A big THANK YOU to Riot for fixing ARAM! ^-^

I've said it before elsewhere, and I'll say it again. Thank you Riot. I mean it, thank you! ^-^

For several months, ARAM was becoming far too difficult to win. My usual winrates went down suddenly, and ARAM became a mode where my team would lose 9 out of 10 matches, for no apparent reason. Later, I read on the boards and website that ARAM was flooded with accounts that are optimized for ARAM, utilizing only champions, builds and runes that have a clear advantage, the most obvious one being range.

Then Riot introduced Mark/Dash as a summoner spell, and voila, my winrates went back to normal. Melee champs are viable once more, and it's been super fun to casually enjoy ARAM once again. ^-^ With the added fun/chaos of this new-ish mechanic (Lee Sin was the first to use it, whereas the actual spell was introduced during the Snowdown Legend of the Poro King limited mode. While I agree the damage doesn't necessarily have to be present, and the cooldown might be increased some, this one change alone has, at least in my experience, drastically improved the overall balance and quality of ARAM. ^-^ I am delighted with this change.

Those who are butthurt about it, and say ARAM is ruined because of Mark/Dash... I'm willing to bet this is because of several reasons:

1. Their ARAM-optimized accounts no longer provide a clear advantage anymore.
2. They have trouble dealing with the new mechanic.

With every new mechanic, item, or champion or whatnot, there are usually two reactions in general. Either it's "weak" or it's "OP". It's weak when they are unable to use the new content properly, and it's OP when their opponent is able to. The mechanic itself in ARAM is not OP, nor weak. It adds extra tactical elements, and more decisions. Do you jump in now for the kill? Is that wise? Will you risk it? Or will you save your Dash for another opportunity? It can also be dodged relatively easily, due to the rather slow movement of the projectile.

If you fail to dodge or get to safety/heal in time...don't get butthurt that a melee bruiser/assassin/tank dashes to you and slaughters the crap outta you and your team. There's plenty of counterplay to this mechanic, so it all comes down to your personal skill as a player. If you can't win with your Ezreal, Lucian, Yi, Kat, Xerath or what have you, because Darius' and Sions are now in your face, you need more practice. Don't take it out on a new summoner spell. ^-^

So, to close, thank you very much Riot. <3 You made ARAM fun to play again, as the casual mode it's supposed to be.