The Problem
There needs to be some kind of an update to how we describe non-linear passives on champions. More specifically, this applies to 
Diana, 
Sona, 
Warwick and 
Ziggs's articles, where their passives all have damage that scales non-linearly with level, i.e. the formula cannot be resumed to a simple X + Y per level. This has the unfortunate consequence of leaving instead a long string of numbers, which is ugly and unhelpful in conveying how the ability evolves over time. Consider the following:
The numbers alone take up an entire line, about a third of the ability's description. What the list should be telling us is that the damage gain per level rises at level 9 from 0.5 per level to 1 per level, but this is not immediately visible. It's also hard to see at a glance that the gain per level only changes once: Diana's passive, 
Moonsilver Blade, changes scaling four times, Sona's four times as well, and Ziggs's three times, all at different levels. Despite having the numbers spread out on a list, it's hard to see how the passive increases in power.
There was a change to this format I first saw on Ziggs's article, which I then copied to the others. On Warwick, it gave this:
This shortens the formula quite a bit, but is not actually a good solution either. The problem with this kind of indication is that it's misleading: people who don't know that the first value applies to all levels from 1 to 9 and the second value to levels 10 to 18 might make the wrong calculation on the passive's damage, as there is no indication to the proper formula.
Possible Solution
I think there should be a way to combine the conciseness of the second formula with the exhaustiveness of the first. There are a few ways this could be improved on:
- Clarify in the tooltip which values apply to which values (i.e. "Value applies at levels X through Y" instead of just "X-Y").
- Either give the full list of values under "at each level", or:
- Give the value at the highest level in each bracket in each tooltip (i.e. "Value applies at levels X through Y, value at level Y is Z"), and create a tooltip under "at each level" indicating the values at level 1 and level 18.
These changes should clarify to newcomers how the nonlinear scaling formula, and indicating the values at the endpoints in the tooltips would make calculations far easier. I am personally more in favor of option 3 over option 2, as the end value makes it easier to calculate the scaling in the next bracket, whereas the indication of the damage's endpoint values would give an idea of how powerful the ability is. To go back to Warwick, an example of options 1 and 3 combined would be the following:
What are your thoughts?
Discussion
Iirc, Sona being one of the most notable offenders, regressing the values into a formula sometimes makes it extremely messy. i.e. 
Power Chord's damage: Error: Parameter '3' is not accepted. + (Error: Parameter '3' is not accepted. x Level) (+ 20% AP)
I'd say use rule of thumb on a case by case basis to determine if the damage is suitable to be presented as values by itself, or if it can be regressed neatly. 
LionsLight(talk) 00:38, January 2, 2014 (UTC)