Red Post Collection: September Early Sales, All Random URF in RGMQ, Auto Attack Lockin, and more!

Posted on at 8:49 AM by Moobeat
Today's red post collection includes a look at the September early sales, All Random URF live in the rotating game mode queue, new episodes of Legends Rising and /All Chat, LoL Esports' "Ignite", and more!
Continue reading for more information!



Table of Contents


September Early Sales: 09.23 - 09.26 

September's early sales are live! These five recently release skins will be on sale through September 26th!
"The September Early Sale is officially here! To kick things off, the following non-Legacy skins from the past 4-6 months are going on sale from September 23 00:00 PT through September 26 23:59 PT!"

All Random Urf live in RGMQ!

ALL RANDOM URF is now live in the rotating game mode queue!
"From the original clone-tastic One For All to the sand-strewn battlefield of Ascension, rotating game modes provide unique spins on the classic League formula. It’s time to kick things off with the next game mode in the rotation: All Random Ultra Rapid Fire.
URF is back, now with two new letters. ARURF is the 80% cooldown, infinite mana insanorama you know, but with randomised champ select kicked in for good measure. Here. We. Go.

Map:

ARURF takes place on Summoner’s Rift, but it wasn’t an easy call. It was a toss-up between URF’s legacy on the Rift and the traditional home of random shenanigans on the Murderbridge, so we threw the shopkeeps into a cage fight and the Summoner’s Rift crew won. Silent but deadly types, from what little we heard.

Randomisation: 
Champ select in ARURF is just like ARAM: a random selection from owned champs plus the weekly rotation of free champs.

Rerolls: 
Rerolls are shared with ARAM, so using one in either mode consumes it in the other. To compensate, we’ve increased the rate you rack up rerolls for the weekend. You should stack a reroll every game or two.

Queue dodges: 
Dodge penalty timers for ARURF (and other normal queues) are increased to 10 minutes and 20 minutes, mainly because dodging a random champ is considered an act of cowardice. It also slows things down for everyone else. Don’t be that player.

Champion Mastery:

We’ve specially tuned Champion Mastery so you can earn points in ARURF. You’ll also be able to earn keys for your wins and loot chests for your (or your premade’s) S­-, S, and S+ games.

Availability: 
ARURF is now available and blasts through Sunday evening (we’ll shut it down very early Tuesday morning--usually between 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM).
    RGMQ is the perfect pot of alphabet soup for ARURF to simmer in. Hop in this weekend and help us boil down the future of Ultra Rapid Fire. We're open to more marine mammal experimentation, so give us your gameplay datums and ideas. GLHARURF"
    Remember that due to a bug custom ARURF games are unavailable this weekend.  

    CLAIRVOYANCE BLOG: Designing a World-Saving Champion 

    Next up we have a new Clairvoyance blog from Riot Tog3PI & Kushnood on  how players might design a world-saving champion  with abilities that reflect their values and issues they care about:
    "CLAIRVOYANCE BLOG
    ARTICLE BY RIOT TOG3PI & KUSHNOOD, DESIGN BY NANCYMON
    Hi everyone! We’re Tog3pi, an Insights researcher, and Kushnood, philanthropy guy. We recently did some pretty unusual global research to help Riot's philanthropy team understand what issues players care about, and what they want to change about the real world. Our hope was that if we answered these questions, we could find better ways to help nonprofits make an impact in areas that matter to players.

    Here at Riot, we use a variety of different research techniques depending on the questions we want to answer, including player labs, surveys, ethnography and data analytics. When we first started approaching this topic, it was pretty different from anything we were currently researching. Since we can’t meet everybody (sadface), we created the “Three Wishes Survey,” which reached thousands of players in multiple regions to ensure they were heard. Players were asked to share their top three wishes related to themselves, their country, and the world. 
    As the survey went live earlier this year, we began visiting our players in their home countries and setting up focus groups to discuss what really matters to them. Sometimes super structured, rigorous surveys aren’t enough—we need creative approaches that are less scientific but more evocative. We needed to go out and spend time talking and getting to know our players in person. 
    It can be super uncomfortable to talk about feelings, especially with a group of strangers. So, we came up with a fun way to get players talking about what really matters to them: creating a champion. The champs didn't have to fit into the League's game or universe, since we wanted players to explore their own imaginations without any artificial limits like cooldown timers on abilities. We asked players to create champions whose abilities reflected their values and the issues they care about. 
    As an example, we introduced “Zulia,” a champion whose ultimate—Creativia!—spawned art centers that allowed more people to learn and grow artistic skills. Her W—NomNom—provided food packages for people in poverty. Immediately, players grasped the idea we were pitching, and started making their own real-world OP champs. Here are a few highlights: 
    LUNA

    Luna was designed by a player in Europe who was a self-described “socially minded person.” She told us how important environmental conservation was to her and how much she love outdoor activities. 
    With this champion, we thought it was 1) adorable af, and 2) had breadth in terms of the topics it addresses. Luna highlights issues ranging all the way from clean water to mental well-being and conflict resolution. A ton of these values appeared as priorities for players in survey results from across the globe, so it was awesome to get the chance to really talk about them in person. 
    THE TIME CONTROLLING FROG

    We talked with this player from Asia at the end of their busy week. He had just come from work and had an entire weekend of school work ahead of him. From his champion design, it's pretty clear he was highly focused on optimizing his time during the day. However, during our conversation, the player discussed a lot of his frustration around the hyper-competitive job market for new college graduates, and how much pressure he felt trying to start a good career. 
    This player was not alone—in fact, quality education and job training was the highest rated value amongst our North American, European, Brazilian and Oceanic players in our multi-region survey. 
    PONCHO

    From reading Poncho’s abilities, a pretty clear theme around mental well-being emerges. Further into our conversation, this player shared that they had a friend who was suffering from depression and wanted to help him out, but felt helpless on how to do so. He mentioned that depression is very different for everyone, but a good starting point is to get people to begin talking about it in order to address it. For being relatively young, we were gobsmacked at his maturity and ability to open up about things that can be hard for anyone to talk about. 
    Interestingly, health and well-being was another value that players shared, scoring as the #2 topic of interest in Oceania and North America, and mentioned by players throughout all surveyed regions. 
    MORE CHAMPS 
    Players created countless other champs during our focus group sessions. Here are a few of our favorites:
    As you’d expect, there’s a lot of variety across the different champion designs. In Northern Europe for instance, there was a focus on physical health, environmental conservation, and enjoying the sunny outdoors. However, there were a lot of similarities among certain players no matter where they were living. If you’re trying to graduate from college or find a decent job, life sucks for pretty much everyone (we didn’t really need any research for that gem). Building and maintaining good mental health is also a value we all share, and most of us could use a Poncho in our lives to help us out from time to time. 
    We’ve learned a ton from our players so far—it's incredible how creative, honest and open these players were when sharing these thoughts with us. But how do we use these insights? First, we can now better understand what's going through the minds of players across the globe when they’re not in game, and especially what IRL issues matter to them. In combination with multi-region survey results, these focus groups helped us identify some particular nonprofits we’re partnering with in the near-ish future. Ultimately, this was about learning so we could find authentic ways to support issues that matter to our players and make a difference in their communities. 
    If you could make your own champions to help the world, what would they look like, and what could they do?"

    Reav3 on Skin Splash Art Updates

    When asked about a timeline for next set of skin splash art updates, Reav3 noted that we might see Twitch's skin splash art updates prior to Warwick's large scope champion update sometime in the future:
    "Maaaayyybeee. There is a chance we see Twitch before Warwick. Only time will tell ;) There are also 2 "off the list" splashes that should be out before Twitchs, similar to the Teemo one. I'll let them be a surprise though."
    When asked about those "off the list" splashes, Reav3 explained:
    "Quote:
    How do these "off the list" splashes get decided? Loved the Spellthief Lux one, it was fantastic.
    Lots of reasons. Sometimes they are passion projects by Rioters that work on them in there own time. Sometimes they are splashes that were used as a test to see if we want to use someone as a splash art outsourcer in the future. If the art test is good enough we might finish it up in house. 
    These 2 coming up in particular were 2 of the last splashes we couldn't resolve during the global unification process and needed to be done from scratch. Cottontail Teemo was one of these as well. "
    While Twitch should be the next up, we've heard in the past that Karma will be after him. When asked if Traditional Karma will return to the shop at that time, Reav3 noted:
    "Sure will!"
    As for if Miss Fortune will eventually get this style of splash art update, Reav3 commented:
    "She's on the list, yes" 

    Auto Attack Lockin 

    Here's Reinboom with a thread on upcoming changes to attack lockin frames:
    "Hello everyone! 
    We’ve been testing a kind-of quiet change on the PBE for awhile that we would like to bring forth very soon, and we’d like to bring it to your attentions: Attack lockin frames. 
    This change is intended to primarily make the last frames of attacking a bit more predictable, especially within slightly laggy environments. This helps smooth out experiences when your input frame timing mismatches from the server slightly. 
    tl;dr 
    There are 2 server frames right at the peak of an attack where your movement doesn’t interrupt that attack. 
    Details 
    The game server has a set frame tick rate. Each action takes a number of frames, depending on the action, to perform. It basically goes like this:
    1. Input happens.
    2. The attack spends some frames winding up. If you do any input at this time, the attack is canceled.
    3. The attack fires.
    4. The attack spends some frames winding down. If you do any input at this time, the attack still went off and you just get to move around. (This is essential for kiting!) 
    That’s the state as it is right now. On PBE it’s changed slightly:
    1. Input happens.
    2. The attack spends some frames winding up. If you do any input at this time, the attack is canceled.
    3. For 1 frame, any movement input is held on to.
    4. The attack fires.
    5. For 1 frame, any movement input is continued to be held on to. Then your queued movement is processed.
    6. The attack spends some frames winding down. If you do any input at this time, the attack still went off and you just get to move around. (This is essential for kiting!) 
    In picture form 
    O means “You can cancel the animation” and X means “Your movement is delayed until the next O” 
    Each image represents 1 server frame (the server ticks at 30 fps)"


    Riot Reinboom continued:
    "Quote:
    Will the average player ever notice a difference?
    Likely, yes, but from what we've seen not something that many people will attribute to this change specifically. 
    CS has improved slightly in the time it's been on the PBE and there's been reports of "attacks feel smoother" when asked blindly. For the most part, though, this impact players with slightly variable or high latency the most."

    LoL Esports "#Ignite" on Social Media

    EDIT: Video up!


    LoL Esports has shared a peculiar image on both their  Twitter & Facebook - Both posts include the image below and the hashtags #Worlds and #Ignite. The Z in the middle resembles that used by the artist Zedd, who  also retweeted this with the comment "9/26"!
    The 2016 World Championship starts next week! Group stages begin on 9/29!

    Legends Rising Season 2: Episode 6 - Fighting

    New episode of Legends Rising is up, check out S2 E6 - Fighting:

    "For Smeb, the time is now. It's been a long, hard road gaining respect in Korea, but with the ROX Tiger's rival SKTelecom knocked out of the Summer Split Playoffs race, Smeb and his team feel like this year's LCK title -- an automatic berth into the 2016 World Championship -- are within reach. With the playoffs in full gear, Rekkles, WildTurtle, Revolta, ClearLove and Chawy all have one goal in mind. Make it to Worlds. 
    Legends Rising Season 2 follows six of the game's greatest pros through the hard work and sacrifice necessary to achieve greatness, in a six-part series. Do they have what it takes to become a legend? 
    Legends Rising Season 2: Episode 1 - Spring: https://youtu.be/W62IJtPwwx8Legends Rising Season 2: Episode 2 - All In: https://youtu.be/c9a5HqS0ZC8Legends Rising Season 2: Episode 3 - Revolver: https://youtu.be/J58PfeZ3dCwLegends Rising Season 2: Episode 4 - Endurance: https://youtu.be/6bImQGHGaSULegends Rising Season 2: Episode 5 - Contender: https://youtu.be/HtQS2fyx67U"

    DUOS: Doublelift and Biofrost

    A new DUOS is up - this episode focuses on TSM's bot lane duo of Doublelift and Biofrost!

    "DUOS is an LCS anthology series that follows a few of the NA LCS pros in their pursuit to become summer split champions. Our fourth duo is TSM’s Doublelift and Biofrost. 
    When Doublelift, arguably the best ADC in North American history, joined TSM at the start of the 2016 season alongside Yellowstar, the most decorated support in the West, expectations couldn’t have been higher. However, after a disappointing finish in the NA LCS Spring Split Playoffs, the team parted ways with Yellowstar and set out to find a new support. The result: an unknown Canadian rookie named Biofrost. The new TSM bot-lane found quick success in the Summer Split, finishing 17-1 and steamrolling their way to the NA Summer Finals in Toronto, Canada. Now playing in his first arena match with the home crowd at his back, Biofrost looks to his veteran duo partner for support as they try to carry TSM to a fourth NA LCS Championship. 
    Music Credits:
    "Showtime Ready" by Evan Beigel, Scott Emerson
    “Wait Until The End” by Stephen Charles McKeon
    “Aftergold (feat. Tove Styrke)” by Big Wild 
    Footage courtesy of CN Tower."

    Will It Jungle? Ft Taliyah /ALL Chat 

    It's Friday so the /ALL Chat crew is back discussing... jungle Taliyah!

    "One of you suggested that Dash jungle Taliyah for this episode of /All Chat. If you were to play a drinking game and took a drink for every time he missed his W, you would need to go to the hospital."

    10 Year Gift Distribution Extended until September 30th

    Riot support tweeted out that the 10 year anniversary gifts (Riot Kayle or Mystery skin and Poro Summoner icon)  are expected to all be distributed to eligible players by September 30th instead of the 23rd.
    "Anniversary gifts are taking a bit longer than expected! The updated timeline is now Sept 30th! <3"
     
    The Riot support page announcement reads:
    "[SEPT 23] ANNIVERSARY GIFTS ARE STILL BEING SENT OUT AND WILL BE ADDED BY SEPT 30!

    Gifts are rolling out, but they are happening in waves. Therefore it's possible other players have received them, but not yourself. Additionally, you may have received the Icon, but not the Kayle skin and vice versa due to the wave roll roll-out. We are attempting to speed up giving out these pieces of content, so it is possible you'll receive them without any gifting notification pop-up.

    Any game, including Co-op vs. AI, played in the last 60 days will make you eligible for the gift. If you're not currently eligible, you can play a game up until September 19 and make yourself eligible, though you may get your gift a few days later. You can check out our announcement if you're not sure what we're talking about."


    REMINDERS

    To round out tonight's red post collection, here are a few reminders on current promotions or limited time events!
    • The 2016 World Championship starts on September 29th!
      • The 2016 Worlds Pick'em is available now through the 29th! Earn summoner icons and more by participating and guessing correctly!
      • New Worlds merch available September 28th.

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