Surrender at 20

Red Post Collection: Riot Pls on Ranked, August Bundles, Hextech Sion in shop, CS Riven Details, LCU Updates, & more!

This morning's red post collection includes a new Riot Pls discussing ranked changes, new August bundles in the shop, a Hextech Sion & Sion skin bundle in shop to celebrate his new skin splash art, details on the upcoming return of and changes to Championship Riven, a new LCU Alpha changelog, and more! 
Continue reading for more information!


Table of Contents


Riot Pls: Ranked Pls 

First up in tonight's red post collection we have a new Riot Pls discussing a few upcoming ranked changes and discussion on more in the works for the 2017 ranked season:
"Riot Pls is our ongoing effort to share our vision for League of Legends and to keep players in the loop as to what’s going on back at Riot HQ. 
Hey everyone, 
New001 here—lead producer on League of Legends—for the ranked edition of Riot Pls. 
Dynamic queue is still failing to meet many of your needs. More specifically, it’s undermined competitive integrity at the highest levels of play. It’s taken us too long to get here and we apologize for the delay. 
Let’s get straight to it: 
TL;DR: For players near the top of the ladder, we’re bringing back solo queue and making a number of other changes focused on competitive integrity. For 2017, we’re developing a new ranked experience that offers legitimate competitive standings for all types of players. We’ll have details on the 2017 features in late September—you can read on for the short-term changes planned. 
We’re focused on the top first because that’s where the 2016 ranked season changes have caused the most pain, and where we believe we can take immediate action to address player feedback. Accurate standings are critical when determining the top of the ladder, and we’re committed to addressing that with the following changes:  
  • Challenger tier will shift to pure solo, and Diamond and Master tiers to solo/duo. We’re making this change first at Diamond / Master / Challenger because even minor levels of premade coordination have disproportionate effects on match quality at the highest tiers of ranked, given the limitations of the player pool and the sometimes massive skill disparities between single divisions. 
  • We’re tightening the decay rules in Challenger and Master tier to encourage healthier competition at the highest level of play. 
  • We want to raise the bar on how we recognize players who hit the top of the ladder at the end of the competitive season, so we’re working on new physical rewards for Challenger (more details coming soon). 
  • We’re adding an autofill ‘grace period’ for all players and a guarantee that you’ll never be autofilled during a promotion series. Autofill is essential for ensuring shorter queue times during off-peak hours, but it can be pretty obnoxious if it happens back-to-back (this generally only happened at Master+).  
These changes should serve as meaningful steps in the right direction, but we’ll be listening closely for your feedback. They will roll out over the next few patches and will carry forward next season as well. 
We’re also currently closing in on our final designs for the 2017 Ranked experience, with the commitment to designing a system that provides legitimate standings for players of all competitive types. It’s clear we made too many trade-offs this year on the Ranked experience, but we think we’re now on a better track. Details are still being finalized, and we’ll have more in September, along with a reveal of our end of season rewards. 
Finally, while we’ve heard some comments suggesting otherwise, it’s never been a goal for us to make League more casual. We believe League is for hardcore gamers, and mistakenly believed we could offer real competition to all parties with the same experience. Our long-term vision is to be a global sport, and our goal remains the same: to offer competitive experiences for all players, from solo competition to focused, competitive teamplay. Many things are a further ways out, but that’s where we’re headed. 
We’re committed to continuing to improve League for you. Thanks for sticking with us. 
- New001"
Over on reddit, RiotChomey added:
"Quote:
These changes are wonderful as a high elo player. 
In my opinion every change makes totally sense and is the perfect way to make ranked more competetive again. 
Solo/Duo -> good old times -> good. 
Decay rules -> more competetition -> good. 
More recognition -> more competition -> good. 
Autofill -> good for Diamond -> ok for Master (bcs we have no promotion series anymore) - still ok. 
TY for these changes.
There's two parts to that
We’re adding an autofill ‘grace period’ for all players
and
a guarantee that you’ll never be autofilled during a promotion series
Players after auto-filling / filling, won't have to auto-fill for a couple of games. We're working out exact numbers, still subject to change. 
The first part is still relevant to master/challenger"
 As for the grace period for autofill, Riot_Riscx noted:
"Quote:
So with a grace period enacted, if I'm not mistaken, people will still need to fill on average as much as they did before, but it'll be at a more predictable cadence. It'll be interesting to see if/how much that reduces frustration even without greatly affecting how often it happens to you overall. The series rule is hugely positive though, no arguing that.
Hopefully it is less relevant, because more people will be playing, but one of the major complaints from challenger players (esp in other regions than NA) has been autofill. The protection should help that concern a bit, but overall we want to make more people just want to play support period."

As for the timing, Riot_Riscx continued:
"Quote:
Fair enough. I appreciate that you're trying not to jump the gun again. Thank you for your time.
Since these changes are REALLY SOON, it was important to get them out now. The changes for non-diamond+ aren't until next season, so there's a bit more time to work on the plan and get it right."
 RiotSocrates  added:
"The other part of this beat is that we're finalizing designs that will impact the rest of the ladder for the start of next season and will have details to share in September on those changes. 
Also physical rewards for challengers. O.o"

It’s time for August bundles! 

A new set of limited time champion & skin bundles are now available through August 30th!
"Grab these limited-time bundles now through 8/30 at 23:59 PT.

Masked Menaces Bundle - 50% off at 2811 RP (5060 RP if you need the champions)
Skins included:
  • Creator Viktor
  • High Noon Jhin
  • Dragonblade Talon
  • Warlord Shen
  • Blood Moon Yasuo

Champions included:
  • Viktor
  • Jhin
  • Talon
  • Shen
  • Yasuo

Pin the Tail on the Tibbers Bundle - 50% off at 1981 RP (3781 RP if you need the Champions)
Skins included:
  • Popstar Ahri
  • Snow Bunny Nidalee (Legacy)
  • Kitty Cat Katarina (Legacy)
  • Battle Bunny Riven
  • Red Riding Annie (Legacy)

Champions included:
  • Ahri
  • Nidalee
  • Katarina
  • Riven
  • Annie

Bolts and Gunpowder Bundle - 50% off at 2895 RP (4994 RP if you need the Champions)
Skins included:
  • Heartseeker Varus
  • Vindicator Vayne (Legacy)
  • Explorer Ezreal (Legacy)
  • Firefighter Tristana (Legacy)
  • Slayer Jinx (Legacy)

Champions included:
  • Varus
  • Vayne
  • Ezreal
  • Tristana
  • Jinx

Night Hunters Bundle - 50% off at 2511 RP (4715 RP if you need the Champions)
Skins included:
  • Headhunter Akali
  • Dark Valkyrie Diana
  • Headhunter Rengar
  • Wicked LeBlanc
  • Blood Knight Hecarim

Champions included:
  • Akali
  • Diana
  • Rengar
  • LeBlanc
  • Hecarim"

Sion Splash Reborn

To go along with his 6.17 skin splash art updates, Hextech Sion and a Sion skin bundle are now available in the shop for a limited time! While Hextech Sion will stay up through September 24th, the bundle will be available through  August 31st!
"An onslaught of updated Sion splash art, including one for Legacy skin Hextech Sion, has smashed its way into the store. Seize Hextech Sion for 520 RP by September 24 at 23:59 PT or relish the full skin bundle by August 31 at 23:59 PT.

The Undead Juggernaut Bundle - 3755 RP (4164 RP if you need the champion) 
Available until 8/31 23:59 PT
  • Sion
  • Hextech Sion (Legacy)
  • Barbarian Sion
  • Lumberjack Sion
  • Warmonger Sion
  • Mecha Zero Sion"

[LCU] Prepare to Test: Draft Pick Normals

After testing on the PBE, the live LCU Alpha will soon be updated to include Draft Pick normals!
"In the last round of testing, we got a little twisted on the treeline. Now it's time for the holy grail of unranked SR game modes: draft pick normals.  
Now that you're no longer forced to pick blindly, open up your peepers and use them to assess draft pick champ select's reworked ban/pick phases. Keep in mind that we're not making real design changes to the process—mostly just visual stuff:  
  • How do you feel about the banning animations? Could they be better? 
  • Are there any visual inconsistencies in the new design? What about visual glitches? 
  • Is on-screen information in draft pick clearly displayed and easily understood? 
  • What could we do a better job on?  
Don't forget: alpha testers can use the tools found at the bottom of the alpha homepage in the client to give feedback, report bugs, and more. 
Also check out more client update news here: 

[LCU] Alpha client patch .08 changelog 

A new live LCU Alpha changelog is also now available! Look for .08 to hit the alpha soon!
""Rito, why won't you take my money?" you said. 
And now we're gonna take it, because the store is now live in the client update alpha! You still can't buy RP, because apparently our programmers don't care about feeding their families, but you can spend whatever IP or RP you've already got. 
Surveys will continue to pop up while you shop. Take them! And, if you wanna be a real MVP, remember to submit feedback and bug reports using the buttons on the client's alpha homepage. The alpha discussion board is also always around if you wanna hang with your fellow testers and the client dev team. We'll occasionally swing by to show you some love—y'all are the ones making this test a success. 
Still haven't signed up for the alpha? Get on it. You're our only hope!"

ZenonTheStoic on Taliyah PBE nerfs

In a reddit thread inquiring about the 8/23 PBE update nerfs to Taliyah, ZenonTheStoic explained:
"Hi friends! 
So Taliyah is starting to look like she's going to be a major contested pick/ban in competitive. 6.18 is the Worlds patch, so we want to err on the side of caution. We already see her 100% picked / banned against experts, and picked up even by non-experts (sorry Huhi). We do not want her to dictate the Worlds mid-lane meta, and while shove and roam is and will continue to be a sharp strength that Taliyah has, it's currently too much. She can outshove ANYONE and outroam practically anyone. This is going to feel bad because damage demonstrated against minions is how you calibrate your feeling of power, but crucially it doesn't make her any weaker to enemy champions. 
The E nerf should really only kick in in the mid game where a Taliyah that is ahead just has too much enemy deletion potential. I'm not sure how necessary this change is, but honestly I don't think it's going to move the needle much. 
Re: the mana changes, what can I say. I was too much of a benevolent god when I gave her some of the highest mana regen and base mana in the game. 
I do want to look at buffing her late game where she currently falls off a cliff, but we will not be doing this for the worlds patch."
[NOTE: Despite being mentioned up there, the mana regen nerfs were reverted in 8/24 PBE update.]

Yorick & Champion Update Discussion

With Yorick's large scope champion update revealed and on the PBE for testing, Reav3 has been digging around the boards answering a few questions on Yorick and the champion update team!

When asked who the Maiden of the Mist that Yorick summons with his R, Reav3  explained:
"Quote:
WHO IS SHE REAV3. WHO IS SHE.
Well it's technically "Them" rather then "She." The Maiden is the culmination of thousands of undead souls that makes up the black mist cape on his back. "They" have there own VO and talk to Yorick quite frequently. His ultimate causes them to manifest into the Maiden which is just the personification of the Black Mist which clings to him."

As for what Yorick might think of Kalista, Reav3 noted:
"Quote:
Does Kalista have some respect for Yorick? The Walkers and Maiden seem to be built along the same lines as Kalista herself, an amalgamation of souls, but Yorick is doing all he can to help them find peace. Kalista works along the same lines, though hers is less noble. 
Perhaps she's waiting for Yorick to help her too? 
While I have your attention (hopefully), can you tell us whether Riot Draggles is doing Yorick's new voicework? I have no idea if he's the original VA or not, but he absolutely killed the original Yorick's voice when he participated in This is War 3 Volume 2.
Kalista and Yorick don't have beef with each other, so I guess you can say they respect each other? Yorick doesn't have many "Friends" but he does have people he doesn't really mind, like Kalista and Maokai for example."
When asked what Yorick's VO quote of "We shall prevaoil, we have eternity" and who it refers to,
Reav3 commented:


"He is referring to himself and all the souls trapped for eternity on the Shadow Isles."
When asked about the differences for Pentakill Yorick (975 RP), Reav3  noted:
"Quote:
I LOVE the fact that you guys made him part of the gothic horror skins, Do untertaker and Pentakill Yorick have unique ghouls?
Pentakill does. They are different color and have little spiky bracelets!"

Reav3  continued, sharing more on the extras added to Pentakill Yorick:
"Quote:
Is that the Pentakill Logo on his back? 
Also, does he have additional voice lines? D:
It is! He doesn't have additional VO but..... 
He has a couple unique Audio FX
Unique or re-colored fire VFX for all his abilities.
Mistwalkers are recolored and have spiked bracelets!!
The Maiden has a flaming red head instead of the green glowy head! 
And also it plays pentakill music when he dances......its pretty epic."
[Here's a video preview of Pentakill Yorick's dance playing the intro to Lightbringer!]


When asked who would be the next champion update now that Yorick is out and after the future Warwick update, Reav3 noted:
"Quote:
@REAV3 any idea who might get a rework after warwick who might get listed ?
We are super close to locking that down! WE should be ready to talk about it super soon."
Reav3 continued:
"Quote:
Wait! If it hasn't been locked down yet.. what is the Yorick team (concept artists, 3d modelers, etc) currently working on?
Because I know a this point in a champ the team is usually working on the next champ
SolCrushed, LoneWingy, JohnODyin & I have been in "Open Ideation" for the last 3 months or so on whats next for the Yorick Team. The full production team won't roll onto the next project until Yorick hits live. We should have details on what that is before Yorick hits live though. 
We usually don't talk about projects while they are in "Open Ideation" anymore since that's when they have the highest chance of being canceled if we don't find a solid direction. Getting people excited about a project that ends up being canceled kind of feelsbadman."
As for when we can expect the previously mentioned champion update dev blog, Reav3 Permalink
"Quote:
Reav3, can I know when the Champion Update DevBlog will be released? :)
Hopefully later this week"
For more on the Yorick champion update, check out our PBE coverage! 

Speaking of Yorick, be sure to also check out the recent PBE livestream with designer Solcrushed!

An update on Championship Riven 

In addition to the recent PBE ramping up for worlds post, here's Riot Pabro with some information on the upcoming return of Championship Riven -including new extras for original owners (as the skin is limited atm),
"Hi there, 
I’m Pabro, a Product Manager, on the LoL Personalization Content Team (aka Skins team) and I’m here to give you all an update on Championship Riven as she will be hitting PBE very soon.
Worlds is a special time of year, and with the introduction of Championship Zed (surprise!) who rounds out a full Championship team comp, we wanted to look back to Season 2 where the championship line began. We felt this was a great opportunity to bring back the original Championship skin: Championship Riven for a new generation of players. And we damn well wanted to make sure she felt awesome for original owners. So we spent some time giving her texture some love and bringing it up to our current art standards.
We didn’t want to stop there though, and decided we were going to do something extra special for those who originally obtained her four years ago during the Season 2 World Championship. 
If you are an original owner of Championship Riven, we are adding in some extra in-game recognition for you. Firstly, we will be making a custom vintage loading screen banner that is different than previous versions so people will know you’re an OG.
Secondly, we’re creating a “vintage” version of her in-game model that features an exclusive crown and a glowing particle on her sword when her ultimate, “Blade of the Exile” is activated. Original owners will get the “vintage” version of her updated model and the new version as well.
Any new owner of the skin will be able to obtain Championship Riven with an updated texture but none of the aforementioned extra goodies. The goal here was to ensure that vintage Championship Riven commemorated the start of the Championship skin line and people who obtained her at that time will get to celebrate that forever. 
Championship Riven has been highly coveted by a lot of you for a looooong time. I mean, there was even a petition about it. Over the years, we’ve heard a lot of feedback, excitement and discussion around this skin so we felt it was important to do something different than what we’ve tried in the past. 
We hope you enjoy the update and changes. As always, let us know what you think. We welcome it. 
Thanks,
Pabro"
Riot Pabro  also mentioned in the comments that original Championship Riven owners will also get the vintage summoner icon:
"Quote:
will the border be a thing for all the championship skin line? 
I feel like giving only season 2 this treatment when it could be apply for all season is a step short from the perfection (or maybe you can't track when a content was purchase?)
This border will only be there for Championship Riven, as we wanted to commemorate the original and first Championship skin. 
We also forgot to mention, that all original owners will be getting the Vintage Summoner Icon that has been given in years past too. "

When asked why they chose not to refund RP like the previous vintage skins, Riot Pabro explained:
"Quote:
Will previous owners get also 975RP compensation for losing the "limited" feel, as was with other "vintage" skins.
There will not be RP compensation this time around. We know this is a different approach, but we wanted to offer a way for existing owners to be recognized in-game and honor the moment in our history that her initial launch represents. Thus, the added crown, particle and custom loading screen border that is only available for those who originally owned the skin."

As for how much Championship Riven 2016 will cost, Riot Pabro commented:
"Quote:
RP ? How many RP will the skin cost ?
975."
Riot Pabro also shared why Championship Zed was chosen for this year's skin:
"Quote:
I don't think the championship skins have ever really had anything to do with what was meta that season (except when they happen by accident) - those are the Victorious skins.
To quote Shantizilla from another discussion on another discussion platform.... 
"Championship skins are narrowed down through a bunch of different criteria, and yes impact on the competitive scene is a big one. When we select skins, though, we're looking at the entire history of the champion, and not trying to guess what will be in meta in the next year. Sometimes that means champions get the nerfbat while a skin is in production; Riot doesn't balance around skins, it balances around the needs of gameplay. While it's true Zed has fallen off in recent competitive play, take a step back and look at the champion's contribution since he's come out. Some of the biggest players in LoL esports history have been on Zed, and I don't think anyone imagines he'll be out of competitive play forever. :P" 

For more on Championship Riven and the vfx/texture updates, check our 6.18 PBE cycle coverage!

For those who may be confused on this announcement, TL;DR:

The skin will now be split into two "versions" -
  • Championship Riven - "original"version of the skin for folks who previously purchased or obtained the skin, complete with extras such as in-game crown & R vfx, special loading screen, and vintage summoner icon! Will not go on sale.
  • Championship Riven 2016 - version of the skin that will be returning to the store and available for purchase for 975 RP. Does not include extras.

Patch Chat with the Playtest Team: 6.17, the Pre-Worlds Patch 

With 6.17 out on live, the playtest team is back on the boards for another patch chat!
"Hey guys! Welcome to Patch Chat, a Dev Corner thread we make to talk about the new patch every two weeks. 
I'm Aesah on Riot's Playtest Team, a group of Diamond+ players who play with the new champions, reworks, balance tweaks, items, and map updates before they are released. It's our job to the test the changes that our designers come up with and ensure that we're introducing positive changes to LoL in terms of both balance and fun. We'll be around for the next few hours to answer as many questions as we can. 
In 6.17, we're nerfing a few champions that have had an overbearing presence (pick/ban rate) in professional play. Specifically, S-tier junglers Gragas and Rek'sai who have been crowding out other options are both taking a hit. In the ADC role, Ashe/Sivir/Jhin are losing a bit of power while some other ADCs get minor buffs to bring them more in line with each other. Finally, Gangplank and Trundle are getting nerfs as well- Gangplank in particular taking a heavier hit due to how strong of a pick he has been for awhile. These powerhouses have been making teams uninterested in other choices when they've been available, so we hope that taking them down a notch will allow teams to feel comfortable picking a wider variety of champions and bring some new dynamics on to the Rift. 
All of us on the Playtest Team are avid gamers so feel free to talk to us as fellow LoL players! 
Adam "Afic" Cohen 
Preston “Hinder” Bunker 
Ben “Cezium” Burkhardt 
Shawn “I Am The IRS” Currie 
Don “Aesah” Ding 
Nicolas “Gleeb” Haddad 
Dan “Penguin” Hardison 
Miles “Daydreamin” Hoard 
Bao “Bao” Lam 
Robert “RobertxLee” Lee 
Nicholas “Nickwu” Smith 
Blake “S0be” Soberanis 
Trevor “ThEntropist” Thernes"
Check out the thread for even more discussion!

REMINDERS

To round out tonight's red post collection, here are a few reminders on current promotions or limited time events!
  • There is currently a CHROMA FOR IP sale between August 25th and September 8th! This means all chroma released PRIOR TO AUGUST 2016 will be on sale for 2000 IP each  More information available here.
  • Two LCS finals bundles are available through August 29th! 
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