League of Legends - Overnerfed?

By Helmight,

Generally speaking, I tend to trust Riot in terms of LoL's balance (an unpopular opinion, I know). Though every player higher than Gold tends to think that they know better than Riot whether or not a champion or item is over/underpowered, they don't have the same mindset that the designers do. They're also lacking the ability to process raw data from millions of games being played around the world when it comes to objectively evaluating balance.

However, that's not to say that Riot's gotten everything right. Every so often there are hiccups - champions getting overnerfed, overbuffed, reworked to have a completely different playstyle, or just flat-out getting ignored. I think a lot of these missteps are because Riot is too hands-on with balancing their game. Instead of waiting to see if the community comes up with an answer to a champion that's perceived as overpowered, they immediately react to the complaints and get nerfs on the PBE.

Let's use a recent example. When Super Smash Brothers for 3DS first released, there was a storm of comments about how Little Mac was completely overpowered. Videos were released almost daily showing Little Mac kicking the shit out of the competition, and an equal number of posters took to the Internet to both complain about his power level and to search for ways to defeat him.

Now, if SSB4 was made by Riot Games, you can bet your ass that he would have been hotfixed within a week, or at least would have balance changes on the PBE. But instead, the game's designer Masahiro Sakurai, stuck to his guns and avoided any nerfs.

And interestingly enough, the complaints about Little Mac died away. Players were learning to adapt to the character, finding strategies and characters that could directly counter Little Mac. Shortly afterwards, the number of Little Macs in online play fell off. Though he hadn't been nerfed directly by Nintendo, Little Mac was certainly no longer regarded as overpowered.

This is the kind of approach I'd love to see Riot taking with League of Legends. Instead of immediately nerfing a champion that's perceived as overpowered, I'd love to see Riot's balance team sitting on their hands and waiting. With 123 champions and a plethora of items, I find it hard to believe that someone wouldn't find a counter to the OP character.

Now, this isn't to say that Riot should ALWAYS wait to nerf. Obviously, there are some times when a champion or item are so obviously broken (release Xin/Zyra, League of Cleavers, Lee Sin, etc.). However, I feel as though these particular events are few and far between. Waiting gives Riot more time to focus on worthwhile projects instead of being caught up in the constant flow of buffing/nerfing champions.

Obviously it's no fun to play with a champion that's overpowered. However, players should also be patient and try coming up with their own solutions to a problem instead of complaining to Riot. Remember kids, just because you think someone's broken doesn't mean that they are.

What do you think about Riot's balance philosophy? Do you think the game's overbalanced? Was the League of Cleavers really that bad? Let us know in the comments below!