Friday, November 10, 2017

Red Post Collection: Balance Micropatches, Quick Gameplay Thoughts, & More

Tonight's red post collection includes some upcoming balance micropatches, Meddler's quick gameplay thoughts for November 10th, and more!
Continue reading for more information!



Table of Contents


Balance Micropatches

Maple Nectar noted we would see micropatches coming soon to correct some issues after the release of Patch 7.22:
"We're aiming to micropatch a few champs that are struggling on Runes Reforged (or are a bit too dominant) today/monday: 
Buffs: Ivern, Taliyah, Nunu, Ornn (he missed on base stat adjustments to his E when he lost armor mr from runes) 
Nerfs: Sona"
Check back later for more on these changes, when they are updated into the 7.22 patch notes!


Quick Gameplay Thoughts: November 10th

Check out Meddler's quick gameplay thoughts for November 10th, including how champs are looking with the new runes, rune path popularity, and mmore:
"Morning folks, 
Usual Disclaimers 
These posts will often contain talk about future work we're doing, or planning to do, that isn't yet guaranteed to ship. The nature of the work could change or, depending on what we discover, projects mentioned may get put delayed or even stopped. 
If you'd like to see a Tweet whenever a new one of these posts goes up: https://twitter.com/RiotMeddler 
Pre-Season Balance assessment so far 
So, pre-season's here. We've been poring over games, discussion, stats etc to build up an understanding of the state of the game, it's still really early days though with a lot of experimentation going on. Collection of things on our minds below, most of this is more of a watch list than an action list though. 
Nothing's too crazy 
  • Some stuff's quite strong or quite weak, nothing that's been on fire enough to need day one attention though, which is a relief with a patch this big. Some bugs that will get hotfixed, or have already been so however and we’ll potentially do a bit of champion balance hotfixing today or Monday.
Strong Keystones 
  • Some keystones are performing quite well, with Aftershock, Guardian and Summon: Aery being ones we're watching particularly closely. Aftershock goes really well on some champs for example (those with pick/lockdown combos). Aery seems to outperform Comet on some champs who should be good Comet users, assumedly because of its higher reliability. 
Unsealed Spellbook 
  • Unsealed Spellbook's showing a really wide range of outcomes, from looking pretty powerful to not contributing much depending on the player and champion in question. Makes sense given it probably got one of, or the highest, learning curves of a keystone, so wouldn't want to judge too quickly there, definitely one to watch though.  
Non Keystone Runes 
  • Nothing to note here yet beyond that nothing seems crazy or useless so far.  
Strong Champs
  • Yorick's potentially too strong. That's more likely a result of Q affecting towers adding more power than expected, rather than anything Runes specific.
  • Sona's looking really dominant with a range of different keystones. Not yet clear at time of writing if there's an issue with her, or just that she's taking better advantage than most of keystones that might be too strong. 
Weak Champs
  • Nunu and Ivern are both struggling quite a bit, assumedly in part due to a lack of obvious keystone they do well with as a default. Guardian seems to work fairly well on them, especially relative to the alternatives, but it's also stronger again on other Guardian users. Might need to buff them soon if they continue to struggle as much as they are. 
Rune Path Popularity 
For anyone interested we're seeing some pretty strong trends in terms of what players are using so far. Precision/Domination and Domination/Precision are the clear favorites, though generally not the most effective on many champs. Lot of people seem to be avoiding Resolve/Inspiration as secondaries when they'd be great choices (e.g. tough lanes). That's not surprising though, we figured there'd be a lot of double damage tree use early on given that looks fun and with the ranked season over people aren't playing quite as competitively. Inspiration's the least popular primary path, which is also unsurprising given its got a lot of stuff that's not to everyone's taste and for some champs just doesn't work too well. 
None of the primary/secondary pairings are looking too dominant power wise so far at least, it’s just popularity that’s varying a lot. If power does become a concern we’ll then use the stat bonuses particular pairings offer to bring them up or down in effectiveness as needed. 
Skin Portrait Updates 
Patch 7.23's going to have tweaks to quite a few of the skin specific portraits on the in game HUD, zooming some of them out mainly that are too close to the face at present. Those are on PBE already, thoughts on how they now look appreciated."

When asked for updates on Swain, Meddler replied:
"Quote:
Any info or news on Swain? How is he coming along and feel?
Btw what a great success with these rune changes!
He's getting there. We're still getting some of his abilities sorted out, visually he's looking really sweet IMO."

Meddler continued:
"Quote:
Thanks for the update and what a great theme he is to be working on!
Is there any specific struggles he's currently facing?
A lot of it's the usual VGU challenge - trying to keep as many of the good aspects of the old kit as possible, while at the same time solving the gameplay problems that are one of the reasons for doing the VGU in the first place.

When asked about timing on reworks, Meddler commented:
"Quote:
How many smaller reworks are you able to work on at a time?
Depends on what else is going on. Over the course of this year we've generally had a couple being worked on at any one time, not everything works out though of course so some don't ship."

On LeBlanc, Meddler replied:
"Quote:
There was a gameplay thoughts posted 2 months ago (here) where you mentioned that after LeBlanc rework Rengar will probably get one after her. On reddit leblanc mains Rioter showed up and asked for mains to come to Riot office for testing LeBlanc rework, so as there is already work on LeBlanc, will Rengar be your next one?
We'll want to get back to looking at LB again once pre-season stuff's been stabilized enough. Not certain yet who'll be next for a smaller update after her. Rengar's one option some people have suggested, I think there are also good cases for a range of other champs too though (Kalista, Karma, Ezreal with a focus on his W etc)."

Meddler continued:
"Quote:
I heard you guys just tested a new iteration of LeBlanc. Since it qualifies as "contain talk about future work we're doing, or planning to do, that isn't yet guaranteed to ship", I'd like to ask:
How did that go and what can we expect?
It didn't go great. Resulted in an interesting playstyle we might want to use on a new champ at some point, didn't feel like LB though. We need to figure out what to do instead as a result as soon as pre-season stuff's been dealt with a bit more. Given LB work's been going on a while that probably means prioritizing something faster over trying for a larger overhaul."

When asked about AP supports being too strong, Meddler replied:
"Quote:
AP supports in general are really strong due to no more flat magic resist on adcs. Same deal with AD assassins in mid lane and mages not getting armor. Any plans to address these?
Early damage due to lack of mitigation's one of the things high on our watch list. Things we're looking at there include: 
  • Are defensive options available (Resolve, plus things like Taste of Blood or Celestial Body elsewhere) effective enough?
  • If they are, or are at least close, are players taking them in the right circumstances or, given it's pre-season, just going double damage more often than is optimal because double damage sounds more fun?
  • Was the Spellthief's buff unneeded?
  • How are champion base stats looking?
  • Etc"

Meddler also commented on balance and micropatches coming soon:
"Quote:
For this preseason, should we expect buffs and nerfs as a result of the new rune system (ie yorick and sona being too strong)? Or will there be a mix of general balance issues and nerfs/buffs due to the new rune system?
We'll be buffing and nerfing both champions and runes. Likely we'll micropatch some champs today and/or Monday, that'll only be a few outliers though, with more stuff in 7.23 proper once we've had time to see how things play out more and tested some runes changes too."

Meddler provided his thoughts on Phase Rush:
"Quote:
Hey Meddler, what do you guys think of Phase Rush at present? I used to be a Stormraider's Surge user, so I was really looking forward to using Phase Rush, but it seems very lacking, not because of the 3 unique hits, but because it doesn't give as much movement speed or a slow resist. Any plans for it?
Early days, so it's hard to say with too much certainly yet. We're seeing some champs use it really effectively though and we believe some of that's because it's a much more reliable trigger in many cases (can get it against any target, even really tanky ones, with a consistent combo). 
The ranged/melee distinction's also looking like it'll be a really useful balancing tool there so far too."

Quick Hits

[VOD here when available]

  • Riot Mort noted that they are moving away from having to use summoner icons during events:
"Replying here for visibility. 
The next event will still require specific summoner icons. However we're working hard towards making this the last event with required icons. We've heard the feedback and are moving towards alternative solutions :)"
"Hey there. 
I don't really want to use this as an opportunity to defend my record. (Spoiler: I think it's fine). 
However, I'd love a chance to talk about how we view League's long-term strategy, which may be a topic that not every player often thinks about. 
The traditional way to make a game was to package it in a box for 60 USD or whatever and put it on the shelf in a Gamestop, or going way back, an EB or something. You wanted players to love your game, but you also wanted them to finish your game, because you only made money on the box, and you needed them to not only value that box, but to want the next box, and the one after that. We sometimes talk about this consumer product strategy as "planned obsolescence." 
The first game I worked on that didn't follow that strategy was an MMO, where much of the revenue came from a subscription. The strategy was to keep players so engaged that they never got bored and risked unsubscribing. Turns out this is pretty hard to do. Players do eventually move on to other games, so to keep your revenue constant, you need to keep bringing in new players. 
This model tends to be even more extreme in microtransaction games, especially mobile ones (and especially low quality mobile ones) where players may quickly get tired of your nonsense and paywalls and running out of resources. The business model here is to constantly get new players (or rope current players into bringing in their friends) because if you ever run out of new players, you quickly run out of money. 
The reason we think League can be evergreen and last for many years is that it works really differently. The game is free to play and there is no subscription. Much of League's revenue comes from optional cosmetic content. This creates a situation where players don't often feel the need to formally quit - there is no unsub moment or anything. The icon is still sitting there on your computer when you want to go back to it. So compared to many games, our churn rate is really low. Players may take breaks, but many come back. This also means we are less dependent on new players. Our strategy is to keep current players engaged and happy. Historically we've made very little effort to attract new players. 
In terms of evergreen games, I often use examples like Magic, D&D or possibly Pokemon. Those are games that you can drift in and out of for years. They evolve.They release new products. But they are still recognizable over time and have been around for decades. Will they last forever? I don't know. But they last a lot longer than most games. That's what we aspire to do with League (and no, we're not there yet). 
Riot as a company invests heavily in esports, but on the League team it is not always forefront in our minds. Our balance philosophy for example focuses on players in the high Plat / low Diamond skill level. Balancing only for esports is a little short-sighted because you are tuning the game literally for a few dozen people, while probably making the game worse for tens of millions. When we do make changes specifically for esports, it tends to be right around Worlds and is also focused more on esports viewers than pro players. In other words, we don't make a ton of changes just for esports, and those we do make are often targeted on making a game that is fun to watch. 
The vast majority of our features (things like missions, champion mastery, matchmaking, Star Guardian Invasion) have

from
http://www.surrenderat20.net/2017/11/red-post-collection-balance.html
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