Opinion: How Riot should push against the power creep instead of embracing it

League of Legends has fallen victim to the inevitable power creep most games face, but here’s how Riot Games can reverse their fate.

Originally released in 2009, League of Legends has stood the test of time. Since it’s initial launce and foray into esports, the game has evolved and transformed countless times and undergo an unimaginable number of metas. Still, the MOBA’s international relevance has never wanted as it’s active player base has only increased. Despite all these positives, discourse around the game’s current state has generally trended downward. Riot Games’ recent attitudes toward champion reworks and design have largely led this spiral and encouraged the ‘power creep.’

The unique League of Legends power creep

The power creep is a phenomenon that occurs in video games wherein new content grows increasingly powerful, subsequently rendering previous content obsolete. This occurs in a wide variety of games, but is particularly noticeable in games with long lifespans that receive regular updates. In a game such as World of Warcraft, this takes form in new items dealing significantly higher damage. Blizzard largely solved this issue by doing a ‘numbers squish’ with reduced the overall amount of damage done across the board along with enemy health.

In a competitive game such as League of Legends, a power creep is significantly harder to combat. The base damage of both champions and items remains relatively untouched and Riot has done a generally good job at preventing this type of gradual power increase. Instead, the power creep in League of Legends has come primarily through champion design and philosophy. Though every champion in League of Legends is unique and occupies a specific space in the game’s ecosystem, a sweeping trend has occurred.

The once distinct lines of division between champion types, such as mage, tank, assassin, has become increasingly blurred. Mobility, engage, and burst damage abilities are now found across most new champions coming into the game. These champions have consequently risen in priority given they have significantly greater utility. In a game with 150+ champions, the balancing act will always be difficult, but some champions have not been relevant in years. With champions continuing grow in strength immediately from release, Riot Games has fully embraced the power creep.

Gwen & Viego, a direct comparison to ‘old’ champions

Gwen and Viego are the most recent and prevalent examples of LoL’s power creep. Both champions have a near 100% pick + ban rate in professional leagues across the world and regularly flex across both solo lanes and the jungler position when let through. A look at Gwen’s abilities alone exemplifies the differences between ‘old’ champions and newer releases.

Gwen’s kit has a mixture of burst and AoE damage, dashes, and an untargetable effect. Many of her abilities feature further mechanics, such as her Q which garners stacks to deal even more damage. Gwen’s ultimate has three different casts, launching gradually more projectiles every time. Gwen is not an outlier, as Viego, Aphelios, Sett, and more have seen increasingly complex abilities that build upon their already strong kits.

When compared to champions such as Nasus, who has existed nearly since the game’s inception, older champions are at a clear disadvantage. Though champions such as Rumble or Udyr have had an impact on the meta, it has been mostly because of their synergy with new items.

How Riot Games should stop the power creep

League of Legend’s power creep is a rather difficult problem to solve. The disparity between old and new champions already exists, and completely reworking recent releases is certainly not feasible. Champions with diverse kits, including CC, damage, and sustain allow them to ‘flex’ across roles and render older champions obsolete. Changing the direction of champion design to adhere by stricter role identity would halt this power creep and create more opportunity for ‘legacy’ champions to make a return.

Simultaneously, shifting focus from creating new champions to updating older champions to ‘modernize’ their kit would also help prevent the power creep. Riot Games has already given visual graphics updates to multiple champions, including Akali, Irelia, Aatrox, Mordekaiser and far more. With the likes of Udyr on the way, this may be the best way combat the issue.

Another potential solution would be to manage champions upon release. Countless times has a new champion been released into pro play and ranked, and mere days later it receive nerfs. Samira, Gwen, and Aphelios all followed this trend. This incredibly strong start raises the priority of these champions. While there is no sole way to solve the power creep of a competitive moba, there are ways to keep older champions in the running.

Also read:

• League of Legends Patch 11.14 – Akali and Ziggs nerfed, yet another buff for Seraphine
• League of Legends hints at a new “dark” Yordle as the newest Champion

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Image Credit: Riot Games