Friday, March 29, 2019

Red Post Collection: QGT March 27 and 29, Ask Riot: Lissandra's Helmet & More

Today's red post collection includes Meddler's quick gameplay thoughts for March 27th and 19th, this week's Ask Riot, details on the April Fools Event missions, and more!
Continue reading for more information!


Table of Contents


Quick Gameplay Thoughts: March 27 & 29th

Check out Meddler's quick gameplay thoughts for March 27th, including a look at context on 9.7 balance:
"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 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 
Some context on 9.7 balance changes 
Thinking on where we're up to on various things:
  • Kayle - Looking to both bring down her overall power (she's just plain too strong in general) and increase her need to get items to be successful (she's too resilient to early/mid game failure right now)
  • Lissandra - We're hitting her Q CD, early game in particular, though a bit even when maxed. That's aimed at both her ability to shove lanes and to some degree her sustained damage later on.
  • Morgana - We held off on nerfs in 9.6 since it wasn't clear enough they were needed at the time. Pretty convinced they are necessary at this point though. Looking to bring her strength down more in mid than support, though both will be affected.
  • Sylas - Is just looking strong, with recent nerf not doing enough to bring him in line, particularly as player experience playing him continues to increase. 
Things we looked at but aren't changing in 9.7 
  • Aftershock - We'd like to make some changes to Aftershock and did explore some for 9.7. We've pulled those but plan to come back to it soon. Conclusion was we need a bit more testing time to nail down what approach is best. Something that became clear pretty quickly when assessing different options was that we didn't have a clearly enough defined and agreed on audience target (who uses it really well, who uses it moderately well, who shouldn't consider it as an option). That'll be one of our next steps as a result.
  • Vayne - At time of writing we're still debating whether or not we should hit Vayne in 9.7 though probably won't. Power wise our take is she's on the border of needing a nerf, but not clearly over it. Direction we'd look at first if nerfing would be bringing down her ult power somewhat. 
A few tips for applying for game dev jobs 
We recently advertised some design roles on LoL which were mentioned both here and on Twitter. Thanks to everyone who applied, we got a lot of people we're really excited to talk to from that process. One piece of follow up I wanted to touch on was a few suggestions for anyone looking apply for such jobs, whether at Riot or elsewhere in the industry.
  1. Have a cover letter. A good resume's helpful but won't necessarily help someone clearly identify what makes you stand out from other applicants. That's particularly important for entry level design roles that tend to get a lot of people applying (we got hundreds this time for example).
  2. Make sure your resume is concise and easy to read. Think in particular about whether everything on it really justifies the space it takes up or whether you'd rather trim out some secondary points so the reader focuses on the key things.
  3. Tailor your cover letter and resume to both the job you're applying for and the industry. If you're looking to get into games for example giving context on games hobby projects or clubs you've been involved in makes sense. A resume with a stated goal of 'become a successful biochemist' by contrast gives the impression you weren't interested enough in this particular role to adjust your documents for it. Biochemistry's a role we'd be open to but we're much less likely to talk to a candidate when it looks like they just recycled an old application for a different job.
  4. Show people game stuff you've worked on. Links to places people can examples of small games you've made, mods you've contributed to, your college's LoL club etc can make a real difference. Talking about those things in a cover letter helps, demonstrations of them are stronger again though."

Meddler also left a note in his March 29th post:
"No posts from me for a bit 
I won't be posting much during April since I'll be off work for a while on paternity leave. You should see posts on a range of topics from others instead though. Talk to you folks again in a bit!"

Meddler commented on Sylas and Lissandra:
"We're confident both Sylas and Lissandra, need some power taken out regardless, based off their performance with other keystones. Extremely confident that's the case with Sylas. Fairly confident that's true for Liss too, though will assess post Aftershock changes and see how she's doing given it's been her primary and most effective choice for quite a while now."

Meddler continued on Lissandra:
"Possible, though when we've looked into cases previously there's been either little difference between mains and non mains or mains have been even more likely to take the most common option. Worth being aware of as risk point though certainly."

On Orianna, Meddler commented:
"Concluded they weren't needed, especially with changes to other mid laners."

On Leona, Meddler noted:
"It's possible, though has been ok in what testing we've done so far. Do think some shifting of Leona's power from a single all in to more sustained disruption has benefit, whether or not the numbers currently in are exactly right for that or not."

When asked for his thoughts on support subclasses, Meddler commented:
"I think the biggest issue there is pro play places a very high value on getting a tank onto a team but has difficulty fitting one in in other positions a lot of the time. That means support skews tank heavy if you aren't willing to put a tank top or jungle for example. Also tends to mean tanks that pro teams are happy running in other positions end up extremely contested (seen that with Galio and Sion in other positions in the moderate past for example). 
Our inclination at the moment is to make tanks better picks in other spots then look at different support class balance again. The upcoming Cinderhulk buff's an example of that."

On Amumu, Meddler replied:
"He's got a kit that's going to struggle in high MMR unless it's quite strong elsewhere. Believe we'd need to make significant changes to him to change that if we wanted him to be a strong high MMR pick. We don't have changes like that planned right now beyond more systemic things like the Cinderhulk buff aimed at helping out jungle tanks in general."

Ask Riot: Lissandra's Helmet? 

Check out this week's Ask Riot - "Champion damage, Spotify, Ahri, and Lissandra’s eyewear.":
"Hello gamers. Today we’re talking about music, stories, damage, and Lissandra. 
Will Riot add the login screen music to Spotify or other music platforms?

We’d like to! There’s a huge collection of music we’ve made for League over the years, and we’re looking into ways to provide easier (and better) access to it. This could possibly include hosting it on platforms like Spotify. No concrete plans yet, but stay tuned for another update later this year. 
Head of Riot Music Group 
Why does Lissandra wear a helmet over her eyes? What is it for?

Lissandra was blinded by the claws of a primal demi-god, when she and her sisters sought to conquer all the lands of the ancient Freljord. In spite of the many wondrous and terrifying things she has achieved in the millennia since, her magic has never been able to restore her sight. 
From her mighty citadel, she has become the spiritual leader of the Frostguard, many of whom are missionaries and healers among the tribes. Her helm and garb are somewhat ceremonial in that role, but also make one truth very clear to any who are unfortunate enough to meet her in person—she does not need eyes to see through the mysteries and intrigues of the world around her. 
Lead Narrative Editor 
How do you decide if a champion should deal magical or physical damage?

There are two main considerations. 
We tend to first default to what “feels” right for the champion. Generally people who cast spells (like mages) deal magic damage, and people who attack a lot (like fighters) deal physical damage. Using this as a rule makes it easier for newer players to understand what’s going on and make the right itemization choices. “Is Annie killing me? She looks magical! I should buy magic resistance.” 
A second consideration for damage types of specific spells that will sometimes override what “feels” right is based on how a champion is intended to scale. Dealing entirely one type of damage means your kit scales better with penetration purchases (like Last Whisper and Void staff), but also gets countered harder by early defensive buys (like Merc treads and Ninja Tabi). We will often give primarily physical damage champions a spell that deals magic damage to smooth out their power curves. The magic damage spikes earlier during the laning phase, but then starts to fall off later in the game as the champ specs into AD and physical pen. Yasuo’s E is a good example of this paradigm. E’ing champions in lane is an effective trading tool, but the spell scales poorly as the game progresses and his Q and basic attacks take over. 
Champion Designer 
I am delighted by the lore of many of my favorite champions, among which is Ahri. Her history is deep and sad, but will we ever get to hear more about Ahri’s deceased boyfriend? And in the future, will there be more stories involving Wukong? 
It’s great that you are enjoying the stories we’re telling. I hope you will continue to follow these champions as we really start to ramp it up for the rest of 2019, and beyond!
I don’t like to make too many specific promises (or give too many hints about our plans, in case I spoil anything) but suffice to say, just because something is not mentioned in a given story, doesn’t mean it’s not a huge and formative part of who a champion is, or that we won’t cover it in some way later. 
Will we tell more stories involving Wukong? Certainly. 
More stories about Ahri, involving Wukong? Why, what have you heard…? ;-) 
Lead Narrative Editor 
Have a question? Click on the button below, sign into your League account, and ask away. 
We’ll do our best to read every question, but we can’t guarantee they’ll all get answers. Some questions may already be answered elsewhere, and some won’t be right for Ask Riot. This isn’t the best place to announce new features, for example, and we might skip conversations on issues we’ve talked about in depth before (though we can clarify individual points). 
We are listening, though, so keep asking

from
http://www.surrenderat20.net/2019/03/red-post-collection-qgt-march-27-and-29.html
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