Red Post Collection: Quick Gameplay Thoughts: July 18, Urf Merch Extravaganza, & More

Tonight's red post collection includes Meddler's quick gameplay thoughts for July 18th including Twisted Treeline, Syndra, and Rune UI color discussion, a spatula full of new URF items in the merch shop, & more!
Continue reading for more information!


Table of Contents


Quick Gameplay Thoughts: July 18

Check out Meddler's quick gameplay thoughts for July 18th, including thought on the funneling strat on Twisted Treeline, Syndra, the Rune UI, and more:
"Hi folks, 
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  
Twisted Treeline 
8.14 has nerfs to gold funneling on SR. We kept those nerfs out of TT however for that patch since we didn't want to add it last minute without enough consideration and at least some TT specific bug testing. 8.15's a possibility however, and to help us understand whether we should add the gold funneling penalty would be great to get a bunch of feedback from you folks. 
What would be particularly helpful here: 
  • A clear for or against position on the gold funneling penalty on TT
  • Some context on how much TT you've played and when (links to match history, boards posts with longer thoughts as potential examples) 
To explain the second point one concern we've got is that when we talk about gold funneling on TT a lot of voices in the discussion seem to be well meaning people who don't actually play TT. Intent there seems to be good, but we're particularly looking for feedback from people with a lot of experience on the map since their experience will change the most with any changes we make. 
Syndra 
We'll be looking at some possible Syndra buffs in 8.15. She was one of the mages we considered in 8.14, but come patch lock we didn't have changes we were happy with. We think she's a bit weak in normal play, not particularly weak in pro, so want to add power in ways that pro is less sensitive to if possible, avoid pushing her back to pick/ban there. Options we're currently considering are increased Q damage at max rank from her passive (trying to avoid adding too much early power) or improved base stats. 
Adding Color to the Rune UI 
As mentioned a little while back we're working on some small stuff with the Runes selection UI to make it a bit smoother. First piece of that's adding color to the rune tree symbols as below to make it a bit easier to navigate between trees really quickly.
More work on stuff like this to come. Let us know if you've got ideas for similar changes that would be helpful and something we might be able to get in pretty quickly."

When asked about Karma work, Meddler commented:
"Quote:
Hey Meddler, any word on who's taking over the work on Karma from Rickless?
Neurocat, who most recently worked on the Fizz W changes, is going to take a stab at Karma. Likely be a little while at least before we've got any details to share, will probably follow the same approach of Fizz, Quinn, Rengar etc of work on it till there's a core we think has promise, then put it on PBE for multiple patches to get discussion and feedback going."

He continued:
"Quote:
will this update be support or mid oriented?
I highly prefer playing mid karma so since the last patch focus on "karma supp is weak" I'm kinda afraid she will become a support champ only
It's likely we target Karma in multiple positions. That's a guess on my part though, not a committed goal yet. In particular I'd like to give Neurocat a chance to dig into Karma's playstyle, player feedback, history, current state etc before we start committing to particular goals."

When asked about the progress on the Lissandra changes that are in internal testing, Meddler replied:
"Quote:
Can't wait for the changes to Liss's passive & E. Sounds incredibly exciting.
You've mentioned a partial reset for her W (but it did not hit the mark?)
Do you have another approach or something new you can tell us about that or Liss in general? :)
 
A small knockback like Volibears E sounds nice imo but it might be too powerful. 
Maybe moving some dmg from E to W instead?
I'm trending away from the partial reset on W. Hasn't generated the proactive use from it I was hoping for an appreciability versus power has been poor. 
Moving damage off E to other parts of the kit doesn't buy you much room to buff other things because E's not a reliable damage source. It's not like taking 60 damage off E would make it power neutral to put 60 damage on another ability, that's a pretty meaningful buff. I'd prefer to keep a decent amount of damage on E as a result so that, when you can pull off champion damage with it, or when you're prepared to put it on CD for waveclear, there's a decent payoff. 
In terms of Liss overall I'm going to stop talking about her as much for a bit. Going to be just waiting on artist and sound designer time for a while, so won't have things to talk about each post."

Meddler continued:
"Quote:
Is the e missile speed still increased at the beginning and lower at the end which makes e slower for the full distance?
What's still in that will likely ship:
  • Faster at the start
  • Moving slower at the end
  • Same total time to go from start to finish"

Meddler talked about an old plan to possibly update Ahri's ability icons:
"Quote:
I don't know in which Quick Gameplay Thoughts but it's been around long enough, you said Ahri, amumu Renekton and other champions are going to have their spell icon redrawn, almost everyone got them but nothing new for her D:
I believe we decided to pass on updating Ahri's icons. Other champs and items were or are much worse off so we decided to spent the artist's time elsewhere."

Urf Extravaganza Merch Drop

The Riot Games merch store is back with a new merch drop, this time featuring everyone's favorite manatee, Urf! Check out the new figure, plush, onesie, and Chef Urf set over on the Urf Extravaganza landing page!
"A golden spatula. Narwhals of glory. A wondrous olive crown. Urf is Limited Edition and the king of the Series 3 figure line. When you purchase Urf he comes with a bonus Ultra Random Figure from Series 1 or 2 for free, because that is just how awesome Urf is. URF!"
"Embrace your inner Manatee with the most incredible onesie ever made. Ever. Seriously. . .ever. 
Don't worry, Warwick won't come after you. We think."
"The most famous Manatee in the world makes the grandest of entrances to become #00 in the Collectible Plush line. The line will never be the same. 
Urf is #00 in the Collectible Plush line."
"Urf carried his trusty golden spatula with him wherever he went. It was said that his spatula was the finest in the land. Cook like a king or queen with this authentic gold-plated spatula and Urf apron. 
These products may or may not enhance your cooking skills, but either way, you will look like a boss."

Quick Hits

  • Over on reddit, RiotOwlHowl noted there was an naming/ui related issue when crafting Hextech Alistar / Hextech Poppy and that Hextech Alistar will be temporarily disabled to prevent further accidents.
"Hey guys! 
I'm on the team that makes store and loot content and features. Thanks for calling this issue out! We had a bad string merge that we thought we addressed in time but it didn't quite make the release. We've temporarily disabled Hextech Alistar to prevent accidental crafts. 
Hextech Alistar and Hextech Poppy will be back as soon as we can fix them without causing downtime for players. Thanks for your patience!"
"No - Akali's bio was deliberate. We're trying out a common player request, for lore at PBE. :-) 
We often see a lot of players getting upset about new champs and VGUs on PBE, because there is no lore context around their VO and visuals, and so head-canon and speculation run wild. It's actually surprisingly painful for us to get the bio ready for PBE, without everything else we'd normally put into the champ/faction update, but I'm happy for this to be the new normal if it helps portray the character better/more completely."
"Combating cheats is an ever-evolving arms race. The scope and complexity of cheat development grows every year along with the stakes in online gaming. The pressure is on for game studios to level up when it comes to detecting and preventing bad actors. I’m Michael “Perma” VanKuipers, and I used to be one of those bad actors; I spent over a decade developing cheats for various games and earned the ire of at least one large game studio in the process. These days I work on Riot’s Anti-Cheat team, helping secure League of Legends from scripts, bots, and exploits. In this article, I’m going to show you some of the details and strategies behind our latest anti-cheat initiative, including a technical overview of the steps we took to mitigate certain types of cheating. For a more high-level understanding of how we handle security, check out our article on the Evolution of Security at Riot...."

  • A New Player Pack bundle has been spotted in the store including several champions, a random ward permanent, the New Player Welcoming Poro icon, and one of a select few skin permanents - all for 650 RP. This bundle can be found in the Hextech Crafting  section of the shop.
"The end of season is right around the corner and we've made an update to eligibility requirements! 
When the 2018 Season ends, you'll get rewards based on your ranked standing. We'll have more details on what Ranked and Honor rewards to expect closer to season's end, but for now we wanted to remind you how to stay eligible.
  • You must be Honor level 2 or above to be eligible for RANKED end-of-season rewards. (We have made Honor progression a little easier to get up to Honor 2 to help you rank up!) 
  • MMR/Elo boosting or cheating will disqualify your account from RANKED & HONOR rewards.
  • If you have an erroneous or fraud-related ban, you'll still be eligible for rewards.
Important: You'll only drop your Honor level if you receive a penalty. A chat restriction knocks your Honor level to 1, or 0 if you're already level 1. A two-week suspension will drop your level to 0, even if you were higher. In both cases, your Honor progress will be locked, making your account ineligible for Hextech Crafting rewards. Your Honor will unlock some time after your restriction as long as you're showing signs of progress. You can find more info in our Honor FAQ."
  • Over on the subreddit /r/akalimains, Reav3 confirmed they will be adding VFX recolors for Silverfang Akali!
"We are planning to do recolors for Silverfang. After that it will just depend on time and resources. Not sure what we will be able to get to besides Silverfang."

Reminders

To round out this red post collection, here are a few reminders on current promotions or limited time events!
  • Dark Star Cho'Gath is now available, with 100% of proceeds going to regional charities! From now until August 10th, you can grab the skin, border, new summoner icons, and an emote! Check out our coverage for more!
  • The free skins promotions on Riot social media are heading to the vault! Check out the full details on this page to redeem Riot Girl Tristana, Dreadnight Garen, and Unchained Alistar before August 1st!

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