‘League Of Legends’ developer explains the impact of durability update

nme.com:

League Of Legends, developer Riot Games has outlined how the patch affected the game.In May, a durability update made every champion in League Of Legends less fragile.

A month on, Riot Games has shared that it thinks the update went “relatively well” and revealed the effects it has had on the game.“Players from all regions are enjoying more opportunities for skill expression and we’re hearing feedback that combat is better paced and more understandable […] We believe that slower combat gives players more opportunities to demonstrate more strategic skills like positioning and cooldown management,” said Riot.The developer went on to say that it has seen a decrease in snowballing in games, which refers to matches where one side “snowballs” a minor early-game lead into an advantage that wins the game for them.“We think some degree of snowballing leads is good, after all players should be able to capitalize on their early game advantages to influence the outcome of a game.

That said, we also don’t think a game should be impossible to come back from in 15 minutes. Pre durability update, snowballing was a bit too strong, but with more durable champs and stronger towers we’ve brought it down to a point we’re happier with.”Less snowballing means teams have been unable to close out games as quickly, and Riot says this has caused the average League Of Legends match to last a bit longer.Looking ahead, Riot has shared that it is still trying to balance the effects of the update, as “classes and items aren’t completely balanced yet, some champions still need more adjustments, and the state of healing is still out of balance in a 40 per cent Grievous Wounds world.”Earlier in the week, League Of Legends patch 12.12 added a Snow Moon.