Top 10 Reasons Why Players Are Afraid of Trying New Metas

This season we've seen a lot of crazy stuff become meta. Some have stayed, others disappeared. We had AP Jarvan Support, Taric + Sona bot lane, and Yuumi + Garen bot lane just to name a few. Each of them were developed rather randomly from random players in solo queue just derping around...then succeeding...

Even when these strategies succeed and professionals pick it up in pro play, it's not like these same professionals strike out on their own and start testing out weird meta-breaking strategies. Why not though? In fact, why do such few casual players try breaking the meta? Check out the top ten reasons below:

How Do Meta-Breaking Strategies Develop?

This season we've seen a lot of crazy stuff become meta. Some have stayed, others disappeared. We had AP Jarvan Support, Taric + Sona bot lane, and Yuumi + Garen bot lane just to name a few. Each of them were developed rather randomly from random players in solo queue just derping around...then succeeding...

Even when these strategies succeed and professionals pick it up in pro play, it's not like these same professionals strike out on their own and start testing out weird meta-breaking strategies. Why not though? In fact, why do such few casual players try breaking the meta? Check out the top ten reasons below:

Desire to Win

We'll dig deeper into this one in more detail as we go on, but the core reason that players are afraid of trying new metas is simply because they think it will reduce their chances of winning the game. Professionals also prefer practicing things they know they might play, and playing random meta breaking champions and roles often feels like a "for-fun" situation and not so much a game-changing research and development tool.

Sheep Mentality

League and the world in general has a very strong sheep mentality. As a social creature, humans tend to follow the herd. Whatever everyone else is doing must be the right and best thing to do. If it wasn't the best and right thing to do, everyone else wouldn't be doing it and we'd all be doing something different....right?

Belief in "Professionals"

Some players think that if no pros do it, that means the strategy isn't viable and picking it is trolling. In actuality, pros often pick up new strategies from solo queue themselves after getting beaten by it, learning from the experience and often integrating it into their playstyle once they encounter it.

Fear of Getting Reported

Picking an off-meta champion and role is often enough to get reported and raged at, especially in ranked. Allies generally don't take too kindly to off-meta picks for all the reasons that are listed in this article. Because of this, grabbing something off-meta generally increases your chances of getting flamed and reported by a good amount, even if you're playing like you're a meta champion

and perform adequately.

20 Minute Lock-In

Sometimes you want to try something new and really don't know if it'll work very well. If it fails horribly, you're unfortunately locked into a 15 to 20 minute game trying to salvage whatever theories you have left about your champion's viability. All the while, you'll also be under the onslaught of verbal abuse coming your way. 

Allies Tilt Easily

When you lock in an off-meta role, you know that even if your allies don't type anything, a handful of them are instantly tilted from the instant you hover that champion. This naturally reduces your chances of winning from the start. If you like to win, point number one is still very valid and selecting off-meta will simply make the game harder for you to win.

Perception of Trolling

Often, off-meta players are actually trying to win the game. They're either not good at other champions in the role (being a one-trick), or simply think that their off-meta pick is better. Even if this is the case, your allies will still think you're trolling even if you desperately tell them you're trying your best to win your promos. 

Low Self-Confidence

This really stems back to the belief in professionals. Most players aren't challenger level and of course most players don't have nearly a good a grasp on the game as professional players do. This creates a strong sense of low self-confidence, and players who are actively trying to win rarely theorycraft and try to find new champion/roles outside of the current metagame.

Fear of Success

The opposite of low self-confidence is the fear of success. What if you pick an off-meta champion and suddenly become so good at it that all your other champions no longer seem viable in comparison? Say you practiced an off-meta support Shaco for years and now it's become your best champion...are you going to be a Shaco support one trick now on your main? This is where the other points in this article suddenly come into play.

Bad Games Happen

Lastly, bad games happen. Even if you do pretty well in your off-meta pick sometimes you just end up feeding, just like you do on meta picks. When this happens it's inevitable that your team will blame you for your off-meta pick. Even if this happens just keep in mind that this is expected and not to fret, your one weird trick to get to challenger is still safely a secret...

Do you play off-meta or not? If so, share some of your favorites, and if not, tell us why!