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Has anyone ever noticed that about 70% of the gameplay elements people bitch about on Rift-

Rebonack·10/28/2015, 5:13:18 PM·10 votes·3,038 views

-are all things Riot very intentionally addressed when they originally created Dominion?

The lane phase is dull! People snowball too hard! Supports feel gimpy due to a lack of gold! There aren't enough team fights! The games are too long! The game is too passive! Too many games end in surrender!

I can almost imagine how it went down. Riot compiled all the player complaints and said 'How can we design a mode to minimize as many of these issues as we possibly can?' And Dominion was the result. Back when Riot was gearing up to release the mode, they (honest to God here, I could probably find the quote on the old Boards) thought that the game would be about 50/25/25% split between Dominion, Treeline, and Rift.

Obviously that didn't happen.

So why not? Was it purely the lack of support? The lack of ranked? How long it took for map-specific balance to be a thing? The lack of tutorials to help players ease into a wildly different game more?

Or do players actually enjoy all those things they bitch about despite bitching about them incessantly?

What do you think, M&M?

12 Comments

Drunk Tsundere10/28/2015, 5:38:26 PM4 votes

People don't know what they want. Also they enjoy complaining.

SSJTribe10/28/2015, 5:17:32 PM3 votes

My guess is lack of ranked. People want to feel like their games mean something

iainB8510/28/2015, 6:14:58 PM1 votes

The problem with Dominion is not the game, but rather champions designed and balanced for one mode, were basically thrown into an entirely different mode.

If Riot had launched Dominion has a new game with new champions catered to the mode, maybe it could've succeeded. Instead, the way they did it, doomed it to be an "off mode" that will never be taken seriously and always receive minimal attention.

Uiraya10/28/2015, 6:17:02 PM1 votes

I'd love to try out the other map modes, but without solo for tt and any ranked at all for dom I don't see the point.

HayRoss10/28/2015, 6:17:33 PM1 votes

My guess is the different items. There is encyclopedias worth of knowledge that even Velkoz will never fully comprehend, going onto Twisted Treeline/Dominion is just more items to try to learn about. What the hell is item 3090? Who works well with item 3104? Is item 3084 an item I should use offensively or defensively? And why can't I just buy item 3089item 3031or a item 3083 instead of these items?

It's just adding another layer of complexity to trying to play a new map, which is already overwhelming. Now I have to figure out who to use a item 3181 on as well?

XaviorZeroBlazer10/28/2015, 5:17:20 PM1 votes

best guess, Tensin games who owns riot said not to make it a priority.

Myz10/28/2015, 6:39:06 PM1 votes

Dominion is for casual. Boring game mode.

Why is the guy 0-10 still able to itemize fairly equally to the 10-0 guy ? That's just stupid.

Trylobyte10/28/2015, 5:25:59 PM1 votes

My guess is that, much as people complain, they do enjoy it. Or, more specifically, they only complain when it doesn't work in their favor or they blame problems with their playstyle or enemy counterplay on the game design when it's not at fault. For example, the in-lane 'playmaker' plays aggressively, so his enemy plays safe in response and his aggression never allows the jungler a chance to gank. But he doesn't see this as his style being countered, it's 'the lanes are boring.'

If more people played Dominion it would have a ranked mode, but as someone that was here when it was released it was met with a gigantic 'meh' of indifference from the outset.