Season 5, you guys spoke about Champion Diversity being the theme. How do you feel about the current 30+% pickrate for Lee Sin? I don't feel the jungle is diverse enough, with one champion dominating the pick rate so much.
There are a lot of factors that can determine diversity. I use Jinx a lot as an example, because she's a really obvious one. Jinx is enormously popular, sometimes the most popular champion in certain regions, like the US. Some of that is almost always related to power -- you never see very weak champions played at high rates -- but it definitely isn't the whole story. Beyond power, we also think Jinx is fun to play and her personality appeals to a lot of players. It isn't our intent to make Jinx less popular. To do so, we'd have to dilute who she is, or nerf her win rate just to try and force players not to play her. That's bogus. :(
Put another way, it isn't a goal, and almost nothing reasonable could achieve, Jinx being played at the same rate as Urgot.
The way I define diversity is that you should be able to play who you want without raw power unduly influencing your decision (or your team thinking you are trolling), and you shouldn't see the same champs every game on your team or the other team. I also want to be clear that we aren't there yet, but that's the long-term goal.
With that in mind, we know Lee is a very popular champion (especially in China). Some of that has to do with how satisfying he is to play. Some of that has to do with ward hopping. Some of that has to do with power. Some of that probably has to do with seeing videos of really flashy Lee plays.
A couple of years ago, we looked at what it would take to make him less popular, and it really would have involved gutting what is cool about him, and we (wisely IMO) chose not to do so. While he is frequently the most popular Jungler, he isn't the one with the highest winrate, particularly at lower ELOs. Rather than touching Lee, what we'd rather do is make sure there are viable alternatives. Xin Zhao is often popular. Mundo is gaining popularity right now. Kindred may end up somewhere up there as players learn him.
Trundle has a reasonably high win rate, but a low play rate. Maybe he just isn't as fun. Maybe his abilities aren't as satisfying to use. Maybe only Trundle mains love him, but they play him really well. Maybe there is an opportunity there for us to make more him more fun... but that doesn't mean he will ever be of equal play rate with Lee Sin, and we're fine with that.
Put another way, it isn't a goal, and almost nothing reasonable could achieve, Jinx being played at the same rate as Urgot.
The way I define diversity is that you should be able to play who you want without raw power unduly influencing your decision (or your team thinking you are trolling), and you shouldn't see the same champs every game on your team or the other team. I also want to be clear that we aren't there yet, but that's the long-term goal.
With that in mind, we know Lee is a very popular champion (especially in China). Some of that has to do with how satisfying he is to play. Some of that has to do with ward hopping. Some of that has to do with power. Some of that probably has to do with seeing videos of really flashy Lee plays.
A couple of years ago, we looked at what it would take to make him less popular, and it really would have involved gutting what is cool about him, and we (wisely IMO) chose not to do so. While he is frequently the most popular Jungler, he isn't the one with the highest winrate, particularly at lower ELOs. Rather than touching Lee, what we'd rather do is make sure there are viable alternatives. Xin Zhao is often popular. Mundo is gaining popularity right now. Kindred may end up somewhere up there as players learn him.
Trundle has a reasonably high win rate, but a low play rate. Maybe he just isn't as fun. Maybe his abilities aren't as satisfying to use. Maybe only Trundle mains love him, but they play him really well. Maybe there is an opportunity there for us to make more him more fun... but that doesn't mean he will ever be of equal play rate with Lee Sin, and we're fine with that.
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