Here are some idea proposals that I would like some discussion about.
[proposal] Sandbox Journey Mode
Sandbox journey mode is a mode designed for newcomers so they would have more initial instant gratification as well as be able to get feedback about their strategy and do tweaks faster.
Each new player will start at level 1 and in each level the player will face an enemy AI team that he has to beat. Level 1 enemy will use pretty much the same strategy that is set in the beginning for the new team with roughly the same skill players.
Each new level will be harder than the last one (more skilled players, better strategy). To advance to the next level team has to beat enemy AI twice on blue side and twice on purple side or any other arbitrary amount that feels right for that matter.
One of the awards for example is getting access to ‘leagues’. For example if you won’t be able to join the ‘leagues’ before you have beat level 5 AI opponent. This is to ensure that inactivity in leagues wouldn’t cause boredom for the newer players having to face players who just created a team and went inactive afterwards.
The amount of levels, awards, exact difficulties and backstories behind the levels would go under discussion.
As a side note to all that it’s also planned to add another ELO system called Sandbox ELO. This won’t matter in anywhere in the game. It’s just to give feedback on how your strategy and players are really doing. Top teams will be able to still not reveal their strategies because the sandbox ELO won’t matter, but the weaker teams will have better feedback. You will be able to search enemies by Sandbox ELO and know that they have more likely a correct strategy that actually represents this ELO. This also gives more motivation to play sandbox games and climb the sandbox ladders for the new players to practice getting into the game.
[proposal] Champion buffs/nerfs exact
The exact goal of this idea would be to enforce meta changes where you will have to adapt your strategy to the new or predicted meta.
At the end of each season there will be revealed the statistics of each champions. Wins, losses, ban and pick rates. Based on the results of the statistics, there is automated system that will nerf 5 most banned champions and will buff 5 least played champions. This gives a possibility to predict also which champions will be strong the next season and give some opportunities to try and predict what will be the meta even few seasons ahead and plan accordingly.
The main questions are how much random should there be involved in the buff system and how drastic should the changes be?
Perhaps it could be something like this:
Top 5 champions will receive a nerf around all skills (if there is 1-10, it means that all skills will be nerfed around 1-10%) 1-10% 1-8% 1-6% 1-4% 1-2%
Worst 5 champions will receive a similar buff, but in reverse. For example if the random number happens to be 10%, then champion with 80 ad carry skill and 60 physical damage will be 72 adc and 54 physical damage later on.
So in short: Season end happens. All champion statistics will be revealed. Top 5 champions nerfed, bottom 5 champions buffed. You will have few days to practice before the next season start.
[proposal] Minor game simulator tweaks
It’s in the plans to create a new version of the game simulator. The goal is to make use of all the skills appropriately and have the players making idealistic decisions all the time where only knowledge, intelligence skill will affect the randomness decisions and will make the player decide badly on purpose. Next version of the simulator should also include a lot better transparency, feedback and a better rock-paper-scissors mechanic.
However as I’d like the new simulator to be as good as possible I would like to dedicate more time under it so the development time might be few months and it has not started yet so meanwhile I see that it seems to be necessary to make few tweaks to the current one to not keep it overly stale and make some other strategy features viable.
Currently the most important thing seems to be the laning style. The idea is to punish ‘kill’ lane style so that when a player starts aggroing this player will either receive slightly more damage or do slightly less damage. Also increase the rate of getting creep score to be more realistic. Questions regarding that:
1. How much notice there should be in advance before releasing a new version of the simulator in days? 2. Is the introduction of new simulator most appropriate just after season has ended? 3. Does the modification of punishing kill lane damage wise and increasing the ability of players to CS seem reasonable?
Development Log
I have started adding tooltips. You can toggle the indicator to show where they exist via the button next to advisor toggle. They are currently mainly in the team overview page, player single view page and multiple players view. Also most other player pages.
Henri’s log
Work on tooltips Work on bugs Work on plans for the future
Mikk’s log
New division view New league view Changed fonts, fixed font size and rendering bugs. (content font had rendering issues so we changed it back to old one) Fixed grid bugs (safari) Fixed bugs with latest notifications New icon and logo placeholders Player soloq champion pick options are now sorted alphabetically Started redesigning facilities
Thank you for reading and your feedback!
1
For the buffs&nerfs part, alongside the top/bottom 5, i think that a random nerfing&buffing on middle of the pack champs, slighter than the top&bots would increase the interest.
You could still predict the major buffs part, but there would always be a certain uncertainty and increase the need to explore after each, try things after each "patch".
The fixed rule for this make it "too easy" to guess, too linear. Thus limiting the possibilities for cunning players to find outplay possibilities.
Each round(aka "patch) should be applies before season start and at mid season, so that it would allow player to "shake" division standings using an undiscovered advantage (plus it would boost the need for sandbox games).
Technically speaking, it should not be overly complex. Pick a champ, pick the random number of skills to change, chose the skills , pick a percentage between [-x; x], apply the boost nerf to the skill. As they aren't many champs, there would be no significant cost on the processing side and no need for big optimizations.
3
If possible I think the metric for determining which champions get nerfed (and to a lesser extent which get buffed) might benefit from being more complex. Especially for selecting who is nerfed, I think pick (and maybe win) rates need to be considered, potentially other factors too like average gold/score/cs/etc. Most banned does not necessarily provide you with the champions in need of nerfing, as it is fairly commonplace to ban strategically so that you are able to get the OP champion(s) you desire in your pick rotations and not to ban purely the strongest champions.
It might also be nice to see smaller buffs/nerfs to random stats on random champions as part of the "end of season balance changes". For example Valk Pilot (arbitrary example champion that wouldn't be in the top/bottom 5) might get small buffs on mobility/escape/laning, but a little nerf to poke. I don't know how people would feel about this sort of idea (and naturally would require a "patch notes" article each season).
I'm unsure about using percentages rather than flat values for nerfs/buffs, as using percentages risks champions (especially those nerfed) losing their identity over time.
1
Nice post, i fully agree with all. Better game simulator will be nice. Also it would be nice an option in strategy to make your players take decisions of when to take towers or even roam to other lines if for example bottom is getting crushed, mid-laner could roam bot and help. Also improve jungler presence since at the moment it hasnt really been deciding. I love this game and im just a newbie in all so i will be happy about any constructive critics about my thoughs.
Greetings from spain.!
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"The fixed rule for this make it "too easy" to guess, too linear. Thus limiting the possibilities for cunning players to find outplay possibilities."
This isnt my opinion, I think it adds more to finding counters between certain champs than making it too easy. Making it a game to predict what your opponent will pick and outsmart them already in the strategies. I do however agree that slight buffs/nerfs to the middle champs could be a good idea in addition to the bottom/top buff/nerfing, but not as big changes.
also would be cool if I could get a small minibar under the forum post square that gives me automatic "fat text" "hyperlinks" and stuff ;) I think you guys would benifit from hypertext too
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All 3 ideas are great. 1st idea should be developed around a new marketing push, since it's designed as a progression system for new players then it's only right that it would be great to have that available for the next reddit wave as such.
Idea 2, automatic updates are essentially constantly changing content that involves upfront work with little maintenance. Could be fun finding the next best picks.
Idea 3, Meta is too stale atm, even with idea 2, a better game sim will help change things up. You going to setup the test server again?
1
My opinions on the proposals:
Journey Mode: I think this is a great idea, I see this as an extended tutorial, but I don't think it should be necessarily enforced; as in if new players want to get straight into leagues, they should be able to. (But having the option to learn more being presented as a choice is great).
Champion Buffs/Nerfs: Also a great idea, however, with that said, the numbers shouldn't be set in stone (for example a random nerf/buff that is in the range of 5-10%). This way things don't get predictable. Also having changes in the middle of the pack would be great too, so we aren't just seeing the top and the bottom things get changed with no changes ever happening in the middle. With that said, the idea is great because it's exactly how it is in the real world.
Simulator Changes: Great idea, it will promote different styles of play.
2
In game like lol champion become strong or weak from time to time? in games like dota or hon it wont, so i don't think the heroes should become stron or weak just because they are more played or not. Just make is sure there is a reason to pick others heroes, like make heroes counter others.
don't block acess to the game ensencial to new players, borring game will make then quit early.
1
I like the idea of a shifting champion meta. As mentioned, nerfing based on bans doesn't seem quite right. If someone bans the 2nd and 3rd best in a position, hoping to first pick the best and leave their opponent with the 4th best, the wrong champion would end up getting nerfed. I also like the idea of tweaking the numbers on some middle of the pack champions. It is common in mobas for champions to go from irrelevant to pick/ban over a single patch.
