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As a French person I feel like it's my duty to explain strikes to you. - AdrienIer |
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League of Legends General Discussion Thread
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I like the idea of the new masteries. A couple thoughts:
Adding variety in character building is good. Hiding that variety, however, is really bad. It is already frustrating that you can't see what runes and masteries your opponents (or teammates or yourself) are using at any point during the game. Adding more choice to these hidden attributes only exacerbates this problem. I agree with Tyrmith that it's strange they're introducing such big changes (masteries and new summoners) on the same patch where they're aiming for tournament stability. I dunno what they're thinking saying they don't want to screw with the competitive metagame in this patch and wildly changing basic elements of the game. Finally, Trist buff? Don't know what it is, but seeing Chaox play her lately, it seems like she's still really strong at the top levels. Seems likely to push her into first pick/ban territory. Sir Bruce Wrote:I agree with Tyrmith that it's strange they're introducing such big changes (masteries and new summoners) on the same patch where they're aiming for tournament stability. I dunno what they're thinking saying they don't want to screw with the competitive metagame in this patch and wildly changing basic elements of the game. Fairly certain that this is a change for the future, similarly to the stealth rework. Sir Bruce Wrote:Finally, Trist buff? Don't know what it is, but seeing Chaox play her lately, it seems like she's still really strong at the top levels. Seems likely to push her into first pick/ban territory. Not sure what the changes are because the video didn't elaborate, but Trist is already a strong AD carry, I hope this change doesn't lead to nerfs in a month or two...
"We are open to all opinions as long as they are the same as ours."
Indeed, that's one of the things that sometimes drives me crazy with Riot. They will state that they are trying to achieve one design goal, while making changes that directly contradict it. Recent examples:
* We want a stable tournament client, so this will be a conservative patch. But we're also introducing a total rework to summoner spells, new masteries, and rebalancing nearly all of the AD carries. Uh, ok? * We don't want lots of sustain in lane, it makes for passive gameplay. But they are also "massively buffing" summoner Heal. * We're nerfing Flash because it serves as too much of a "get out of jail free" and leads to defensive gameplay. But they are buffing Cleanse, which does the same thing and leads to even more defensive gameplay.  I often feel like Riot's internal teams are each off doing their own thing, one group pulling in one direction while another team does something completely contradictory. Don't get me wrong, a lot of their changes have been good ones, and League of Legends has been moving steadily in a positive direction over time. But then they will also throw out some totally stupid patch changes on occasion that make no sense whatsoever, which is just maddening. Speaker and I have said this a number of times before: Riot has a tremendous product, they have talented people working for them... and it has to be one of the worst-managed companies in existence. There are so many tiny things wrong with this game, things that could be corrected with miniscule effort, that are left sitting unanswered for ages on end. (How are those replays coming, eh? For those who don't know, they were supposed to be ready by the end of 2009.) These changes will be great once they're sorted out in time. But - why make so many sweeping changes all at the same time? The advantage of patches every 2 weeks is that you can introduce things gradually. They should be introducing summoner spell changes slowly, instead of whacking the entire group at all once. The next month is going to be total chaos until everyone figures out the new stuff. It's a pain in the ass for everyone, and completely unfair to the tournament people playing for real money. Why so sloppy in the implementation? Like, would anyone have objected if they had introduced improved Heal a month ago to test it out? And do the others one at a time? I don't get it.
In case anyone is curious, here's the new masteries: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/masteries-...-masteries
Some interesting additions.
I have to say that I don't understand why Riot wants to screw with masteries. We all know that an optimal mastery tree will eventually emerge, just like with the last tree. They're not introducing more choices, just different choices. If they wanted to buff AP masteries they easily could have done that within the existing framework of the current tree.
I don't agree at all that there are only a few ways to play the game. That might be true at the top top levels, but that doesn't really apply to 95% of the player base. For example, I've recently seen something of a comeback for the AD carry in mid. The current metagame doesn't like that, but it doesn't seem to have a huge impact on whether my team wins or not - it almost always comes down to teamwork and crowd control. Basically my concern with all these changes is that when the new optimal metagame emerges (as it will), we will once again see more or less the same pattern emerge - most players will follow the popular metagame, and a few people will disregard it or just not know about it. In the mean time, the tools new players use to learn how to play (videos, build guides, etc) will have to be completely revamped. This does not strike me as a particularly positive thing. Basically, I'm against basic changes that will lead to a new optimal metagame at the expense of everything the community has produced for LoL. I can't imagine that it will be anything more than frustrating for new players and annoying for veteran players. That said, I do like that they're shaking up AD carries. I'm getting sick of seeing Caitlyn in every game. I don't mind balance patches at all, I just prefer them to continue to work within the existing framework, which is admittantly very fun to play. LoL needs fine tuning, not big changes. ssmagus Wrote:New masteries are out. Utility for my Support Builds.  Also, picking the Def or Off trees for junglers is gonna be a little tougher now.I'm intrigued at how several of a masteries now are mirrored. Either pick 3 Armor or 3 MR. And locking Veteran Scars down really puts a dent in tanky junglers who relied on the bonus 70hp. Still, Tough Skin + Bladed Armor looks like it should be a standard for Tanky Junglers now, which are the only ones I typically play. Sage and Mercenary.... not terribly interested imo. I mean, it can help gankers a little bit, but the equivalent of 1 minion kill bonus gold for helping gank? And assuming you roll over them, maybe around 20 K/A, so 480 gold over the course of a game? Doesn't seem right for something so high up in the tree. |
