Red Post Collection: Upcoming Morgana PBE Changes, Jinx Bug, Note on promised Galio changes, More on Heimer & Xerath

This morning's red post collection features ricklessabandon with an updated overview on his tentative Morgana PBE changes & a note on his previously mentioned Galio changes, Gypsylord acknowledging a bug with Jinx's W, IronStylus briefly discussing ideas Taric's future VU, more on Heimerdinger, and additional discussion on Xerath's rework & a note about it being pulled from the PBE.

Continue reading for more info!

New Draft of Upcoming Morgana PBE Changes 

ricklessabandon has posted an updated overview of what the Morgana PBE changes will look like after the next PBE update rolls out, mentioning the range buff that went out in the 10/18 PBE Update and that her W damage will increase based off her target's missing HP

"quick, quick update!

i found out today that the pbe won't be updated again over the weekend, so the tormented soil changes won't be in until monday at the earliest. just so you guys have some info about the current set of changes, here's what she'll look like once that update does happen: 

Morgana

General

• Attack Range increased to 450 from 425

• Base Attack Speed increased to 0.625 from 0.579

• Made her basic attack more responsive 

Tormented Soil

• Tormented Soil's damage now increases by 10% to 60% based on the enemy's missing Health

• Damage application cadence increased to every 0.5 seconds from every 1 second

• No longer applies a Magic Resist reduction debuff

just so there's no guess work, that does mean that i've reverted the base damage back to 25-85. also, the damage amp also affects the ability power ratio, so best theoretical damage is 136 (+32% ap) per second. and again, the tormented soil changes aren't on the pbe and sadly won't be until early next week."

Bug: Jinx's W revealing stealthed units

When asked why Jinx's W is currently revealing stealthed units, Gypsylord confirmed it was a bug and will be fixed soon.

"Totally agree. W revealing stealthed units is a bug that will be fixed in the next patch. My bad on this one.

To clarify, the spell should grant vision. It should not grant True Sight."

Update on Galio Changes

ricklessabandon dropped off a small update on the Galio changes he mentioned a while back.

"no updates at the moment. the summary is that i need to have a least a certain amount of resources allocated to galio in order to add him to a patch. that amount is fairly high compared to other individual champion changes. so when planning for a patch, i basically ask to see if it's possible to pull enough resources to get jayce or galio out (those are the two at the front of the line for me). if it's not, then i work on things that require fewer resources.

as soon as i can get a soft commitment to resources, i'll definitely get something onto the pbe. not sure how soon i can get that, but i try every patch—i don't imagine it'll be super far out."

Chatting about Taric's future VU

Following up from yesterday's discussion, IronStylus chatted a bit more on his IDEAS for Taric's VU.

"Quote:

Hi IronStylus, I was thinking that taric could use his hammer with both hands, then when he activates his crystal shield it would begin to grow on his arm, (similar to lissandras ice around her legs) then he can smash it and he would go back to holding his hammer with two hands. 

This is pretty much what I had in mind ;) 

Again, not sure if it's feasible/possible, but I think he's a great opportunity for crystalline growths coming from socketed gems. That's just one idea in the pot at the moment though and my personal preference."

He also replied to a summoner who noted that he never tried Taric because of he doesn't care for the way he looks:

"No, I don't think that makes you shallow. A car might be a complete monster under the hood, but if it looks like a rusted bucket from the outside, would you still want to street race it?

That's our goal anyway on Relaunch. Bring love and care to champions who are memorable and fun but not the best looking at the moment."

When asked if any sort of kit updates would accompany this future VU, IronStylus commented:

"I think the VU has some kit updates. I'm not 100% sure though. We have yet to pass concept phase. Still a lot of drawing to do and syncing up with Design and Creative to figure out exactly where we want to go with him. 

Relaunch is trying to get in line with what Live Design is planning/has planned when it wants to introduce major kit updates or overhauls. The term Rework is technically what is used for major kit changes, and Rework + VU is the term for a kit update with a visual overhaul included.

The optimistic plans of the latter is a loooonnng list. Longest of the 4 categories. Those categories being Rework (mechanics changes only), Relaunch (complete redo of existing character, mechanics, theme, art), Visual Update (Art update only) and Visual Update + Rework (Mechanics changes and visual changes, but no drastic changes to theme)."

On topic, he also mentioned that he - despite being the relaunch concept artist - isn't always the one to do the VU concepts:

"Policy now is to widely solicit art from anyone in the Art Department who's passionate about an upcoming VU and submit a concept. There's a few upcoming VU's that were taken on by artists outside the Relaunch team. We all collectively give feedback and collectively decide on the way forward with the design. It's a pretty badass system actually that creates more stylistic consistency and helps distribute the workload of the massive backlog.

So, despite me being the designated Relaunch concept artist, I prefer whoever wants to take the champion to finish is the person who ultimately does the final design based on the group's consensus."

More on Heimer Rework

Another day, another batch of Heimer rework posts!

When asked why Xypherous - the original Rioter working on the Heimer update - is no lnger on the project, 20thCenturyFaux replied:

"Xypherous handed the project off to me so he could focus on bigger scope systems stuff, his core work is really solid and it's been a blast working off that jumping point. I don't know if I'd have had the balls to try a modal ult and it's become one of my favorite parts of the kit ^^

He's super busy, I sent him this link but I don't know if he's got time to post. To be honest the only reason I'm getting away with posting so much is that it's directly tied into what I'm working on right now, so I can get bugs feedback etc"'

He also had a few words about the issue of Heimerdinger no longer having access to free CDR on his R:

"I find the CDR thing especially interesting because it's a very clear example (to me) of the difference between perception of power vs exercise of power. 

People want free passive CDR much much more than they want the CDs of Heimer's abilities to go down, by volume and passion of requests. Yet by every measure reducing the spells' base CD is straight up the same thing as free CDRand stronger besides. It lets you reach higher highs of CDR after blue buff / buying some / runes masteries / etc. 

There's a bunch of psychological factors that cause this, and it makes a lot of gut-level sense to people. At the end of the day, it feels like the passive CDR was "taken away", and people respond much more strongly to something being "taken away" than they do to the absence of power they desire. A thought experiment: If I hand you a candy bar, then take it away, you become justifiably angry with me--way more than if I just don't hand out candy in the first place.

This doesn't change what players want or the data they have access do, but what it does do is reframe the conversation. It starts it out in cooldown land, skipping several initial steps: Does Heimer need a buff? Where should that buff go and why? If we think he needs more stuff to do, when during the game does he need it? Is cooldown the right way to give him more power and more stuff to do? If all yes, then consider if we want to artificially restrict how much CDR he can buy. If yes to that too, then and only then does a CDR passive come back.

That's a lot of ifs! What's more, the balance of champions changes as people learn to play them--release Orianna is probably the clearest example of this. As strategies for playing as Heimer and playing against Heimer emerge, it changes what his balance looks like. From that, it's actually outright impossible to achieve a state of perfect balance in PBE, so the strategy becomes more about planning and getting ready for live. What do we do if he turns out UP? OP? Balanced but in a skewed way (too weak here, too strong there, sorta average overall)? That's what PBE is really good at, and you guys have helped a lot preparing me in that department."

He also replied to someone suggesting W's rockets base damage be cranked up and the damage per additional rocket hit be taken down:

"We actually did exactly that, give or take some AP ratio--that ends up making the "rocket shotgun" version of W kinda OP. People max W in lane and spread the rockets out so at least one hits. That means creeps are the only defense; players save their rockets for after the creep wave dies, then tax the enemy mid. On top of that, everyone seems to agree that the "rocket sniper" is the fun one to use, so I ended up switching it to the version you see today ^^

That said, I actually think we may end up buffing the spread version of the rocket, likely as part of the first balance patch after he goes live. Because it's so hard to dodge it's riskier, since if it's OP it has a much more powerful effect on the game than a world where the all-in rockets are OP."

Xerath Rework Pulled from PBE & More Discussion

Xelnath kicked off today's Xerath rework discussion by comparing the new kit to his old kit in an effort to stave off a summoner concerned Xerath is changing too much and requesting Xelnath be more active in the feedback thread.

"I cannot be much more active than I am right now.

Xerath still has a line nuke. The ability to trade mobility for range. A ranged single target stun. Combos which flow naturally from that kit. Xerath is still extremely positioning sensitive. He just doesn't get to cheat with a 4 second cooldown 2 second dash that provides 40% spell penetration. 

Spell flow wise, E->W is like E->R. E->Q is solid harass. These flows are the same. He still ignores a significant portion of the enemy's magic resistance.

He is still has long range on these base spells and effects. Finally, he has a new long-range attack that is unparalled in the game. No other champion gets the opportunity to snipe off two opponents fleeing in opposite directions at critical health.
However, I am going to stop posting for a while. I really do know better, but still got drawn into this. Each time I posit how he is similar, has the same button flow, someone will write a list explaining how he has changed.

Yes, he has changed. Yes, this is highly disruptive. Yes, you won't be as good with Xerath rework day 1 as you are now at day 500 of live Xerath. However, everything about his kit screams Xerath - long range line poke, crushing AoE damage, extreme safety and importance of paying attention to positioning. Finishing off weak champions in lane with ultimate after poking them down to a vulnerable state."

He continued, discussing the community idea of adding ammo to Xerath's R:

"If we put ammo on the ultimate, or a cooldown refund for not firing all of the shots, it encourages Xerath players to be more timid about using their ability. We don't want that. We want you to be in siege mode and maximize your ability. You should not be second guessing yourself during ultimate - with the exception of "oh ****, someone's coming, I need to leave ultimate mode NOW to run!""

He also commented on perhaps increasing the damage on W in return for shrinking the bonus damage to enemies right in the middle and maybe bumping up the outer slow:

"On the topic of Locus of Destruction - I don't want to flatten the damage too much. Maybe go from 60 to 50 with some small base damage increase. I agree the outer slow is very weak at 10%. Will discuss with Zenon today."

When asked why he decided to keep an ult that roots Xerath in place, Xelnath remarked:

"Preserving the theme of the original kit, clear moment focused only on long range attacks. 

Steroids (aka old locus) have to be absurdly overtuned to be appreciate. Champions in that space (Karma) have historically been viewed poorly. New Heimerdinger is the first super-steroid ult that seems to be testing well.

I would say that the current ult is also truer to the old Xerath ultimate - 3 shots (now 4) of significant aoe power."

He moved on to summarize some of the issues and common complaints popping up in the feedback thread, as well as acknowledging the removal of Xerath's rework from the current PBE:

"Okay, let's summarize these issues:

You feel:

• Xerath's controls have significantly changed since live
• Xerath root - fire - reposition play was core to the character
• Xerath's burst was unavoidable previously and new Xerath is more avoidable
• Xerath's ultimate feels like it is outside his core kit (previously it triggered the stun)

Xerath has been pulled off PBE while we work on his new ultimate VFX and to prepare for the release of 3.13"

He continued, noting Xerath will not be getting a new ultimate:

"I think there's been some confusion here. I'm not building a new ultimate from scratch at this point. However, I do understand the issues you are stating here. 

Complete immobility -> Dash is the main thing I see communicated here that feels different. However, when I tested briefly locally, it felt broken to have a charge spell that immobilizes you. The suggestion of increased range while not moving creates weird incentivization and random bursts of power when you are just holding idle with your character. 

Xerath's burst being unavoidable is something we do not feel is an appropriate thing on a champion kit, especially one with range and the ability to select targets.

I do agree that Xerath's ultimate does not feel like it interacts with the rest of his kit. However, since it is a very complex spell already, I am extremely hesistant to add more complexity."

In response to someone suggesting Xerath be able to cast his other spells during the duration of his ultimate, Xelnath commented:

"If we allow you to cast your normal spells during the ultimate, we will probably need to cut the ultimate's damage by 50%. :(

The fact that you aren't casting other things means we can give you more power in each ultimate click."