User blog:LivesByProxy/Objectives In League: Riot's New Paradigm

I can't be the only one who's noticed this, although others may not have articulated it as such. Riot has been adding more and more mini-objectives to the game, as well as champion abilities that play with objectives in unique ways.

The first real instance of this was, as far as I'm aware. He got to play with towers by making his own! A fascinating ability that was soon followed by others. has his, was given his  that he must capture, defend, and play around, and now  has her , turning what was simply a natural part of the game (moving around the map and ganking and getting kills and contesting the jungle buffs) to an objective in its own right. Perhaps the biggest, (some would say ridiculous) change has been capturing the  as his personal pet.

We've also recently had the Black Market Brawlers which, I'm guessing, was more than a limited time game mode, but a test to see how minions could be worked into the objective manipulation scheme. (In addition to being a secret beta test for new items...) Perhaps soon we'll see a 'minion-mancer' who's gameplay revolves around manipulating the minions spawned from the base?

What does this mean for League? Well, I for one would like to see more of this kind of objective manipulation, but Riot is limited by the constraints of the game they've made and their imagination. Most importantly, it signals a change in their values. They're no longer just designing abilities that deal damage, CC, or buff/debuff the other players, but are beginning to play with fundamental elements to the game. We're beginning to see the emergence of more and more subtle utility and team-goal oriented skills. I, for one, look forward to seeing just how far they can push it and hope to be pleasantly surprised.

Just food for thought.