Red Post Collection: October 10th Patch Update, EUNE Server Migration, Biographies discussion, and more!

Let's Talk Biographies!

"Continuing an interesting discussion from this thread here, I'd like to talk about some characters we'll be taking a crack at soon as a natural course of the revamp. As pointed out earlier we still have a lot of champs that have outdated lore, but for the sake of keeping a clear focus I'd like to hold this discussion primarily to champions whose biographies are completely dependent or intricately entwined with the Summoners/the IoW. Without the aforementioned institutions, where did they come from? Why are they here? What do they want? Nocturne, Fiddlesticks, Lee Sin, fourth example. All the champs. All your favorite champs (I make a lot of bad jokes, by the way. I apologize in advance). 

To give you some insight into our motivations, we're looking at stories holistically, rather than storytelling in a vacuum. What that means is, our goal is to preserve core personality aspects of characters while reinventing the how and why of their stories to create an interesting and vibrant world. For the sake of this discussion, you do not have to adhere to those rules. Offer any crazy idea you can think of! I'll try and check in as often as I can and respond as often as possible. 

A couple points of note: this is not a promise to act on any of these suggestions. As well, I'd like this to stay as positive as possible - if you have criticisms feel free to voice them, but I'd rather have a friendly, focused discussion of these champs. Besides their core personalities, they're almost blank slates! Mostly blank. Kind of sort of blank. Ish.
I'll get it started: where should Nocturne come from? Is he a living shadow that kills people in their dreams and impresses nightmares on the waking world in the form of hallucinatory episodes? Or something... more? Share your thoughts! Lets do it!"

"One of the things we try to keep in mind is that not every champion has to behave in a humanlike fashion. Sure, we don't want Nocturne to be the League of Legends Freddy Kreuger, but if we make him a dream-stalking Evelynn then we begin to have a) a shadow who is essentially a member of the Black Hand (Hail Sithis), and b) a situation where we're potentially robbing ourselves of more monstrous characters for the sake of JoJ-style interaction, which is the kind of interaction that, with some exceptions (Swain), we'd like to get away from. It also continues a different trend we want to get away from, which is throwing all the X characters into the X themed place (Ionia). And feel free to disagree with me if you like that, it's just what we'd like to get away from it for what I think are fairly valid reasons. 

Now, you've correctly identified a problem with telling Nocturne stories: how do we keep him from simply killing people because ahhh spooky dream man? I think that lies in where he comes from, and the heart of what he is, as opposed to what he might do next (which will naturally develop once we figure out who he is). What are your thoughts there?"

"I wrote a (very very very very very very early) draft for Fiddlesticks last week, and one of the biggest things I drew from is the fact that Fiddlesticks is, literally and figuratively, a harbinger for something. What that is, I don't know. But I felt preserving the fact that he appeared suddenly and without warning in an out-of-the-way place for who knows what reason is really key to what he is and what he might be. As a The King in Yellow and H.P. Lovecraft fanatic I'm inclined to believe there's something far greater going on behind the scenes of that 'scarecrow.' 

I'd would love to hear your ideas on that."

"While I can't reveal what we're doing with Ashe for obvious reasons, I think you'll find she's anything but a coward. Sadly I cannot say more than that. I'm sorry!"

"The guy who sits behind me reminds me of this every. Single. Day. We've got tentative plans for the voodoo lands, but they're very early along. Might open another thread another time to talk about them, as it's a whole other space of thought."

Surfer Singed's Surf Board

"Sorry guys! His board is supposed to be sideways and under his hand (like on live), working on getting it fixed."

Global Sounds Effects

"Hey IFraserAU! 

Totally agree. In terms of the new SRU map events, keep an eye on it. You may get surprised :P --- No promises though! Gameplay first! 

However, in terms of champion skills. The global sound effect evaluation usually takes into consideration the scope of the effect. Nocturnes Ult can reach people across the map, therefore all players on the map should hear it. Sion's Ult gives him quite a long range sprint. You dont know the direction hes coming from, but you know he could be coming. This adds to the tension created by his skill. But take Graves's Ult. It has a limited range. No real reason for the map to know he shot his ult. 

Ultimately, it comes down to Gameplay. Are people getting too "tipped off" by hearing a global sound? If you hear Baron roar, will this be too much of a gameplay indicator that hes there and remove the ability to Baron sneak steal? Etc. Etc. 

Thanks for the feedback! We will definitely be looking at more global sounds when applicable and when we can support Gameplay in a positive way!"

[PBE] Modified Testing Windows: Updated Summoner's Rift + Preseason 2015

"Hey all, 

Just wanted to give a heads up about some... unique testing we'll be doing on the PBE.
Specifically we've got two big projects we want to throw onto the PBE - the 2015 preseason changes, and the updated Summoner's Rift - but both require very different forms of testing. Because of this, we're going to try something different: for the next couple weeks, we'll be splitting testing phases into separate sections. 

So here's what you can expect: On some days you'll be able to play the updated Summoner's Rift with most of what the live environment currently has (although the 2015 preseason champion stat changes will remain (but not items)). On other days, you'll be able to play on the updated Summoner's Rift along with all of our major 2015 preseason experimental changes, including the updated turrets, jungle changes, dragon changes, and more. We'll be flipping between the two for a few weeks to get extra testing coverage on both, so don't be surprised if things change on the fly.

It's also worth mentioning that stability is one of our core focuses here, so you may not see much iteration between 'phase' shifts. Currently we can't really pin direct PBE dates to when you can expect 2015 season changes + the updated Summoner's Rift vs. just the updated Summoner's Rift, but if you keep checking back here, we'll keep you posted on the switches. 

You'll see our testing schedules going back to normal roughly after October, but we just wanted to try something new for this month. We appreciate your patience and happy playing!"

End of Game Gifting Testing on PBE

Here's Saberprivateer with more information on the new End of Game gifting feature that is currently on the PBE for testing!

"Hey guys! 

We’ve released end of game gifting to the PBE for testing. This is a new way for players to gift fellow Summoners via the post-game lobby. Now, whether you want to thank a friendly player or reward someone’s first Pentakill, you can show your appreciation after the match! Here are the details: 

• You do NOT have to be friends to send a gift
• You can send gifts to players on both teams
• Only mystery skins and mystery gifts are available at this time
• The prices will be the same as in the store
• Gifts will count towards the daily gifting limit. In other words, you can only send/receive up to five gifts each day (For example, sending three mystery skins from the store and two end of game gifts hits your limit)
• Available in all queues except for custom games 

The Unlock team is looking forward to your feedback so please respond to this post with questions and let us know what you think!"