Red Post Collection: Vel'Koz & Monster Champs, Lunar Revel Choose Your Path Results, Rioter Communications on Forums vs Reddit, and more!

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Recent News

• Scorched Earth Renekton Now Available
• Vel'Koz, the Eye of the Void, Revealed

• The Glorious Evolution of Battlecast Vel'Koz
• 2/11 PBE Update : Vel'Koz, Battlecast Vel'Koz, New Kassadin VFX, and more!

Choose Your Path Results

The results are in for the 2014 Lunar Revel's "Choose Your Path" contest! Each region voted on which path they wanted to talk - Tryndamere with the Path of Power, Diana with the Path of Truth, or Riven with the Path of Freedom.

Here's the NA version of the announcement:

"Having chosen to walk the path of Truth, your region’s journey along the warrior’s path begins. Joined by your shared belief that battle does not make the warrior, you’ll reject brutish violence and begin the pursuit of pure knowledge. You’ll fight only to uncover truth and, even then, only as a last resort. 

But there is another way. You can reject the path of Truth and seek out Freedom or Power on your own.

Walk your own path for 1500 IP or 250 RP in the store, available through February 25. 

Lunar Revel is over and the road towards 2015 may be strewn with new obstacles, but whether you walk with your region or strike out on your own, the warrior’s path leads ever onward. Good luck and have fun in the new year!"

Here's which icon won in each region, along with a link to their specific results announcement:

• NA - Diana, Path of Truth
• EUW - Tryndamere, the Path of Power
• EUNE - Tryndamere, the Path of Power
• TU - Tryndamere, the Path of Power
• RU - Diana, the Path of Truth
• OCE - Diana, the Path of Truth
• BR - Tryndamere, The Path of Power
• LAS - Tryndamere, the Path of Power
• LAN - Tryndamere, The Path of Power

and here's another look at the icons:

Vel'Koz and Monster Champions

With the announcement of Vel'Koz sparking the discussion,  Meddler jumped in a monster champion discussion thread to share his own thoughts on the non-humanoid side of League:

"Our thinking on monster/creature champions has changed over the last couple of years. We still see clear personality and strong theme as really important, but are happier exploring those through creatures, not just humans/humanoids, than we were in the past. Some of that's a conclusion that, given the size of our champion roster, we no longer feel that every champion must have broad appeal. A somewhat niche concept, that appeals really strongly to some players and not at all to others, is fine or, potentially, ideal when you've already got more than 100 other champs to choose from.

In terms of what that means for future champions we do plan on releasing more non humans/humanoids like Vel'koz, mixed in with some other concepts that are better fits on more human/humanoid champions."

When asked what made Riot decide to crank out an "eye" champion, Meddler commented:

"Having a large, visually dominant eyeball on Vel'koz offers an interesting/new appearance, way of expressing personality (eye movements), potential to evoke some classic horror themes, cohesion with his backstory, similarities with some of the deep seas creatures that Void creature design is reminiscent of at times (giant squid/octopus/kraken) and a clear/distinctive focus of power. As with any character that doesn't have a standard human appearance there were some issues to overcome and an awareness that his appearance simply wouldn't appeal (or even actively not appeal) to some players. We felt that cost was well worth it for the stuff it allowed us to do with Vel'koz's though."

Of course it wouldn't be a monster champ discussion without someone bringing up Omen - a long cancelled champion concept.

Meddler comments:

"We've got no plans to revive Omen at present. While we're much more interested in creatures now than we were then Omen had some issues that were never addressed (as I understand it gameplay/appearance disconnect and insufficiently defined personality, that was before my time at Riot though).

What is it about Omen that particularly appeals to those of you that like him as a concept? Capturing that aspect, in some form that avoids other issues, could be something well worth exploring."

In response to someone sharing there dislike of Vel'Koz because he "looks way too alien" and "Not of this earth", Meddler replied:

"That's very much the vibe we were going for, creatures from the void being strange and alien even to the rather varied inhabitants of Runeterra. Glad that's coming across, hope some of our other releases this year appeal to you instead "

As for Vel'Koz's missing lore, Meddler simply teased:

"More on Vel'koz is still to come."

MF Changes to the PBE Soon

ricklessabandon commented that his tentative Miss Fortune changes will be moving to the PBE soon!

"ah, sorry—i missed the first window, but the changes have been submitted now so they should be out in the next update. i'll create a discussion thread on the pbe forums in the morning so there's a consolidated place for me to post updates as well as gather bug reports and feedback. 

i'll call this out in that thread as well, but please remember that these changes aren't in a hurry to go out (i.e., they don't have a patch that they need to be in) and the changes going to pbe are a starting place and won't be considered a 'release candidate' until they've undergone plenty of testing."

Xerath's New E Stun

ZenonTheStoic popped on the forums to elaborate on Xerath's reworked E, saying:

"The new E is meant to have a clear weakness (bad when people jump on you), but if you hit it at full range it's one of the most powerful stuns in the game. As followup stun to a teammate's setup it can almost guarantee a kill.

The pattern here should be clear: Xerath is powerful at range, weak when close to his enemy."

Kog'maw's Q becoming a skill shot

As you may remember from the last PBE cycle, Riot has been testing out turning Kog'Maw's Q into a skill shot.

Here's Gypsylord with a few comments on why it didn't make it into patch 4.2:

"Still looking at Koggles. Changing the Q required some particle resources. Skillshots need to be readable if you want people to be able to dodge them. Once the visuals get cleaned up I'll be putting the change back on the PBE, hopefully in time for next patch."

Quinn Passive Indicator Back to PBE soon

Speaking of things that didn't make it into patch 4.2, ricklessabandon also mentioned his new indicator for Quinn's Passive is headed back to the PBE.

"i put those in somewhat late into the patch's testing cycle, and didn't feel like there was enough time to gather enough before/after feedback on how this affected quinn players (if at all). this should be back on the pbe in the next update as i just resubmitted the change. if anyone has played with the changes, i'd love to hear details about if/how it has affected playing with quinn and valor. the more detailed, the better! 

hopefully i have time to get this out in the 4.3 patch as well as look into her basic attack timings (as mentioned by a few players in various threads), but it's still just a bit too early to tell."

he continued, elaborating on the change:

"ah, it was just somewhat awkward wording on my part due to the nature of the passive's cooldown—it doesn't exactly work like a 'timer' (i.e., it doesn't tell you the exact time until valor will next mark a target). the way it works is that when harrier is off cooldown that means that valor will follow his natural behavior patterns and mark targets when and how he sees fit. whenever harrier is on cooldown that means that valor is not available to mark targets (unless quinn uses vault).

sorry if my wording made it sound like something else. basically, with this change you'll still have to learn what valor likes to do and play around that, but at least you'll know when he's 'taking a break' and won't help you out on his own."

Morello on Mordekaiser

When asked if the balance team had any plans for Mordekaiser, Morello responded by sharing his current impression of him:

"Right now, Mord has to dominate a lane HARD to make up for his lack of CC and need to push the lane (and expose to junglers) to survive. This basically makes a lane bully with some tradeoffs, but he scales down with the skill of enemy teamwork, as opposed to scaling with his own ability to play and lane. 

Mordekaiser, imo, needs some interactivity in lane. His skills really don't allow for a lot of opportunities to act currently (that, and his W is really underwhelming and could be a really interesting ability). His shield mechanic could be leveraged better since it does have a lot of opportunity to create pacing for his lane.

His ult is really snowbally, but defining and cool. I think it's the most important skill to keep intact as much as possible."

When will Skarner Get a new skin?

When asked "when will Skarner get a new skin?", Morello commented:

"I think there was something in the works for after this - he's on the "needs a skin" list. I'll ask the skins folks (and ofc no date, but I can see what the priority looks like)."

He continued, explaining a bit about what determines if a champion is on the "needs a skin list":

"There are a lot of different factors in what goes into a skin release. Here's the ones I can remember off-hand; 

* "Needs" as far as skin lineup and playerbase. The team has tried to focus on getting old and low-played champions a some skin love (while old examples, Battlecast Urgot and Tyrant Swain are a couple examples). Skarner would fall into this camp. 

* Inspiration. Skins are largely an artistic effort (IE a creative endeavor) and a lot of ideas are inspired by ideas from artists directly in big brainstorms or community ideas. Historically, this has driven a greater % of skins, but that has been more balanced out over the last several months. 

* Events have certain thematic things to accomplish that can warrant some skins making sense (in combination with the above) moreso. I call this the "we have to try really hard to not dress Ziggs in a silly costume every holiday" clause.

* Big lore or thematic wins. Usually in combination with the above, sometimes story elements can influence a skin's development, though this is more rare.

This isn't exhaustive, but it's a decent snapshot of the types of things that go into it."

Rioters : Posting on Forums vs Other Sites

In a rather heated thread about where Rioters find themselves communicating with players,  Riot SquidmoX commented why and what different mediums Rioters tend to post on:

"Hey guys, 

There have been a lot of great comments in this thread, and I wanted to take some time to address some concerns and inquiries that have come up. First, please keep in mind that all Rioters have their own areas of expertise; some are experts in programming, in QA, in technical issues, art, etc. The general rule of thumb for Rioters is that we try to focus on threads and subjects that we have expertise on. If there is a thread about a Champion model, or splash art, you consistently see Rioters on the Art Team respond to the conversation. On the other hand, when we are reworking Champion kits, you’ll see members of our Champion Design team actively engaging with the community on the forums. Every single Rioter who contributes to these conversations does so of their own free will. They want to interact with all of you, and they proactively enter these threads to give their thoughts and opinions. But that’s what is great about being a part of Riot, how connected we are with the players. At the same time, this can be incredibly difficult as there are around 2,000 threads created every single day, and that’s just on GD! That is a tremendous amount of conversation to try to keep track of! 

However, this doesn’t mean that they are the only Rioters who take time out of their day to read our forums. There are hundreds of Rioters who consistently read the forums every single day. During my day, if I see a thread that Riot can contribute to, I will reach out to that particular team or department to see if someone can address the thread. However, this doesn’t always guarantee a red post. Some Rioters may choose to avoid posting (some of the conversations that occur in GD can be fairly terrifying), and others want to make sure that they are bringing visibility to the right topic. For example, Riot Zephyreal mentioned a prime example when discussing the Blade of the Ruined King bug. There were multiple threads about BotRK, most of which had no Red Posts. Even though we didn’t post a response, we mobilized to correct the issue. The community and the forums were instrumental in making that happen.

At the end of the day, Rioters want to engage with you guys. We want to be everywhere the players are; whether that is on our own Forums, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Wherever the conversations are taking place we want to be there to talk with you. We recognize our current limitations; our methods of interaction aren't perfect and we are constantly looking for ways to engage with players. Don’t be discouraged from posting in the forums; we want to hear from you."

Riot SquidmoX continued:

"Thanks everyone for the additional feedback, I'd like to address a couple more questions that came up. First and likely most relevant.... 

Who the hell am I? 

I'm SquidmoX, nice to meet you all. I should have done a better job of introducing myself before. I realize none of you know who I am, and I don't know many of you, but that's something I'd like to change. I joined the Player Support team to help tackle a lot of the issues everyone brought up in this thread and more. My ultimate goal is to make sure that we provide the best possible service we can. I realize that we don't have all the solutions today, but we are working on them, they are as important to us as they are to you.

AFKs? Leavers? 

This type of behavior SUCKS. I am totally there with you. I played a ranked game the other right where a Teemo called top after the match started, dove turret, then quit. It's the worst feeling. But honestly the best way we can fix it is to report these people. Player behavior is tracked (it has its own dedicated teams), players are warned, and if they continue to offend, they are banned. It's never a great feeling having to punish someone, but ultimately it's important to keep a healthy ecosystem in League. 

What about announcements on other sites? 

We don't intentionally release info on other sites but not our own. Typically when this happens its because something was leaked, or someone has mined PBE for upcoming content. Vel'Koz is a good example of this. We had no intention of him going out so early, we wanted to announce him in proper form like you saw today. Riot doesn't have a website bias and we certainly don't play stupid tricks like other companies where they give certain outlets content but not others.

As a followup, we don't get any kickbacks, nor does anyone at Riot post first on Reddit because we want attention. That kind of selfish, fame seeking behavior doesn't fly here. It's antithetical to what we stand for. 

Forum organization? 

In my original post you probably saw that we get upwards of 2,000 posts a day. That's a TON, and it can make the forums difficult to sift through especially if you seeking help on a specific issue. We know this is a limitation of our current system and we are working on it.

Anything else? 

You've seen me say "we hear you, we're working on it" a lot this thread. That isn't me brushing you off. A lot of the issues you see are issues for us too. Riot is never content to kick up its heels, we are constantly striving to raise the bar. I know sometimes we stumble along the way, but our first priority is you, the players."