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@Riot Why Blidgewater ARAM and SR instead of Dominion?

turkeyBACON·8/16/2015, 11:46:11 PM·4 votes·2,012 views

@Jaredan @L4T3NCY @BuffMePlz @DefaultChar and @Bioluminescence, @Kateykhaos and @RiotRepertoir cause they are more active on the boards and could direct this to the right rioters.

Could anyone from the original thunderdome team or the subsequent event team explain why they chose to "reskin" the perfectly serviceable Freljord ARAM map and do an SR gamemode instead updating of the less appealing Dominion map?

It seems like it would have been the perfect opportunity to make permanent update to an undeserved and forgotten gamemode instead of putting effort to a temporary gameplay mode to SR and skin for ARAM. It feels like a shame since dominion needs a gameplay update for general balance and fun. Being able buy new minion types for a control map seems like a no brainer to me especially since in SR they only ended up as split pushing mechanic.

Personally, I would have updated the play of the map to be a 4 vs 4 and the theme about "chumming/bloody the waters" to summon a leviathan or the Bearded Lady; incorporating certain elements of Ascension gameplay. Visually, it'd take place partially on the the slaughter docks and parts of the temple entrance. You would capture and hold points earning chum (i.e. Krakens) that can either be spent in store or taken to the center of the map and entice a leviathan to appear. Continuing to "chum" the creature would persuade it to fight for you. The other team could either team up and kill the creature or try and turn it to their side by recapturing more points to earn more chum. Being able to buy bildgewater minions to help push would also aid to that end. The win condition is essentially the same but instead of destroying a nexus crystal you would be gradually sacrificing enough blood/chum to summon the Bearded Lady who destroys the other side.

But that just my thoughts. Was Dominion ever even considered for the event? Has it truly been forgotten by riot?

10 Comments

RiotL4T3NCY8/17/2015, 8:48:51 PM4 votes

I can't speak fully to the Butcher's Bridge skin from the Thunderdome team (although it was pretty cool to feel like I was on the bridge where TF & Graves had their chase in the story).

For Black Market Brawlers, we actually considered all maps (as with most modes), and settled on SR as being the best place for the Brawler's strategic impact to be felt. We could rattle laning phase & late game sieging, Krakens gave counter-jungling a new twist and Ocklepods disrupted ganks & vision value. When making Featured Game Modes, we don't really think in terms of 'maps', more like "Which space is the best place for these systems to thrive and be super fun." ^_^

SKOBODO8/17/2015, 9:03:39 AM3 votes

I don't really like your suggestion. Dominion is a map about jungle control and bot lane ganks, not lane pushing. If you want to push lanes, play SR or TT. If you want to siege and poke, play ARAM. If you want frequent skirmishes, fast decision making, and lots of teamfights, play Dominion.

Minarde8/17/2015, 3:57:23 AM1 votes

Has [Dominion] truly been forgotten by riot?

Almost certainly this.

neocow8/17/2015, 5:15:28 AM1 votes

ascension already happened, and aram never had a real event yet.

neocow8/17/2015, 5:16:54 AM1 votes

also its over, and it was pretty short event, and mostly just a texture reskin. The big thing was warf rats, and the new announcer

ClockHead8/17/2015, 5:36:35 PM1 votes

If it was forgotten by Riot, the gamemode wouldn't have gotten an update the same time TT and HA did. I honestly don't prefer your suggestion, as the main point of it is to shed some light on Dominion. Though I do feel that it could use a redesign, Riot shouldn't revolve events and such around what maps are outdated, and which ones are least played, etc. Just like they don't make skins based on who hasn't gotten one for the longest.