Red Post Collection: June 15th Mid-Patch Updates, Ask Riot, Thresh Figure, Vs. FAQ, Summoner's Code Art, & more!

Continue reading for more information!

• 6/13 PBE Update: SKT Skins for  Ekko, Jhin, Nami, Olaf, Syndra, Zac, New Summoner icons, & more! 

• EU LCS Summer Split Week 3 [June 15th - June 17th]
• Champion & Skin Sale 6/16 - 6/19
• VS. Event - Dawnbringer Riven and Nightbringer Yasuo

• 6/15 PBE Update: More Tentative Balance Changes

Table of Contents

• June 15th Mid-Patch Updates
• Ask Riot: Yasuo Gets Banned 
• [Merch] Thresh Figure + Free Figure Promotion
• Chaos or Order! The VS FAQ to guide you to your destiny
• Summoner's Code Art
• Champion Design Pods
• Patch Chat with the Playtest Team - Patch 7.12 
• Quick Hits
• Reminders

June 15th Mid-Patch Updates 

A mid patch update was put out today to fix an issue with Shaco's boxes:

"6/15/2017 

Shaco 

• BUGFIX - Fixed a bug where Shaco’s Jack in the Boxes were visible to all enemy players through Fog of War."

Ask Riot: Yasuo Gets Banned 

This week's edition of Ask Riot is here, covering topics such as Yasuo getting banned, Vision Score, and how voice actors are chosen:

"This week it’s voice over work, a glance at vision scores, and Yasuo’s frequent visits to the ban bin.. 

Yasuo fan art by OrekiGenya

So Yasuo is getting banned in almost every game. What does Riot say to the people who like playing him?

Honestly? Yasuo is badass. He’s a lethal Ronin-esque character that can pull off slick moves in game, dashing and slashing everywhere, leaving chaos and death behind him…at least when he’s on the enemy team. We’re thrilled that we created a character that people love to play as much as him, but we’re also sad that he’s effectively removed from play because of his popularity. 

We want you to be able to play Yasuo. The moments when he dashes from minion to minion narrowly escaping death, or lands that 5 man ult getting the pentakill, are super satisfying and exciting — we just need to make sure that the way you do it also provides your opponents with the feeling like they could have made meaningful decisions during the engagement. 

Now, we could easily get his ban rate down by focusing on his raw power, but doing so would probably also mean that he’d have to be so weak that picking him was actually putting Yasuo players at a MAJOR disadvantage, let alone putting his promised fantasy at risk. Yasuo already struggles with being a viable champion the higher you climb, and instead has a lot of his playrate derived from players who devote themselves to mastering him (and even then aren’t rewarded with the typical winrate growth you would expect). 

A decent indicator of this is his presence in pro play:  

• 2016: 19 picks, 1 ban (Nidalee for reference was 404 picks and 930 bans) 

• 2017: 1 pick, 1 ban  

*While these numbers certainly aren’t conclusive, nor necessarily indicative of a problem, it’s an interesting note that in the most competitive environment Yasuo actually struggles to find his place on the Rift. 

Our belief is that if we want to get him into a state where he is both viable and also not a must-ban, we need to tweak more than numbers. He was already pretty high on our list of champions that we wanted to look at on the scope of a potential ability update (think Rek’sai, Kindred, Heimer etc.), and with the release of 10 bans he’s moved right up alongside some fellow counterparts in Leblanc and Azir. 

I want to stress that we haven’t begun investigation yet as we iterate on some other projects, but we’ll be taking a look at him in the next few weeks. I’d expect that when we’re done Yasuo will look and feel very similar to now, but with power shifted around on his kit to provide more windows of engaging decision making for his opponents, while maintaining a lot of the agile swordmaster experience he provides today. Again, we’re thrilled that Yasuo is a champion that gives people who play him something to love, now we just need to find a fair way to have his opponents accept their fate as he steals their last breath with his blade. 

We would love to hear your thoughts on this, actually! What is it that you love about playing as Yasuo? What is it that you hate when playing against him? Tell us in the comments! 

RIOT ASYRITE

Product Lead, Live Gameplay 

How does the new vision score work?

We recently explained this in great depth over on the boards (check it out here for the full-depth answer), but here’s an excerpt of the main points: 

Vision Score is a loose measurement of vision game contribution, and can be ballparked as “about 1 point per minute of ward lifetime I’m responsible for providing/denying.” It tends to be in the 5-150 range. 

So, if your vision score at the end of a game is 121, you can ballpark “my vision contribution this game was worth about 2 hours of ward lifetime.” This number comes from three main sources:  

• Ward Lifetime Provided: Each minute of ward lifetime you provide by placing wards will give you 1 point (can give fractions of points). There are actually a lot of modifiers to this score, see “Ward Lifetime Provided Modifiers” below. 

• Ward Lifetime Denied: When you get a ward takedown (earned gold from a ward’s death), you get 1 point for every minute of lifetime remaining on the ward (permanent wards are assumed to have 1.5 minutes of lifetime remaining). 

• Vision Mechanics: Various vision-providing mechanics have a baseline score on-use (usually 0.1 to 0.5), and can also give bonus scores if revealing unseen champions or epic monsters (usually 0.1 to 1.0). This includes Scryer’s Bloom, trinket activation, ward placement, Scuttler Ward, Ashe Hawkshot, Kalista Sentinel, and Quinn Heightened Senses. A Hawkshot that reveals a full Baron attempt will give much more than a Quinn W that reveals nothing (which will still give some score).  

A typical Vision Score can be single digits (short game where you’re not using trinket well) to well over 100 (long game with consistent sightstone use). Generally, vision-focused junglers come out on top for shorter games, whereas Sightstone supports come out ahead on longer games. 

There are a bunch of sub-rules and modifiers (again, check out the full boards post for the deep-dive), but that’s the basic gist! 

MEDDLER

Lead Gameplay Designer 

How do you select voice actors for new champions?

When selecting the voice of a new champion, we have to start by digging deep into who that champion is supposed to be. Each pod (champion team) has a narrative writer who is responsible for the beating heart of their champion; they help the pod answer questions like: Where does this champion fit into Runeterra? How are they unique? What will the experience be when playing them? Most importantly, what are their thoughts on mushroom juice? Once we can say we have more answers than questions, we get started trying to find the champion’s voice. 

The search begins with a bio and a script from our writer. The bio will often provide a little context for the actor and a way to understand the champion’s motivations, while the script is what the actor will be reading for the audition itself. Once these materials are written, Riot’s VO team is contacted to start the search. We begin by sending the materials out to various talent agencies who represent the voice actors we’re looking for. A few days later, the audio files from the agencies start pouring in. When listening back to the auditions, we tend to be drawn to actors who make a strong choice and present a compelling vision. They are the ones who stand out as being a potential fit for a new champion. 

From the many auditions, we put together a list of five to ten that could give us the voice we are looking for. It’s important that each actor on this list brings something unique to the champion. We then bring these actors in for a directed audition. It’s here that we’ll spend a little more time with each actor and provide guidance to inform their choices in the booth. 

After the directed auditions are reviewed and our favorite performance chosen, the writer, the audio designer, and the VO producer start putting together a presentation for the team working on the champion. This presentation includes some of their favorite takes from the actor in the directed audition as well as the first pass at processing the champion’s voice. Once that’s ready, it’s time to show the rest of the team what we’ve been up to and who we believe could be the voice of our new champion. If they love it, we take next steps. If we missed, then we try again until we get it right. 

DIGGITY JONES

Product Lead, Voiceover Infrastructure Group

Thanks for reading this week’s Ask Riot. Have a question? 

Head over to Ask Riot and sign into your League account. Check out the Pro Tips, then ask away. 

We promise to read every question, but we can’t guarantee they’ll all get answers. Some questions may already be answered elsewhere, and some won’t be right for Ask Riot. This isn’t the best place to announce new features, for example, and we might skip conversations on issues we’ve talked about in depth before (though we can clarify individual points). 

We are listening, though, so keep asking. We’ll make sure your questions are heard by the Rioters working on the stuff you’re curious about."

[Merch] Thresh Figure + Free Figure Promotion

"There is life. There is death. And then there is Thresh. Thresh hooks his way into Series 2. For a limited time get a FREE Ultra Random Figure with every figure purchased (including a chance at a S1 or S2 Urf from the vault)."

A new Thresh figure is now available in the Riot Games Merch store!
Along with Thresh comes a new deal in the Merch store! For a limited time when you purchase any figure you will receive an additional FREE Ultra Random Figure (which includes a chance at limited edition S1 or S2 Urf!)

Chaos or Order! The VS FAQ to guide you to your destiny

With the new VS. Event in full swing on live, here's Porocles with an in depth FAQ if you have questions:

"Greetings, Prospective Initiates of Order and Chaos! 

Welcome to the Vs. Event. It’s a deathmatch between the angelic Riven and demonic Yasuo, as they vye for who will be the one to recreate a dying world in their image. 

Just remember, cool edgelords don’t look at explosions... 

With new stuff comes batches of new problems, but we can be your guiding light in a storm of chaos! If you’re confused as to any processes related to Missions, or what you can craft and buy, be sure to check out the event site over here for more details. 

We’ve also prepared a few FAQs below for you guys in addition to the microsite! If you find that your question isn’t answered there, just comment below and we’ll help out. :) 

FAQ’s

“How come I can’t complete ‘One Blade, One Purpose’ / ‘Awakening’?” 

Remember that you need to equip a Chaos or Order icon respectively to complete those Missions, and after you do either the Order or Chaos Mission, you can’t do the Mission for the opposing side until the next day.

“When I bought my pass, I didn’t get any Hextech shards for the Ward Skin listed, where’d it go?” 

The Ward Skin is automatically and permanently unlocked upon purchasing a Pass, so you don’t have to craft that.

"Do I need to complete the Novice missions obtained from buying the pass in order to progress on the Master Missions?"
No, those Mission lines are completely separate. Instead of one unlocking the other, look at them like an easier quest line, and a harder one.

"People keep banning Yasuo and Riven! I can’t complete some of my Missions!” 

Don’t worry, if the champ you need keeps getting banned, you can play any mode where there are no bans! This includes thing Normal Blind Pick, Co-Op vs. AI, and even ARAM, though remember selection there is random.

“Can I get the new skins from Tokens or Mission Rewards?” 

The Dawnbringer and Nightbringer skins are not available through Tokens or Missions.

“Will my emotes from my icons last after the event?” 

All emotes tied to icons in this event are temporary and will be deactivated at the end, but you get to keep the icon!

“I got the X icon, but I don’t have the border for my new skin!” 

In order to get the border for either Nightbringer or Dawnbringer, you must craft the Nightbringer or Dawnbringer Borders. You will receive an icon along with this, but the other crafted icons and icons earned from “In the Beginning…” will not grant the border.

“When I opened one of my crafted Orbs I didn’t get anything / my client crashed and ate it! What happened!??” 

Don’t worry, just let us know in the comments below! We’ll take a look in your account and see what happened.

“But how come I didn’t get a Soulstealer Vayne / Hextech Annie Shard!?” 

You’re guaranteed one Legacy Skin shard from Orbs, but there’s only a chance you’ll get any extra drops like those skin shards or Gemstones.

"What will happen to Tokens that I don’t use? 

Until the 24th of July, players can redeem 10 tokens for 10 Blue essence in Hextech. After that, tokens will expire from your inventory.

"Ok, how about the Orbs that I craft?” 

The Orbs you get from either side will still open after the 24th of July, but they will not include Tokens as a potential drop."

To answer a commonly asked question, Porocles also mentioned you can craft the limited time borders now if you plan to purchase the skin in the future:

"The border can be crafted independently! As long as you've unlocked the border during the even, you can grab one of the skins anytime later and still have it."

More on this event and the new skins & content available in our event launch article!

Summoner's Code Art

The Summoner's Code page was updated, including several new illustrations!
and the full images:

Champion Design Pods

In a large reddit thread discussing the next champion and it's designer, ZenontheStoic popped into reddit to provide info on the Champion Design pods and how they are made up:

"Sure! We have three pods that each have two designers on them, but even that structure is changing. So currently you have: 

• Green pod: (past champions: Rakan, Ivern) Gameplay designers: Beatpunchbeef and Squad5 

• Red pod: (past champions: Xayah, Kled) Gameplay designers: EndlessPillows and CertainlyT (Harrow used to be on this pod when he made Kled; CertainlyT returned from Champion Update to join this pod) 

• Blue pod: (recent champions: Camille, Taliyah) Gameplay designers: RiotJag and ZenonTheStoic

Making a champion takes about 10-11 months. We're trying to ship 6 champions a year, so each pod has to make about two a year. This means you've gotta have two gameplay designers on the pod. 

As always, remember these pods are large inter-disciplinary teams of artists, engineers, QA specialists, producers etc that all work together to make a champion happen."

Check out the full reddit thread for a ton of additional discussion from Daniel Klein.

Patch Chat with the Playtest Team - Patch 7.12 

Here's Riot King Cobra with a Patch Chat for patch 7.12:

"Header by inkiness 

Hey, everyone! I'm Riot King Cobra and it's time for another round of Patch Chat! These threads serve as opportunity for us to talk about the patches that come out every two weeks. You can find the most recent patch by following this link: Patch 7.12 Notes. 

I'm on Riot's Playtest Team, a group of high elo 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 League in terms of both balance and fun. Ask us questions - we'll try to answer as many as we can! 

Patch 7.12 features buffs to Camille, Corki, Jax, Jhin, Kindred, and Rek'Sai. Additionally, we made a number of adjustments to champions that seemed to be overperforming a bit like Zac, Rumble, Ivern, and Malzahar. We also preemptively toned down Karma's shield values due to her crazy synergy with the updated support items that debut with this patch. 

All of us on the Playtest Team are avid gamers so feel free to talk to us as fellow LoL players! 

• Ben “Cezium” Burkhardt
• Don “Aesah” Ding
• Dan “penguin” Hardison
• Robert “ROBERTxLEE” Lee
• Rob "King Cobra" Rosa
• Nicholas “Nickwu” Smith
• Blake “S0be” Soberanis
• Trevor “ThEntropist” Thernes
• Arnor "Hjarta" Halldorsson
• Brian "Madness Heroo" Pressoir"

Be sure to check out the boards thread for additional discussion.

Quick Hits

[Quick Hits is our own collection within a red post collection, often including easy to digest stories, specialized information, and/or repeat info you may have missed in other posts!]

1) RiotMEMEMEMEME confirmed Swain's Q range indicator being removed in 7.12 was a bug and should be fixed for 7.13.

[1] "Yea it is a bug, should be fixed in 7.13."

RiotAsyrite later tweeted:

"The Swain Q bug where his indicator isn't displaying has been found, fixed, and is in testing. Hoping to redeploy it tomorrow!"

2) Part 2 of Weszt Hart's deep dive on team builder is up on Riot Games.com:

"My name is Weszt Hart and I'm a UX designer at Riot Games. 

In Part 1 of this series, I talked about the problems we were trying to solve with Team Builder, the goals of the feature, the UX design process, what we learned from early explorations, and our initial design principles. 

In Part 2, I’d like to describe a few of the design tactics that put our principles into action and helped solidify the overall experience."

3) A recent video on KR LoL YT showing a work in progress example of what the Runes Reforged page looks like complete @ ~31 minutes in.

Please remember that as this is something launching next preseason -  values, effects, and all that are far from final and this is just an example! More info on Runes Forged in [this article].

4) Ricklessabandon on Kennen iteration and Ancient Coin line changes:

[1] "likely going to be away from twitter until monday, but as a heads up: kennen iteration and changes to the coin items should hit pbe tomorrow"

Reminders