Red Post Collection: Riot Pls - Runes Reforged and Honor Update, Ezreal Nendoroid, Rek'Sai dev blog, & more!

"Lead Producer New001 shares details on the future of Runes, the Honor Update, 10 Bans, Voice Chat, and more! 

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro/Future of the League Client
1:05 - Runes Reforged Overview
3:11 - Runes cost and rewards
5:03 - Honor Update Overview
7:05 - Update on Player Requests

League of Legends Editorial Blog: http://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/"

First up the video discusses the major RUNE REFORGED overhaul headed our way next preseason. This new system will merge masteries and runes into a single system. While they do not have details yet, they do have plans for players who have already purchased runes/rune pages.

The second large section is an overview of upcoming Honor Update, which will be more integrated into the game, new ui elements and whats to recognize and be recognized by players for good play. Key Fragments will now also only drop through the honor system. High honor levels earn you more loot and potentially exclusive rewards.

Gallery:

Following the announcement, several Rioter's jumped on reddit and social media to discuss the feature systems and answer questions.

Ghostcrawler [tweet 1]:

"Quote:

Will riot reimburse RP spent on rune pages and rune page bundles when the rune update comes live? over$50 for the 2 bundles

We aren't ready to share details yet but this was one of the things we really want to get right with the transition to the new system."

Ghostcrawler [tweet 2]:

"Quote:

I didn't see it asked yet, but what about folks who currently have Honor crests? I've had a team work ribbon/crest for a long time...

Great question. Crests are being retired b/c it's fundamentally a new system but we want to honor (heh) folks who earned them in the past."

 As for how to avoid the problem of duos constantly honoring each other rather than team mates, NaKyle explained:

"Quote:

How are you going about addressing duos that are just going to honor each other every time, rather than teammates that might deserve it more?

Good catch. We address it in two major ways: 

1) Individual honors per game aren't tied to most of the system rewards. For Honor, the idea is recognizing consistent good vibes rather than just one standout performance like Champ Mastery. 

2) The one reward type (no spoilers) that is tied to per-game honors weights honors from strangers higher than those from premades"

As for what happens to pre-existing honor, NaKyle commented:

"Quote:

I was wondering if the current honor points will mean anything towards that system or do they just get forgotten?

This is a total overhaul, so its a fresh start and current Honor points are going away. BUT we're planning a proper funeral for old honor and a small gift for players who stacked honor in previous years. Details to come after new Honor launches. :)"

When asked about the potential refunds and compensation for removing paid content ( rune pages, runes), Pwyff noted:

"Quote:

Hey I know you guys touched on it, but ages ago I actually dropped some RP on getting the 7 rune page package. While I love that making runes editable will make the playerbase overall happier, will there any any kickback for players like me who no longer have any benefit out of the money I spent? 

I realize this is a tough one, and that every big decision comes with someone getting the short end of the stick - so please​ feel free to say that there won't be much in the way of paying us back, I just want to know how much you guys thought about it. 

Other than that, I did have one other concern - aren't you guys concerned that Runes will now just be another set of Mastery pages, if not an even stronger version? Runes used to feel like a static set of buffs to a champion, with masteries being the dynamic side of it. With this new proposed system they feel quite similar, is this intended?

Duly noted on that rune page comment - we'll make sure to talk about this (even if it's bad news) when we roll out the plan for the refund. We did discuss this, though! Turns out there are a lot of angles to take in looking at this thing. 

For your other concern: runes and masteries are getting combined and, as you see with the keystone runes revealed, they'll probably index much more on the 'dynamic' side than static buffs. I think we just want to lean much harder into dynamic pre-game choices, and while stats are exciting in min-maxing certain situations, imagine if the new runes system (it's just one system now) could offer that but in a clearer, maybe even more exciting way. That's the current hope." 

On the honor system's tie in to key fragments, NaKyle commented:

"Quote:

Will key fragments ONLY be dropping through the honor system or did I misunderstand?

This is correct. Everyone will get all their key fragments through Honor from launch day forward. Just like today, all you really need to get all your key fragments is play games and not get hit with penalties. We're keeping the bar for key fragments low, so we can put more emphasis on the high-end rewards of the system. No spoilerinos on those today tho."

NaKyle added:

"Quote:

I'm not sure wether I understood correctly, but will Key Fragments for Hextech Crafting ONLY be achievable through the Honor-System and no longer drop just randomly? Or is it just meant that you will get MORE/additional Fragments if you get honored a lot?

All the free key fragments drops will come through Honor, BUT the nuts and bolts of the system remain the same. You get your key fragments on semi-random drops just by playing games and not getting hit with penalties. It's a pretty low bar to clear. You will not need to Honor beg to get your key frags because holy shit that'd be obnoxious. Also, to be super clear, the number of free key fragments is not moving up or down with this change."

NaKyle added:

"Quote:

Have you figured out how this is going to work with friends yet? On the one hand it could be easily abusable but on the other hand it would suck to not be able to get key fragments when you are playing as 5 or even in smaller parties.

Key fragments won't be tied to the number of Honors you receive. Key fragment drops work the same way (get games in without being an asshole). We kept the drop mechanic mostly the same to sidestep the problems you're raising!"

When asked about honoring enemy players, riotBoourns noted it is planned post-release:

"Quote:

The new honor system seems to have gained inspiration from the Overwatch post-game card system. Nice touch! Something I noticed though is that honorable opponent, or any opponent centered interactions, are no longer there. Any explanation as to why?

Yeah, one of the goals with the new honor system was to make feel more meaningful to give and receive. Part of this was to only give you the choice of one honor. We chose to go with teammate honor only because you have more interactions with your teammates and you're more likely to have a reason to honor them (and more varied reasons for doing so). Post-release we want to look at ways to let you recognize opponents and other teammates that you enjoyed playing with which are lighter weight than the honor vote." 

NaKyle added:

"Quote:

The new honor system seems to have gained inspiration from the Overwatch post-game card system. Nice touch! Something I noticed though is that honorable opponent, or any opponent centered interactions, are no longer there. Any explanation as to why?

Good eye! At launch, we're focused on nailing the right vibe for teammates. We've got post-launch updates planned to bring back a way to shout out a player from the opposing team." 

On the Runes Reforged project, RiotWrekz  commented:

"Finally happening! A few of us from the runes reforged team will be around here answering questions and reading, if you want to reach out directly you can reach me on twitter @RiotWrekz to follow up as well."

RiotWrekz  added:

"Quote:

So there'll no longer be basic/"weak" masteries like Fury or Pickpocket, and more bigger Keystones to choose from? Can you take multiple Keystones now? 

Big fan of all of you btw, love your work :)

A much deeper explanation will be up in a couple of days for a full explanation, but the short version is that you'll have fewer, more significant effects and when you are making stat-focused decisions they are bigger chunks."

When asked about trimming out the base stat granting masteries/runes, RiotWrekz  commented:

"Quote:

Doesn't this turn the meta upside down? Maybe I am not understanding correct but for certain champions base stat increases is very important.

We are doing base stat adjustments across the board for champions along with this. That will help give champions the specific things they need to still feel themselves."

When pressed for more information on the mastery/rune changes, Luqizilla noted:

"Quote:

So there'll no longer be basic/"weak" masteries like Fury or Pickpocket, and more bigger Keystones to choose from? Can you take multiple Keystones now? 

Big fan of all of you btw, love your work :)

We'll have a post detailing more runes in the next few days and over the course of the next months we'll be talking a lot about it!"

When asked if the new rune system will add additional activated abilities, RiotWrekz  noted

"Quote:

Will the new rune system (e.g., Perxie) require additional player input in-game (e.g., use of an additional key)? I'm slightly concerned with the additional complexity that could either hinder clarity (additional animations) or require more keybindings past QWERASDF and 1-8. 

We won't be adding extra button presses to control your runes. We have some effects that utilize active items, but that is as close to a new button press as we get. League has a extremely deep executional mastery already (see pro execution vs average players) and isn't hurting for more ways to reach that."

RiotWrekz    added:

"Quote:

This looks cool, but I'm worried that builds that rely heavily on certain stats will have a hard time. I'm a huge sucker for 45% cdr, but it's often really hard to fit that into items.

Don't worry, if you like 45% CDR we've got something for you. :)"

When asked about the various art and VFX used in the new mastery video, Riot Sparkle commented:

"Quote:

It's likely a placeholder for now. But think of Janna with this and Pix on her. ALL THE FLOATY THINGS!

It is SO incredibly placeholder. 

We're showing all "WIP" stuff, so you're basically taking a peek into how things look before they get dedicated art. There's a lot of re-purposing things so we can test them."

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