Never wrestle with a pig because you'll both get dirty and the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw
Riot Phreak in Reddit Trenches Again Defending the Top Lane Changes
Balancing all of the League of Legends champions is a difficult and thankless task. After all, not only are there so many interactions to keep track of, but whatever Riot do, there will be part of the community that complains.
However, the recent top lane changes have gone overboard in both buffs and nerfs two patches in a row, and Riot Phreak has found it necessary to try and defend the decisions of the balancing team.
Even though he called out even pro players last time, saying even they don't know how to read patch notes correctly, this time his comments did not receive as much outrage, as even the most bitter fans seem to appreciate anyone explaining the thought process behind the balancing changes, at least.
Phreak Defends Top Lane Changes That Overtune Singular Champions
In the previous patch, Aatrox was buffed to the extreme, boosting his AD ratios for his Q, thus giving him more carry potential in the late game. Due to how extreme these buffs were, they were immediately lowered next patch.
However, in the same patch, Camille's AD gain per level was increased, as well as her on-hit bonus magic damage with the Hextech Ultimatum, making her a menace with Trinity Force. And, once she proves as overturned as Aatrox was, we can expect her to get nerfed back again!
Phreak stated that the goal was to have relevant carry top laners, without any favorites, and the quickest way to do so was to overshoot the buffs a bit, and then nerf them to an appropriate level.
In addition, instead, they are shooting for a general goal of pro play. The goal itself was to make a 1.5% win rate change, which turned out to be around 3.5% in the sub-Master ranks, and around 1.5% in high-elo, which was the actual goal of the changes.
In all, Phreak's comments have already confirmed that game balance is heavily influenced by pro play, and the champions chosen now are the ones that will influence viewership and make pro games more exciting.
"If you wipe my memory force me to make changes based on what I can see in one day's research, I take pro play VoDs over Reddit and Twitter posts every time," which, in all honesty, is quite understandable.
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Unfortunately, that means that the games we play at home are going to suffer due to adjusting the balance for pro games. However, as Phreak claims, with the enacted changes, players should now start to notice that all roles are capable of carrying games, while the top lane will experience less of a snowball effect due to fewer early-game kills.
Now, whether the League of Legends community will find these changes to be making a positive on their gameplay experience, remains to be seen.
After all, there is no denying the influence pro games have on champion picks, and we can get ready to see a lot of top laners choosing champions just because a pro player picked them, without understanding what the win condition for that champion is in the lane, and in the game in general!