Red Post Collection: Gameplay Thoughts: 10/11, Emotes are Live, Yasuo Premium Hoodie, & More

Posted on at 8:40 AM by Moobeat
[UPDATE: Added in an assortment of posts concerning previously released emotes and Meddler's gameplay thoughts!]

Today's red post collection includes Meddler's gameplay thoughts for October 11th, Emotes going live worldwide with Patch 7.20 + discussion, a new premium Yasuo hoodie in the merch shop, a reminder to vote on the Championship Ashe charity, and more!
Continue reading for more information!



Table of Contents


Quick Gameplay Thoughts: October 11 

Here's Meddler with his quick gameplay thoughts for October 11, covering base stat adjustments, Ardent Censer, more ping changes, and more:
"Hi all, 
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 put 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 
Base Stat Adjustments and Runes 
We're still working on base stat and ability changes that will accompany the other pre-season changes at the moment and more of those should be back on PBE this week. One thing I figured it would be good to talk more about there though is what our goals are with those changes. In particular, we're not trying to offer every champion the same gold value of extra base stats. What we are trying to do is give each champ what they'll need to be successful post runes changes. Based off how other changes impact them champs may need more or less base stats added than others to put them around the same spot they were before. Magic damage dealers for example benefiting from MR removal from old runes effectively gain extra power that way, even if they're not directly getting extra stats. Some champs may need much more specialized adjustments, whereas others may be fine with just a bunch of armor. Some champs will also benefit more from the new runes system than others. 
The adjustments that go in 7.22 will also just be round one. They're our best estimate of what's needed to begin with, the real polish and tuning will come afterwards though once we've seen where champion balance actually lands, rather than having to just work off predictions. As with every pre-season patch there'll be some champs that have a rough time for a little bit, or do really well, and we'll likely need to further adjust base stats on a number of them at that point to get things where they should be. 
Ardent Censer 
Looking back we definitely misread how impactful Censer would become and should have nerfed it quicker. We're talking about it a lot at present, including discussion on whether after the 7.19 changes it's still too strong. The version in 7.18 we're seeing in Worlds is definitely out of line, somewhat harder to get a good read on the 7.19 one given how much Worlds impacts what gets played in regular games/what gets talked about, even though they're different patches. At a minimum we'll be both assessing it in 7.21 and looking at it again after pre-season goes out. 
Non LoL: the concept of 'piggybacking' in design 
This isn't LoL specific, but mentioning it since I know some folks also have an interest in game design in general. There's a lot of good writing around that talks about various game design principles. One example of that I really like is Mark Rosewater's talk about what he calls 'piggybacking' in the blog post linked below. Piggybacking is a way of communicating a lot of complex stuff to the player quickly and easily by using their existing understanding of things. Well worth a read if that sounds interesting even if you're not familiar with Magic the Gathering which is the game Rosewater generally talks about. 
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/piggybacking-2012-08-16 
Few more ping changes coming 
We're getting a few more item specific pings in, hopefully for 7.21. Stuff like letting you ping stack numbers of Tear or whether Duskblade is currently detecting something or not (as per the icon on the buffbar already). If you've got thoughts on item specific info it'd be valuable to be able to share with your team would love to hear them."

When asked about Urgot buffs, Meddler commented:
"Quote:
Can we get some insight on upcoming Urgot buffs ?
Current version we're testing has a larger radius/shorter delay on Q and a faster missile on R. That's experimental though, we had different changes in a couple of days ago that were trying buffed passive damage instead."

Meddler commented more on the base stat changes:
"Quote:
Will you be increasing base ad of all champions a bit to ease csing? Since we're losing the 5 onhit mastery and 9 ad most ad/melee champions ran to make csing easier? Or maybe Doran Items minion bonus dmg buffs?
Almost all AD champs yeah. A few will get other stats instead if they've got unusual needs and weren't taking AD generally beforehand anyway (e.g. Kayle or Yasuo)."

When asked about Udyr, Meddler replied:
"Quote:
What about the Udyr buffs? They were mentioned recently in the gameplay board
Thread where Repertoir talks about some thoughts on Udyr yesterday that we're considering for an upcoming patch: 
https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/AALRjElo-opgg-doesnt-even-list-udyr-anymore-he-needs-help"

On Zyra, Meddler commented:
"Quote:
Zyra's getting armour though, rather than HP/HP per level. Is that an oversight?
We'll be swapping Zyra to HP/HP per level (thought that was already in, guessing not, unless it just hasn't been datamined)."

On Ekko's viability in the jungle, Meddler commented:
"Quote:
I noticed an Ekko change on the PBE that made his passive deal double damage to monsters. Are you guys attempting to make him viable as a jungler again?
We are."

When asked about Karma, Meddler replied:
"We're treating Karma like other mage or mage ish champs who play multiple positions regularly (or at least have historically) and giving her the same sorts of stats they get as a result (Brand, Zyra, Annie etc). 
Sometime next year we'll also do work on Karma at larger scale than just a balance tweak."

On PBE signups, Meddler verified they should still open sometime in October:
"Quote: 
Any update when PBE sign ups are coming back? I heard they were coming back in October but no specific date was given
October's still my understanding, I gather we don't want to announce a particular date though until we're certain it'll be ready and some things are still being worked on."

When asked for context on the Sejuani E nerfs from the 10/10 PBE update, Meddler replied:
"Quote:
Do you have any context on the Sejuani E damage changes? Cutting the damage by half seems a bit extreme and will hurt her clear a lot.
We're looking at Sejuani nerfs because we believe she's too strong. There are a range of things in testing at present, not sure yet which we will/won't ship. 
For the E change specifically while the base damage is being cut in half it's a spell with a low base damage itself that contributes a lot more through the max HP% damage on her passive. Given that's not being hit in this version wouldn't expect the loss 20-60 damage to be too crippling."

When asked about a Mordekaiser change that made it to live,  Meddler commented:
"Quote:
In this new patch, Mordekaiser has recived a change where his passive is displayed not only on the resource bar, but also on his health bar. Why didn't you mentioned this in the patch notes?
We did a general shield refactor recently that changed how shields work behind the scenes to address a number of bugs and make them easier to work with in the future. Pretty much all of that resulted in no outward facing change (same functionality), so I'd imagine an exception or two like Morde's shield display slipped past people because they weren't expecting a need to patch note stuff."

On Ornn, Meddler commented:
"Uncertain on Ornn. We've worried about overbuffing him the last few sets of changes. The previous couple certainly didn't though, which suggests we're not evaluating how much power he's getting from certain things appropriately."

Meddler talked more about Ardent Censer:
"Quote:
Beyond whether or not Ardent specifically is/is not still an issue, hyper carries and bot lane in general feels to me like it has outsized impact on the rest of the game right now. Hyper carries hitting end game too quickly and too easily and being too difficult to stop along the way except through massive focus bot. Is thing something that is being considered or looked at?
Yeah, there's a multiplicative effect that hypercarries, tank junglers/tops and Censer supports all have on each other that's pushing out a lot of other parts of the game, in particular on 7.18 (Worlds) but also on Live (7.20). We're expecting pre-season to reset some of that, if it doesn't go far enough we'll need to be heavier handed in getting things back to a more even state."

Emotes are Live!

After a long testing period on the OCE server, Emotes are now live! Check out the release article for more information, or the FAQ if you have any more burning questions:
"EMOTES ARE LIVE!

It’s time to stop dying while typing. Emotes let you react in real-time with a customizable loadout of in-game reactions. To celebrate launch, everyone will get a free thumbs-up emote to equip and try out!

Get started by equipping emotes in your Collections tab.

Take up to five usable emotes into Equip emotes to a wheel with five slots. In your loadout, there are two extra slots for emotes that will automatically flash at the start of the game and at the end of a win (read: so you don’t sit there and try to time it exactly right when you should be killing the nexus). 
Once you get into game, the default keybind for the emote wheel will be T, but you can rebind it like any other key (looking at you, Lee Sin mains).
If you’re on the fast track to Tilt City, you can individually mute emotes via the scoreboard. We’re also adding a “mute enemy emotes” option in the in-game settings. Emotes will also “break” and go on cooldown if you take any champion damage while emoting.

You can find your emotes in the new Emotes tab in the store.
Emotes will be available for 450 RP each, but to celebrate launch, each individual emote will be snaggable for 350 RP, and we’ll also offer an Emote Starter Set of five emotes, with one exclusive to the bundle, for 975 RP. Both will be available until November 6, 2017, at 11:59 PM PT. 
Post-launch, you’ll start to see emotes make their way into recurring bundle sales and individual sales rotations. 
If you have any other questions, you can check out our FAQ. 
Please emote responsibly."
For the full Frequently Asked Questions, continue reading:
  • Are any old emotes coming back?
    • Not right away, but we'll be on the lookout for ways to bring back emotes from past events (like Arcade or Versus). We don't plan to bring back any Esports emotes. If we bring back an emote that you've already earned, we'll gift it to you. 
  • Can I gift emotes?
    • Not right now, but hopefully in the future. 
  • Will emotes be added to loot?
    • Not yet, but we'll add them eventually. 
  • How do I mute emotes?
    • There are two ways to mute emotes. You can mute all enemy emotes in the in-game settings menu, or mute individual player emotes through the scoreboard. 
  • Will muting emotes also mute the champion mastery emote?
    • Yes. Champion mastery emotes are now part of the emotes system, so they follow all the same rules. 
  • My emotes don't work after I've used a few. What's up with that?
    • Emotes will go on cooldown if overused, or if your emote is interrupted by taking damage. We may adjust the length of these cooldowns in the future. Emotes also don't work in custom matches or on the Practice Tool. 
  • Are all emotes going to be 350 RP?
    • They'll launch at 350 RP, but they'll return to their normal price of 450 RP a month after release (October 24 for OCE, Nov. 7 everywhere else). 
  • Are Worlds emotes permanent?
    • Yeah! 
  • Will there be more emotes bundles?
    • Yes! We plan to create more emotes bundles some time after launch. 
  • (OCE only) I bought the individual emotes in the bundle before the bundle came out. Refund please!
    • Since bundles weren't immediately available in OCE, we'll refund the difference between the price and what you paid by November 11 at 12:59 PM PT.
    • Emotes in the bundle cost about 131 RP each (that's a 70% savings off the 450 RP price). So partial refunds look like this:
    • If you own all four emotes, your Emote Starter Set price is 451 RP and we'll give you a refund of 876 RP
    • Only the emotes included in the bundle (Clean, Does Not Compute, Despair, and Scout-Approved) will be discounted. Any emotes purchased after the bundle becomes available won't qualify for this discount."

When asked about older emotes potentially returning in the future, TheTimTeemo commented that some previously released event emotes will be integrated into the new system:
"We are working on getting certain event emotes into the new system and if you earned them during those events they will automatically be put in your inventory. 
This isn't as straightforward as we expected but it is currently in the works"
He continued:

All the event emotes we are bringing back will be put in the store for a limited time so anyone who didn't have a chance to get them during the event 
So we've got you covered

As for if emotes will be available in loot boxes, he noted:
"Not at the moment but we are currently working on getting Emotes into Loot"

New Yasuo Hoodie in Merch Shop

A new hoodie is now available in the Riot Games Merch shop! The Yasuo Premium Hoodie was available at the NA LCS finals in Vancouver, and now is your chance to get it for yourself if you couldn't make the event!
"Face the wind - and all the rest of the elements - in comfort and style. Unlock your inner samurai and never wander alone.
With the Yasuo Premium Hoodie, we wanted to find that sweet spot between casual clothing and straight up cosplay. We focused on Yasuo's iconic left arm armor as something with high potential to extend past the normal design of a base hoodie. We didn't want to go overboard with the design, so we left the rest of the details inside the zippered pockets and included a custom neck tag."
  


Vote on which charity wins 50% of the charity fund 

As announced in the Worlds Hits the Rift post, a percentage of sales from Championship Ashe and the Championship Ward will go toward three charities, and now is your time to help decide who gets the biggest piece of the pie:
"This year, fighting with Honor impacts lives around the world. We’re matching 25% of Championship Ashe and 2017 Championship Ward sales to form a charity fund. Vote now for your favorite charity by visiting the “Vote for Charity” tab in client. The highest-voted charity receives 50% of the pool, with the other two splitting the remainder. Each player gets one vote, and votes are multiplied based on a player’s Honor level: 
Level 3 and below = 1x Level 4 = 1.5x Level 5 = 2x 
How each global charity will use the contribution 
BasicNeeds helps people with mental, neurological, and substance use disorders. They’ll build sustainable programs in three additional countries with the goal of aiding thousands more with mental health care over the next three years. 
Learning Equality brings high-quality education to communities without internet access. They’ll develop and launch their offline learning platform Kolibri to provide rich digital experiences for underserved students in over 175 countries. 
The Raspberry Pi Foundation hosts CoderDojos, which are global networks of free, volunteer-led, community-based programming clubs for young people aged 7-17. They’ll lead 5,000 more CoderDojos in communities across South America, India, China, and East Africa. 
Voting ends on November 5, 2017 at 11:59 PM PT 
Every vote counts towards a cause, and every purchase of Championship Ashe and the 2017 Championship Ward adds to the donation pool. Both are available in the League store until November 5, 2017 at 11:59 PM PT. We’ll announce the total funds raised and the highest-voted charity when voting and sales end. Thanks for supporting these causes, and vote with Honor."
You can vote in client by going to the Worlds 2017 tab then clicking VOTE.


Quick Hits

  • Riot Sap Magic noted that Simultaneous Draft picks are now like in NA, will be coming to other regions in 7.21:
"Simultaneous Draft Picks are now enabled in North America! We'll monitor stability, activate other regions in 7.21. http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/client/client-features/champ-select-upgrades-incoming"
"This; it's still being worked on, just slowly. I got a personal Ao Shin lesson about announcing content too early. I thought it would ship about a month after the announcement.  
It's almost done, apparently there are ~14 different versions of recall because people decided to make an all new recall spell for random skins - and now we have to sift through every skin on every champion in every queue because a handful of them dont use the base recall for some reason. Wouldn't be surprised if we miss one but hopefully we wont  
Not going to give a date so I don't repeat the same mistake but it's definitely still being worked on"
"We've been working on a system that involves looking through champ select and post-game chats looking for instances of verbal abuse or unsportsmanlike behaviour.  
We've been trialing this system during the last week. At the point at which I posted this comment, it looks like everyone who posted in this thread was punished by this system. 
Because this is a relatively new system that is being trialed - there's currently no specific information in the client or in the email that you receive after being punished. If you contact Player Support, they will provide you with more context around why you were punished. We're planning on improving the info provided at the time of punishment over time.
I'm happy to provide logs here from your own cases if you are willing for me to do so. Otherwise, Player Support should be able to help you out."
They continued: 
"As Gin answered, this is currently on trial in OCE only. As it currently is, the system does not care if there was a dodge or not."
"Agree that once you are 5 you lose a bit of the anticipation and excitement from having big goals. 
We are making some changes based on the feedback we got from the systems launch to make it better. I can't share specifics, but I think many of you will be pleased. 
Also honor levels do have a reset at the start of the next season, a bit like ranked. So there will be some new goals and rewards."


"The final sixteen teams face off in the first round of the 2017 Worlds Group Stage. Can anyone beat SKT? Is NA greater than EU? Find out with Flashback!"
"Check out the top 5 plays from the first week of the Group Stage of the 2017 World Championship in this week's episode of The Penta."
"This week on The Dive the gang are joined by Vedius to talk about all the action from Week 1 of the Worlds 2017 Group Stage."

Reminders

Last up, a few reminders on upcoming and ending soon promotions and sales!
  • The ranked season ends November 7th! Check out this post for all the end of season goodies you will be eligible for at the end of this season!
  • With Worlds 2017 in full swing, Summoner's Rift is celebrating with new emotes, map accents, and much more as Worlds hits the Rift through the end of Worlds! Championship Ashe and her Golden Championship chroma, ward, legacy esports skins and much more are now available! Check out the post for all the details.

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