VLADIMIR
The Crimson Reaper
[This is the first of what I hope will become many Let’s Fix articles. Some elements of games which I play are fine in theory but lose something in execution. I’m going to examine how those mechanics play, compare them to how they should play, then suggest fixes to improve them (note that an improvement makes the game better, not the mechanic. Sometimes a mechanic is best improved by weakening it). I will not attempt to “balance” anything since that comes from rigorous playtesting and tweaking. Also, numbers are boring. This is an article about the core concepts, not the balancing points. Maybe some other day day I’ll talk about how some things can’t be balanced by changing only the numbers.]
Today, the League of Legends champion Vlad is on my chopping block. His defining attribute is his sangromancy, by which he fuels his magic with his own blood. We can see this both in flavor, as he’s dressed like Dracula, and in gameplay, since he uses his own health rather than high-falutin’ mana to cast. This concept really speaks to how Riot makes an effort to have every champion push some boundary.
I like Vlad, helped along by his constant puns. So why does he see such little play? I contend that his biggest issue is what I call the “K-Mart syndrome”. K-Mart couldn’t offer the quality of Target, nor the prices of Wal-Mart. Caught in this middle ground, it was unable to court audiences of either. This is a constant problem when hybrid mechanics are just worse than either extreme. Vlad doesn’t really have a definite role to play, so he poorly fills several roles. In other words, he has aspects of Tank, Mage, and Support, but isn’t great at any of them. I find him best played as a mage with some support elements, so I’ll modify his gameplay to encourage that style more.
Today, the League of Legends champion Vlad is on my chopping block. His defining attribute is his sangromancy, by which he fuels his magic with his own blood. We can see this both in flavor, as he’s dressed like Dracula, and in gameplay, since he uses his own health rather than high-falutin’ mana to cast. This concept really speaks to how Riot makes an effort to have every champion push some boundary.
I like Vlad, helped along by his constant puns. So why does he see such little play? I contend that his biggest issue is what I call the “K-Mart syndrome”. K-Mart couldn’t offer the quality of Target, nor the prices of Wal-Mart. Caught in this middle ground, it was unable to court audiences of either. This is a constant problem when hybrid mechanics are just worse than either extreme. Vlad doesn’t really have a definite role to play, so he poorly fills several roles. In other words, he has aspects of Tank, Mage, and Support, but isn’t great at any of them. I find him best played as a mage with some support elements, so I’ll modify his gameplay to encourage that style more.
