User blog:LivesByProxy/Mastery Redux & Game Design Theory

As a disclaimer, I've never taken any courses on game design, nor have I read any books (though I have been told that Characteristics of Games by George Skaff Elias, Richard Garfield, and several others, is excellent and every aspiring game designer should own it). I have played my fair share of games and studied many others on my own time and listened to a plethora of critiques and reviews, for what that's worth.

One idea that I've heard espoused over and over again, is that a card or board game (really any game, tbh) wants rules and mechanics that encourage the kind of gameplay you (the designer) would like to see / want the player engaged in. Seems obvious enough, but if we look at the 'Masteries' Riot gives us, we find mostly raw stats with a few interesting conditional effects here and there. So what kind of game play does Riot want to encourage? Well, I would think peeling for your allies, focusing the same target, contesting and taking objectives, using the minion waves effectively, scoring kills and assists, etc, etc.

So this is my attempt, similar to my Summoner Spells Redux, at making the 'Masteries' a bit more objective-focused, team-oriented, and skill-based, rather than the raw stat pumps Riot has been so fond of since the games inception. I've also rebranded the 'trees' to suit the new direction I've taken things. I don't know how these abilities should be weighted within the current 30 point distribution trees. I not sure it should.

I'm going to say that each player has 7 slots or points. You can choose any mastery from any pool, mixing and matching as you see fit. You can go 4/2/1, 7/0/0, 2/2/3, 1/3/3, etc. leaving a ton of possibilities. The idea is that you can really define your play-style and customize your champion to suit your particular role and idiosyncrasies. For me, that mean supporting with Shaco. So you will find some masteries that play with vision in unique and interesting ways! (Hopefully.)

Tactics

 * Attacking an enemy that has not attacked you yet grants you +10% attack speed and +5% movement speed for 3 seconds.


 * You deal +3% bonus damage with all skillshots, point-and-click, and ground-targeted AoE abilities. Additionaly, those abilities ignore 10% of armor and 10% of magic resistance.


 * Damaging an enemy champion in combat with you (has dealt damage to you within the past 4 seconds) and more than 250 units away from you, grants you +5% increased damage and +5% movement speed.


 * Damaging an enemy champion with less than 40% of their maximum health will cause your subsequent attacks and abilities to deal +3% bonus damage.


 * Your 1st attack or ability on an enemy champion who does not have vision of you, deals 7% bonus damage.


 * You deal +5% increased damage to an enemy champion for each attacking allied champion.


 * You deal 1% more damage to your target with basic attacks for each minion, monster, or pet also attacking your target.

Spirit

 * You gaiin based on level and 5-22 experience whenever you land the killing blow on an enemy minion, champion, monster, or structure.


 * You gain 5% increased healing from all sources while out of combat. This bonus is doubled while you are below 50% of your maximum health. Additionally, you gain 5% increased healing from all sources for 5 seconds whenever you heal or shield an allied champion.


 * You gain 5 armor and 5 magic resist for each enemy champion in your field of sight. Whenever an enemy champion enters your field of sight, you gain 25 armor and 25 magic resist for 5 seconds.


 * Your maximum mana pool is increased by 75. Additionally, your mana regen is increased by 100%, increasing to 250% while out of combat (have not dealt or received damage within 7 seconds).


 * Gain 5% damage reduction when moving in a direction that nearby allies are also moving. Gain 25 movement speed while moving toward enemy champions.


 * You gain 5 experience every second while near a higher level allied champion. Alternatively, if you are the highest level (or tied for highest level) champion on your team, you grant nearby allies 10% tenacity.


 * Gain 5% Tenacity every second while attacking an enemy champion that is attacking one of your allied champions, up to a maximum of 25%.

Lore

 * You have 15% increased cast range on all trinkets and wards while in the river or jungle. Additionally, you have 7% increased movement speed while in the river or jungle.


 * You do 10 bonus damage to all monsters with your basic attacks, spells, and abilities, and take 5 reduced damage from all monsters' attacks. Additionally, you discover and two  upon killing all monsters in your 1st camp.


 * The duration of all buffs affecting you is increased by 33%. Additionally, you gain 15 Magic Resistance.


 * You deal 10% bonus damage to structures. Additionally, your towers gain +50 Armor and +50 Magic Resist, and deals 15% more damage, while you are within their range.


 * Your ward limit is increased by 1 and ward constructs you place last 33% longer. You also deal double damage to all wards, and your item actives have 15% reduced cooldown.


 * You gain +5% cooldown reduction and the cooldown reduction cap is increased by 5%. Additionally, successful spells and ability casts reduce your summoner spell cooldowns by 1 second.


 * You gain +5 gold on kills and +15 gold on assists, and have 5% of your missing health and mana restored to you. Additionally, you gain +1% increased damage for each enemy champion you kill. You can only claim the damage bonus once per unique enemy champion.