, Katarina, Blitz, etc. If they have the most common bans, it may pose an issue. The only safe way I see around that is a minimum of 8 champions needed to play.

Second point, very valid, I didn't think about that. I would hope (optimistically) that those people who are dodging would stick to the full random (Blind Pick) rather than play the Draft Pick version, but I am not sure how that would play out. It may come to the point where organized parties purposely build their champion pools to have better odds at a champion set that is difficult to match. If it gets to that, we have definitely lost the point of ARAM completely.

NoFunWithNunuJan 3, 20151 votes

im all in to make aram to pick all the champs even if you dont own those, its not fun when i do have all the champs and i sit there watching every single dodge and trade while i have garen and nobody wants him, or udyr or some so called low tier aram champ, while i face 5 heavy poke champs team (i did had in 1 match Ezreal Ziggs Lux Heimerdinger Nidalee while we had 5 melee no ranged dmg, it was the longest aram i ever seen) aram accounts are toxic AF even worse than riven/zed players

wonuJan 4, 20151 votes

but i aram :c

uwvjvBn1pNJan 4, 20151 votes

I don't think I follow these two comments. This would add a mode, not replace the one we have. And it would not be a pick-all pool of champions. You still roll within your own pool, the bans only would be the pick-all, eliminating the fear of people having even smaller pools of champions if they are new. Banning from the entire champion pool would also hide the champions that are available to the enemy team. Once banning is done, teams are hidden then champions are rolled, minus the ones banned.

wonuJan 4, 20151 votes

i only said "but i aram :c" because the person above said that all aram acounts are toxic.

blueberrypancakeJan 4, 20151 votes

Picking in ARAM is random so selected bans are useless. I get what you are trying to do by decreasing the champion pool, however that takes away the fun of the randomness. Oh, the enemy team got a Katarina, 5 pentas later :).

uwvjvBn1pNJan 4, 20151 votes

That's why it should not replace the one that is existing, just add a separate mode for those who may be tiring of hyper-carry champions.

uwvjvBn1pNJan 4, 20151 votes

Ok, so far I see a couple of valid arguments and issues.

10 bans on Howling Abyss, this seems high and would add to lobby time, if anything it should be 4 bans rather than 6 in my opinion.
Bans useless because it is random anyways? If you factor in the people that will smurf and only buy the overpowered champions to give them the edge, then bans would hurt them more than it would the average player with a larger pool of champs.
Increase of lobby time and subsequent frustration from queue dodgers. This is an issue, but maybe harsher penalties that stack cumulatively to those who dodge until they roll what they want is the way to go.
(Off Topic) Random Draft on SR would be something to see, but that is a much larger time commitment and you would probably have more quitters. I only see this working on Howling Abyss and maybe Twisted Treeline.

MadraJan 8, 20151 votes

Just need to open up ARAM to all the champions, not just the ones you own.

uwvjvBn1pNJan 30, 20151 votes

Well, I would like to hear some more opinions from the community. These topics seem to drop off the page pretty fast and get lost in the ether.

As for opening it up to all the champions, I don't think that is the best idea because new players will have a high percentage of games where they are playing something very unfamiliar. This would lead to a lot of grief from teammates, and that is unfortunately the current community. I think there would be a huge uptick of leavers from frustration. The free rotation does its job well in that regards.