Surrender at 20: Red Post Collection: It’s Draven's Party Now, LCP Ep.15 - State of the Game, League Screensaver, Aurelion Sol for 6300 IP & more

[NOTE: APRIL.. WHAT? DRAVEN DAY 2016 + NEW LOGIN SCREEN PATCHED TO LIVE.]

Tonight's red post collection includes an invitation to Draven's party ( PS: ATTENDANCE IS EXTREMELY MANDATORY), episode 15 of the League Community Podcast discussing the state of the game, a look at the newly launched League Screensaver program, Aurelion Sol Community creations, a reminder Aurelion Sol is now available for 6300 IP, and more!

Continue reading for more information!

It’s Draven's Party Now

Bad news for those looking forward to Amumu's party on April 1st... it's Draven's party now and ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY!

Here's what the new invitation ~~dravens~~.. erm.. reads:

"Obviously everyone’s invitations were lost in the mail last year, so Amumu wants to make sure this year’s party reinvitation isn’t at risk of being forgotten, stolen, or accidentally thrown away.
DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

VVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

NNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clear your calendar and join us for a weekend of fun, games, and some light crying. Amumu’s party, to which everyone is 100% definitely showing up, starts April 1, 2016.
Hooray or whatever. *Blows into one of those party horn things*

Be there or be carved into a square.

<3

Draven"

[1920 x 1080 balloon art wallpaper available here.]

Draven Merch Sale

Speaking of Draven, Draven related items in the Riot Games Merch Shop are now on sale!

An extra discounted bundle of all three of these items is also available!

These discounts are available through April 11th or while supplies last! Check out the merch shop for more information, remember to click the flag in the top right corner to change regions!

LCP Ep . 15 - State of the game with Meddler, Zirene, and more

First up we have a new episode of the League Community Podcast! Episode 15 invites on Meddler, SmashGizmo, Scarizard, and Zirene to discuss the current state of the game!

"Welcome to the latest installment of the League Community Podcast, a series in which we take you behind-the-scenes with the people who help make League possible. Expect new guests and new stories every couple of weeks or so, and make sure to hit us with those sweet comments and ratings so we can keep striving toward a Challenger tier podcast.

This week, Andrei “Meddler” Van Roon, Aidan “Zirene” Moon, Patrick “Scarizard” Scarborough, and Wesley “SmashGizmo” Ruttle bring their varied perspectives to bear in breaking down the current state of League gameplay balance."

League Screensaver

Riot has released an official League of Legends Screensaver desktop application, which you can configure to display a number of champion splash art, regional art, animated art, and more as your PC screensaver!

Check out the League Screensaver site for more information!

"BETA DESKTOP APPLICATION

League artwork finally arrives for your idle screen! You won't find any complicated steps or endless downloads here, just a simple way to create multiple customizable playlists from legions of League images and animations. Let's get started."

Here's a video showing off the interface of the application:

Download links: Windows, Mac

Got more questions? Check out Riot Supports FAQ for League Screensaver!

Son Golin added in:

"The League Screensaver application basically lets you change your screensaver so it features champion splash art (some of them are animated), other login screen art, and screen caps from some of our videos. Additionally, it lets your cycle through different artwork. As for what it's for, it's just a fun way for you to have your favorite champion or League art piece sit on your computer while you're idle.

For instance, I have a bunch of support champion artwork as my screensaver because I main that role, but I threw in Kennen because... he's the best."

Meddler Grab Bag - Death Timers & Mana Costs

Next up we have a few small posts from Meddler !

When asked about death timers, Meddler noted:

"We had a look at death timers recently. The main issue we identified was that they were too long in the 30-45 minute range, resulting in single team fights (aces especially) allowing teams to clean up too much of the enemy base. We'll be decreasing death timers in that time window a bit in patch 6.7 as a result."

He continued:

"Quote:

but didnt u make the deathtimers that long to achieve that exact thing? i remember u guys (riot, dunno who) saying that u wanted to make games faster

We did make death timers longer both to rewards kills more and compensate for Homeguard become a universal and free effect post 20 minutes. 'Longer' isn't a single value though, we feel that's working appropriately in some cases and not in others hence tuning like this."

Meddler also answered a question about why champions such as Darius have such low mana costs:

We put mana on champions like Darius primarily to add some cost and decision making to their ability use in lane (reduce 'just use it whenever it's off CD as a playstyle). Darius's costs don't scale as much as his mana pool does, so as the game progresses he'll be less and less limited by mana costs, with his gameplay shifting to be much more about target choice and positioning.

Kog'Maw Changed Aimed for 6.8

In a boards thread inquiring about Kog'Maw's rising win rate, Sotere has commented that they are looking into tentative Kog'Maw changes (nerfs) in 6.8:

"He's on the radar, but changes are going to be aimed at 6.8."

Fiora PBE Splash Art Change Reverted & Discussion

As you may have seen in the small 3/31 PBE update, the global splash art unification change to Nightraven Fiora was reverted.

Over on reddit in a thread asking for the revert, RiotJxE commented

"This change has been reverted for now and we're gonna chat about what to do with it in the next patch. Most likely this won't actually be changed. You did it Reddit :)"

later in the thread, he continued to answer questions on the global splash art unification update :

On the trade between the servers, RiotJxE noted:

"Quote:

Can't you give China the Western fiora splash? Why do we have to have theirs but they can't have ours? Considering the Riot made ones over here are 100x better quality.
Yeah that's the plan. Global splash parity means they'll be getting some of our splashes and we'll be getting some of theirs."

He continued:

"Tencent will be getting some of our splashes as well. You just don't see it on the pbe forums because we don't have to change anything."

RiotJxE continued, explaining the goal of the unification:

"Quote:

Is there a reason you guys are changing SO many skins?
I feel like some of them are obvious upgrades, and long time needed changes, but others feel like really obvious downgrades. This post is a good example of an obvious downgrade.
Some of the new art doesn't even seem remotely close to Riot's artstyle. I understand if some aren't similar :/
The point is to remove a pipeline that allows tencent to replace any of our artwork with theirs. It causes both of us a ton of pain to support and to get rid of it we need to get splash parity across all regions."

he continued:

"Quote:

Is the wild variation in artistic styles between multiple splashes a concern for you? Or is this a minor irritation until all splashes are unified across all regions?
It is a concern, but the temporary inconsistency is worth alleviating the pain the pipeline currently causes us. The long term plan is to update everything but it's not going to be quick."

As for why the "old" Nightraven Fiora art was considered, JxE commented:

"Quote:

Seriously though why was it even considered in the first place ? Imo it is really scary to see you guys think like that, no offense.
To be honest I don't remember. We spent hours going through hundreds of splashes last year to choose one or the other, it's hard to remember the details of each one. We just made the change and listened to the feedback, so thanks for giving it :)"

When asked why they didn't poll all regions about these, he commented:

"Quote:

You guys should host a poll for each splash art that is being replaced. It will really help to ensure that the ones chosen will be the community's favorite.
It's not worth it honestly. We have to create a poll for every region, translate it, compile all of the data, just to find out the vast majority of our choices were accurate. It takes up less people's time to just make the changes and react on the feedback."

As for why Tencent & Riot has their own versions of splash art anyway, JxE explained:

"Quote:

Why does China want/ever wanted different splashes ? Any particular reason?
Our art back then just wasn't up to their quality bar so they got their own artists to make the art. Once we raised our quality bar they started using ours. I believe Ziggs was the last splash they tweaked.

They also place emblems on their splashes to denote special skins like legendaries or limited time skins."

Legacy Markers on Hextech Loot

Riot Socrates tweeted out that they will be adding special symbols to denote legacy content loot shards

"We're adding legacy icons to loot shards, so you can see which shards are legacy to avoid those awkward disenchants."

Aurelion Sol community creations

With Aurelion Sol flying through live, here's Jynx with an Aurelion Sol community creations round up!

"Now that Aurelion Sol has graced the Rift with his cosmic presence, it’s time to marvel at some of the fantastic community art created in his image. Enjoy the gallery below, and click the artists’ names to see more of their work!"