Most of the community agrees that the last patches of League of Legends have been an absolute disaster and it is very difficult to argue otherwise. Riot Games has had to carry out emergency changes after the introduction of each and every one of the updates that have taken place since the end of May. The logical conclusion is that, in some way, developers are not giving the nail or have lost the touch. However, this new strategy can be the first step of a great long-term improvement .
Riot Games changes strategy to balance League of Legends
All patches in which Riot Games has had to introduce emergency changes came after the introduction in the game of changes to durability. An update for which developers made an interesting decision. Knowing that some champions would be completely broken, they did not want to-and this is the important word-carry out preventive adjustments . The reason was that it was very risky and it really is a situation of common sense. It is better to make decisions with the data in hand even if that means that, for a couple of days, a character can be broken.
To make the explanation simpler we can use the example of Master YI. The champion has received incredible improvements in the last patch and it is unthinkable that the developers did not know that he was going to increase the rate of victories of him considerably. However, they have decided not to make changes because it is impossible to determine how much the character will improve. The objective of the League of Legends equilibrium team was not that Yi had an victorious rate close to 50% , but the differences in its performance between the different levels of MMR were reduced.
In the absence of the patch, the developer has achieved a resounding success. Now, Master Yi players who use it in Platinus have the same chances of winning as those who choose it in iron rank games. The same has happened with Zeri in the last versions. Although it looked like a catastrophe, based on small corrections once their great changes were made, they have managed to balance their rate of victories and blockages. Even in competitive, its presence has decreased to 77%. A figure still high, but much more acceptable than the records greater than the 90% that accumulated in the past.
Situations are similar for Gwen or Sivir, which have also suffered an emergency patch during version 12.13. In this case it is about to see if Riot gets what he wants, but his intentions are evident. The company’s new plan is to stir the loop to try to achieve its objectives above balance since, as they have mentioned on many occasions, League of Legends is a game that can be updated. In fact, it is no accident that he has reacted so fast: they probably expected what was going to happen and they already had a contingency plan in mind.
Where the developer has not worked out a lot in communication. Although they have a plan, they cannot expect anyone to understand if they do not communicate it. It is evident that they are great professionals and they are doing something that may not understand the community, but if they don’t even try it, it is very difficult to realize what can be happening in League of Legends. Of course, if this is the price to be paid for a much more balanced long-term game, we will pay delighted. However, the explanations ** are missing.
