flash – Page 2 – Fearless Gamer

I realize it seems a bit pointless to talk about Flash at this stage of the game, but I had some bad experiences with it today so I thought it was time to discuss my least favorite mechanic in LoL.

The basic problem with Flash as I see it is that there are no real consequences to taking the skill. As a summoner skill it is simply a bonus, and for characters with high durability, killing power, pushing power, tanking power, whatever, summoner skills usually augment or fill gaps in the champion skill list. As a for instance, I was laned today against a Morgana/Twitch combo as Janna (Bumbleclot was in lane with me as Amumu). It was only my second game with Janna so I was trying to be reasonably cautious, but I also knew we could pull an easy FB on Twitch if we tried. Sure enough, we went for it at level three and had him, I mean nailed him to a wall had him, but just as my last auto attack was about to kill him (from approximately 18 HP), he flashes, breaking the projectile. Morgana lands a snare, Twitch turns around and I die.

Over the course of the game, I saw Flash save either Twitch or Morgana from 5 deaths, and save my opponent’s Ashe from at least one. The range has been nerfed to the point that it rarely bothers me as a positioning tool, but when it breaks attacks and spells that have already been cast I swear I could choke a kitten.

Thankfully, Riot’s taking a look, but they haven’t done much yet. There was the opinion thread asking what should be done with the skill, but it’s long gone from the front page and there isn’t much discussion going on. Personally, I think it just needs removed. There are very few toons that truly need a Flash type skill, and even those toons could probably do just as well with Ghost or some movement speed tweaks. I know there was support for a DotA-style Kelen’s Dagger, which would really be fine. If you really have the 1800g or whatever it is to spend on a statless item, by all means.

My hope is whatever is done with Flash is done soon. It’s one of very few mechanics in the game I still find infuriating.

We’ve all been on the receiving end of a good old-fashioned beat down at one time or another. The other team bangs out a couple early kills and suddenly you and your teammates are stuck 3 levels down and your towers are getting steamrolled.

This situation happens frequently enough that Riot is looking at ways to change it. According to a post from Zileas, they’re trying to discourage the 5-man roam that has become so popular. Here’s his post:

Our philosophy on this issue is that individual snowballing is good, and team snowballing is bad. Right now, team snowballing occurs too much — one super carry twitch is a lot easier to handle than 5 guys who are 3 levels higher than each of you.
We are going to make some experience table tweaks to reduce team snowballing without hurting individual snowballing much. We are also going to make a new 3 lane map that is larger, has less cross-map connectivity (so that there is higher cost to 5 man roam, and less shutdown of the farming/laning phase via the first tower being down), etc.
We probably will nerf flash.
We wont be nerfing snowball items. Emotional highs from the game you super carried make this genre sticky. We removed it too much in the beta, and it cost us. Sorry, but being super carry annie or super carry corki once in a while gets a player through the 8 defeat in a row streak they hit the next day.
I’m on the fence about early gold for kills. It’s been something we have been talking about, for the reason you cite. OF course, an early kill is also harder than a late kill.

I can appreciate the thought behind this, though I worry about the pace of the game. The roaming gank squad has already taken its toll on pace. I’ve had a number of games recently where safe play from both sides led to more than 20 minutes without a death. Discouraging ganking seems like it will just make the laning phase that much longer and more painful. There are plenty of games in which I feel like losing my outer turret is the best thing that could happen because it breaks me out of the laning mentality. I realize that this is the point – to keep people from leaving lane – but that’s where the fun of the game is.

If anything, I think the best solution is the 3-lane map with less interconnectivity. That at least gives you the option to farm a lane once the tower is down with some potential for intra-lane ganking so long as there are enough hiding spots.

What do you think? Are there too many games in which snowballing is a serious problem or are you okay with the 5-man roam?

Tag: flash (Page 2 of 2)

LoL: The state of Flash

LoL: Snowballing and its eventual nerf

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