Red Post Collection: Mystery Champions being distributed, Riot Invests in Curse, Fan Art Feature - Nips, and more!

Posted on at 3:22 AM by Moobeat
This morning's red post collection includes a reminder that the Facebook friend discovery mystery champions are still being distributed, an announcement regarding Riot investing in Curse, context on the tentative PBE Baron & Dragon timer changes,  a fan artist feature on Nips, and more!
Continue reading for more information!



Table of Contents


Mystery Champions still in the process of being distributed 

Though their twitter account, Riot support has posted a reminder that the Mystery Champions (and mystery skins) being given out as part of the Pool Party promotion are still in the process of being distributed.
"Update! We're still in the process of distributing Facebook Mystery Champ rewards. You can find the latest info here http://riot.com/1KtFAH7"
The distribution process started on July 1st and may take a multiple days to hit everyone. Keep an eye on this thread for official updates - the last update reads:
"EDIT July 1st: Mystery Champion rewards are still in the process of distribution for all Riot Regions. There is no specific ETA as to when it will be completed, but we will update this once it has finished!"

Riot Invests in Curse

Earlier today, the official Riot Games Twitter account tweeted out a vague announcement concerning an investment deal with Curse.
"It’s true -- we’ve hammered out a deal to invest in Curse. See Curse’s announcement for more info: http://riot.com/1GO19xu"
The tweet links to this statement from Curse CEO  Hubert Thieblot regarding their voice communication program Curse Voice.
"I'm pleased to announce that Riot Games has decided to invest in Curse.

Riot really believes in what we're doing and where we're going. This investment boosts our efforts to continue creating what I believe to be the best communication tool in gaming.

In the last year, we've seen the size of Curse Voice grow from nothing to over 1 million active players. We've added support for most of the top 200 games in the world and are deeply integrated with some of the most popular games our players play.

This is, of course, exciting and positive news for us. We've known Riot for a long time, and know that Riot, like us, cares very deeply about the core gamer. I'm excited and confident that this will be good for Curse and for the millions of players we serve via Curse Voice.

Sincerely,
Hubert Thieblot
CEO, Curse Inc."
Over on reddit, Rioter vladcoho commented on the announcement:
"This is an investment in Curse because Riot believes in the team and the experiences they’ve built for players.

We’re not announcing any League of Legends development roadmap plans (or feature plans) right now."
and:
"Riot confirmation at: https://twitter.com/riotgames/status/616254904752033793"
On the subject of potential voice chat for League of Legends and this vague announcement: Sargonas added :
"While I can't comment on any rumors or speculation about our future development plans since we have nothing to announce at this time, I would like to say any future plans we explore in voice chat would likely stick to our previously established belief that we would not bring strangers together in voice chat against their will. We prefer exploring systems that instead focus on communication between friends."

Context on PBE Dragon / Baron timer changes

As you may have seen on the PBE or in the last red post collection, Riot is currently considering a few changes to how Dragon and Baron timers work.

For a quick refresher, here's what Riot Velocity tweeted about the tentative changes:
[1] Non-killing team receives Dragon timer at the first moment they see an enemy with Dragon buff or when they see the empty pit. #PBE 
[2] Both teams now receive Baron timer when Baron dies. #PBE 
[3] As with everything on the #PBE these changes are still very much WIP. Subject to change at any time. :)

Over on the boards, Meddler shared context on the potential changes:
"Our thoughts: 
If you've got any vision of an enemy champ when dragon or baron is killed you already know the time of kill, given both give a buff. In baron's case you're also able to get the respawn time even if you don't have vision on someone at the time of kill by timing from the buff expiration point.
  • Clearly communicating when a kill's happened removes a 'skilltest' we feel's a cost rather than a benefit (watching stats/clicking on people for buff counts/pushing tab regularly to check dragon status). Fighting the UI basically. 
  • Tracking dragon/baron timers you accurately know in chat's similarly is something we don't see as an interesting skilltest (see: jungle timers).
This is also a chance to reduce snowballing. We'd like to see a few more close or comeback games than we currently do and we believe the amount of power having a vision stranglehold offers is a significant part why that's not happening (map control's extremely powerful of course). We also feel that contested dragons in particular lead to more interesting, healthy games. Farming/pushing, taking dragon easily because the enemy doesn't have the timer and then going back to farming/pushing does feel rewarding for the winning team, it generates less interesting play than a contested team fight or possible steal however. 
There is some gameplay that'll get lost with this change too of course (e.g. Ambushing people who've come to check if you've finished yet when you're already done and killing dragon as 5 then all recalling to shop so the exact kill time's hard to guess). We feel the benefits above solidly outweigh that cost however."

Context on upcoming Will of the Ancients changes 

In a boards thread inquiring about the upcoming Will of the Ancients changes that switch it's passive form spell vamp to healing based on a % of damage dealt calculated before resistances , Meddler explained:
"We're changing WotA so that:
  • It's not as effective at letting you heal off a minion wave (no resistances), which is particularly powerful on non mana users who pay no cost for doing so.
  • It's of similar effectiveness against enemy champions with a moderate amount of Armor/MR.
  • It's much more useful against really tanky enemy champions.
  • It's effectiveness doesn't increase dramatically as you buy Penetration, so it's baseline performance can be a bit better (less feast/famine)."
More context  on WotA and other core AP item changes currently testing on the PBE can be found here. 

Thoughts on Doran's Shield

When asked about the team's current thoughts on Doran's Shield, Meddler shared:
"We've been thinking recently about doing a light overhaul on some defensive items (think a smaller version of the AP item changes coming in 5.13). Doran's Shield is one of the items we'd be looking at if so. A possible direction for that we've been considering is buffing the Unique Passive so it gains extra effectiveness against ranged auto attacks. That's very much at the idea stage though, rather than something we've committed to. One of the things we particularly want to avoid there, and so really need to test for, is the possibility of Doran's Shield becoming the dominant support buy again. When we've seen that in the past it's resulted in really narrow support picks (huge amount of Leona/Thresh, not much else) and that's something we don't want to reintroduce."
He continued:
"Quote:
IIRC the only time Doran's has been more popular on tank supports than gold items was when the support gold items were rather weak.
Yeah, it's definitely possible we've got more room to buff DShield at this point. Do want to try and validate that though."

Fan Artist Feature - Nips

Last up is Jynx with a fan artist feature on community fan artists Nips!

"Hey Summoners! This week we’re speaking with Nips, an esports and comic artist extraordinaire with strong ties to the community. She’s also created a unique library of skin designs, and genderbends that will leave you inspired!

Follow her on Twitter and Facebook to see even more of her art!

If you know someone that you'd like to recommend for a future Fan Artist Feature, please let us know here.

How did you get started creating League of Legends fan art? 
I started playing League in 2013 when Thresh came out after A LOT of convincing and hassling with friends. I couldn't wrap my head around how people could fall in love with a game that only had one map (but who needs a map, anyway). It didn't take me too long to get to "just one more game".

Friends started telling me about the competitive scene and they always mentioned a team that reminded them of me....Ninjas in Pyjamas....because their initials were NiP....like Nips! haha. I looked up the players and discovered streaming. I drew little characters for Bjergsen /Malunoo and, not too short after, I discovered Cloud 9. They became my favorite team (still are!! #C9WIN!!!) and fell in love with the competitive world! I soon started following LCS games and did team skins for every team that won! Cloud 9 has been a huge catalyst and supporter in my growth as an artist and in the community. They've been so kind and have become a virtual family for me. 
 
What's been your favorite piece to create, and why?

This is a tough one! I've definitely enjoyed all of them a great deal for different reasons. However, even though it's not a specific piece (rather a "series"), I've had the most fun making the champion genderbends. A concept that allows me to work with character personality (my favorite!) to bring a champion to life as the opposite gender while still maintaining the essence of the original. It's a challenge I love to take and hope to one day bend all of them! I even had Bjergsen and Snoopeh request some of their own. xD
 
Do you have a dream project you’d like to work on?

As far as dreams go (other than swimming in a pool of Nutella), I've been very fortunate to be able to work on my personal comic OFFcell. I love creating characters and telling their stories. I'm so grateful to be able to do that on the daily! The project is still growing and there's many things I've yet to learn but I'm excited to work on it all!!! I do have League-related dream projects too though! How amazing would it be to take part in the creation of a champion; bring them to life! Tell their story! If I ever had that opportunity, I could probably die happy haha. 
  
Who’s your inspiration? Do you have any favorite League fan artists?

I follow so many artists. Everyone has such a different way of putting their ideas on paper and that alone is such an inspiration! My favorite League artist is Alvin Lee . His work is filled with top notch energy and dynamism! He pushes artistic boundaries with every piece and it's nothing short of impressive every time. As for fan artists, hands down, Rachel J. Like me, she does comics and loves telling stories. Her pieces are always so expressive and smooth!Ippus , Kalce , Melissa, Duet and Uguubear are also some very talented friends and keep me motivated to always get better! 
 
Is there anything else you’d like to share with the community?

I studied biology in hopes of going to medical school and had no dreams of doing any form of art full time. What made me fall in love with the game, and eventually made me commit to art, were the splash arts. I constantly think about how different my life would've been without League of Legends; 12-hour days as a heart surgeon with no breathing room to draw! I can't even picture a day going by without painting! I'm so grateful to have discovered the game and become a part of the community. Constantly growing every day and it's almost frightening. I've had nothing but pleasant experiences with the people I've met through sharing my art and I'm in awe with the kind support I've received! Words can't express how inspiring everyone's been!! It's truly, truly, truly outrageous! "

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