Some roles are more fun than others in League of Legends. That is directly linked to how impactful they feel and Riot has some interesting plans for the future to make everyone feel important in their LoL games.
The top lane is an island. How often have we heard this before, eh? Well, it seems like Riot knows it as well and they will be making some key adjustments to add in better role balance and to give every sole their moments to feel strong and impactful.
In a recent Quick Gameplay Thoughts, Matt "Phroxzon" Leung-Harrison explained some of the balance teams ideas behind role balance and what plans they've got to make everyone feel impactful in their League of Legends games.
LoL: Role Balance Key Issue In Games
According to Phroxzon, the top lane and bot lane either feel strong or weak. One of the sides is the impactful role that would decide the game. This is in part due to the help of the mid lane and jungle, who decide where to put pressure on the map.
Though, he also explained how at an elite level the top lane is on the lower end of the desired power level, while bot is close to the desired power level. One thing the two do have in common is that they're both low on agency, since they're being affected by the other roles in the game.
The balance team has done some changes to make sure that the game isn't always played around bot, especially lowering the early game priority with lowering dragon stats, it still feels like the bot lane has a much bigger impact on the game than the top lane.
One thing the balance team doesn't want to do is continuously nerf the bot lane until it isn't fun to play anymore. They also cannot overbuff the top lane, due to many top laners also being viable as strong tank/fighters in the mid lane as well.
As previously mentioned by Phreak, the jungle is the most impactful and strongest role in League of Legends, so the team is going to look to nerf the role in some capacity.
Jungle is currently still overpowered and we believe is a significant contributor to feelings of lack of agency from top and bot especially. We’re going to further adjust the jungle to get to a sweet spot where the role is still fun.
The goal for the balance team is that each role should feel like it has an impact on the map and in the way that players want to be impactful.
Since not all players of a specific role are the same, with some in the top lane, for example, wanting to simply 1-vs-1 their opponent, while others dream of impacting the map while grouping together, Riot is looking to find solutions for everyone and that everyone could enjoy.
[...] we intend to take a look at Elite snowballing to help address some of this after Worlds, as jungle and mid are often the roles that are more likely to snowball the early game out of control and we hope this will give some agency back to other roles.
The balance team will look to make some changes to snowballing champions and how they work. One of those champions will clearly be K'Sante who has become a key pick in the top lane and in the mid lane, especially in pro play. Other similar champions will also be looked at, but also only after the 2023 League of Legends World Championship.
Hopefully there are some major changes hitting the rift soon, especially in the 2024 LoL Preseason. There are rumours of new dragons, as well as some other changes to items that could be a big part of this update.