User blog comment:BIA-Kaboose/The Problem Behind Balance/@comment-5605969-20131211161837/@comment-24242333-20131212114859

But I just gave you an example, with Gragas x)

The instant detonation means you need to be more aware of his range to dodge it, where before you could easily simply move away. That affects lower elo more than high elo, because you need to learn the range instead of relying on your reflexes.

Another change that might not have the intended effect is Nidalee's one. High level players against her are going to take advantage of this by diving Nidalee to take less damage; those playing her are going to adapt to still land long range spear (since max damage weren't changed) and/or by having a team balanced around her and/or by adapting their build to be able to deal with a dive. While on lower elos, this will greatly reduce her damage output, because they won't be as good at landing max distance spears, won't necessarily think about adapting their build (I was flamed when I went a bit more resistant than usual with her!), etc. While that change was mainly designed to get rid of the distance trick and provide more obvious counterplay (dive her), this actually greatly reduced her effectiveness for most people, and it also encourage players to stay behind their team tossing spears even more than before.