Red Post Collection: Context on MF PBE Changes, "Let's talk about Elise", Expanded Team Builder PBE testing, & more!

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Recent News

It's been a busy day! Here's a list of some of the recent news you may have missed.

• Champion and Skin Sale 2/14 - 2/17: Heartseeker Vayne, Jack of Hearts Twisted Fate, Debonair Jayce, Katarina, Lucian, Leona
• EU LCS Spring Split Week 5
• 2014 NA and EU LCS Spring Split Summoner Icons now available! 
• Red Post Collection: Hexakill on Feb 20th, Ranked Pick Order Update, Rengar and Skarner Discussions
• Heartseeker Ashe and Bouquet Ward skin now available

Context and discussion on PBE Miss Fortune Changes

Here's ricklessabandon with more info on the tentative Miss Fortune balance changes he's currently testing out on the PBE!

"this will be my default thread for any feedback, bug reports, and discussion in general regarding the miss fortune changes i put up on the pbe last morning. i'll still poke around in other places like these forums, twitter, gd, reddit, etc but this thread will in essence be 'home' while miss fortune is on the pbe. 

regarding the timeline, miss fortune isn't on a schedule. these changes are being done on the side (so to speak) so if something needs to get delayed due to resource constraints, these changes will one of the first pushed. that said, the sooner she's done the sooner i can work on someone else on the side, so hopefully she doesn't take much time to shore up. :3 

getting into the changes themselves, the list is pretty lengthy so a small preface is in order. speaking broadly, these changes will hopefully put a bit more power/scaling into the parts of miss fortune's kit that make her a unique and fun champion to play as, with, and against. i also hope to clean up some things that might benefit from a touch of 'modernization' (within reason of course). without drilling too deep into those topics, the gist is that i'd like miss fortune players (both active and dormant) to generally be excited about these changes which should support their endeavors to play more miss fortune. 

anyway, onto the exciting stuff! below are the would-be patch notes (i'll update this one as i make changes). perhaps the most surprising thing to some is the lack of change to strut and make it rain. that's intentional for now, but that doesn't mean that they're for sure off the table—they're just not the focus of these early pbe tests. i'd much rather focus on her other abilities first. :3 

change format

• spell name

• current pbe values (live values)

Miss Fortune

• Strut

• No changes at present

• Double Up

• Mana Cost reduced to 55 (from 70/75/80/85/90)

• Cooldown changed to 7/6/5/4/3 (from 9/8/7/6/5)

• Damage to 1st target changed to 110% AD (from 25/60/95/130/165 +75% AD)

• Damage to 2nd target changed to 120/130/140/150/160% AD (from 30/72/114/156/198 +90% AD)

• Changed the criteria for selecting the 2nd target*

• Updated the range/targeting indicator to help communicate the change in 2nd target criteria

• Impure Shots

• Mana Cost reduced to 30 (from 50)

• Cooldown changed to 15/14/13/12/11 (from 16)

• Passive's damage changed to 6% Total AD per stack (from 4/6/8/10/12 damage per stack)

• Active's Attack Speed buff changed to 20/30/40/50/60% (from 30/35/40/45/50%)

• Grievous Wounds duration reduced to 2 (from 3)

• Make It Rain

• No changes at present

• Bullet Time

• Damage reduced to 45/75/105 (from 65/95/125)

• Bonus AD ratio reduced to 30% (from 35%)

• Now applies stacks of Impure Shots (does include bonus magic damage; does not include grievous wounds)

*The criteria for selecting the 2nd target for Double Up has been changed from 'largely random' to the following: 

• Bounce Mechanics: Double Up now looks for targets within a cone directly behind the 1st target (based on initial cast position) within 500 range 

• Double Up will first attempt to target champions marked by Impure Shots within a 40° cone

• Then it will attempt to target a minion/monster within a 20° cone

• Then it will attempt to target a champion within a 20° cone

• Then it will attempt to target a minion/monster within a 40° cone

• Then it will attempt to target a champion within a 40° cone

• Finally it will attempt to target a neutral/enemy unit within a 90° cone 

the bounce mechanics need some polish still, which includes normal numbers tuning as well as little adjustments for feel (e.g., right now it feels like there's a dead zone directly behind the target due to how narrow the cones are in that short of a distance, so checks within 100 range or so should be more forgiving so they feel right). 

let's enjoy!"

For reference, here's an example of the new Double Up indicator that was added in the 2/12 PBE update.

These changes were originally added in the Feb 12th PBE update and are available for testing now!

Let's Talk About Elise

Riot Jag has created a forum thread to collect summoner's opinions on Elise and what about players like about her.

"Hey guys,

I’d like to seek some of your thoughts on why you like to play Elise. I’m happy to hear thematic reasons, but I’m primarily looking for feedback on what type of gameplay experience you enjoy when playing Elise. Why do you lock her in at champion select? What are the most fun aspects of using her in game? What are some of your favorite high moments in a game while playing Elise? And if you don’t like her in your game, why not?"

He continued:

"People are pointing to how sometimes Elise can be a powerful assassin, while at other times she can be a strong frontline tank, or perhaps more of a mage with solid poke. Do any of these roles feel more important than the others? Which one of these playstyles do you feel is the one that most defines her?"

and after a batch of feedback, he concluded:

"Many have pointed out that her primarily single-target focused kit is part of the reason why she doesn't feel as strong in larger teamfights, especially later game, as she does in smaller scale skirmishes. It seems like most of you are okay with this and feel like this is a weakness that emphasizes playing to her strengths (i.e. it makes hitting your Cocoon and other single target spells on a high value target more important). Is that a fair assessment?"

Riot Jag also commented on Elise's maximum health based damage, saying:

"Something I'd like to point out here: in regards to how well Elise's maximum health based damage scales into the late game, our data shows Elise's win rate has some of the largest drop-off of any champion as the game goes on in length."

[ Lore ] Bio Updates & Visible Progress on Lore

When asked what happened to the various bio updates mentioned as being in the pipeline nearly a year ago ( particularly Singed ), kitae commented:

"Where is Singed's bio is a reasonable question. I'm not happy we haven't gotten that out to you guys yet. At the time I posted about Singed he was next in line, but some priorities got jumbled. 

We aren't emphasizing bio rewrites right now because (frankly) we're not super happy with the current bio format. I think that you guys aren't super happy with it either. 

What I can say is we have a passionate team of writers, who believe strongly in the value of story and character and we are trying to figure out the best way to bring more story to you guys. Beyond writers, story is valued across Riot. However, as far as actually delivering story goes we've been kind of slow. I do think our events (Shadow Isles, Freljord) and recent champion promotions (Jinx recently, Vel'koz) have going well and I think in game our characters are very strong, but I get you guys want more out of game meaty narrative. So do I. 

What I can say is I am your ally. Every day I advocate for character, story, and world. I advocate for you guys."

She continued:

"Yep that is totally reasonable and that would be the perspective I would have as a player. I am pushing for more visible progress on lore. There is always a tradeoff here. If we don't work on ambitious projects, we won't bring you guys better quality lore experiences. But, if we work on projects that are too long term, we run the risk of not having progress. 

We have been delivering new content to you guys: new champions, reworks, faction events, champion previews. 

But we want to deliver a lot more and I agree our visible progress is too low right now. I'm taking that to heart."

Team Builder is coming back to the PBE select times from 2/14 until 2/21!

The team is ramping up Team Builder testing with a multitude of different testing windows at various times over the next week!

Here's missmechazero with more info:

"Greetings Summoners! 

I'm here to share the news that Team Builder will be available additional days and times. We hope that our upcoming schedule will make Team Bu 

ilder available to a wider audience of testers despite our need for continued monitoring.
Please note that availability is subject to change without notice since this is a test environment. 

Test Schedule:

• Friday February 14th at 1-5 PM PST (21:00 – 1:00 GMT)
• Saturday February 15th at 6-10 AM PST (14:00 -- 18:00 GMT)
• Sunday February 16th at 1-5 PM PST (21:00 – 1:00 GMT)
• Monday February 17th at 6-10 AM PST (14:00 -- 18:00 GMT)
• Tuesday February 18th at 1-5 PM PST (21:00 – 1:00 GMT)
• Wednesday February 19th at 6-10 AM PST (14:00 -- 18:00 GMT)
• Thursday February 20th at 1-5 PM PST (21:00 – 1:00 GMT)
• Friday February 21st at 6-10 AM PST (14:00 -- 18:00 GMT) 

Thanks to your feedback, we've made the following fixes and improvements:

• Lobby music has been updated with new layers and smoother transitions. 
• Fixes have been applied so that invites to Team Builder lobbies behave properly. 
• Summoner Spell icons are arranged by level. 
• Improved ready/unready state polish for captains and solos.

Please continue providing feedback around the overall experience and report any bugs you see. Prior to testing, you can check back here for any new information. Please report any bugs you find in our official Team Builder Bug Discussion Thread. 

Thanks for testing with us!"