The constantly evolving world of online gaming provides several challenges for both players and those responsible for game development. A fine-tuned balance must be maintained so that all characters and roles can thrive. This is true in the case of the popular game, League of Legends. Recently, however, a specific role in this game has come under scrutiny for not being as robust as it should be - the marksmen.
Creating balance in an online game as complex as League of Legends is not an easy task. The game boasts over 160 different characters, each with unique abilities, multiple items with varying functions, a multitude of dragon combinations that can alter the state of a map, and other elements that can influence game fairness and dynamics. To keep the game as balanced as possible, the developers regularly release patches addressing various elements within the game's ecosystem.
While these patches often provide solutions to many balance issues, they can also overlook or inadvertently sideline certain charater roles, which can result in a decrease in their perceived effectiveness. Lately, the marksman, or adc role, appears to be the victim of this kind of oversight. The perceived weakening of this role has led to a sense of discontent amongst the players who chose this role for their game-play.
Marksmen not seeing any substantial changes in recent game patches adding to their weakening, has undoubtedly thrown the spotlight on their role. This has instigated a call-to-arms of sorts by the player community demanding a much-needed empowerment of the marksman role to restore its former strength.
League of Legends players - casual and professional alike - and live streamers are finding common ground on the issue of marksmen. Renowned names in the League of Legends community - thebausffs and Nemesis, amongst others, share the sentiment. They believe that the marksman role has been in a weakened state for at least the past six months, a duration during which the role has received no substantial enhancements or benefits.
A possible reason for the weakening of the marksman role brought forward is the growing strength of the support role in the game's bot lane - the lane that the marksmen also reside in. Characters designed as supports, such as Senna and Seraphine, have become more powerful as marksmen, thereby reducing the importance of the original marksmen characters. This development has led many to believe that the role of supports is overshadowing that of the marksmen.
Given the current state of affairs, many followers of League of Legends have opined their belief that players who have traditionally chosen the marksmen role are now switching to support, or even worse, abandoning the game altogether. This shift is seen as a direct response to the relative lack of power provided to the marksman role.
A theory resonating among players is that this shift in power balance could be a deliberate strategy by the game developers. If the support role was not made more attractive by tuning it's powers, players would be less likely to choose it. This situation would lead to a decline in the overall balance of the game with a lack of enough players opting for the support role.
However, not all is doom and gloom for the marksman role. Given that League of Legends is a dynamic game that continuously evolves, there's always hope that the next patch or update may enhance the marksmen role. For now, though, the players who prefer this role are sitting tight in anticipation of the changes they truly hope are coming their way.