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ARAM Issues

Kurø ˉ·3/17/2015, 4:06:09 PM·6 votes·1,208 views

Would it be possible for Riot to show a little more love to ARAM as a game mode? I totally understand all the work that goes on at Riot to make League of Legends the awesome game that it is, but making ARAM a full game mode and then not really showing it any love has me frustrated. Of all games that I play I would have to say I play ARAM most often. It helps me force myself to learn about champs I don't play much and it adds a level of, "I'm good at League of Legends, not just a few specific champs" which is totally awesome.

What frustrates me though is that the Howling Abyss as a map had more work put in than the game mode itself. There aren't tweaks to specific champions to keep them from being incredibly op, there aren't team comps that are impossible to get because they are so over powered they win in under 15 minutes of gameplay. I get that it is supposed to be totally random but it doesn't feel that way when an entire team of melee champs is pitted against the most hardcore ranged champs in the entire game. At least 15% of games I play I feel cheated because the game was won n champion select. Even when my team gets a team comp that is incredibly over powered I feel cheated. I've gone >30/50 in an ARAM before in felt like I didn't even have to try because the enemy teams had no chance due to team composition.

Meanwhile there are champions I have never seen lose ARAM at all. Certain champions have innate advantages in a map like the Howling Abyss and this has been completely ignored. Things like Amumu having is stun take up almost the entire width of the lane, all stealth champions have giant advantages, Twisted Fate's ultimate makes stopping him from Backdooring completely impossible, global ultimates like Jinx's, Ashe's, Ezreal's and Karthus' are significantly easier to use in ARAM providing them with distinct advantages as well. Almost every time I play a game where one team has a healer and the other team doesn't the team with the healer wins. There are many more examples of how specific champions and team compositions need to be tweaked to provide a more competitive atmosphere in ARAM games.

As a player who enjoys ARAM very much some tweaks would be greatly appreciated. More attention has been paid to game modes that only lasted a short while whereas ARAM has been around for quite some time now and has been ignored.

Well there is my rant. Do with it what you will. I might not have all the specifics or math backing up my claims but I do have the feelings of many players whoj think that ARAM would be an awesome game mode if only some attention were given to it. Players I play with and against every day feel cheated by this game mode where not only are champions given out by chance but victories seem to be so as well.

7 Comments

Kholdstare133/17/2015, 4:56:37 PM5 votes

ARAM is balanced in imbalance. It does not and should not get map-specific balancing. That is for TT and Dominion where picks and counters are an important part of play.

What ARAM should have instead is the full pool of champions open to everyone. Force the odds of each champion showing up on each team to be even, instead of letting ARAM-only accounts ruin that. By doing this, you create a balance over a large number of games. You WILL go up against OP enemies, and you will ALSO have OP allies. The deciding factor will be your skill. Can you capitalize on advantages when you roll them, and counter when the enemy does? I can say there is not a single OP champ that I have not beaten at least once. The bigger the gaps in team comp you are able to overcome, the higher your MMR will climb.

Just unlock the pool so it won't be tainted by smurfs, and punish dodging with a loss to prevent scumming.

Dessim83/17/2015, 5:19:15 PM2 votes

I think a less hidden ELO would make people actually care about it instead of lol at me when I bring up that it might just matter if you want better quality foes.

Other than a draft mode, unlocking the whole pool won't actually make it balanced since it's still a gamble.

Texicant3/21/2015, 6:01:59 PM2 votes

opening the champion pool and a bigger penalty for dodging would go a huge way to making ARAM better. Since many people playing ARAM only unlock op champions, that leads to more games in which one team would have a superior team comp and win at champ select. A larger pool would/should mean the op champs are less likely to be picked, and certainly less of them on one team. You may see a champion a few more times since even those who don't own them would have a chance...but I think it would balance out better