- Champion and Skin Sale 6/13 - 6/16
- Superfans Assemble - Details on upcoming and returning World Cup Skins
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| Goalkeeper Blitzcrank, Striker Ezreal, Red Card Katarina, and All-Star Akali are back in shop through July 13th |
Pentakill Q&A
Here's ProtoShredanoid with an intro to start the Q&A:
"What’s up metalheads!
We’re some of the guys behind Pentakill’s debut album, Smite and Ignite. We’ll be around for the next few hours or so to answer any questions you have about the album’s creation, the guests we had contribute, and why Pentakill’s bringing the solo back!
We are Praeco (composer, guitars, mixing, programming and production), Riot Kyugene (bass) and ProtoShredanoid (guitars)!"
When asked why inspired the team to make this album and if it was always planned to come along with the Karthus VU, Praeco commented:
"Quote:
What inspired you guys to make this album? Is this something you've been wanting to do for some time or did it pop into your head when Karthus' VU was around the corner?We had been playing with the idea to make some metal in our free time for a while, and right after we were done with the Jinx music piece and video, we just sat there and spontaneously decided "Guys, it's time. Let's make some Pentakill metal."
We initially only planned to make 1-2 songs, but the more we sat down in the studio, the more songs we wrote. Eventually, it became enough of an EP to put some cool artwork and a website together and a few motion graphic videos... And the rest, you already know. ;)
Funny enough, Karthus' VU just randomly lined up, and the team that worked on it then was kind enough to use our music as inspiration for the Pentakill Karthus and also push it exactly the the patch that the album was launched."Praeco continued, explaining how they chose the genres and styles on the album:
"I think every musician is a the same time also a fan, I think we all gravitated towards what we grew up with and what we loved. A lot of the songs fuse different genres and influences. In a way, we really just sat down and played and jammed, and then moved around the different sections and parts that we played.
There are a few scrap ideas that we didn't end up coming together properly... Who knows, if there's ever enough interest from our players to make a 2nd album, we could pick those up again."Kyugene continued, elaborating on how the three got together:
"The three of us (Praeco, Protoshredanoid, and myself) have all been working together in the audio team for a while now. Protoshredanoid does SFX for champions, I do SFX for skins, and Praeco is our music monkey/slave/gimp.
We also worked together on music in the past, Proto played guitar for pool party and forecast Janna, I played bass on Vi, Jinx, and pool party...aaaaand Praeco did, like, everything."
As for how the team managed to get up musicians like Jorn Lande, ZP Theart, and Derek Sherinian on board with PENTAKILL, Praeco commented:
"We just asked them, either directly or through friends in the music scene. They are all super humble and chill dudes who just wanna make some cool music, so luckily, they all were interested in helping us with this project."He continued, elaborating on his experiences working with Jorn:
"Jorn is one of the most humble dudes we've worked with on a music project. He got really excited to do something 'different' with us and actually ended up knowing a lot about the game's lore, items and champions a week or two after talking to him for the first time. So it was a huge pleasure. His voice is just so good..."
As for the possibility of PENTAKILL live concert in the future, Praeco replied:
"I think it would be possible for us to play Pentakill live in the future... We would definitely have to practice a lot. :) So for the near future, I think it's not so likely, but further in the future and for special occasions... Maybe.
If enough people would wanna see it, it's definitely possible."
On the production side of things, Praeco also shared why set up they used to mix the tracks:
"Album was recorded/mixed/mastered in Cubase, using Waves plugins to mix. Guitar and Bass sounds were, believe it or not, some freeware plugins :P and a mesa boogie impulse response as a cab.
we're all big on RME sound cards.
guitars were tricky, the chain is actually pretty intense.. gate, compressor, EQ, guitar amp, cab, compressor, EQ... so a lot of stuff. :)"
Kyugene also commented on the availability of physical PENTAKILL cds, saying:
"There will be CDs of the Pentakill album soon :D"
When asked about physical PENTAKILL merch such as tshirts or plushies, Praeco noted:
"We'd love that. We still have to figure out a lot of logistics to make that happen, but hopefully in the future, we will be able to make such a thing happen."
As for a rival band for PENTAKILL, kyugene commented:
"Haha, we haven't really thought of that--what kind of band do you guys think would be a Pentakill rival band? And who do you think should go in it?"
Kyugene also replied to someone asking if Pentakill Sona will ever get metal sound effects, noting he's not sure if it will happen but it bugs him too!
"I actually work in SFX for skins specifically, and this is something I've wanted to update for some time. The audio team is cramming hard on a lot of cool stuff right now and this is at the top of my priority list for when I get freed up. Not sure when that will be or if it'll happen--but it bugs me just as much as it bugs you."
When asked how the team came up with the track names ( which consist of mostly item names ), kyugene noted:
"For the track names, we just chose the most metal sounding items we could find. This had a lot of debate around it because there are quite a few metal ones, haha (Bloodthirster, Liandry's Torment, etc). As for Ohmwrecker specifically, we gravitated towards that item almost immediately because it sounded exactly like what a lot of prog/djent metal bands name their albums/songs."
As for song inspiration, Praeco shared why Orb of Winter is an orchestral track:
"Well, in our twisted minds, Thornmail was kind of the last battle on the field, with all the warriors slaughtering each other and the Pentakill lords of war destroying the last resistance of the enemy's army.
Orb of Winter then is the scenery after the battle - As if you were marching over the battlefield, in between all the dead bodies, lamenting their death and seeing their souls leave their bodies. A requiem, dedicated to the fallen warriors on the battle field.
Tears, my friend, tears. Tears of mead."
As for inside Pentakill jokes, kyugene shared:
"I think one of the longest running jokes we had while making it was naming riffs after wrestling moves. The riff during the chorus of Thornmail was called the "Double choke slam" because the two tom hits before each downbeat would be grabbing a neck per hand, with the downbeat being us slamming them. Yup. Wrestling. Metal."
@WizardCrab
WizardCrab, our neighborhood eCommerce crustacean, scuttled on to the forums to chat with players about all sorts of eCommerce related stuff, including cheaper skin sets, refund tokens, and more!"Hey guys!
I've been finding that I often miss things on the forums that are directed at me or that I'm particularly equipped to answer. Sometimes I don't see these threads until days or weeks later, and sometimes not at all I'm sure. I wanted to put up a thread that I can keep checking up on where you can get in contact with me, whether it be about eCommerce, your lives, jokes, League in general, or even all of those sweet drawings of magical crabs you've been secretly making!
I'll try to check in here often and answer whatever I can, although I'll let you know now that there are many things about Riot (like balance or upcoming releases) that I either know nothing about or just can't answer.
Anyway, come at me!"
When asked if we'll see another advance list of the month's champion and skin sales, he noted:
"Quote
Did you guys find the May skin sale list to be a good idea? Will you guys release another month skin sale list again?
I think we'll do some version of it again. Not 100% on that though."
As for physical merchandise, he commented:
"Quote
Onto a work related question, are there any big or exciting things we can look forward to from the ecommerce side? Anything like physical LoL merchandise or something related?Well there's that one. I know nothing of the timeline though."
WizardCrab also replied to a summoner's comments on the lack of "cheap skin options", saying:
"Quote
How do you feel about the lack of new cheap skin options in the game?It's tough because according to all of our research, people want the fancy ones you described a lot more. And they were more fun for the skins guys to make I think. But I think you'll see a little bit of a shift coming up soon. For instance, there are five 750 RP skins about to come out, and five 750 skins that just came out."
You guys push the quality bar way up, while forgetting sometimes people want to play as a pink Rammus with a bowtie for 520/750RP.
Instead if we get a pink Rammus skin with a bowtie, it'll have Frank Sinatra for the vocals, the spell effects will be boosted up like crazy and his dance will change his powerball animation and cost 975/1350RP, as well as taking 3 months longer to produce.
When asked if there will be another set of Pool Party themed skins this year, WizardCrab replied:
"Quote:
Will the crab be in this year pool party skins :3
We're not doing pool party this year AFAIK. That was a one off kind of cool thing, which I suppose could come back. There will be other skin sets though :)"
As for if we'll see another ultimate tier skin ( such as Pulsefire Ezreal or Spirit Guard Udyr ) this year, WizardCrab commented:
"There are plans for ultimate skins. But this year? I couldn't say."When asked if we can expect announcer voice packs, he simply noted:
"I hope someday!"
As for an increase in the amount of refund tokens each summoner gets, WizardCrab noted:
"We are trying to figure out if and when more refunds are appropriate. I'm sorry if I don't have any more information than that. If you think about it, pretty much no company ever gives refunds on digital goods (unless you have some good examples), so the territory kind of needs to be explored. It's definitely on our minds though. Please don't take that as a confirmation that we'll ever give more though.
Sorry I don't have a better answer."
WizardCrab also commented in third party sites that sell skins, saying:
"We highly discourage people from purchasing skins anywhere that isn't our official channels. Too often people get scammed and there's really very little we can do about it."
As for if the elusive Championship Riven will ever return, WizardCrab noted:
"No plans to bring her back at this point. Although we still reserve the right to bring her back (with the appropriate refund for original buyers)."
He also answered a question regarding how the team decides on prices digital goods:
"Quote:
Crab who is also a Wizard, how does one price things that there is theoretically an infinite supply of, such as skins and champions?With much difficulty. There are so many factors. Like: what maximizes short-term revenue, what maximizes long term-revenue, what would the perceived value of this product be, how does this products price/sales affect the rest of the portfolio, how does this product's price affect the overall perception of the game and the brand, how much work went into the item, how does it compare to other items at similar price levels, is the item permanent or a limited time offering, what's the product horizon look like and how does the item fit into the future portfolio, etc., etc., etc.
If you're asking about skins, we have a approximate feature set checklist that will recommend the item towards one price tier or another, but we add general sniff tests.
English Summoner's Rift Livestream VOD
The official VOD for Wednesday's English livestream of the updated Summoner's Rift map has been published!Check out the video for CaptainLx and Nome discussing the new map and answering questions!
Itching for more SR action? Check out our summary of the English/French/Spanish streams for more info, including oodles of screen caps and a complete 5v5 game with Spanish commentary.
4.10 Tentatively planned for next week
In a thread on the OCE forums regarding server transfers being down, RiotHappyCochese commented that the issue should be fixed in the upcoming Patch 4.10 is tentatively scheduled for next week"On track for next week and we will post that info as soon as we have confirmation."
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