Red Post Collection: Meddler Gameplay Thoughts April 28th, MSI 2017 Fandom Battle & Tshirt, and more!

Posted on at 9:54 PM by Moobeat
Tonight's red post collection includes Meddler's gameplay thoughts for April 28th, an update on the MSI 2017 fandom battle, a new MSI 2017 shirt in the shop, and more!
Continue reading for more information and a reminder on April's early sales available through May 1st.




Table of Contents


Quick Gameplay Thoughts: April 28 

Meddler is back with his quick gameplay thoughts for April 28:

"Hey all, 
Usual deal, thoughts on some stuff below. Next week should be looking a bit more at 7.10 stuff and then thoughts on how the mid-season changes have landed/what followup's needed. 
Twitter Updates 
From today on in addition to posting stuff here I'll also be tweeting out a link to these posts. @RiotMeddler / https://twitter.com/riotmeddler should you wish to follow for those. Will probably use the account for the occasional other thing as well at some point. 
Possible 7.10 work 
Now that the 7.9 patch has been locked (we're in the final testing period, so can't put any more changes into it) we've started looking at 7.10 changes. It's likely there'll be a fair bit of followup to mid-season needed, so it's hard to speak definitively about what will be in 7.10, work we're looking at though includes: 
  • Malz - W changes to make his solo laning more rewarding, reduce unhealthy impact of his support play (lack of good counterplay especially) 
  • Heimer - Still looking at him, with focus points being late game effectiveness, better gameplay around turrets for enemies (melee ones especially) and being a better mid laner. 
  • Rammus - Looking at some tweaks aimed at giving a bit more satisfaction/skill expression to ability use, clearer counterplay and a bit of modernization (e.g. more consistent collision checking on Powerball)  
Talking about potential work like Heimer's 
A little while back I mentioned we were going to try and get some work on Heimer in during 7.8 if time permitted. That didn't end up being possible though and 7.9 was busy enough it didn't make it in there either. As above It's still something we plan on doing at some point, but doesn't yet have a guaranteed patch date and that's something I wanted to talk about a little. 
When talking about upcoming work we've got two options. The first is to only talk about something when it's got an all but definite release date and is in a pretty final state. The second is to talk about things we're working on or planning to work on, but don't necessarily know exactly when we'll finish or what the exact changes might be. My inclination is to at least some of the time talk about work, like that Heimer stuff that's subject to change, on the theory that that both lets people give feedback earlier when it matters more and gives better insight into what we're thinking about. That does have the downsides though that sometimes stuff will get mentioned without details, get mentioned and not happen or get mentioned but take quite a while to happen. That seems like an ok thing to me, would love to hear people's thoughts though."
When asked about some of the Rammus changes, Meddler commented:
"Quote:
Any chance of allowing Rammus to activate blast cones while in powerball? 
And maybe Kennen while in lightning rush (similar situation)? Or is that potentially too much added power? 
Regarding talking about future stuff, I'm all for it. I think it would help understand your team's thought processes when considering major changes, and the goals behind those changes.
Hmm, not sure on power impact. There's also a slight cost clarity and perceived wise to allowing some champs to activate them without auto attacking. I'll pass the suggestion onto the designer looking at Rammus though."
On Kled, Meddler replied:
"Quote:
What are your guys thoughts on Kled? Is he in a good state?
My personal theory is that he's a bit strong, though hasn't been played sufficiently by enough people for that to be really apparent. That's certainly not proven though and we don't have any current plans for him."

When asked about Rek'Sai's previously mentioned mini rework, Meddler replied:
"Quote:
Will we see any work on Rek'Sai in 7.10?
Not 7.10 no. She's not forgotten, but, unlike the Malz/Heimer/Rammus stuff mentioned here needs some meaningful artist time, not just designer time. Mid-season work like the new Rift Herald's made it harder to get that time recently."
On Shen, Meddler gave his thoughts:
"Quote:
How has the Shen changes looked from your end? It seems that a split pushing/duelist with Ferver build is popping up in Korea. Is that a direction you're comfortable with for him, or would you like him to stay primarily a tank?
We're cautiously optimistic on the Shen changes, but I'd imagine we'll need to do some more work at some point soonish still. One of our main goals was to shift his power around somewhat so the discrepancy between organized play and matchmade play wasn't so extreme (he's often been pick/ban worthy in organized play and at best somewhat weak in matchmade). I'm hopeful we've closed that gap somewhat, we haven't seen any significant organized play on the changes yet though. It's also possible that, even if we have closed that gap somewhat, it might still be large enough to be problematic. 
Not sure about the duelist build, will need to check in with the Live Gameplay team and pick their brains on whether that's a concern to them. Provided he's still got clear strengths/weaknesses and at least ok counterplay doesn't bother me conceptually certainly."
He continued:
"Quote:
What if the channel duration for Shen's ultimate decreased with %health missing from his target? This might be good for rewarding using it to save allies rather than using it offensively.
That would push it towards ally saving yeah. Downsides are you pay for it in clarity and counterplay. A meaningful duration gives time for other players to prepare for another champ (who's got hard CC) popping in from anywhere on the map and ensures Shen doesn't get too easy an escape from it (important on a splitpusher). A fixed duration makes it much clearer when Shen will appear and lets you tailor audio/visual effects to help communicate that."
On Rakan, Meddler replied:
"Quote:
Do you plan any change on Rakan ? He seems kinda weak atm
We don't have any changes planned right for for Rakan or Xayah. Rakan's got some learning curve to him, and when he screws up it's painful and obvious, which means he can look weak. We've seen him be really effective as well though when played well, so if anything would be more cautious of him being too strong than weak. We'll see where they sit after mid-season lands."

When asked about when we would see the new subclass list, Meddler responded:
"Quote:
A few questions. When will the new subclass list be posted? I remember you said sometime around May. What new changes will we see in the new subclass list besides new champs added in there? 
EDIT: Will existing champions that have their playstyle/kit changed such as Maokai and Rek'sai be moved to a different subclass?
Sometime in May yeah, probably first couple of weeks. Mainly moving champs around, including more in the 'unique playstyles' category (a number of the ones flagged as hybrid weren't really represented by that). Probably moving a couple of champs around who've had kit changes, Statikk should be able to talk more about the details there soon."
Meddler continued:
"Quote:
Will the subclass list be constantly updated this time as new champs get released or champs get reworked? For example, Evelynn will become more like an assassin than a diver once her rework gets released, or Urgot's rework will have a more defined subclass.
We'll probably update it every so often, at a guess once or twice a year though rather than with each release. It's much more a list of how we think about stuff than something that has actual gameplay impact, so urgency's a lot lower."

When asked about making attack move target plants, Meddler replied:
"Quote:
Would you consider an option to make attack move target plants? I still haven't gotten used to the size of them, and I think it would be way easier to aim if we didn't have to be able to hover the mouse over them at the exact moment that we were standing in the right spot. I have lost count long ago of the times I end up losing 2-3 seconds because I missed the plant the first time and needed to set up again.
Plants aren't part of attack move because we don't want the large number of accidental triggers that would create. At present you can attack move freely through the jungle, and often should, only needing to consider plant interactions if you want to use one. If we make it so attack move targets plants you'll need to constantly watch for it and should often not attack move in areas with plants when you'd otherwise want to."

MSI 2017 Fandom Battle  - April 28th

MSI 2017 play in stages are underway and with it we have our first update on the MSI fandom battle:
"See which region is leading the pack in the 2017 MSI Fandom Battle! 
The MSI 2017 Fandom Battle has begun, so equip your favorite region’s summoner icon and jump in game to get in on the action! Check back in on this page to see the leaderboard updates and keep track of which region players are rallying behind. Updates will post on April 28, May 3, May 10, and May 21 (Final results). All games except custom will count toward your region’s points. 
Players who used the icon for the winning region in the Fandom Battle can expect to see rewards (MSI Winner’s Icon and an IP Boost) granted to their account within two weeks of the contest ending on May 20. 
Make sure to check out all the fun going on in-game in the full MSI 2017 Hits the Rift article. 
April 28 Leaderboard" 
Look back for more updates soon!

MSI 2017 Tee now available! 

A new MSI 2017 tee is now available on the Riot Merch store for 25$:

April Early Sales

In case you missed it mentioned in yesterday's red post collection, April's early sales are now available in the shop through May 1st!
"The April 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 April 28, 2017 00:00 PT through May 1, 2017 23:59 PT!

Reminders

Last up, a few reminders on upcoming and ending soon promotions and sales!

  • As mentioned in the 7.8 notes, Legend of the Poro King returns to the RGMQ from 4/28 through 5/2.

No comments

Post a Comment