Red Post Collection: On Ashe PBE & Riven PBE Changes, Info on 2014 Ranked Placement Matches, and more!

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Recent News

• NA LCS Spring Split Week 1: SUPER WEEK
• 1/17 PBE Update: Tentative Balance Changes
• 1/17 PBE Update #2 [ Air Client Only Patch]: More Tentative Balance Changes

Recent Ashe PBE Changes and MF PBE changes next week

As you may have noticed in the 1/16 PBE update, Ashe got a few balance changes to her E - it's cooldown is lowered and the gold granted on minion kill was changed to 3 at all ranks from 1/2/3/4/5.

Here's ricklessabandon with the scoop:

"it's small, but it was a quick/easy change i could put on the pbe while i was looking into adc champions as a side project—i believe it will test well enough to ship, but we'll know for sure soon! wish i could spend more time this patch on stuff like that, but it's a busy time for me. :3"

He continued,

"oh, i haven't really talked to meddler about ashe, so i'm not really sure what you're referring to. if you're asking about future ashe changes in general, i think they'd be a little further out (unless they are super quick little tweaks like this one) as there are other champions that demand a little more urgency than ashe."

ricklessabandon also replied to someone asking about Quinn's passive and if there was a way to make it more reliable:

"actually, somebody messaged me on twitter about adding a cooldown timer for it—is that the kind of thing you're talking about? i want to look into that after i get some miss fortune changes on the pbe. speaking of which…"

He continued, revealing he should have some Miss Fortune PBE changes on the PBE next week!

"i have some changes for her that are almost ready for the pbe. i was hoping to have them out this week, but i got ganked by some surprise work. there should be something to play around with and discuss next week though. :3"

Over on twitter, he briefly mentioned  Impure Shots - her W - as the target of ( some of ) the changes:

"version i'm testing: double up isn't a skillshot, make it rain isn't different, and impure shots is…well, it's changed."

He continued

"removing the ap ratio. more details next week. :3"

Ranked Placement Matches

The 2014 ranked season has started and many summoners are curious to how their placement matches and last season ranking figure in to where they end up.

Here's Riot Socrates with more info:

"We wanted to give some extra clarification on placement matches for the start of the 2014 season. There’s been some discussion from players who seeded lower than they expected, so I thought I’d talk about that a bit. 

First – there was a ‘soft reset’ in ranked but it was not as strong as in previous seasons. What that means in practical terms is that the system does take account your performance in previous seasons but the playing field has been leveled slightly. Your initial seeding is based on your performance in the previous season coupled with performance in your promotional games. 

Second – most players will find they are placed close to where they were in the previous season, but there are some who’ll be placed lower or higher than in the previous season based on their game history. For example a player who was division V and lost a lot of games at 0 LP last season would see those losses reflected in their placement in the current season. If a player is placed into a league below their skill level due to a string of losses in their placements, they’ll see accelerated gains / division skipping as they continue to win games that will quickly push them to their correct league position Third (and finally) – I’ll be adding a placement match section to the 2014 season ranked FAQ to clarify questions here where possible (This FAQ should be up soon)."

When asked what the point of a soft reset was, he replied

"Hey, happy to answer that one. The game changes a lot from one season to the next (for example jungle and support changes), and being the best in season 3 may not mean being the best in the 2014 season. The best way to capture that difference in our opinion is with seasons. Also lots of players improve from one season to the next. The seasonal reset gives everybody a fresh start so the system doesn't become overly stratified."

[Update] Regarding the Riven Changes

Riven's base regeneration is now 2.5 from 5.5

and, as a result of the discussion, that the shield change will also be going up even more.

Riven's Valor is now 90/120/150/180/210 from 70/100/130/160/190

Xypherous started out by replying to a summoner appalled by the heavy handed decrease to Riven's base HP regen:

"You're very upset here - so let's talk through the change a little bit. 

By lowering a champions initial hp/5 by 4 - she effectively loses 24 48 health per minute. This is clearly a huge hit to her laning phase, especially early. 

Her shield has been increased by 10 points and her shield has a 10 second cooldown. With Rank 1 shield, assuming you can use it fully 3 times a minute - any further uses of this simply nets you upside - assuming you block damage that is actually significant enough to pierce the shield. 

Riven's durability is meant to be virtual - it's as strong as her opponent's mistakes and as good as her timing in using it. 

The intent here is to make Riven more like Riven - a character who avoids damage entirely though good play - not regenerate it like every other bruiser in the game. Going the opposite direction (HP/5 + nerfed shield value) - simply makes Riven closer to every other Bruiser in terms of playstyle in lane. 

What further changes could further push this goal? 

EDIT: I realize that anyone following this post has now realized that I have made a math error by a factor of 2 or so. This is why you don't work on GP/10 and HP/5 at the same time. :("

"You're absolutely correct that no one can avoid every ounce of ranged harass you get thrown at. 

However, if you simply block 3 full attacks with this shield - you come out ahead in terms of health. You are healthier than before - so long as you can mitigate the full damage.
I would assume this a nerf to your Riven play. Is the fact 3 shields impractical to pull off in lane? 

Does the value need to be closer to 2 shield attacks? Is it the fact that you're going to waste the extra shield value a vast majority of the time? I'm all for readjusting the numbers if you feel like the current crossover point is impractical - but I'd need to understand the essential disconnect on regeneration and what the equivalent conversion value to shield is."

"Awesome - 3 full shields is completely impractical with the new duration. That's great feedback to hear - it means that we're missing the mark on what is practical in reality. 

Is there a value between her current regeneration and shield value that seems practical? 3 full shields is impractical - but how does 2 full shields sound? 

EDIT: Sweet - Okay, I'll raise her base HP/5 to 2.5 and try for 15 shield - that'll be 1 and 1/2 shields. When you get a chance with those updates, let me know how that feels!
Thanks for the feedback!"

"They'll be on PBE for at least 2 weeks so hopefully we can make further adjustments if it feels impractical in game. If you get opportunity to - try playing with it on PBE. 

Also - reading this - I seriously messed up my math in the initial post. Ergh. I fail - This is why you don't do math at 4 a.m."

"Update: 

Riven's base regeneration is now 2.5 from 5.5 

Riven's Valor is now 90/120/150/180/210 from 70/100/130/160/190 

Effectively, this means that she regenerates 36 less health per minute - but has a 20 point stronger shield - so two full shields will recoup the effect rather than the FIVE previously because I critically failed at math. 

Again, thanks for the feedback - hopefully we can get this pattern to a good spot."

New PBE Accounts Fixed, "PBE Starter Kits", and more

Here's Riot Blackrook with info on recent PBE changes, including a fix for the bug causing new PBE accounts to not be auto leveled, PBE starter kits that help new PBE users get to testing faster, and info on update to the PBE downloader.

"Hey all, here's a few updates on the PBE: 

The Level 30 Problem 

We tracked down the problem with our system that auto-levels new PBE accounts to level 30. All the accounts that have been sitting around for the past few days playing bot games are now level 30. If you just created your account you will still be level 1, but if you wait about 10 minutes and log out and back in our system should auto-level you to 30 as well. 

The PBE Store 

I've also been working on setting up some new features in the PBE Store to allow new Beta Players to get everything they need to start playing as quickly as possible. Personally, as a PBE player before I joined Riot, I didn't appreciate having to click through and buy all of the champions and runes I needed to actually play a game and not get owned. So I'm working on a few things to eliminate a lot of repetition and clicking. 

Specifically, there are two new "PBE Starter Kits" in the store, one that gives you all the champions in bulk and another that gives you a set of common runes that most players use. (We're not doing all the runes because having too many actually makes it pretty hard to set up your rune book. If you want some sweet Hybrid Penetration runes that aren't in the Starter Kit, you can still buy those in the store as normal.) 

Both of these Starter Kits are in the PBE store for 10 IP to make sure that everyone can get set up and ready to play as soon as they join the PBE. 

Some of the stuff that is actually new on the PBE will also show up in the Featured section of the store to let you know what is different on PBE compared to NA and EU. 

Downloading the PBE 

We've also updated the download for the PBE client 

[http://pbesignup.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/pbe ] to reduce the download size by over a gigabyte. Now when you download the PBE from your browser, you only get the patcher which is < 1MB. This makes it easier to move around on your hard drive before you open it to download the rest of the PBE files. 

Leave me your feedback, especially about the store changes and anything that would make the PBE easier to use. 

@RiotBlackrook"

Runes Discussion 

ricklessabandon also commented on something he discussed a while back - increasing champion armor across the board to make up for potential change to armor seals since they are almost mandatory.

"if we do something like this, it most likely will be similar to the change we did with boots of speed a while back—everyone would get a flat increase, and that increase would be the same for everyone. if we wanted specific champions to be even more/less tanky (to preserve the current 'relative values'), those would just be separate balance changes. :3"

He continued,

"no, this was regarding a hypothetical counter-balance to a hypothetical nerf to armor seals."

ricklessabandon also elaborated on what sort of hypothetical refuns would be given out should runes should they changes drastically ( i.e one color to another ) or be deleted due to any future rune changes.

"i believe you may have misunderstood the examples that were given (if you've read anything erroneous, then apologies for that—sincerely), but the only model we've talked about in regards to refunds would be one that applies when a rune you own would no longer exist at all. the two scenarios that i know of that would cause that: 

{ hypothetical scenario one }
we change a rune from one type to another
example: gold per 10 seals are changed to gold per 10 glyphs
response: owners of the seals are refunded, and may purchase glyphs as a normal transaction (seals would no longer be available) 

{ hypothetical scenario two }
we delete a rune
example: mana marks are deleted
response: owners of the marks are refunded 

we currently don't have plans to issue refunds for runes that receive only balance changes (e.g., a quint is buffed, a glyph is nerfed, etc). hope that clears things up!"