Red Post Collection: 1/17 Mid-Patch Update, Feral + Grey WW changes to PBE soon, Warwick Reddit AMA, & more!

"For all the NA LCS pro players, the dream of Spring finals starts here. Be sure to check out opening week action and see which teams starts of the year with a win. NA LCS Spring Split returns on January 20th at 3PM PST. 

For more information around schedule, tickets and how to watch, please visit http://www.lolesports.com/en_US/tickets 

Watch Cloud9 take on TSM for the first match of the year at watch.lolesports.com
To catch up on all the off season changes to the NA LCS, learn more at http://www.lolesports.com/en_US/artic... 

Follow us and join the conversation @lolesports"

Secondly, Vancouver, BC has been announced for the NA LCS Spring finals April 22-23rd!

"Spring Split ends here. NA LCS Spring Finals weekend is heading to the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, BC on April 22-23. 

Our inaugural trip to the North saw fans rock Toronto in August, and now we’re headed to to the other side of country as we visit the beautiful port city of Vancouver, BC. We can’t wait to bring the top teams from Spring 2017 to the Pacific Northwest to crown our new Spring Split Champions. 

The winner of NA Spring Finals will not only win the championship title but also earn a spot to represent North America at the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational. 

Want to join us at NA Spring Finals weekend live from Vancouver, BC? Check out the full event details below: 

Details 

Venue: Pacific Coliseum 

Dates/Times: 

• April 22 (3rd place vs. 4th place)
• April 23 (1st place vs. 2nd place) 

Start times will be confirmed before tickets go on sale. 

Teams: Top four teams from NA LCS Spring Playoffs 

Format: Best of 5 

Tickets: Tickets sales will begin in mid February. We’ll share more information before tickets go live on Lolesports. 

Stakes: 

• 1st place - 90 points and will represent NA at MSI 2017
• 2nd place - 70 points
• 3rd place - 50 points
• 4th place - 30 points 

We can’t wait for NA LCS teams to take Vancouver by storm as we close our Spring Split."

Quick Hits: Placebo & LLN Promo!

[Quick hits is our own mini news collection inside a red post collection, often including shorter or easy to digest stories and repeat information you may have missed in other posts!]

• Check out [this Reddit thread] starting a discussion of the placebo effect when it comes to nefs and buffs by way of an old Vladimir change that accidentally didn't go out a few years back. Scarizard & FeralPony also join the thread to chime in with more discussion and commentary.

• [ESPORTS] Check out this promotional video for the 2017 LLN! !  Introducción LLN Apertura '17 | League of Legends | Esports

Warick Update Reddit AMA

Several Rioters responsible for the recently revealed WARWICK CHAMPION UPDATE leaped on to reddit to answer player questions!
Here's c0ttonnz to start us off with an introduction to the Q&A:

"Hey everyone, 

Today we're going to change our Q&A format up a bit and host it here on reddit instead of our regularly used boards. In this thread we have some of the members of the teams behind the Visual Gameplay Update of Warwick - The Unchained Wrath of Zaun
Our run time will be from now until 1:00pm PST. Ask us anything! 

In this thread:

• Reav3 - VGU Lead
• The5thsin - Producer, Publishing
• Interlocutioner - Writer
• KneecapPhilly - Writer
• TheBravoRay - Illustrator
• Cactopus - Writer (Reveals, Spotlight Scripts)
• PartiestCat - Animator
• MEMEMEMEME - QA
• mstronati - Sound Designer
• CertainlyT - Designer
• NoopMoney - Engineer

Our official Q&A period is over, but the team may stick around and answer a few more. Thank you all so much for joining us. 

Check out Warwick's reveal and The Wrath of Zaun teaser!"

Below I've grouped most of the interesting or more on topic posts from the AMA based on categories:

• Development
• Gameplay
• Theme & Visuals 
• Lore / Story
• Miscellaneous 

Development

When asked how long the Warwick update has been in the works AND if the team had any scrapped or canned ability concepts to share, Reav3 commented:

"Quote:

How long has the Warwick update been in production? 

Any fun scrapped or cancelled abilities from development?

CertainlyT actually started early work on it in Dec '15. We started Warwick before we decided to do Ryze and Warwick was originally planned to come out end of 2016. Once we took on Ryze we pushed Warwick back a bit to 2017. 

As f or canceled abilities. There was a early kit where teammates that helped Warwick kill people would slowly start transforming into wolves and then if near Warwick they would transform completely into wolves and run around the map as a wolf pack with Warwick. Ultimately it felt to far off from who Warwick was. 

He was using the spirit puppy as the temporary effect for this. It was pretty hilarious in internal playtests to see Aurelian Sol transform into a tiny little spirit puppy and run around the map with Warwick then suddenly pop into a giant dragon and kill you."

As for what turning into a wolf did, he continued:

"I can't remember all the extra stats but they did run as fast as Warwick when in his proximity (Which is how they transformed as well)"

RiotMEMEMEMEME added:

"Oh god I remember getting to the point in playtests where the whole team was a wolf pack, it would ramp from one ally up to the whole team. While it was fun, the amount of confusion it cause for the enemy team was a little too much. They ability to deny priority targets (aka me ;) as Varus) targets through obfuscation was rough."

As for strange or funny bugs from development, RiotMEMEMEMEME shared:

"Quote:

What was the most bizarre bug you ran into during the process?

There are so many to choose from! One of my favorites was when two Warwicks charge Q'd each other and held down Q they would float in the air spinning around each other until someone released the button. 

I like to think of it as if they were stuck in a long embrace, touching snouts until one grew tired of the other."

When asked about the process of working on a large project like this, certainlyt commented:

"Quote:

I've got a few questions regarding your working process on different design levels. Say a guy on the Kit Creation team thinks of something that might look cool as an animation, or an animator happens to have an idea for something in the kit, do you guys have the ability to pitch between your respective positions, or do you all have very little contact with one another? 

(So you don't get in each other's way) 

BTW! I've been waiting for this rework for so long, and I've got to say you've all done phenomenally.

We work collaboratively on small teams, which we call pods. We meet daily to discuss our current work with an emphasis on feedback and things that are blocking our progress. Ideas frequently flow between disciplines. In terms of mechanics, Warwick's E was an idea from our concept artist (TheBravoRay). Warwick's W scent trails was something I initially tossed aside, until our audio designer (MStronati) insisted we give it another go."

Gameplay

When asked about the new kits strengths and weaknesses compared to the old kit, certainlyt noted:

"Quote:

does this warwick have the same strength and weaknesses as the old warwick? IF not what are this new warwick's new strength and weaknesses?

Main difference is that he can be more proactive before 6 and without his ult. In exchange he lost late game power and some reliability on the R. He also obviously lost the team attack speed steroid, which is replaced by a 1 second fear. This requires him to get into the mix a bit more, risking his body."

As for if Warwick's new Q was ever designed as a sort of blink, certainlyt noted

"Quote:

A question about the high elo / competitive viability of Warwick: Most junglers that are viable in competitive have a way to jump over terrain (with the exceptions of Olaf and Nunu, who have exceptional sustain). Was there ever discussion on a way to give him that ability in his Q, which currently requires vision of the target?

Nope. Warwick is about being very fast. When he can't always take a straight line to his opponent, we can make him even faster. 

Also, as a designer, I have a strong personal bias against free target dashes. They can reduce the importance/meaning of terrain, which in turn can reduce the game's depth."

When asked about Warwick's damage remaining largely mixed (magic + physical), certainlyt commented

"Quote:

Why did Warwick keep his heavily mixed damage?

Historical reasons, interesting non-traditional itemization, and because magic damage stays more relevant across game time."

certainlyt also commented on the decision to not give Warwick an alternative resource of some kind:

"Quote:

What made you'll keep him permanently in his wolf form over having him transform after building a rage meter like gnar ? 

Love his design btw.

Well for starters, we already did that. 

Warwick's blood scent seemed like a hook for making the player react to and plan around an already existing bar... the enemy health bar. No need to add an additional resource system."

certainlyt commented on why they turned Warwick's R into a skillshot with the update:

"Quote:

what made you decide to change his ult into skill shot? 

also can it get bigger hitbox please? I'm not asking for Fizz ult levels of broken hitbox but after watching few videos when adc just makes one small step and WW ult misses... come on. Such things will make him unfun to play with
also who's idea was to give WW huge green lantern/tub/generator-thingy on his back? :< God bless skins that make it hidden but this looks so odd still tho
oh and btw please give Oscar for person that made WW login theme.

We are definitely monitoring the R for reliability. It definitely isn't intended to be as inaccurate as some gameplay videos make it out to be. 

We changed the R to a skillshot for a few reasons: 1) As a pure point and click, it occupied a huge amount of his power budget, 2) As a non-cleansable hard CC with massive damage attached, it can feel smae-y and predictable to fight when Warwick is strong (e.g., he will hit 6 and just kill me every x seconds). It is ideal when players don't feel that the next fight will necessarily play out just like the last. 3) I wanted to make it really really really long range with the proper investment."

and on keeping the suppression on Warwick's R, certainlyt commented:

"Quote:

Is there a reason you all decided it was best to keep suppression in Warwick's kit with the rework? 

I was expecting it to be something that would get removed due to how unique of a mechanic it is.

We kept is because it is a unique mechanic with clear strategic purpose. That's sort of the goal of mechanics design ;-)."

When asked about consideration for less common roles (such as top lane WW), certainlyt noted:

"Quote:

When designing Warwick how much did you have top lane in mind? Did you want him to be viable at all in top lane?

I had no particular desire for him to be viable top lane. Personally, I feel that players should be able to run champions in different positions and be successful if they are good at them. To this end, we periodically play tested him top lane and found that while it was unlikely to be "tier 1", that players could succeed with strong macro (roaming) and micro play."

As for thoughts on Warwick as a drain tank and traditional balance problems, certainlyt commented:

"Quote:

How confident are y'all that Warwick's kit won't get out of control and on the level as other drain tanks? Especially as a champion that is a staple of learning, if he is nerfed and then too weak it seems like that could be a noticeable problem for the game. 

Bonus: If anyone could give insight into what Riot's future plans for drain tanks as a whole are, that would be super neato.

It is tough design space. Since drain tanking is so core to Warwick's identity, we just built in some additional controls and played up the ones he already had. 

Q is mana gated, so the player isn't generating resources from nothing; he's trading mana for hp. One bar always goes down. 

The passive's sustain kicks in only at <50% health, meaning there is a risk that you might be bursted out and also that there's a clear moment to ignite/apply Morellonomicon. 

Hopefully that helps, but it is hard to predict how frustrating Warwick will be in this regard."

certainlyt also replied to a question on Warwick's appeal as a low cost champion:

"Quote:

what do you think this will change when it comes to WW's impact on new players?...

We'd especially like for him to remain a great intro jungler. 

One cool element of champ up is that they give new players low ip/rp cost options for cutting edge aesthetics. Our 450 ip champs just keep looking better!"

To a similar tune,  certainlyt also commented on designing a champion around both casual and top tier players:

"Quote:

How do you balance design between the casual player and the top notch competitive players? By this I mean, we've seen some instances like azir where it was impossible to balance them for the casual players without him being broken for competitive play, is that something you look to avoid in your designs? 

Have you thrown out (in ww's rework or other champions) ideas because it'd lead to another azir? 

How much do you take into consideration competitive play when designing a kit?

Interesting question. It's obviously ideal when a champion is balanced across all Elos -- 

a) each game should be a fair competitive experience, with victory or failure being a function of the choices players made in the game, b) champion choice, being perhaps the most important decision a player makes in the game, shouldn't have some options that are a priori inconsistent with a fair competitive experience. 

That said, some play patterns will be sufficiently compelling that we want to move forward with them even if they are disproportionately effective at some skill levels (and here skill is defined broadly, since things like latency associate with Elo). In this case, a) it's important to ensure that counterplay to the pattern also scales with player skill and b) that other portions of the champion beside the "high Elo" play pattern operate in the other direction. 

In the case of Warwick, I generally felt he had a lot of tools to be successful at lower Elos. For example, auto-attacks are better in the presence of latency. So we made sure Warwick had some nuances that excellent players could use to distinguish themselves (Q following move blocks) when they can't rely on right clicks and that less experienced opponents had clear counterplay (making it very obvious when you are blood hunted)." 

Theme & Visuals 

When asked about the "main theme" of Warwick in relation to other hunters, Reav3 noted:

"Quote:

What was the main theming on Warwick? 

And how does it differ from Rengar or Kha'Zix, for example.

Warwick - Blood Hunter
Rengar - Big Game Hunter
Rek'Sai - Apex Predator"

Reav3 commented  on what core parts of Warwick they wanted to preserve with the update and on what distinguished Warwick's visuals from Rengar:

"Quote:

What parts of Warwick did you consider his "core identity" that you definitely wanted to preserve with the rework? 

Is/was there any concern that this new direction is too similar to Rengar? 

What was the craziest bug that you encountered before launch?

"What parts of Warwick did you consider his "core identity" that you definitely wanted to preserve with the rework?" 

We wanted to preserve him being a visceral half-man, half-beast blood hunter. 

"Is/was there any concern that this new direction is too similar to Rengar?" 

There are A LOT of junglers that are hutners in our game as it fits pretty well with the gameplay theme/fantasy of junlgers. Rek'Sai and Nidalee are also hunters. WE think we can support many different styles of jungle hunters in our game. I thin Rengar and Warwick are very different. Rengar is a big game hunter looking for the biggest and baddest beasts to add to his collection. He is much more sentient and controlled. Rek'Sai is the opposite, a pure instinct hunter that hunts by sound vibrations . Warwick hunts by blood scent which is different then both Rek'Sai and Rengar. He is also driven by a mix of emotions, instincts and some shattered humanity. 

TL:DR A lot of different "hunters" can exist in our game, especially for junglers."

TheBravoRay added:

"Quote:

What parts of Warwick did you consider his "core identity" that you definitely wanted to preserve with the rework? 

Is/was there any concern that this new direction is too similar to Rengar? 

What was the craziest bug that you encountered before launch?

From an artistic perspective with Rengar overlap concerns, we really wanted to push the feral monster aspect to separate the two. 

This was done by making his visuals and animations especially savage and raw. Running on all fours most of the time demonstrates his lack of control when blood scent is active.
Rengar holds more human characteristics, with utilizing cunning and stealth to get to his prey, while Warwick has no control to his actions, just rage and hungry frenzy."

When asked about changing Warwick's tail to be larger and more obvious,  TheBravoRay noted:

"We wanted to have a really unique silhouette for him and the animators wanted a big tail! The large tail would trail nicely behind him and help to show the personality of Warwick in different states."

As for working around the new back contraption when it came to redesigning skins, certainlyt noted:

"Quote:

So how hard is it to design around that giant apparatus coming out of his back? I feel like it looks a little out of place in some of the reworked skins and feel it must be hard to design around.

Very hard. It's vital to keep the champion's silhouette readable across skins, but as you imply, it is not obvious what a Warwick dressed as an elderly woman would have on his back. A lot of thought and argument went into what each skin's version of his tank should look like."

When asked about Grey Warwick's new thematic (formerly just a recolor), TheBravoRay shared:

"Quote:

What lead to the change of Grey WW into more of a ~medieval~ theme?

The opportunity for a lot the original recolors of old champions is to provide a thematic overall. We thought the grey red stripe theme could stay true, but opened up for us to give some narrative fantasy to the character. 

We felt putting him in this medieval era universe with the iron maiden mask stamped to his face was terrifying. 

Now image this thing no matter how you do to him he keeps coming for you really made the the idea of him chasing you that much more rewarding."

As for having Warwick take to all fours in his W,  PartiestCat commented:

"Quote:

why did you make him a 4 legged fiend instead of the 2 legged wonder he was

We wanted a really clear state change when he entered his blood hunting state, and the team really loved how it felt to go full-beast-mode while hunting down targets. 

As a bonus, we were finding that once you're down on all fours and cruising towards your prey that you're more likely to make aggressive plays and take risks you might not otherwise make :D"

Lore / Story

"Quote:

What gave you idea for Warwick to be more cyborg/cyberpunk rather than fantasy like he used to be (magically transformed by banana queen).
What was the hardest part of revamping the character? 

Did you guys have any alternative character direction?

Warwick's always been a part of Zaun, lore-wise. But we haven't always known what Zaun really was, at least not to the extent that we do now. When we did the update, TheBravoRay put in a lot of time figuring out how a werewolf could communicate Zaun as part of his visual story."

certainlyt also commented on Warwick's transformation:

"Quote:

On the topic of Warwick though, was there a time where more abilities seemed to be linked to the Chemtech augments on his back or was he always more of a Werewolf?

Never more. Chemtech is the catalyst for Warwick's transformation into beasthood. The beast is Warwick's source of power."

As for the device attached to Warwick's back, Interlocutioner  clarified:

"Quote:

Why the power cell (correct me if I'm wrong) on his back? Thematically, what does that do for him? If that's a RAFO that's fine but I've just been wonderin. Loving the rework so far!

It's a chamber full of chemicals that are injected when he smells blood, driving him into a bestial rage."

and on why chemicals mentioned in Engineering The Nightmare did not kill Warwick, Interlocutioner explained:

"Quote:

Is warwick a good boy ? 

serious question though If the stuff singed pumped into him killed him once why it didn't do it again ?

Warwick's human body was fighting the transformation, losing, and shutting down. The same way our bodies fight infection. When he died, the chemicals could finally work unopposed--the transformation completed. And the newer, stronger, Warwick can't be killed so easily.

When asked how the citizen's of Zaun view Warwick, Interlocutioner commented:

"Quote:

What is other Zaunites (champions and common folk) view on him?

He's an urban legend. Beggars whisper rumors about him when passing around bottles of shimmerwine. They know more than anyone realizes, about more than just Warwick; where the bodies are not-so-metaphorically buried. But no one thinks to ask. No one even sees them."

As for other types of experiments that might be running around Zaun, Interlocutioner commented:

"Quote:

Are there more experiments like Warwick running around Zaun? More chimera hybrids?

Zaun is the kind of place where a kid with a dream, some rare scrap, and enough gum to hold it all together can shatter the boundaries of time. While Warwick is a one-off experiment by Singed, Dr. Mundo, Twitch, and Zac have all been shaped by Zaun's science as well. Some characters like Urgot and maybe Victor have been RESHAPED. In a metaphorical sense, it's where change happens in Runeterra, freely, wildly, and dangerously."

As for how Warwick might perceive Yordles based on his VO quote, Interlocutioner noted:

"Quote:

yordles... the alpha predator 

If humans see yordles as old people, what does Warwick see them as? Can he see through their natural illusion or does the illusion look different for him?

We've debated this for hours, believe it or not! I like something WAAARGHbobo ultimately proposed. All of our champions have been touched or cursed by magic, somehow. This gives them enough of an anchor to see a yordle for what they truly are. 

Beyond that, Warwick can probably smell them. And they don't smell like old men on ponies, in Kled's case... they probably smell worse."

When asked if Warwick had encountered Kindred during his experimentation,  KneecapPhilly noted:

"Quote:

This is a question for some of the lore guys, but I was wondering if Warwick had seen Kïndred at all during Singed's experiments, considering Warwick seemingly recognized the duo with his in game quote "Which one of you is the wolf" or something along those lines. 

Overall I love every aspect of this champion update, and I've tested him a bit on the PBE and he's fantastic to play as. Great job, and I can't wait to see what the champup team has in store for us in the future.

It's possible. Warwick experienced unimaginable torment and fever dreams while on Singed's table. Unfortunately, there's no way for him to know whether what he saw was hallucinatory or real. However, you can be certain that it's tied to that final word he said before he "died.""

As for thoughts on Singed following the new WW story, Interlocutioner commented:

"Quote:

How much does the Warwick update change Singed overall? (backstory, 
personality, etc)

I think the core of Singed will remain the same. The smartest guy in the room... who will cruelly laugh when he throws you over his impossibly huge shoulders. Future writers and updates will try to find his place in the brave, new world you've read about in City of Iron and Glass and The Weakest Heart."

Interlocutioner added:

"Quote:

hi love this new aspect of ww it really reflects a wolf-human thing
1how is human ww like? a photo with singed showed some man hang up there w a claw, is human ww a bad man or a offender - did he belong to a gank or smth? 

2 is he the only one? i mean did singed created more experiments like him?

Warwick can't always remember the person he once was, but there are other people who might... who bear the scars of meeting him. 

Singed saw a unique opportunity experimenting with Warwick. Not everyone has such a "beast" hidden inside them."

Miscellaneous 

When asked about Warwick's unique Tiatmat/Ravenous Hydra animation, PartiestCat noted:

"Quote:

Whose idea was it to give Warwick a unique animation for Tiamat/Ravenous and why it was made in the first place? That was great! 

Also, props for the champ select quote!

That was a sort of joint decision by CertainlyT and myself -- we originally made him a traditional Crit animation, but we were finding that it was interrupting the flow of his attack cycle in a way that didn't feel great. We still liked it and wanted to use it, so CertainlyT came up with the idea to shift it over to Tiamat/etc.!"

As for Warwick's new blood trail effects, certainlyt shared:

"Quote:

How did you create the blood trail effects on screen? 

Is it just a layer?

An engineer built new tech! I have no idea how it works, but it is a layer... everything vfx-wise is a layer."

When asked if Soraka will receive a lore change as she no longer seems involved with Warwick,  Reav3 noted:

"Quote:

Will Soraka's lore change when his update is released?

Sorakas lore will be updated in the future, but not right when Warwick launches" 

mstronati also commented on Warwick's sound effects:

"Quote:

First of all, thanks for the good (scary!) emotions you guys gave us with this awesome rework. Two questions! 

-how have you come to the idea of Warwick as an actually good monster, hunting criminals in zaun? 

-You gave to R and WW run animation pretty good sound effects, based on terrain. Is this a new feature in the code that allows you to do this? Can we expect this cool, exquisite detail in future again? 

Have a good time all, can't wait for the next big project.

Hi SubRedditReader! Sound Designer for Warwick here :) Your intuition was absolutely right! through code, we call material-specific switches that cause to play different sounds. That's for the R and run animation, but it's also on emotes and the Q landing! I wouldn't expect this to happen on every future champion, but we'd definitely like to see it happen more often in the future on champs that have cool special moments that could be made cooler through the use of sounds that are dependent of materials. Hope that answer the question!"

As for what a publishing producer brings to the champion update team, the5thsin  shared:

"Quote:

Can you guys give a short explanation of each of your jobs, using WW project as an example? 

What do the Producer, Publishing do? What about writer? etc

The publishing producers help the team make media like reveal pages and teasers. We work with the team to set goals, make a plan for accomplishing them, and then when problems arise we help the team find creative ways of getting around them. We're also responsible for managing relationships with any outside partners we bring on to help us."

the5thsin continued, discussing teasers and how they convey themes or characteristics:

"Ideally a champ's appearance is complete or mostly complete by the time we start working on the teaser. Sometimes it works the other way around, which is always gratifying, but that's the exception. 

On the teaser we try to figure out how the in-game champion will translate into the cinematic version and how to draw attention to aspects of the champion we want players to pick up on. We exaggerated the claw and dilated the time they spend in the expanded state (like in the teaser video when he enters his Blood Hunt state) so that it would be clear that the claw can expand and that it's Warwick's main tool for ruining your day."

When asked what he is working on next, certainlyt noted:

"Quote:

2) This might be a bit more personal, and I'd understand if you don't want to answer, but, Brad (CertainlyT), where are you headed next? With the plan being that Stashu and RiotRepertoir will take the lead on the two VGU pods/teams, while Solcrushed becoming a designer in the next Roster Update (according to Reav3, on the Boards).

2) I now sit in the Champion pit and hope to stay here for a while."

More on the Warwick champion update can be found here:

• Engeering the Nightmare
• Champion Update: Warwick, the Uncaged Wrath of Zaun
• Warwick Update PBE Coverage & Preview

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