Thank you everyone who has contributed to the discussion! I really appreciate your input and especially the varying points of view.
So big update:
I talked to Morello today, we have a gameplan to move forward with into testing. All skills will remain in very recognizable forms, but with some significant changes aimed a solving some specific issues. Without disclosing all the details, these are the goals (and some of the solutions.)
- Avoid pitfalls of the fighter role, including binary performance entirely dependent on closing to melee. In plainer terms, we want Volibear to reach melee somewhat more consistently but not become massively threatening until he spends a little bit of time there first.
- Ensure jungle viability.
- Clean up scaling, probably by removing AP in favor of other stats. (Health scaling to remain.)
- R cast while moving, enough said.
I also discussed our approach with Live Design, who are enthusiastic about the direction.
I will try to get the changes into playtest soon, and will post more updates as I can.