Quote Originally Posted by Chumbaniya View Post
I agree that I'd actually like to see Tristana's abilities without AP scaling either - I think it's perfectly acceptable for champions to have non-scaling abilities because it forces you to think about early vs. late game strength. I like the existence of scaling abilities, but I think that maybe Riot are too invested in them because that's one of the biggest differences between LoL and the traditional DotA model.

I think you're right that a game needs to be intuitive, but I think that remit only extends so far. Looking at it from another perspective, a game needs to involve intelligent decisions - especially if it's designed for competitive PvP - that allow a smart player to optimise their play and get one over on their opponents.
Non-scaling abilities are fine, but all of Tristana's abilities have strong scaling. It's deceptive. Her scaling suggests that AP Tristana is viable when it clearly isn't.

Quote Originally Posted by Chumbaniya View Post
I think you're overestimating the role that the designers should play in determining how the game is played. The designers provide the raw materials in the form of mechanics, champions and items, but it's actually the players that determine how the game is played. Kennen has quite a clear focus on ability power in terms of his design, but I don't think some top teams using him as an AD carry means his design is inadequate - it means players are being inventive with what they've been given. Kog'maw is almost always played AD at a high level, but he's my favourite mid AP because I decided it works very well for my playstyle, and I wouldn't like that taken away because every champion needs to have exactly one obvious build type.
The fact that AP Kog and AD Kennen are functional aren't necessarily flaws of their design (except for Kennen's base stats, which might be an oversight). I'm not opposed to champions filling multiple roles; however, if a champion is capable of filling a second role (or if their kits makes them appear as such) they should be able to without punishing the player for doing what seemed intuitive. AP Kog is okay because if you play AP Kog you can still do well. AP Trist is strictly inferior to both AD trist and nearly every other AP carry, yet it appears to be a choice left to the players by the designers to anyone who isn't intimately familiar with game mechanics.