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[Flying Dice]

I get where you're coming from, but the intent behind the changes are all wrong. The words are superficially nice, but the intent isn't. You know what they could have done? They could have reduced the area of effect on the auras and given them a visual update to clarify what they do. Hell, even an ugly thing like icons of swords, shields, and boots around the rim would have worked. Riot specifically went for destroying the basis of a substantial part of her mechanical uniqueness instead of the obvious, simple solution.

I don't get why you think sona's auras are very obvious. Sure, she has shiny circles beneath her, but most of the time I don't care. They're just kinda there. Having a visual marker isn't the same as being clear in how they work.

Plus, the auras have really tiny effects that aren't obvious at all. I don't plan on doing X when her aura is in the purple state and Y when it's green, eg.

Again, how is that different from half (or more) of the other passive buffs in the game? That aside, the argument being put forth by Riot is at least in part "people don't recognize that the buffs exist" rather than "people don't understand what the buffs affect", which is directly related to the visual indicators. I hate to be rude, but on the last point, duh? As above, they aren't something that the Sona's teammates need to react to, and they aren't something you use to set up initiations (like, say, Crescendo).

Also, "tiny"? Take a look at the gold value per stat point, based off of the cheapest items. At rank 5, the Q aura (+20AD and AP) is worth 1155 gold. The W aura (+10 Armor and MR) is worth 400 gold. The E aura (+20 movespeed) is worth 260 gold. Obviously the Q aura is most valuable in terms of gold efficiency equivalency, but situationally the W and E auras are also notable, the latter in particular as it makes it much easier to provide mobility to your whole team, especially when combined with the additional 12%+APratio.

A moderately important part of good Sona play is understanding auras and rotating properly for a given situation. It's plainly a case of a champion's abilities being dumbed down in favor of flashy visual effects and less differentiation from the kits of other champions; there's no other champ with the same sort of aura mechanics, but there are plenty that give shields, short-duration movespeed buffs, and on-hit effects. Yawn.

[Skyrunner]

For most of the game, Sona doesn't have all three auras at R5.

In lane, at the critical levels (2 & 6) Sona can have:

+4 or +8 AP&AD || +8 or +12 AP&AD
+6 or +7 Ar&Mr || +7 or +8 Ar&Mr
+4 MS, because nobody maxes E first.

in auras. That'd be +4~+12 extra damage on hit (but reduced by Armor by about 20%), or (with 25 armor) roughly 4% damage reduction on hit, or one-fifth of a boot in movement speed.

Gee, that 10% of a lv1 Jinx AA will really be noticeable in lane. :|


Edit: Also, looking at purely gold values for comparing impact is a dangerous thing. With that logic, Jinx's Q chaingun passive is blatantly op with 3900 gold in free AS, but in reality she isn't -that- strong.

[IronyOwl]

I get where you're coming from, but the intent behind the changes are all wrong. The words are superficially nice, but the intent isn't. You know what they could have done? They could have reduced the area of effect on the auras and given them a visual update to clarify what they do. Hell, even an ugly thing like icons of swords, shields, and boots around the rim would have worked. Riot specifically went for destroying the basis of a substantial part of her mechanical uniqueness instead of the obvious, simple solution.

For just clarity, yeah. But I'm fairly certain they've also mentioned that they want her to be more fun to play as and against, which reducing aura size might have done somewhat, but is still going to be something of a problem when a lot of your power's tied up in piling stats onto other players at all times.

I get that she's mechanically unique, but I don't see that as being a good excuse for keeping her around exactly as is. To me, her viability and essence are a lot more important than some historical concerns over needing a champion with three auras in the game.

[Arcvasti]

I personally don't find auras fun. Poking with your Q and passive and winning lane is fun. Landing clutch ults and winning teamfights is fun. Using your E MS buff to turn a partial victory into an ace by chasing the enemy team is fun. Having little glowy circles that let you act as a supplementary inventory item for everyone is not fun.

Honestly, the problem Riot has with Sona is her concept. Her concept is a champion who buffs her teammates with auras. The problem is, that's decently boring compared to supports like Lulu or Thresh or Leona. So they're trying to find something they can do to make her... Well, to be honest, less Sona. Because they've decided her concept wasn't a good idea. Sona exemplifies two things Riot really hates: Auras[Theres a REASON very few other champions have them] and spammable weak heals. I really wish they'd just realize that CAITLYNS concept, a long ranged champion specializing in lane dominance and poke, was just bad. I mean, if Caitlyn does WELL, then prepare for non-stop long range Headshots from outside your poke/initiation range so you can't retaliate without getting badly hurt just walking up to her and eating a bunch of AAs. And if she does badly, she's really useless, even by ADC standards.

[frostshotgg]

Caitlyn has a pretty solid niche. She's a heavy lane bully with a really weak lategame, but not so far on that end of the spectrum that she's urgot.

[Arcvasti]

Caitlyn has a pretty solid niche. She's a heavy lane bully with a really weak lategame, but not so far on that end of the spectrum that she's urgot.

Yeah, you're probably right. I just PERSONALLY don't like her.

[frostshotgg]

Yeah, I don't particularly like playing against her either. But she has a clear niche, clear weaknesses and strengths, and she doesn't feel so overbearing when she's at her strongest that I want to quit.

[penguinofhonor]

A moderately important part of good Sona play is understanding auras and rotating properly for a given situation. It's plainly a case of a champion's abilities being dumbed down in favor of flashy visual effects and less differentiation from the kits of other champions; there's no other champ with the same sort of aura mechanics, but there are plenty that give shields, short-duration movespeed buffs, and on-hit effects. Yawn.

I could just as easily say that there's no other champ with the same sort of frequent AOE buff zone mechanics, but there are plenty that give armor/MR boosts, AD/AP boosts, and movement speed. If you ignore the unique parts of the new kit and the boring parts of the old kit, then yeah the new one is going to look like crap.

[Putnam]

I personally don't find auras fun. Poking with your Q and passive and winning lane is fun. Landing clutch ults and winning teamfights is fun. Using your E MS buff to turn a partial victory into an ace by chasing the enemy team is fun. Having little glowy circles that let you act as a supplementary inventory item for everyone is not fun.

Having every single hero be the goddamn same isn't fun either.

Also, about the aura "clarity" issue: maybe if LoL's art wasn't so messy and the game not so (ironically, given their statements on Dota) unnecessarily complex it wouldn't be as much of an issue. The lead designer is fed up with this game's shit, jesus.

EDIT: I seriously might have to leave this thread entirely at some point because the more I read about this game's design philosophies and general habits the more I realize that Riot has no goddamn idea how to make a competitive game except by railroading everyone into playing an amount of heroes they can manage and introducing new heroes as OP so that people buy them before giving the nerf-hammer without telling anyone so they can keep up the profit

[penguinofhonor]

Aura clarity really isn't a LoL specific issue, but I see you're busy reading over the Anti-League Circlejerk Greatest Hits right now so I'll leave you be.

The bottom of that page is pretty funny though. "Using your best cognitive dissonance, explain why League's immense success is fake success and all those players don't really enjoy the game more, they've just been duped somehow into liking it."

[Flying Dice]

A moderately important part of good Sona play is understanding auras and rotating properly for a given situation. It's plainly a case of a champion's abilities being dumbed down in favor of flashy visual effects and less differentiation from the kits of other champions; there's no other champ with the same sort of aura mechanics, but there are plenty that give shields, short-duration movespeed buffs, and on-hit effects. Yawn.

I could just as easily say that there's no other champ with the same sort of frequent AOE buff zone mechanics, but there are plenty that give armor/MR boosts, AD/AP boosts, and movement speed. If you ignore the unique parts of the new kit and the boring parts of the old kit, then yeah the new one is going to look like crap.

What might those be, pray tell? Extra on-hit damage, yet another HP shield, and a brief MS spike. Yep, those are completely unique and in no way resemble the abilities of any other champion nor the effects of any item.

I agree that the flat stat bonuses were sort of boring, but the aspect of the auras where you were able to buff your entire team at the same time over an extended duration (as opposed briefly for a single allied target) was mechanically interesting. But I guess having a crappy copy of the buffing aspects of Lulu or Karma's kit is more important.

[Arcvasti]

Just played some Sona, partially because of this discussion and partially because I haven't played her in forever. And she's super fun. Apparently the reason I didn't like Sona before was I was really bad with her. And, to be honest, her auras are the part of her I like the least. I'M ok with them being remodeled/removed. Her abilities also sort of err on the side of "low cooldown, but low power" which is sort of annoying, but they're still mostly fun to use.

[penguinofhonor]

What might those be, pray tell? Extra on-hit damage, yet another HP shield, and a brief MS spike. Yep, those are completely unique and in no way resemble the abilities of any other champion nor the effects of any item.

I agree that the flat stat bonuses were sort of boring, but the aspect of the auras where you were able to buff your entire team at the same time over an extended duration (as opposed briefly for a single allied target) was mechanically interesting. But I guess having a crappy copy of the buffing aspects of Lulu or Karma's kit is more important.

No champion frequently gives out AOE buffs centered around them. The application is still unique.

[penguinofhonor]

Because there are nine other players in the game. They want more teamwork opportunitites (team plays are fun for everyone) and more counterplay, giving her opponents a deeper game.

The clarity bonuses also improve the game for other players. Having a shield instead of an armor/MR buff, for example, makes it very obvious when Sona saves your life, creating a good moment for Sona and her teammates. Current Sona probably saves lives with her W aura constantly and it doesn't get noticed most of the time.

[Jack_Bread]

Can I get some tips on what to do when you're really far behind? My last two games were so depressing...
Especially with marksmen, which I've been having a lot of fun with, recently.