I completely agree that CoC is taking it too far, but like yobanchi said, that has more to do with a lack of interesting interactions. I mean, they got an "Oaken Mace" that does nothing more than +X damage. That says a lot really. You say that you were concerned when the upgrade system was changed, but ironically this didn't really simplify the game but rather contribute to its complexity explosion. Essentially, over the years the game went from this: To this: This is of course a slight dramatisation by picking examples on the extreme ends, but it really isn't far off from the truth. Another example: Lich King used to be the most expensive rune after Harbingers, only because of its range combined with Teleport. He also had Immortality and Evil Aura I think, but that was it. Now he looks like this: Same cost, but he gained +4 damage IIRC (with loyalty) and a bunch of abilities. Yet nowadays he's hardly worth mentioning. The game used to be incredibly deep and complex, absolutely no comparison to CoC. But now it's just incomprehensible to new (or even returning) players. The old upgrade system may have been really complicated and cumbersome, but since most people ran their champs at the most economic configuration, it actually kept the amount of data that players had to gather and process during a game fairly reasonable. This isn't a minor issue, and the most dangerous aspect to it is that those who kept playing over the years are probably blind to it, because they don't have the perspective of what it's like to try and get into the game at this point. Without dramatic simplification, the game won't have a future. But even the most extreme simplifications I could imagine, would still leave a game that is incredibly deep and complex. If upgrades were to remain, I would prefer a system which keeps upgrades simple on most Commons to Exotics (keeping them focused on a single role), while reserving the more fancy forms of customisation for Legendaries (making them more flexible, but not more powerful than Non-Legendaries), as I detailed in my proposal for the upgrade system.
Zenity: I think you've hit the vital point when you spoke about perspective. I remember the game never being anything but playable and extremely fun to me, but i definitely ran with the game from it's more, dare i say, uncluttered days all the way to the days of distichous, ichor, charges, etcetera. I think i speak mostly with the nostalgia of someone who has always lacked the perspective of being completely confused by the game. As i said earlier i'm sure i'll transition fine, and if it is serious so that newer players have a funnier, better experience of it then i'll stick around to see what the community and the game designers can shape things into. I'll be sure to check your proposal sometime.
Keep upgrades and have fewer starting abilities would be my suggestion instead. If the upgrades are well done they can be used to tailor the champion to fullfill 2 different roles in a bg depending on their upgrades.
I think it's better to have weight the complication on the starting abilities side. If a new player has seen a rune before these are the abilities that will be consistent across all encounters with that rune. The most important aspects of that rune should be contained within to make prior experience as relevant between games as possible.
I agree. It could be a mix of course, with a couple of core abilities on base, and a couple of lesser abilities to customize (stuff like Ally:X would go well there).
Agree with Authyrtyr on this one. Abilities should be waited to the base in my opinion exactly due to making it easier for quick recognition on what the champ will be doing/effecting the board. I've felt this with drafting as I could never for the life of me remember the first two upgrades of every champion! It was and is quite frustrating to know that the champ you're selecting is going to be very different from what you're actually looking at on the base so I can only imagine this is tenfold for truly new players.
I'd much rather have some customization than none. CP can go the way of the dinosaurs, but I think variability of a rune is a good thing, even in a game as old as this that has a lot of duff that could fulfill that role somewhat with some reworks. The only thing I dislike is "automatic" choices. I want to at least have to think about it when choosing my upgrades, so long as they are actually meaningful.
Balancing upgrade choices is as easy as swapping abilities between upgrade & base, or tweaking the ranks. This works for almost every rune with unbalanced upgrades i've seen.
I agree with the OP. Considering how many runes are now avaiable, a complete redesign of them could easily give a lot of variety to the game even with no customization allowed. Also, with a job well done on the redesign, it would be possible to raise the actual percentage of runes played in the meta (that, imho, looks quite small).
