For those newer to the game, Evelynn is that slut of a purple-people eater that uses the highly “controversial” stealth mechanic. Since the latest patch, Eve has been stripped of her stun – and most would say her viability – but before she was a deadly machine typically perma-banned in ranked matches at the 1200 – 1400 ELO range and beyond.
My belief is because at these levels people don’t know what vision wards, oracles, or overextending means, which leads to a fed Eve, which then leads to massive QQ. Broken or not, that’s not the purpose of this post, the purpose is to discuss a phenomenon throughout the League Forums and populace that new champions released are immediately judged as “OP” (over powered) or “UP” (under powered); typically within the first three hours of initial release.
How odd, some of you might think, that a game still tweaking balances months out of beta could possibly have any champions so quickly written off into these categories. Or even odder, that there only appears to be two categories – that a champion can never just be… “normal”. How peculiar, you might think, that a range of players between 800 – 1500 ELO have any validity in making such a statement.
If not, allow me to bring up why I call this The Eve Syndrome. For months Evelynn was thought a worthless champion, rage worthy if ever picked in a ranked game. Nothing was changed about her until the day that someone decided that everyone had been playing Eve incorrectly, recorded the “new” playstyle for her, then continued to rofl-stomp players.
Suddenly, Eve was OP, in need of a rework, and perma-banned throughout all ELO levels.
The only thing that had changed were players understandings of how to work a character. No buffs, nerfs, or balance issues had been addressed at this time surrounding the character.
You would think (maybe not?) that after players had written off a character for months, only to have her rape them late-season, that they wouldn’t make the same mistake again: calling a character too early.
Irelia.
Irelia is now often considered extremely strong and OP in some instances but didn’t leave her gate that way. In fact, like Eve, Irelia was thought incredibly under-powered at release, just hours post her patch. And again, like Eve, it was simply a matter of weeks before Irelia began to shine via youtube.
Two champions suffered from The Eve Syndrome, certainly the player base had been humbled by their lack of understanding and would never allow this to happen again. But it did – in the cases of Lee Sin, Rumble, Lux, Karma, and now, Yorick.
I’m not here suggesting that I think Yorick is over-powered, or under-powered for that matter, or even that I have the knowledge and ability to make that call. I’m here suggesting that maybe, the players of League should evaluate their track-record in calling champions, and take longer than two hours before writing up an “analysis” and spamming the forums with it. That maybe, they don’t know as much as they think about the game.
Food for thought.
If not, allow me to bring up why I call this The Eve Syndrome. For months Evelynn was thought a worthless champion, rage worthy if ever picked in a ranked game. Nothing was changed about her until the day that someone decided that everyone had been playing Eve incorrectly, recorded the “new” playstyle for her, then continued to rofl-stomp players.
Suddenly, Eve was OP, in need of a rework, and perma-banned throughout all ELO levels.
The only thing that had changed were players understandings of how to work a character. No buffs, nerfs, or balance issues had been addressed at this time surrounding the character.
You would think (maybe not?) that after players had written off a character for months, only to have her rape them late-season, that they wouldn’t make the same mistake again: calling a character too early.
Irelia.
Irelia is now often considered extremely strong and OP in some instances but didn’t leave her gate that way. In fact, like Eve, Irelia was thought incredibly under-powered at release, just hours post her patch. And again, like Eve, it was simply a matter of weeks before Irelia began to shine via youtube.
Two champions suffered from The Eve Syndrome, certainly the player base had been humbled by their lack of understanding and would never allow this to happen again. But it did – in the cases of Lee Sin, Rumble, Lux, Karma, and now, Yorick.
I’m not here suggesting that I think Yorick is over-powered, or under-powered for that matter, or even that I have the knowledge and ability to make that call. I’m here suggesting that maybe, the players of League should evaluate their track-record in calling champions, and take longer than two hours before writing up an “analysis” and spamming the forums with it. That maybe, they don’t know as much as they think about the game.
Food for thought.
