Red Post Collection: DJ Sona Will not be released in 5.3, Nautilus and Sivir skin name change, and more!

This afternoon's red post collection features confirmation that DJ Sona will not bereleased in 5.3, info on a name change to the upcoming Nautilus and Sivir skins, more discussion on 750 RP skins and context on why they do not include unique vfx, a reminder that the new Refer-A-Friend system and the EU Boards beta are live, and much more!
Continue reading for more information!



Table of Contents



DJ Sona will not be released in 5.3

In a thread discussing our upcoming ultimate skin, Galetta noted that  DJ Sona will not be released in patch 5.3:
"Hey just to clarify DJ Sona will not be out in patch 5.3. She's going to be on PBE for an extended period of time in order for her to get the proper amount of quality testing! She's very very complicated. @u@"
Riot KateyKhaos also added in:
"Hey there!
Having Sona not release in Patch 5.3 wasn't a mistake. :] 
As Riot Galetta stated, DJ Sona is a pretty complicated skin. She's got a lot of music, particles, form swapping and moving parts. 
We wanted to release her to PBE a bit earlier than most skins because having more people playing her means a better chance at catching any glaring bugs before release. (We've also got a team testing her, but the more eyes the better!) 
Our goal is to have DJ Sona in the best shape as possible when she hits live, rather than rushing her out the door with a bunch of unpleasant bugs to play with. :]"
She continued:
"Hey Zamrayz 
Looks like this post as a bit of incorrect information, and I wanted to take a second to clear things up. :] 
As Riot Galetta said, DJ Sona will not be coming out in Patch 5.3. We didn't change our minds on any of this information, and we never said it'd be out in a few months. We only stated it wouldn't be coming out in patch 5.3 We haven't officially given an official release date/patch for the skin. 
DJ Sona isn't listed as 1900 RP in the PBE store. She is listed at full price, which is 3250 RP. We haven't officially stated if she'll be on sale, or what that price would be if she is. (I don't currently have that information.)"
Check out these links for more information on DJ Sona:

Nautilus and Sivir skin name change

The upcoming Sivir and Nautilus skins have been renamed from Inquisitor to Warden Nautilus and Warden Sivir!

Galetta has updated the PBE bugs & feedback thread with additional context on this change:
"Sorry this is happening so last minute (we’ve been swamped lately) but we’re changing the names of Inquisitor Nautilus and Inquisitor Sivir to Warden Nautilus and Warden Sivir. We want these skins to feel imposing/foreboding when you play them and we think these names capture that fantasy more strongly than the previous ones. Again, sorry this is so last minute. Appreciate all the feedback!"

750 RP Skins and VFX

In a boards thread discussing 750 RP skins and why upcoming skins  of that tier - like Marauder Ashe and Sweetheart Annie - do not have new VFX despite numerous community requests, Katey Khaos explained:
"Hey there!

There's a couple reasons why we didn't make changes.

When we set out to create a 750 RP, we allocate people's time accordingly. Since a 750 RP skin doesn't normally get new particles (aside from the quality of life particles like you've seen with Nautilus and Sivir), we don't allocate someone to work on the particles, and that person goes to work on something else that's in development (like DJ Sona!)

We test every skin that's coming out, as well as all of the other skins that champion has, which takes a decent amount of time. Making particles changes means re-testing everything (including all previous skins a champion has - and for champions like Annie, that's a lot of skins!). It's usually not feasible in the time frame we have, especially when we didn't plan to have particles on the new skin.

We also don't want to set a false precedence where if we release a 750 RP skin, and people want particles, it'll become a 975 RP skin. We're striving to create more skins in various tiers, so more players have an opportunity to grab a skin for a champion they enjoy, since not everyone can (or wants to!) spend a decent amount of money on a skin when they simply want a new outfit.

Hope that clears things up a bit. :]"

Refer-A-Friend Update is now live

As mentioned a few days ago, the new Refer-A-Friend system is live and Riot has published an  official announcement regarding
it's launch!
"We started RAF to reward players for their part in growing League and we’ve updated the program to simultaneously remove incentives for abuse and better serve most League players. As we were working on the update, we found that the majority of League players refer between one and five friends.

The updated design now rewards you for bringing those friends into the game. With the new update, for every friend you refer who reaches level 10, you’ll earn 1000 IP. You can refer a total of five friends, and with three successful referrals, you’ll unlock the Grey Warwick skin. Recruit five friends and you’ll unlock Medieval Twitch.

There are no additional rewards to earn, and everyone who participated in Refer-a-Friend in the past have been transferred to the new program with the same number of referrals as before. For example, if you’ve already referred four friends, you’ll automatically earn 4000 IP and Grey Warwick. Please note, we’re also auto-redeeming unclaimed rewards for players who used previous versions of Refer-a-Friend, but this process could take a few days.

We’re excited to launch the update to the Refer-a-Friend program, head here to get started — good luck and have fun bringing your friends into League of Legends!"

Beta Boards - Live Now in Europe 

Following Draggles' original announcement, another announcement has also been put up regarding the launch of the Boards beta in Europe!
"European players, we’re excited to announce the beta launch of Boards, an enhanced discussion forum we’ve built for the League community!

As part of our ongoing mission to improve all aspects of League of Legends, we spent over a year working in a tight feedback loop with the community to develop Boards. Got a sketch of a new skin or champion concept that you want to share? How about a .gif of your favourite recent #LCSBigPlay? Or maybe you just want to ask for advice on how to take your Azir play to the next level? We’ve designed Boards with you in mind.

Click here to visit the Boards beta.

The classic forums will be switched to read-only access in the near future, but don’t worry, you’ll still be able to access all the great legacy content available there.

One of the key technical benefits of the new board is that it allows us flexibility to develop new features going forward. The current version of Boards is only the beginning, so please offer any feedback you have on how we can improve the experience. We look forward to chatting with you there. Come say hi!"

Lyte on Report Feedback and the Tribunal

Lyte popped into a reddit thread asking why players can not currently see what behavior caused them to be reported and punished to explain the "Reform Card" system will return when the Tribunal is back online.
"When the Tribunal is back, we're including systems that will send players "Reform Cards" that will outline the games and chat logs that led to the punishment. 
We believe that getting the whole picture of game stats, chat logs, reporters is valuable feedback to help change behaviors, and is better than just a report category or comment."
When asked why they decided to shutdown the older Tribunal (nearly 9 months ago) while they worked on updates rather than just leaving it on, Lyte noted:
"The Tribunal was driven by numerous other systems such as the Report System, the Honor System, and others. Some of the issues with Tribunal were related to the underlying Report System, and we had to re-work some of those aspects first. So, in many cases it's easier to re-work the foundation of a system without ensuring that it's constantly still functionally working with the old Tribunal. We could have tried keeping everything up in parallel, but we would have needed more resources and time to bring out the new one. 
Secondly, we wanted to test a few different systems and feedback loops such as the machine learning system driving escalated bans. We wanted to see the efficacy of such a system without the results having added noise from multiple other systems like the Tribunal interfering with punishments or reform. From these cleaner tests, we were able to figure out the effectiveness of these new systems and apply the lessons to the new Tribunal."
When asked about showing unauthentic reports against a player, Lyte noted:
"We wouldn't show "false reports" anyways because the system has already labeled them false reports. Showing false reports does nothing except make players worried, even though the system has already discounted them and given them 0 value."
He continued:
"Let's be honest, there's very little abuse because the Report System has an entire featureset that filters false reports and gives them 0 value. 
If you are getting chat restrictions, it's probably because you are doing something verbally that warrants a light penalty. I'm happy to review your case if you disagree."

Match History Updates and Normal Games

With the upcoming changes to the in-client Match History options now on the PBE for testing, Matt Enth popped on reddit to explain why players who are not your friends will not be able to see your normal games in your match history anymore:
"Quote 
I don't get why normal games wouldn't be in the match history
Normal games are still in Match History for you and your friends. We're phasing them out from the general public to continue to encourage normal queues being a more relaxed, for fun atmosphere. 
In football, it'd be the difference between a club match and a pickup game. In the club match, both stats and the game outcome are recorded and made publicly available. But with pickup games, while you're still trying to win, it's much more laid back. 
One specific case we wanted to avoid is 3rd party websites and services that try to aggregate normal game stats and winrates over time. We don't want players to feel pressured or insecure to try out new champions and playstyles in normal games because it might affect their macro stats and perception."
These match history changes are currently testing on the PBE, check 'em out here!

What Champions do you want to hear more about?

 Ant in Oz has posted on the Story & Art boards requesting what champions players would be interested in hearing more about!
"Hi guys, 
I wanted to jump in and ask which Champions (or regions, events, storylines, etc related to their backgrounds) you reaaaaally want to see / learn more about. 
As Jaredan and others have mentioned in other threads, in addition to ongoing new Champ / ChamUp support we're currently focused on developing things like world building, longer storylines, R+D, etc. Nevertheless, going back and developing the stories and backgrounds of the characters we all love – and fixing things that are just broken from a narrative point of view – is really important to us. The stories for many champs need some love, and we want you guys to have a voice in helping us determine where we need to focus our attention. 
A couple caveats to set expectations:
  • This isn't a promise to drop everything and focus on fleshing out your favorite champ's background (at least not yet) straight away. Having said that, if there are some clear favorites among players around the world, then we’d like that to factor into our decision-making process.
  • Please don’t offer up specific story ideas – legally, we just can’t use them (the same reason I don’t read fan-fic – it’s a can of worms from a legal POV).
  • Also, I can't promise exactly when or how we’ll be able to deliver on this stuff. Despite the best intentions, we've burned ourselves before by making overzealous promises, so we’d rather not go down that route.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! 
Cheers!"

Chef LuBu: Professional Feeder

Last up we have a new feature on community member Brian “OH NO ITS LU BU” Smawley and his delicious League of Legends themed cuisine.

"What happens when you combine a love of the culinary arts with a passion for League? Meet Brian “OH NO ITS LU BU” Smawley, the kitchen manager and resident Video Game Chef of Battle & Brew, a game pub in Atlanta, GA. When he’s not gaming, perusing comics, debating the qualities of local beers, or starring in his own YouTube video series, Brian is cooking up video game-inspired dishes for hungry restaurant patrons. 
Brian found a unique way to connect his love of cooking with his passion for League. What drives you? How do video games influence what you do? Join in and share your story here."
 Check out Riot Silog's thread on "How I Leveled Up IRL through Video Games" to share your story!

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