- Red Post Collection: God-King Darius Triumphs, Tooltips Update, Quick Gameplay Thoughts: July 11th, and more!
- 7/12 PBE Update: Even More Tentative Balance Changes
- Dark Star Cho'Gath now available
Table of Contents
Quick Gameplay Thoughts: July 13
"Hi 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
Gold Funneling Questions
When talking about our changes to address gold funneling earlier in the week I saw quite a few questions that that post didn't cover cropping up. Figured it would be good to cover them today as a result. Apologies for those of you who've read some of this before, likely to be a fair bit of repetition, would rather err on the side of talking too much than too little on this though.
- Why nerf funneling, what's wrong with another strategy being used?
We're hitting funneling because of what it does to both early game interaction and power curves. It certainly creates some interesting variety of team comps and strategy. It does so by turning mid lane into a low interaction position though, instead of a really active one and by pushing a lot more gold onto champs than they've been balanced around. In some cases that holds up fine, in others it removes too much counterplay from playing against them.
- Why is funneling fine in bot lane then, but not when it's mid/jungle?
While in both cases there are two champs on one team, with one of them taking all the farm, things are noticeably different. In bot it's one champ getting all of one gold stream, rather than pushing two gold streams onto a single champ. Additionally bot lane still has a lot of interaction going on, with both sides trading/harassing and at least one side generally looking for kill opportunities.
- What about Twisted Treeline, funneling has been going on there for a long time
It has, and that means changing it's a pretty substantial upheaval, given it's so core to how TT's been played for quite a while. At least in the short term we'll be keeping these changes that nerf gold funneling on SR only.
- Why not nerf support gold instead since they're the problem?
We're seeing funneling create mid laners (or mid funneled junglers) with 50% more gold than the enemy mid at the 15 minute mark. Even if we reduced the amount of gold supports were getting substantially (e.g. 500 less by 15:00) that doesn't address the core issue here that's making funneling powerful. That's not to say supports necessarily are or aren't in the appropriate place power wise in general, but that for this particular problem we don't think they're the primary cause.
Some 8.15 changes
Some of the things we'll be looking at in 8.15 below. As usual some more stuff will be added as we work on the patch and some things will get dropped, either because they're not ready or because we conclude they weren't the right direction in the first place.
- Annie buff - We're pulling Annie buffs out of 8.14 to take some more time on them for 8.15. First thing we'll be testing is giving Annie back at least some of the extra AA range she used to have.
- Liandry's buff - Similarly the Liandry's buff has also moved to 8.15. Will likely still be exploring ways to make it a better choice for many champs without having to pair it with Rylai's, while still keeping some degree of CC synergy. Details TBD>
- Gold Funneling and TP nerf followups - Expecting there'll be some polish needed, putting time aside to do a lot of monitoring of how those changes land at the least.
- Playoffs Balance - Some regions will be playing their Summer Split playoffs on 8.15. We'll be keeping change pretty low as a result overall, with potentially a targeted nerf or two to really pro problematic champs if needs be (Play off patches are one of the times we prioritize looking at pro balance more than usual).
Working to update LoL’s tooltips
For anyone that missed it yesterday we’ve got a gradual project underway to update LoL’s tooltips. More details at the link below, this is something where we’ll be trying various different approaches in upcoming patches and gathering feedback over time before settling on a final version. https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/yIBUoyaP-tooltips-update"
When asked a few questions about balancing and player feelings about changes, Meddler commented:
"I think we've changed the game too quickly over the first half of this year, in particular during the midseason period. We've pulled back on change per patch as a result and will be staying at lower change until the end of the year. Will also be avoiding spread out midseasons like we tried this time. Hope was that introducing change more gradually would make it easier to adjust and balance, with no individual patch feeling as large. What it instead did was leave a longer period of time feeling disrupted.
How much we should change things, versus waiting for players to adapt, is a tough one. Agree it's sometimes the right call, and that we likely act too hastily. At the same time there are usually some things that are just clearly out of line enough that, even if it's possible to play around them, it makes the game worse by having to do so (champs who are overtuned, Ardent Censer when it was so meta defining etc). In those cases I think we should be acting quickly on things, even if it undercuts the potential for innovation and adaptability somewhat.
What sort of examples are you thinking when you link rate of change and increased player requests for things that benefit their own play? Seeing some of that certainly with ADCs at present, but that feels pretty appropriate IMO given were, or still are, in rough spots. There are also players who'll argue vehemently that their role/champ needs massive buffs unless it's clearly the strongest in the game, not sure that's linked to rate of change though, given it seems to a constant from many who argue like that."
When asked about Swain, Meddler replied:
"Quote:
Hi Meddler, is there any reason Riot is choosing to nerf the non problematic part of Swains kit and also his most satisfying?
(His R explosion damage).
Why not try and take care of his passive in a duo lane, as in halve the heal by applied allied cc or up the cooldown on his passive?We're targeting ult explosion damage because of just how hard it allows Swain to zone while his ult's up. It should certainly hurt, but a 1.35 AP ratio on an AOE ability, even if it takes souls to get there, feels like it's just too hard hitting. That's something that's independent of whether he's being played in a duo lane or not.
In terms of balancing duo lane versus solo lane play, yeah, with you that the passive would be a good lever if we need to push on that. He gets far more opportunities to use it in most bot lane pairings. Could see lower benefit on allied CC potentially, could also just swap some damage from it to elsewhere, reduce variance in damage output."
On the mentioned Conqueror nerf, Meddler replied:
"Quote:
I would like to ask you if the Nerf to Conqueror will be on next week's patch, and if not, ask you to at least do a partial nerf to Conqueror for that patch.There'll be a nerf to Conqueror in 8.14 (AD 6-35 instead of 10-35). We'll see where it's up to after that before considering possible further changes."
As for Irelia, Meddler noted:
"Quote:
What about Irelia Meddler? Her top lane experience isn't enjoyable anymore. Have to stay safe and farm it's not a fun way to play, especially on top lane.Likely we have some Irelia buffs, aimed at helping out top in particular, in 8.15. Lot of debate this week over exactly how to do so and how much power we should be adding."
And on Leona, Meddler commented:
"Quote:
Also some time ago I asked bout Leona you guys had noted she still on the radar given her ability to go from "Oh its a Leona" to "Wtf this Leona just solo'd me" at times
has that changed at all?Nothing planned for Leona right now. We'd wondered if she might become overbearing with the changes in midseason, not seeing her overperform though. Still agree her design tends to be pretty brittle, in terms of ability to go from struggling to dominant off smallish changes. Don't think it's something we need to act on at least at present though."
As for whether Lissandra's skins would receive new VFX when her tentative new passive comes to the PBE for testing, Meddler replied:
"Quote:
Hey Meddler will Lissandra skins be getting new particles with her passiveYeah, I expect we'll do different versions of the passive visual effects for each skin. Can't just use the standard ice look for the others, would clash horribly."
Meddler also noted more on the gold funneling changes and it's effect on the jungle:
"Quote:
Do you think the gold funnel changes will hurt jungle and if so, will there be any compensation even if really small?Goal is no impact on normal jungle play. We'll be looking at that once 8.14 goes live, see if the penalty's having a meaningful effect in non funneling situations."
The Stories Behind League's SFX
[NOTE: Due to embedding issues,this article is best viewed on Nexus with embedded sound clips!]
"When players hear Blitzcrank’s hook or Kled’s ult, they know what’s about to go down. There are thousands upon thousands of sounds in League of Legends, but some of the most important and recognizable are attached to champion abilities. These sound effects primarily communicate gameplay mechanics, but they also help to define a champion’s unique thematic. Imagine if Zoe had a Nocturne-like ultimate; it wouldn’t really fit her character if it sounded dark and menacing, so it’d probably sound bright and menacing instead.
Creating sound effects for champions is a constant balancing act between gameplay clarity and character thematic. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, and it can include everything from recording underwater explosions to smashing watermelons.
AUDIBLE BUILDING BLOCKS
Just as artists create concept art to explore a champion’s looks, sound designers create a sonic palette to explore a champion’s sounds. “A champion’s sonic palette is like a collection of building blocks,” says Brandon “Riot Sound Bear” Reader. “We start by putting together an array of sounds that’ll hopefully cover what we’ll need for the kit, and then we can expand on it and combine the pieces later.”
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| The real first step: setting a clear direction for the champion’s sound design. |
Designers don’t always need to start from scratch; Riot’s internal library of sounds offers a digital catalog of cacophony. In particular, it can be helpful to peruse (or even repurpose) the sounds previously created for champions who share a home region. Every area of Runeterra has its own sonic language, which is why champs from Piltover tend to have fine and precise Hextech sounds, whereas champs from Zaun have scrappy and cobbled-together-sounding effects. “Not every champion from a region should sound the same, but they should all share sonic characteristics,” says audio director Brad “Riot
from
http://www.surrenderat20.net/2018/07/red-post-collection-quick-gameplay_13.html
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