i wonder why is it that valve can pull off a new client quicker than league
i mean, while riot sure is slow, they do get a lot of shit done, like tons of patches, events, lcs, new map, game modes, now new ui, etc., so it's not like the game's left to rot or anything
so is it the playerbase being this huge that prohibitive for something like the new client?
i mean they're slowly doing small upgrades like the launcher thing, now being able to see detailed match history in the client and stuff, but feels like upgrading the potato client is kind of a waste of time
like just having the exact same functionality as potato client, just working properly and looking less like 3 clients fused together.
maybe being able to reorganize runes and masteries, and be able to make a wishlist would be like enough new features for most ppl to be happy
They don't really do events anymore, LCS is probably managed by something that isn't the dev team, patches are....well they're not that great. Case in point-Cait and Jayce getting broke this patch cycle, Syndra being broken, and having to constantly patch up and down.
New map and new UI....
....It's their philosophy. They drip feed things, little by little. What was it, new map, then they slowly did the texture character updates little by little, now we're getting a new UI after 4 years(And after the godawful moving of the buffs to the left side.)
They just drip feed. DotA in comparison, has no PBE, they don't constantly patch, and they're barely remaking the map and overhauling the graphics/Client. And that games been out less than League(Officially atleast).
This is what I can say, the different between the two-
League constantly drips 'content'. This creates the psychological effect of 'Wow this is practically new!' every patch cycle. It makes you feel like you're getting something updated content when it's just a few numbers moved around. The only major overhauls they seem to do that they really sit on, for the last few years, are the jungle changes. We've had how many machetes and how many lanterns and how many different buffs through the jungle?
DotA on the other hand, let's things sit for a while. Their patch cycles are about...5-6 times longer than League. These patches are also more beefy and more positive for the game overall. The last patch they had, they fundamentally changed alot of the things in the game, added new items, shifted everything around. Granted Riot DOES do a big patch before every new season, BUT, for the last few years it seems to be mostly 'jungle' patches. I mean, the jungles constantly been changing more than the actual meta.
It's the difference in Philosophy, I suppose. Riot is very 'hands on', constantly changing things that don't meet their expectations, instead of letting something sit and simmer. This is why Hecarim might be completely OP for a few patches, or now Ryze is completely OP until his upcoming nerf. Valve on the other hand, let's things sit.
...Basically Riot keeps taking out that chicken from the oven before it's time, and Valve lets it actually cook.
This is probably why the overhaul for league took a long ass times(I remember in what, 2011 there were whisperings of a texture update coming out? And it took a full 3-4 years for it to come out? Because they constantly keep releasing skins and changing things around. Valve meanwhile has a mostly hands-off philosophy on their cosmetics, since players can 'vote in' through their workshop model, and they tend to release sparse updates of cosmetics.
....In other words, Riot has a fast cycle of things, that gives them little time to do big things in between those cycles. Valve takes a much longer cycle, leaving them alot of time to do big things when they do eventually come out.
Boy this came out to be a rant.
Edit-Also it's why Blizzard and Valve have HUGE Beta/Alpha cycles for their games. So they can work out any UI/Map/Whatever kinks out and THEN focus on the actual content. The beta for League didn't last nearly as long as the ones for HotS/DotA 2, which is why...League is a completely different game than the Beta League was.
Ritos a young company, TomShow is on point that they have no direciton.