Surrender at 20

Red Post Collection: November Sale Schedule, October Bundles, Meddler with Gameplay discussion, & more!

[UPDATE: A small PBE update went out on 10/22. Very small patch, see the 10/21 PBE post for details!]

Today's red post collection includes a look at the October bundles, the champion & skin sales schedule for November, Meddler with a lengthy post on what the team is up to in terms of gameplay & upcoming projects or changes, Socrates noting the PBE ranked reward borders are NOT final, pumpkin stencils for your favorite World Championship teams, a new Worlds Collide video for the semifinals, a fan artist feature on Androoly, a reminder on Kindred's price is down to 6300, & more!
Continue reading for more information!



Table of Contents


One For All will soon return to the workshop

Here's a reminder to get your fill of One for All featured gamemode before it returns to the workshop on October 26th at 2 AM PDT.
"Thirty sphere Syndra ults and wild Lux laser light shows will head back into the Featured Game Mode workshop soon. If you’re looking to get in a game with a five-pack of your favorite champion, make sure to drop into the One For All queue before October 26 at 2 AM PDT. Thanks for playing, and we’ll see you on the battlefield!"

November sales schedule 

First up the November champion & skin sales schedule has been released! Check out the list below to see what will be on sale at some point next month!
"Check out all the champs and skins on sale this November. Like previous sales schedules, we’re not posting the exact dates for each champ and skin, but they’ll all be on sale sometime next month, so keep an eye out. 
Just a heads up – since we’re publishing these in advance, we won’t offer partial refunds on champs and skins purchased before they go on sale."

It’s time for October bundles!

[UPDATE: Bundles now available! ]

Three champion & skin bundles for the month of October are now available through 10/29! We have the Worlds Most Wanted Bundle, From the Void Bundle, and 1v1 Me Bundle!
"Whether you want what Worlds warriors will, vow to victimize with vicious Void vermin, or desire dangerous duels through do-or-die deeds, October bundles bring back big bargains, brokering better bang for your buck. 
Grab these limited time bundles now through 23:59 PDT October 29.


Worlds Most Wanted Bundle - 50% at 2623 RP (4827 RP if you need the champions) 
Skins included:
  • Bioforge Darius
  • Death Blossom Elise
  • Special Forces Gangplank
  • Dragon Trainer Lulu
  • Lord Mordekaiser
Champions included:


From the Void Bundle - 50% off at 2545 RP (4738 RP if you need the champions) 
Skins included:
  • Sonoran Kog'Maw (Legacy)
  • Mecha Kha'Zix
  • Eternum Rek'Sai
  • Loch Ness Cho'Gath
  • Battlecast Vel'Koz
Champions included:


1v1 Me Bundle - 50% off at 2323 RP (4422 RP if you need the champions) 
Skins included:
  • Secret Agent Xin Zhao
  • Nightraven Fiora
  • Dragonslayer Vayne
  • Redeemed Riven
  • Shockblade Zed
Champions included:

Meddler with thoughts on current projects, specific champions & more

Meddler popped up on the boards to share a a length post discussing a few upcoming projects and things the team is currently working with, as well as his thoughts on a few specific champions!
"Hi all! 
Wanted to share a few of our thoughts on where we're up to on some currently topical gameplay stuff. Trying out a different approach here with just quick updates on a number of topics rather than a focus on a couple of things (feedback on that much appreciated!). 
The Preseason: 
  • We've been putting a lot of work into updates for the upcoming preseason patch over the last couple of months, with changes to champions, items, vision etc. We're getting very close to putting that stuff on PBE (all going according to plan). 
Kindred: 
  • Kindred have been out for about a week now and we're starting to see players get to grips with their kit. So far we've been really happy with the state of their release balance, so 5.21 won't contain any buffs or nerfs, just some bug fixes. Really interested to see where they end up over the next couple of patches, there's some definite learning curve there and we're also seeing people experiment with them in a range of positions with a mix of success and failure. 
Mordekaiser: 
  • Morde's a pretty topical dude at the moment. Our belief is that he's too strong in a duo lane, despite previous nerfs, so we're going to be reducing the amount of bonus XP he gets from his W in 5.21. Our hope is that that will then give us some room to buff his base stats, bringing his solo laning closer to his duo lane performance. That's something we'll likely do as a follow up change though (potentially in 5.22), once we've got a read on what the impact of the XP reduction was.
  • Thematic side note for anyone that's interested and hadn't already heard - we'll also be changing his title to 'The Iron Revenant' rather than the previous 'Lord of Death' (Iron Revenant being a player suggested title update that we felt did a great job of merging different thematic elements from Morde). 
Poppy 
  • Works heavily underway on Poppy. She'll be the next really big champion update that goes out (Sion/GP sort of scale, so full overhaul of abilities, visuals, voice etc). Her E's the only ability effectively ported over from her old kit, feel we're going for's still very much small, noble, determined warrior who smacks others around with a large hammer. 
World Champs 
  • Worlds has been getting a lot of attention for the Gameplay teams of course. We've been really enjoying the diversity of picks in some positions (mid lane especially), though are seeing that some others could do with more help (jungle for example). Some outlier champions that definitely seem too strong (Morde, GP, Darius etc), some of whom we've already nerfed post 5.18, some of which we've got stuff underway for. A number of champions too that we don't yet have plans for, but are keeping a really close eye on and talking about quite a bit (Tahm Kench for example). 
Upcoming Champs  
  • We've had a couple of trends with new champions recently that have helped opened up new gameplay space (non damage utility ults) and thematic space (creatures of myth). We've been pretty happy with how those explorations have gone, we don't have to overdo them though. Next set of champs we've got underway are going for a bit of contrast with that as a result, with a few more damage/combat focused ults and characters who are somewhat more a part of the regular world of Runeterra. 
General Balance Changes 
  • Since a lot's going to change in the upcoming preseason patch we're generally holding off on smaller balance changes for a little bit, given which characters are a bit too weak or a bit too strong could change significantly in the near future due to systemic changes."
Meddler stuck around the comment section to answer questions!

When asked about new champions, Meddler commented we should have one more in 2015!
"Current expectation is that Kindred will not be the last new champ of the year. 
We will continue to look for opportunities to get classes into less common positions, that's not going to be a good fit for some champion concepts though."
[NOTE: Files for a new "Illaoi" champion have appeared on the PBE.]

Shadowstorm also added: 
"While I'm sure you know this, wanted to clarify that we are still planning to make bad ass champs, just pulling away from the myth aspect a bit. I don't think a "regular joe from the shop" would quite be able to cut it on the rift! 
Next few should be closer to Ekko than Bard in terms of presence in "real world" Runeterra though. Any areas you are hoping to see more from?"

As for Poppy's Q being changed in her rework, Meddler commented:
"Yeah, she'll be more focused at controlling a fight and fighting people over longer periods over time than exploding a dude really quickly."

Meddler also commented again they will be working on Marksman in preseason:
"Yes, Marksmen changes will be in the preseason. We haven't decided yet which class we might tackle after that (enchanters also isn't a name or clearly defined subclass we've got a consensus on, though it is a term some people have been using internally to describe caster supports like Janna or Nami)."

When asked about the current popularity of tanky supports and if anything will be done to buff up caster supports, Meddler noted:
"Lack of caster supports is something we'll look at post preseason release if it's still an issue. None of the changes in the preseason are targeted specifically at caster supports, but with that much change going on it's possible we'll see some shifts in favored champions, playstyles etc in that regard."
Meddler continued, noting Sightstone changes are planned:
"Sightstone upgrades will be part of the changes. Intent is to still keep those in a position where they're generally more appealing on supports than other classes though."
He continued, commenting there will be smaller changes to gold generation items as well:
"Some smaller changes, details to come soon."

When asked about potential Manamune changes, Meddler mentioned Essence Reaver will have changes:
"Nothing currently planned that I can recall, though Essence Reaver changes might influence the attractiveness of Manamune/Muramana for some champions if that ends up being a viable choice."

When asked about Crit, mana management, resourceless champions, and mobility, Meddler commented:
"Quote:
A couple questions:
0. Do you have any plans, now or in the future, to rework or remove crit? 
1. Do you think that mana conservation and MANAgement (sorry) are good game mechanics, and should be revisited? 
2. How do you feel about the state of energy and resourceless champions in terms of lane prowess and the ability to stay out of base? 
3. Do you think the overprevalence of mobility in lane (Yasuo, Kindred, Kalista) pushes out low mobility champs, and if so, what thoughts do you have on bringing low mobility champs back into favor?
Crit's definitely got some issues (feeling screwed by RNG when you did everything right especially), so at some point we do want to do some work on it. It does add some variance and risk to otherwise extremely reliable, consistent actions (right clicking/getting right clicked) though, and LoL's arguably a little too predictable at times at present. We don't want to simply replace it with a guaranteed damage multiplier as a result and, whenever we do work on it, would want to bundle that with some other systemic changes.

I feel mana management's a useful lever to have, both in terms of the control it offers over champion power at various points in the game and as an expression of player skill. Having said that I don't feel that all characters should be mana gated equally. Some melee should arguably be gated in lane, but free to use spells generally on CD later in the game, given the challenges they have getting onto targets. Other long range characters, or healers, by contrast should generally have significant costs throughout the game.

Resourceless characters and energy users are both types of champion I feel have a good place in the game in terms of the different playstyles, pacings (in lane and after) and abilities designs they allow. I do believe it's healthy to have mana as the default resource however, with occasional exceptions and we'll be going through a period of new champions who consistently use mana for a while (last non mana user was Rek'Sai, next 4 upcoming champions at least will probably all use mana).

I believe it's very possible for high and low mobility champions to coexist in lanes, I don't think we've always given lower mobility champions sufficient compensation for the low mobility price they pay however. Being a low mobility champ should allow you to get access to some pretty powerful stuff that wouldn't be appropriate on champs with dashes/blinks etc. Kog'Maw and Anivia are good examples to me of where that's been done right, with both of them being options that more mobile marksmen/mages respectively don't offer."

Meddler also replied to a question regarding the Ao Shin champion concept, who was announced back in 2013 but never released and put on hold:
"Ao Shin got put on hold quite a while back, in large part due to technical issues with making a serpentine creature look like we wanted in game. Plan's always been to look at Ao Shin again once we've got the tech to do those body animations properly."

As for releasing more of these sort of update posts every few patches, Meddler noted:
"I'm also interested in finding something along those sort of lines. Still trying to figure out exact format, frequency, style etc, with this post as one test of what works for people versus what doesn't."
He continued:
"I'll be trying to do these every so often. Buffs/nerfs/updates are one of the things I'll be best able to cover, new champ ideas by contrast we generally prefer not to talk about until the champion's ready. Game modes and skins by contrast are outside of my own area of expertise, so I'll leave discussion on those to the folks who work on them who are much more able to talk about them usefully."
When asked about Warwick's previously mentioned then shelved rework, Meddler replied:
"I cannot sorry. I don't, overall, disagree with your assessment, we feel other champions need work first however, so any possible major work on Warwick's a way off at least."
When asked about his thoughts on the current state of Cassiopeia, Meddler commented:
"Speaking frankly about Cass:
  • We don't believe Cass is in a good state post rework.
  • We also don't believe pre-rework Cass was in a good state either.
  • We would like to do some work (scale unknown, though extremely unlikely to be a full scale rework) on Cass next year.
  • How that work will be prioritized hasn't been determined yet. There are a number of other projects it'd have to be traded off against on either the Live Gameplay (balance) team or the Champion Update (reworks) team (projects like Ryze, Azir, Taric, Yorick etc).
  • Even if we do do work on Cass next year I can't offer any promises as to when that might be. Could be some small stuff early in the year and some medium work later, just balance/QoL changes at some indeterminate point, a moderate sized piece of gameplay work late in the year etc."
In a reddit thread misunderstanding his comments about Azir above, Meddler reiterated:
"TLDR: Azir has problems we want to fix, that's not the same as 'Azir's getting reworked'. 
Copy paste from a comment I added to that thread after the bit you're linking: 
Azir's kit is sufficiently difficult to learn that it doesn't seem to currently be possible to put him in a spot where he's sufficiently balanced for experienced players without being extremely inaccessible to people unfamiliar with him. Learning curve and skill ceiling are great of course, in this case Azir's skill floor's too punishing though. Current intent is to look at ways to make him somewhat more accessible, with if needs be, some nerfs to his top end if those changes buff him there too."
When asked what happened to the Riven "edge" changes we briefly saw on the PBE last cycle, Meddler commented:
"Those are currently on hold while the Live Gameplay team's focused on preseason work. We'll probably look at Riven against once that stuff's out, unclear whether those specific changes are what we'd want to go with yet or not though. In the meantime we're shipping a small nerf to Riven's ult CD to take a bit of power off her."

Meddler also shared the teams approach for balancing sets of champion classes and offered context on the current Gangplank PBE nerfs that has removed the mana return on his Q:
"One of our current approachs, with both juggernauts and marksmen, is to look at classes of champions for gameplay updates, rather than looking at champions based off other characteristics (e.g. low mobility versus high mobility). 
The GP nerfs are aimed at weakening his laning power primarily, hence the increased effective mana cost on Q and reduced base high/higher per level health."
Meddler also replied to someone asking about Evelynn visual update and if we could expect it in preseason:
"There won't be an Eve VU in preseason and we don't currently have any work underway on an Eve VU. Apologies if we'd previously made promises that indicated otherwise. She is a character we agree needs a VU at some point, but she's not one we're currently prioritizing."
When asked if there is a Caitlyn is "anywhere near a visual update", he noted:
"She is not."

When asked about his thoughts on reverting the last Tahm Kench nerfs if he is too strong, Meddler commented:
"If we were to nerf Tahm where we did so would depend on where he's too strong. If that's something we've recently buffed, then certainly, reverting a recent buff would make sense (e.g. if enemy Devour's now too strong reducing the regurgitate range back down could be a good fit). On the other hand if the issue's elsewhere reverting a recent buff might not hit the right issue (e.g. if his healing's too strong nerfing devour range isn't an appropriately targeted fix)." 
As for their plans for Syndra, Meddler commented:
"We'd still like to make some improvements to Syndra's passive, probably in a way that added a bit of power to her to. No short term plans for that though, that'll be a sometime post preseason project (timing uncertain, since our current road map for balance type changes primarily reads 'Get preseason ready and then follow up on preseason')."

Ranked Border Assets on PBE are not final

As you may have seen in the 10/21 PBE update, a new set of the ranked border assets hit the PBE.

In response to feedback that they don't look the best, Socrates stepped on to reddit to clarify these are placeholder assets and not final.
"These are placeholder assets to test reward distribution on pbe and not final art."

Worlds Collide: Semifinals

With the 2015 World Championship continuing with the Semifinals stage Saturday October 24th, we have another installment of the Worlds Collide videos!

"Twelve challengers have fallen, four remain. Victory is on the horizon, but only two can pass through the next gauntlet. On October 24th, the tournament travels to Brussels, where the clash between the European and Korean teams awaits."
Check out LoL Esports for schedule,a rundown of the four remaining teams, and more!

Support teams with pumpkins!

Next up we have Mhija with team stencils for pumpkin carving! 
"carving by skachick 
The World Championship Series is down to the final four! In the spirit of the season, what better way to show support for the remaining teams than by carving pumpkins in their honor? Here are a few stencils you can use for just that cause, made by our very own Iniquitee.


Hope to see some awesome pumpkin photos in the comments, and if you've made your own team stencils, please share!"
In a follow up post, Mhija shared stencils for other teams!
"So, there are a few more stencils for those that are interested. I wanted to keep the post to those who were still in the running for Worlds, but there seems to be interest so here ya go!"

Fan Artist Feature - Androoly

Last up we have Jynx with a fan artist feature on community member Androoly and his LoL cosplay!
"In this feature we’re speaking with Androoly, a detail oriented artist from Vancouver, Canada with a soft spot for Thresh, and a number of awesome League cosplays.
Follow him on Facebook to see even more cosplay and work-in-progress!
If you know someone that you'd like to recommend for a future Fan Artist Feature, please let us know here.

How did you get started as a League of Legends cosplayer? 

My interest was peaked when my brother and his girlfriend showed me Summoner's Showcase before the actual game. I never did submit anything and ended up playing the game anyway... for "research" purposes, and in the same year we ended up going to our first PAX Prime ever. Funny story, I was backstage for the RIOT cosplay showcase and Brandon 'Ryze' Beck came down to say hi and to thank the cosplayers, and I innocently asked who that was. Pretty embarrassing, haha. 
Blood Moon Akali by Ericah - Photo by Frozenrain


What's been your favorite project to work on, and why? 

Headhunter Master Yi hands down. That costume had me working with so many foreign materials (Thermoplastics, foam, paper clay, pvc, electronics, etc) and I learned so much from that project. 
Jarvan IV by Chromacy - Photo by Krimchii

I received a lot of positive feedback in which allowed me the opportunity to meet some amazing people who share the same interests. I say this because I'm naturally a reserved person and it allowed me to break out of my shell a bit and feel more comfortable. 
Blood Moon Kalista/Thresh by Puppichu - Karma by Elehal - Riven by Shoop cosplay


What does your creative process look like? Any advice or tips? 
Like following a recipe, you gather your ingredients and equipment and read the entire recipe before proceeding. Shortcuts seem appealing at first, but if you value your eyeballs for example, I recommend you wear safety goggles. Safety is a must!!! 
My method goes like this:
  1. Choose anything and gather reference pictures
  2. Research and brainstorm ideas
  3. Sketch out plans and take measurements
  4. List and source materials + equipment
  5. Just start crafting. Any part you like
   
Do you have any favorite League content creators or artists that inspire you? 
I draw inspiration from too many places to list but for League cosplay inspirations, Missyeru,Brittthebadger, and 4 Itchy tasty! Cosplay because they really take their craft to the next level. When I first looked into league cosplay, theirs stood out to me the most. Just take a look and you'll see what I mean! 
Photo by Missingno Photography 
Is there anything else you’d like to share with the community? 
Cosplay means something different for everyone. Whether you just want to create like Heimerdinger, be confident and badass like Vi, or just love the attention like DRAAAAVEN, we are all just perusing what makes us happy. Be genuine, be passionate, be open to learning and you will improve your skills and attract like-minded people. "

  
Photo 1 by The Will Box,  Photo 2 by Brent White

  
Photo 3 by David Ngo,  Photo 4 by Rale Photography
  

Kindred available for 6300 IP

It's been a week since Kindred's release and they are now available for 6300 IP
Check out this post for more information on Kindred!
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