Red Post Collection Gameplay Thoughts 6/23, Update on SKT skins, Ask Riot, June Bundles, and more!

• Red Post Collection: July Sales Schedule, Gameplay Thoughts for June 20th, Azir Gameplay Update, & more!
• 6/21 PBE Update: Honor login theme & more!

• June Early Sales

• Patch 7.13 PBE Cycle Roundup

Table of Contents

• Quick Gameplay Thoughts 6/23
• So, about those SKT skins... 2017 Edition 
• Ask Riot: Marc and Brandon Edition
• It’s time for June bundles! 
• Team Composition: Play along with Annotated scores
• LoL in June's Loot Gaming Crate 
• Reav3 on Champion Updates
• TR Server moves to Istanbul
• Quick Hits
• Reminders

Quick Gameplay Thoughts 6/23

Here's Meddler back again with his quick gameplay thoughts for June 23rd, covering Cho'gath, Singed, and Lethality item changes we can look for in the near future:

"Hey all, 

Usual Disclaimers 

These posts will often contain talk about future work we're doing, or planning to do, that isn't yet guaranteed to ship. The nature of the work could change or, depending on what we discover, projects mentioned may get put delayed or even stopped. 

If you'd like to see a Tweet whenever a new one of these posts goes up: https://twitter.com/RiotMeddler 

Some more 10 ban data 

We did a bit more analysis of the impact of 10 bans earlier this week. Particularly interesting there was the distribution of how many unique champs are banned per game, which ended up being a higher number than expected. Two key data points from that below, bear in mind that these are averages though and will vary based off your MMR and the server you play on: 

• Around 70% of games have 9 or 10 unique champions banned
• Less than 1% of games have 5 or 6 unique champions banned 

We'll keep monitoring how ban usage changes over time of course, so more info to follow again at some point. Overall we're still really happy with how the revised ban system in matchmade games has gone, particularly the amount its sped up getting into game (lets players spend a larger proportion of their time on the more fun bits). 

More Runes info probably next week 

We've got another dev blog on the new runes system, looking at some more details of how the system works, along with talking about some more specific runes, some of which are brand new and some of which are existing masteries that have been converted over. That blog probably comes out next week 

Cho'Gath 

Looks like we should be able to ship those previously mentioned Cho changes in 7.14. What we're currently testing there is changing E to an active rather than a toggle, where it empowers Cho's next three auto attacks with the AOE spikes that deal % max enemy hp as magic damage and apply a decaying slow. CD's really short when leveled. Goals there include giving Cho a more juggernaut like damage profile (able to hurt beefier front lines better if they're all he can reach), putting a bit more interaction into use of the E and adding a bit of power. 

Singed 

Changes won't be shipping in 7.13 after all. We want to make building damage a better choice, but don't feel we've got the right changelist for that yet. Going to be exploring passive modifications for 7.14, though not guaranteed we'll necessarily ship anything (this is still budgeted as balance work, not an update, though one of those at some point could make some sense too). 

Lethality Item Changes 

Should also be in 7.14 based off current progress. Key changes current being tested include: 

• Serrated Dirk/Poacher's Dirk - Removing the out of combat movement speed and instead giving it a passive where after killing a large minion, monster or champion your next damaging spell against a champion deals 50 bonus damage. Goals of adding a bit of optimization to its use and removing the need to put out of combat MS on everything it builds into. 

• Duskblade - No longer has out of combat movement speed, proc damage a flat number (so a more viable first item), has CDR and a very brief slow on application of the Nightstalker proc (think Trundle Q like) plus a cost reduction. Looking to make it a reasonable alternative to Ghostblade as a first major item. 

• Ghostblade - More OOC MS, less AD. Cementing this as the strategic mobility choice. 

• Black Cleaver - Testing an internal cooldown on how quickly you can add stacks to an opponent (0.5s at present). Aiming to preserve its impact for slow/regular speed stackers, while making it less dominant on those with sufficiently split up physical damage it gets stacked almost instantly. 

As per usual, this stuff's not finalized and more details to come."

On how the smaller reworks would be handled, Meddler replied:

"Quote:

A couple questions:

• Since there will no longer be class updates, how will the smaller reworks be handled? Will they be done 1 at a time, or will the Live team be working on a few champs simultaneously? 

• Will there be a small rework tier/priority list, like we have for VGUs?

There'll probably be a couple underway at different levels of completion at any point in time. Right now that's LB and Azir for example. They'll be released whenever they're ready, probably not multiple at the exact same time though (same artists needed for each)."

On divers that had planned work, Meddler commented:

"Quote:

What are the plans for Divers who might have been worked on for the diver update?

Some will likely get smaller updates as part of the new process, mixed in with champs from other classes also in need."

Meddler continued:

"Quote:

Hey Meddler can I ask for which Divers would you guys give one of those gameplay updates now that you guys canned class updates

Aatrox, Xin and Diana are plausible candidates. Other small updates (e.g. Azir or LB) are fairly likely before those though."

Riot Asyrite expanded on the Cho'Gath E changes:

"Hey there! 

Last iteration we had is the E costing 30 mana, with a CD that scales down with levels. We're looking into some additional satisfaction wins on the ability as well though we'll see if we're able to ship them at the same time. Examples of this are how currently when you toggle your E and attack a target, the hit SFX only plays for that target, and while your spikes fly over additional targets and deal damage, nothing plays for those impacts. We're going to see if we can play that up to make the ability feel more threatening, as well as look into some small VFX wins for make Cho feel a bit better about hitting his buttons :)."

So, about those SKT skins... 2017 Edition 

Here's SuperCakes back with an update on this year's upcoming SKT World Championship skins, discussing their pricing and the upcoming addition of sound effects for each skin.

"Hello players who love Skins, players who love SKT and, in this particular case, players who love SKT Skins! 

When we first shipped the SKT Skins to PBE, we heard some concerns over their pricing. More specifically, we have a “Guide to Skin Price Tiers” on our player support page that promises that 1350RP skins would have new sounds, and some of these SKT skins don’t. 

First, I want to apologize that we’ve not updated this guide in so long. When we originally wrote it four years ago, our philosophy on pricing skins was different (not dramatically, but still). When we change our thinking, this also means we owe you an explanation, and we failed to do this. 

In the case of these SKT skins, all of our normal playbooks were thrown out. We didn’t look at them as an individual set of features, but rather a holistic experience. We wanted to create World Championship skins that are highly commemorative and, because they are rev-shared, give you an opportunity to honor SKT in a really meaningful way. 

We don’t charge you for “our effort.” There is no evil overlord tracking our hours and converting that into RP. But, there is a level of value and quality that we strive for when creating content and once we hit it, we price accordingly. In the case of the 2016 SKT World Championship Skins, we believe they are priced fairly for what they are: a high quality execution across a number of dimensions, even if those dimensions don’t 1:1 match our checklist. 

But we also know we made a commitment, so we’re going to live up to it. We’re still planning to release these skins at 1350RP in Patch 7.13, but we will release an update to them soon after that adds in sounds and checks those boxes. Honestly speaking, we’re not sure if the skins are necessarily better for it. That’s why they weren’t part of their original design. But we also don’t feel that we’re holding up our end of the bargain otherwise. 

This conversation also gives us an opportunity to revamp our policies to match how we currently approach our work. We owe you an updated explanation that really gets into why we make the things we make. We’ll probably also update or retire that article once we can. 

We’re really excited to launch these 2016 SKT Championship Skins, and thank you for all of your feedback to help make them the best they can be. 

xoxo
SuperCakes"

Ask Riot: Marc and Brandon Edition

The newest Ask Riot is now available, this one celebrating one year of Ask Riot with questions for Marc "Tryndamere" Merrill and Brandon "Ryze" Beck:

"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." 

[Click to download the full score] 

LoL in June's Loot Gaming Crate 

The Riot Games Merch facebook posted that a League of Legends item will be featured in the upcoming June Champion Loot Gaming crate - a monthly mystery box of assorted video gaming loot. For those interested, they've also provided a 15% off code for anyone looking to sign up.

"Wanted to let this channel know that Loot Gaming by Loot Crate is featuring a League of Legends item in their #CHAMPION crate this month! Head over to loot.cr/leagueoflegends by 9pm PT on June 27th to secure your loot, and use discount code “RIOT15” to get 15% off your order."

More information available on [Loot Crate website]. Sign ups open through 6/27. June's Champion LOOT GAMING crate contains items from Fallout, Brutal Legend, League of Legends, and Battletoads.

Reav3 on Champion Updates

Following up the Champion Roadmap, June 2016. Reav3 jumped back on the boards for more discussion on champion updates and a few thoughts on where certain champions are:

Clarifying points of focus, Reav3 commented:

"That comment wasn't directed towards VGU selection which has a different criteria then roster projects. That comment was about the future of class updates and smaller reworks that aim to fix large gamehealth problems and increase champion diversity in the current cast. 

The comment meant that we won't just pick the small roster scope reworks based on a class but that we would also prioritize the champions against other champions that need work that aren't in a specific class. Azir for example needs some small work done (not VGU level) so he is being prioritized against other divers that also need work."

When asked why they choose not to do mostly visual only champion updates these days, Reav3 noted:

"Quote:

Hey Reav3, can I ask you something? I know you guys already said that we won't receive only Visual Gameplay anymore. But with your new policy, isn't logic do Only Visual Updates too? There's champions that needs only Gameplay updates because they're feel outdated. But also there's champions with a solid kit but that have texture/vfx extremely old. I'll use Veigar as examples. His kit is very nice. And his thematic as a dark cosmic mage yordle is really cool. But his Vfx are so old (specially his basic attack, Q and E). So, why aren't you guys considering only Visual Updates to this kind of case.

The main reason is that Visual updates aren't really appreciated nearly as much as a Gameplay update. They also take MUCH more resources. Small gameplay updates generally only take a designer and then a small amount of anim/vfx/audio work depending on which abilities change. VU's take Character Artists, tech artists, concept artists, splash artists and much more VFX, audio/anim work. 

If we wanted to do VUs again we would have to spin up a whole team dedicated to doing VUs unless we wanted to significantly slow down the amount of VGUs we are doing which we don't want to do as players have shown they really love and want more VGUs. 

When we do a GU update tons of player try out the new champion. In General whenever we do gameplay updates to the game or champions it gets players excited to play league. We don't see this same response for VUs. 

Lee Sin for example is pretty old visually though it doesn't really stop him from being one of the most popular champions in the game. On the other hand If a champion has unhealthy or dated/boring gameplay very few people will play that Champion. 

Sorry for getting very producer-y here but I hope that makes sense."

As for thoughts on Akali's position on the list, Reav3 commented:

"Akali is very high on the list actually. She is a champion that is very loved by a lot of a players and has become more highly requested for a VGU every year. We think she has a lot of potential if we gave a her a big modernization VGU similar to WW."

When asked for thoughts on Dr. Mundo and Garen, Reav3 noted:

"Quote:

That's nice and all, but is Mundo having any work done on him soon? What about Garen? Both have been contenders for "worst top laner" for a while now.

Mundo is pretty high on our list for a full VGU. He needs a lot of work so he will probably be more in the Galio/Sion camp rather then the WW/Eve "Modernization" camp. After WW and Urgot we want to take a little break from Zaun-themed champions though. 

Talking to Live Gampleay, who will soon be in charge of the small reworks, they feel Garen is definitely on the list for s smaller "Rek'Sai" scope thing at some point, not sure when though."

When asked about thoughts on Volibear, Reav3 commented:

"Quote:

Question about GU's:
Since you're now doing GU updates instead of class updates, does that mean Voli could potentially receive one instead of a VGU since his art isn't that bad?

Voli definitely needs a full VGU. His art/theme needs a lot of work."

Reav3 continued:

"Quote:

Really? Is your first instinct to how with rebuilding him from the ground up ala Sion/Gallo or a modernization ala Eve/WW? 

Also is his art really not up to riots Standards? I didn't think it was that bad.

Probably closer to something like Poppy, which means a lot of game play changes but more of a modernization on his theme/visuals then a complete overhaul. This is just my gut feeling though, we could come to different conclusions when we actually start work on him at some point."

As for if a Zilean update may come in the future, Reav3 commented:

"Hmm. Not sure who previously said this but Zilean is on our VGU list just not super high on the list. He needs work at some point down the line but there are currently champions that need it more."

TR Server moves to Istanbul

As part of this, players from EUW and EUNE can transfer to TR server for 1 RP!

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)  Ricklessabandon on upcoming changes for next PBE cycle (7.14) ~ more details upcoming:

[1] "before i disappear into work + ffxiv mode again, i'll likely be posting up pbe changelist previews this weekend for anyone interested~"

[2] "likely changes include reworking the reward for amulet coin's quest (maybe other changes to the line as well) and light work on diana + udyr"

2) ManWolfAxeBoss on recently reverted Singed PBE changes, noting a new iteration is forthcoming:

[1] "Ya, I don't care for them either currently. Have spoken with a few of the team members and think the next iteration will be better."

3) r_MoshiDog commenting on account security in a related reddit thread:

"Riot is concerned with account security and we have an initiative going on now to develop additional account protections for our players. In the coming weeks, you will see an update to the League client that will notify you to take action to verify your email address if you have not already. 

Having a verified email address with your League account will allow us to block a password change on your account until you submit a code that we email to you. This is important for all players to do and I encourage you all to go to the www.leagueoflegends.com website, login, and go to the Account Settings portal to verify your email address today. 

As we begin to phase in new security measures, we will be leveraging a verified email address to confirm the activity on your account. Over time we are looking into expanding the use of additional factors for authentication and may add the option to use a cell phone instead of an email. We will likely be offering the option for players to require a secondary factor for logins at some point in the future. Right now our focus is on doing more to detect and deter suspicious login activity and to do more to block malicious users from getting very far with taking over your account"

4) Riot Weszt shared part three of his series deep diving into the design and UI of Team Builder:

[1] "I just published “Taking on Team Builder — Part 3”"

[2] "Part 3 concludes this series. Thank you to everyone who enjoyed it and Team Builder. My humble thanks to everyone who worked on it as well."

:"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, we looked at how we put the design principles for Team Builder into action with specific design tactics. 

In Part 3, I’d like to finish the series with a few embarrassing moments plus a design technique that I developed from working on this project to help solve complicated interaction problems."

5) The Dive With Jatt, Kobe, and Azael

"This week on The Dive the gang are diving into the Rift Rivals format, what a League of Legends Hall of Fame would look like, and as always they'll keep you updated on the state of the game and the NA LCS."

6) DRIVE: The Akaadian Story