Lamentation of Shoutcasters

LCK shoutcaster in the middle, Jun Yong-Jun, casting Starcraft: Broodwar League.

Thinking about Starcraft,
there used to be a specific build tree and advantages and disadvantages between 3 sides and Pro-gamers participated to make a subject of conversation by fighting each other with new builds and strategies.

When you look at League of Legends,
there once existed a 'poke' composition (people were like, damn that's too stronk), but all of a sudden, Pro-gamers brought 'bruiser' composition and destroyed 'poke' composition.

Then when 'assassination' composition became popular,
they brought Kayle, Zilean, Lulu, or all those protective Champions to destroy 'assassination' composition, so the scene was like whatever comes out, another one responded and dominates.

DoA and Montecristo, shoutcasting LCK.

But, right now,

Riot Games decided to nerf Champions that were played in competitive scenes (which is the 'core' of those compositions)

 'Poke' comp is gone,
 'Assassination' comp is gone,
 and 'Bruiser' comp is gone.

We now have a comp that consist of 'non-characteristic' but 'just fairly-good and playable' Champions. And this is why Shoutcasters' commentaries are so boring.

It is better for them to say: This comp has this characteristics and that comp has that characteristics, so they should interact such ways and etc,'

but what they do now is like

 'Well the Lane Phase is going smooth.'

 'They have % stacks of Dragon.'

 'They got baron.'

 'They did a good teamfight.' - (With a commentary of those 10 individual's movement)

 'Global gold gap right now is %.'

Done. Nothing else to say.

All because Riot destroyed those 'Characteristics' of Champions.

In conclusion,

players made a general trend(meta) and made them to always change and also participated balancing the game by themselves, but Riot right now is destroying characteristic of the game and those compositions, in the name of 'Balance Patch.'

Easy to learn and hard to master?

1. Easy to learn Hard to master

This is one of the most frequent quote that game developers use when introducing their game. It literally means that the game has a low entry barrier so it's easy to start, but hard to master.

 - Pokemon

One good example could be Pokemon. Pokemon series is one of the most globally-played game with no age restrictions and the level of difficulty of 'regular storyline' is pretty low and easy to clear.

So apparently Pokemon looks like a pretty casual game, but it's actually a hard-core game.

There is an IV (Individual Values) and an EV (Evaluation Values) for each Pokemons.

EV and IV

To say simple, there is a difference in stats of two different lvl. 100 Pikachus when they lvl'd up by slaining only Rattata or only Pidgey. So EV is an experience point for a specific stat from every different Pokemons.

A difference between two lvl. 1 Pikachus an IV, because they are different since born. This is the reason why people mate Pokemons like breeding a racehorse only for the better IV.

IV and EV are barely explained inside of the game and are not visible through a Status report, which means that they are a hidden element. So you have no problem to watch an ending of the game if you don't know about it. But when it goes to a PvP match they become a really important factor of winning, so it is a crucial element to master the game. For Pokemon, you can master it by studying the hidden elements and doing a crazy repetitive action.

 -EZ2DJ

Not even EZ2DJ, but most Rhythm Games are faithful to 'Easy to learn Hard to master.' First, Rhythm games are really simple. You press the button along the falling mark with a right timing and a music. But there aren't hundreds of buttons exist. It can easily covered by a single hand and really easy to just start with. So it is based on 'Easy to learn.' But a full-combo clear or all-perfect clear of some crazy song can't be done by everyone. You need a memorization of those notes, dynamic visual acuvity and good reaction timing/velocity. This is a part of 'Hard to master,' but that part is more like real hard. You need an insane amount of practices and it isn't even simply achievable with the practice. A genius is needed.

2. LoL- low entry barrier?

So let's get into my real topic.

League of Legends is often be considered as a game with a low entry barrier, but looking at the game in a large view, it isn't really low, because there are too much Champions. There are currently 123 Champions in LoL and 5 abilities including Passive for every single each, so it means that you have to study more than 600 abilities, which is definitely not an easy task. But Pokemon has a number beyond that, but they are pretty intuitive because you won't have problem playing a PvP if you just know about the Types and Properties.

The perspective could be different by saying that it is 'learning' or 'mastering', but how I differentiate them is to say "Is there a problem playing when you don't know about it?"

While playing League, it is a big problem if you don't know about the opponent Champion's abilities. A gameplay of dying again and again to a Champion that you have no knowledge about can't be considered normal. You should at least know that the ability contains Slow effect, before knowing that the Slow duration is x sec and it decreases x% of Movement Speed. So learning those hundreds of abilities are not an assignment to be a League Pro, but to become a regular player.

And this is the reason why there are Bronze players, because learning the most basic thing is a burden. Not saying that Bronze players are bad, but saying that the huddle of their first assignment is too high.

There also are so much Items, Buffs, Spells, and etc, and the knowledge of their basic properties are in the category of 'learn.' So there are too much things to learn about to play this game.

As the game goes forward and Seasons change, an unbearable amount of things for beginners were being added, such as Trinkets, Jungle, Smite Buffs, Machete Upgrades, and so on. I felt stuck when I teach the 'Newbie' players who just started playing League yesterday.

A lucky punch of a novice in competitive fight games does not exist in League. You can't win only with the knowledge of how to move the Champion and how to use the abilities. You have to destroy Nexus to win, and the numerous amount of things in that process should be learned.

To conclude, League of Legends is a game that have a relatively lower barrier than some games like DOTA, but with the criteria of other games, it definitely isn't, and it is getting higher as the Season goes.

3. Thing that Riot threw away for the 'casual'

LoL is more like EZ2DJ than Pokemon, because it is important having mechanics (lasthitting perfectly and dodge/hit skillshots) than having knowledge (Skill CD, Mana, Stats, Ranges, and etc). LoL is more likely to lean to the side of EZ2DJ since thy are a real-time game (but you still have to have knowledge), but ultimately, there aren't any 'hidden elements.'

An easy example would be the tip when Leashing Jungle monsters a year ago. Using the weak point of the system, it used to be a tip but became a common sense after being frequently used, so some people flamed beginners for not doing that (and I think that's why Riot decided to fix it). This genre of games have a Co-op mode, but the main content is a PvP mode, so there's a trend that 'elements to master' becoming 'elements to learn,' because you gotta do everything to win.

Champions of LoL having less characteristics are on the same page with this. In DOTA, there's a counter pick that you can never win fight against even you're super fed. But in LoL, you don't really have a counter pick and you can even win against your counter when you're fed.

This means that a synergetic comp or a counter pick becomes 'learn', not 'master.' When someone picked A, if you don't Pick B which is synergetic with A or don't Ban C which is a counter pick of A, you're gonna get flamed! Learning those 600 abilities is already a high entry barrier, but they still have more?

Riot gained the element of casual by getting rid of that kind of thoughts. But from that, the game goes simple and characteristics of Champions are gone. In the end, there are no elements of players but only mechanics that makes the difference.

Just deal with dem Japainian mechonics.

Especially when you look at the Pro scene, 'ones who Mastered the game,' MVPs or Highlights mostly consist of great plays made by great mechanics rather than the plays made by the greatness of understanding and knowledge of the game. There are more "Damn, I can't even try that!" than "What a great idea. I can imitate that." It is more like watching EZ2DJ masters. Just watching them changes nothing out of you.

4. Conclusion

League of Legends is the most successful game in the world, but I'm being careful with saying that it is the greatest game in the world. If the factors of the greatest are 'having the highest market share' and 'making the highest profit,' then hamburger is the greatest food in the world. LoL is a well-made game, but there are still things that should be fixed.

Every good games aren't applying 'Easy to learn Hard to master,' but League is adding 'learning' elements for the existing playerbase, so newcomers are having more assignment that makes them to think that it's hard, but the truth is that the element for the clutch players are mechanics, in all ages.

My dearest game,

I hope you develop slowly and steadily,

that there won't be any mutters and whines while you're at the top of the list.

Top 4 Unexpected Picks in LoL Season 4 World Championship

There are only two players in S4 Worlds who collected a win with a strong impression following: inSec and Looper.

Coincidentally, these two faced in the Finals, so it had became really interesting to see what kind of picks they will show.

4.
 Fiddlesticks- inSec/Star Horn Royal Club

It seemed like they will be eliminated, but inSec brought a turn around with jungle Fiddlesticks.
This pick kind of countered by Twisted Fate and he threw a couple of times. However he changed the mood throughout the game with a high kill-contribution and dominating teamfight at the important point. inSec's Fiddlesticks deleted opponents with surprising damage of his Ult and brought the hope of going to the Finals.

3.
 Pantheon- inSec/Star Horn Royal Club

A hidden card that inSec used in semi-final Game 5. The game that decides whether SHR is going to the Finals or getting eliminated, inSec's Pantheon was overwhelming throughout the whole game. His magical ult that burns the opponent's Flash, winning teamfights, and further bringing a ticket to the Finals changed the drift of the game at all times when they're losing. It's pretty evitable that SHR's support, Zero hard-carried the game, but the situation would've been different if inSec didn't changed the atmosphere.

2.
 Singed- Looper/Samsung Galaxy White

The very person who poisoned all the members of TSM. He practiced the miracle of melting the opponents by just walkin around them. From the point of blue buff steal after the level 1 overfarming, the game was over. It was impressive to see the opponents not even trying to touch him.

1.
 Akali- Looper/Samsung Galaxy White

I was like, what the hell Akali's used in competitives? She was even on a hyper-carry mode like in Soloqueue when it's already surprising to see her in competitive scene.

It was pretty refreshing since Looper played her a bit differently than normal. It was not like the one that dominates after an easy lane phase, but the one that is exactly a teamfight contributing top laner. He had taken part in teamfights at the right moment with Teleport after a safe lane phase, but sometimes took a back-position like typical damage dealers. Even she's a squishy, she dove in first aggressively, taking an aggro, and so on. His usage of aggressive top Champion and Teleport was like a "final round boss".

The most amazing pick of Season 4 World Championship.

[2] An analysis of game balancing (featuring LOL, HEROES, and DOTA)

 3. Riot Games' balancing problem

 A long description of a way of balancing and its directional nature in the earlier post is to talk about Riot's balancing problem. So many people say that 'nerfing' is the problem of Riot, but as I said before, my place of emphasis is a bit different. Riot's balancing problem come from a compulsion of making a lot of Champions being 'equal'.

 But it is known that LOL is a game that shares pretty much of an equality.

 There is a bit of difference, but each Champions share a pretty much similar movement speed, the maximum health that is not very different from other AOS games, and an exact same area of vision of Champions. But isn't that enough? League of Legends looks like it is excessively obsessed to an equality.

 And this kind of attitude derive a thougth that LOL is 'nerf-centered' and DOTA is 'buff-centered'.

R - Riftwalk

RANGE: 700 ⇒ 450

cost: 75 Mana ⇒ 60 Mana

 This is the recently most controversial skill, Kassadin's Riftwalk. It seems like that they reduced the mana cost to reduce the skill cost burden, but since they reduced the range of Kassadin's Ultimate, which used to be an extremely matchless skill, they trashed Riftwalk to be a useless skill.

 It was a restriction of mobility to equate the 'equality' or the 'statistical balance', but based on the reult it was a HUGE nerf and Kassadin has no longer have a chance to be played, resulting his win ratio to be 36% from the lower 50%.

 Theoretically, the balancing of Riot has no problem. Kassadin is a Champion who's always pressured by the mana cost of his skills. BECAUSE RIFTWALK IS A FREAKING OP SKILL! Therefore, for the equality between from other Champions from him, they reduced Kassadin's pressure from the mana cost, and it is reasonable to reduce his mobility for the sake of equality. Although the adjustment of the stat was too much and the outcome had become a nerf, but what if the stat was appropriate? New players would even feel that Kassadin's mana cost pressure is not that much, and would have an impression that it is 'fair' to paly against him.

 So what about Veigar?

W - Dark Matter

cost 70/80/90/100/110 mana ⇒ 70/75/80/85/90 mana

Cooldown 10 sseconds ⇒ 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 seconds

---

E - Event Horizon

NEWevent planning: Appears instantly ⇒ Now has a 0.75 second delay before appearing

cost 80/90/100/110/120 mana ⇒ 80/85/90/95/100 mana

Cooldown 20/19/18/17/16 seconds ⇒ 18/17/16/15/14 seconds

range: 650 ⇒ 700

 (Excluding Q that has been changed to a non-targeting skill) First, by looking at the stat changes, it looks like a buff, and a nerf of the 'non-interactive' skill, E, seems reasonable. Actually, Veigar's mana cost and cooldown is pretty high compared to other AP Mages, and his E's pretty notorious only among players who had played against him. (Especially when he's started being played as support, the presence of his E was drastically increasing.) However the 5.4 patch is definitely a failure of Riot's balancing, that they annihilated the 'characteristic' of Veigar, who 'suppress the opponent and burst one down at once'. Also the adjustment of the stats was inappropriate, so as a result, Veigar's no longer playable at any gamemode.

 Riot's balancing follows the stats or the theoretical balancing, but most of them caused a bad result, and annihilated Champions' 'characteristics' in the name of 'increasing uncertainty of a game'. A non-targetalization of Veigar's Q or even Ryze's skill is an element that increase an uncertainty of a game, but is a bad example that annihilates those Champion's own identity over the left.

 Then what about DOTA or HEROES' balancing?
 Consequentially speaking, these two games are not obessed to an 'equality' like Riot.

 First, here's an example of DOTA.

• Attack projectile speed from 900 to 1000
  
• Dragon Slave damage increased from 100/170/230/280 to 110/180/250/320
  
• Dragon Slave mana cost increased from 90/105/125/140 to 100/115/130/145
  
• Light Strike Array damage rescaled from 90/150/210/280 to 120/160/200/240
  
• Light Strike Array mana cost increased from 90/100/110/125 to 100/110/120/130
  
• Light Strike Array stun duration increased from 1.6/1.8/2/2.2 to 1.6/1.9/2.2/2.5
  
• Fiery Soul duration increased from 9 to 10

 Lina is a Champion who has a distinguished characteristics, such as a strong push ability with her Q (just like Xerath's Q) and a ranged stun ability with her W (just like Veigar's W).
 She's already such a strong Champion when you look at the base damage of her skills, but her damage of Q is increased and the duration of W is increased.

 Pretty strange, isn't it? They nerfed the disadvantage and buffed the advantage? DOTA's balancing looks unreasonable when you compare it to the Riot's, the nerf of Fiddlesticks's in the past that Fear's duration was decreased and its mana cost was also decreased generally. They buffed the disadvantage and nerfed the advantage.

 So what about HEROES?

 Heroes of Storm has no specific tendency for a detailed balancing, since they're in a beta testing period. Nerfs and buffs are mixed every time, so it is pretty hard to understand if they're trying to spare the characteristics or promoting an equality. But the decisive design that plots the difference between a concept and an actual use can't be seen as it's focusing on the feature itself.

 This is getting too complex, so I'll explain with an example.
 - Abathur in HEROES does not participate in the fight at all, from the beginning to the end of game.
 - The Lost Vikings is a Hero that should be able to control 3 Champions simultaneously.
 - Also an unconventional design or a rework of Champions makes HEROES to emboss the characteristics of a lot of stats except for a movement speed.

  Now let's take a look at HEROES's characteristic rework.

LI LI

• Li Li has received a major overhaul.
• Protective Shield (Talent) removed
• Envenom (Talent) removed
• Stoneskin (Talent) removed
• New Talent (Level 20): Kung Fu Hustle
  • Abilities recharge 3 times as fast when Fast Feet is active.
• Basic Attack
  • Starting damage increased from 20 to 25
• Fast Feet (Trait)
  • Movement speed bonus decreased from 15% to 10%
  • New Talent (Level 7): Shake It Off
    • Reduces the duration of the next Stun or Root by 75%. Can only trigger once every 15 seconds.
  • New Talent (Level 16): Safety Sprint
    • Increases Fast Feet’s Movement Speed bonus 10% to 20% while Li Li is under 50% Health.
• Healing Brew (Q)
  • New Talent (Level 1): Pro Toss
    • Increases Healing Brew’s range by 30%
  • New Talent (Level 7): Pitch Perfect
    • After casting Healing Brew, its cost is reduced by 10 Mana for 6 seconds. This effect does not stack.
  • The Good Stuff (Talent) functionality has changed
    • Healing Brew now heals for an additional 30% over 6 seconds. Multiple heals extend the duration of this heal over time.
  • Two For One (Talent) functionality has changed
    • No longer increases Healing Brew’s Mana cost
    • Now increases Healing Brew’s cooldown from 3 to 4.5 seconds
  • Herbal Cleanse (Talent)
    • Movement Speed bonus duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds
  • Scaling heal decreased from 20 to 18
• Cloud Serpent (W)
  • Cloud Serpent functionality has changed.
    • Cloud Serpent now automatically attacks nearby enemies.  Only 1 Cloud Serpent can be active on a Hero at a time.
  • Cost decreased from 40 to 30 Mana
  • Starting damage increased from 15 to 20
  • Timeless Creature (Talent) moved from Level 16 to Level 1
  • Lightning Serpent (Talent)
    • Damage dealt to targets after the first increased from 25% to 50%
    • Search range increased by 20%
  • New Talent (Level 4) : Mending Serpent
    • Cloud Serpent heals its host each time it attacks.
  • New Talent (Level 16): Serpent Sidekick
    • Li Li gains her own Cloud Serpent after casting Cloud Serpent on an ally.
• Blinding Wind (E)
  • Number of Basic Attacks missed increased from 1 to 2
  • Cost decreased from 50 to 40 Mana
  • Starting damage decreased from 50 to 30
  • Scaling damage increased from 12 to 13 damage
  • Gale Force (Talent)
    • Damage bonus increased from 25% to 50%
  • Mass Vortex (Talent) moved from Level 1 to Level 4
  • Lingering Blind (Talent)
    • Increases the number of Basic Attacks missed from 2 to 3
  • New Talent (Level 13): Surging Winds
    • Li Li gains 5% Ability Power for 8 seconds per target hit by Blinding Wind. Additional enemies hit refresh the buff duration and further increase Ability Power. Stacks up to 4 times.
• Jug of 1,000 Cups (R)
  • Cooldown increased from 60 to 70 seconds
  • Initial heal amount decreased from 35 to 20
  • Scaling heal increased from 4 to 6.5
• Water Dragon (R)
  • Starting damage increased from 130 to 200
  • Scaling damage increased from 13 to 20
  • Slow amount increased from 40% to 70%

(Source: http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/blog/17345414/heroes-closed-beta-patch-notes-january-13-2015-1-13-2015)

 This, is pretty strange. Logically thinking, Riot's method of statistical balancing that pursue 'equality' should be the best way, but as I experienced by playing games and checking the reaction of each communities, the most illogical balancers, 'DOTA', had the highest satisfaction to the patches.

 So, why?

 DOTA buffs the advantage and nerfs the disadvantage of a Hero, so that he'll kind of be picky on the environment, but emphasize the characteristic. So the Hero would be dependant on the team composition or an environment, but the moment when players feel that something is balanced is when the Heroes' advantage and the environment that the advantages shine are prominent.

 For example, it makes the player to feel that his ability to react against something lacks, while playing Champion A and lost against Champion B, not that it's just because of the stupid patch that makes Champion B OP. The player would feel like 'if I've made a different environement/situation...' or 'if I've used him in a different way...', therefore not getting dissatisfied by the balancing iteself.

 HEROES is actually pretty similar to LOL. Even when designers tries to emphasize a characteristic, there are dis/advantages between Heroes- and frequently, there are some Annoying Oranges. But HEROES has a relatively faster game speed and is designed to be 'teamfight-centered', so something like 'lane phase' that a drastic dis/advantages between Heroes are shown is minimized, so the differences between Heroes are not as on the surface as LOL.

 But how about LOL? They plotted the equality between the Champions so the difference between them are decreasing, but if the statistical difference happens, the fight between them would be rough to be considered as it's 'equal'. If Kassadin players now feel 'equal' when they're playing against Ahri players? NOPE. Also Kassadin has no longer a prominent advantage available, so it'll be hard for him to provide an equal and an enjoyable fight against any Champions. But if Riot decides to keep him in the track by buff his other skills rather than his Ultimate, then he will no longer be Kassadin.

 Repeatedly saying, but Riot's balancing is excessively focused on the 'stats', 'equality', and a 'theory', so they're dragging the player satisfaction down. Players wants to play with 100 different Champions that all have a significant characteristics, but not the ones that have 100 different stats.

4. Conclusion

 Riot's balancing does not have to follow the ones of DOTA and HEROES. But if they get rid of advantages of Champions for equality which leads to a method of Final Fantasy, would they even need that much of Champions?

 Balancing can't be defined and its way can't be specified, but there must be a reason why DOTA player's satisfaction to their game is pretty higher than any other AOS genre games.

 Since players are expecting a fight between a lot of Champions with different characteristics, I hope Riot's balancing gets solid and solid as the time goes on.