LoL: Riot’s plan to balance champions that explains the big problem with the latest patches


Most members of the community agree that the latest League of Legends patches have been a complete disaster, and it’s hard to argue otherwise. Riot Games has had to make emergency changes after introducing every update since the end of May. The logical conclusion is that somehow the developers missed the mark or lost their way. However, this new strategy could be the first step in a major long-term improvement.

Riot Games changes strategy to balance the game

All of the hotfixes Riot Games had to make emergency changes to came after the durability changes were introduced to the game. An update where the developers made an interesting decision. Knowing that some champions would be completely broken, they did not want — and this is the important word — to make preventive adjustments. The reason was that it was too risky and it really is a common sense situation. It’s best to make decisions with the data in hand, even if it means that for a few days a character may be broken.

Changes to Zeri also caused balance issues, but resolved her situation

To simplify the explanation, we can use the example of Master Yi. The champion received incredible buffs in the last patch and it’s unthinkable that the developers didn’t know his win rate was going to increase significantly. However, they decided not to make any changes as it is impossible to determine how much the character will improve. The goal of the League of Legends Balance Team was not for Yi to have a near 50% win rate, but to reduce the performance differences between different MMR tiers.

In the absence of a fix, the developer achieved resounding success. Now Master Yi players who use him in Platinum have the same chance of winning as those who choose him in Iron Rank. The same thing happened with Zeri in the last updates. Although it seemed like a disaster, thanks to small fixes after the big changes were made, they managed to even out his win rate and ban rate. Even in competitive play, their presence dropped to 77%. This figure remains high, but it is much more acceptable than the records of more than 90% that they have accumulated in the past.

League of Legends

The situations are similar for Gwen or Sivir, who also underwent an emergency patch after the 12.13 update. In this case, it remains to be seen if Riot gets what it wants, but its intentions are clear. The studio’s new plan is to experiment (perhaps excessively) in an attempt to achieve its balance goals because, as it’s mentioned many times, League of Legends is a game that can be improved. In fact, it’s no coincidence that they reacted so quickly: they probably expected what was to come and already had a contingency plan in mind.

Where the developer hasn’t made a lot of effort is in communication. Even if they have a plan, they can’t expect anyone to understand it if they don’t communicate it. It’s clear that they know where they’re going and they’re doing something that the whole community may not understand, but if they don’t even try it’s very hard to realize what can happen in League of Legends. Of course, if that’s the price to pay for a much more balanced game in the long run, we’ll gladly pay it. However, explanations are lacking.

Former League of Legends champions are getting more changes than ever and Riot Games has decided to explain all the details about the “average gameplay updates”. Their criteria for choosing characters, goals, or boundaries they don’t want to cross are discussed.





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