Surrender at 20

Red Post Collection: Preseason Development Update 1, Nexus Blitz Micropatch Details, and more!

[Added thread from Meddler looking for Lissandra passive feedback]

Today's red post collection includes a post on what changes are being worked on for the Preseason from Riot Scruffy, details on the August 30th balance micropatch for the Nexus Blitz live alpha, and more!
Continue reading for more information!


Table of Contents


Preseason Development Update 1

Here's Riot Scruffy with a new post on Preseason changes and what upcoming changes we can expect - Preseason Development Update 1:
"Hey everyone, it’s been a few weeks since I gave a rundown on our plans for the rest of this year and preseason. I wanted to come back with an update and sneak peek a bunch of the ideas we’re testing right now. We’re aiming this preseason to improve the quality of time spent of LoL games and keep you fighting for a win instead of stuck in a lost game. Our four main goals are listed below with their corresponding changes. 
Laning Phase is improved and slightly longer
Some early concepts (above) Sion bashing an outer turret prototype (below) 
  • Outer turrets now start the game with a barricade that adds 5 small health bars on top of the turret’s main health. Each piece of the barricade can be destroyed and rewards the local players some gold. Roughly around the 10 minute mark, these barricades go away, removing both the extra defense and the opportunity for the gold rewards.
  • This is giving us a more protected and slightly longer laning phase, but still rewards those early push or strong lanes types with the opportunity to destroy a lot of barricade segments and reap the gold rewards. On top of that, we’re finding that there are a lot of interesting new small moments of back and forth under the tower trying to destroy as many barricade pieces as you can.
  • Additionally we’re exploring some slight damage increases on turrets in the early game so that tower dives aren't more powerful. We still like them to be present, but there are cases right now where it seems like the attacker isn’t taking enough risk. 
Comebacks are more achievable and satisfying 
  • It’s worth noting that the lane phase changes mentioned above are actually doing some good work for us here. Fewer early first tower takes are preventing cases where a big gank leads into big gold leads and the winning lane starts roaming the map and crushing lanes that were otherwise going even.
  • Another significant change that we’re currently testing is allowing bounties to scale off of more than just kills. Bounties have been a good tool for us because killing a powerful enemy is both skillful and leads to actively fighting for a comeback rather than passively farming. Especially in higher level play, a lot of the game’s snowball is coming from non kill places, so we think it’s an improvement to the system to integrate all of the gold sources. We’re doing this carefully so that we don’t end up punishing players for farming, which you should still do.
  • Overall we want bounties to increase slightly so may lower kill bounties to compensate for the new system.
  • We’re also testing some reductions in global tower gold, as it’s one of our most powerful snowball sources currently and it deemphasizes the individual differences between players on the team. 
Decided games resolve faster 
  • Melee and cannon minion health scales up much higher in the mid and late game. These changes allow games to end more naturally and we’ve been seeing fewer games where a team has clearly lost but it drags on for too long because waveclear is stalling out every wave or the ahead team has to wait for Baron to respawn. 
Rune paths no longer dictate stat bonuses 
  • We’re testing new independent stat choices on every rune page. Still working out the details between 2 or 3 choices, but tests on both have been very promising.
  • The stat choices are categorized into offensive and defensive stats. Both systems incentivize or require some mixing of offense and defense. We think this does good things for the game in rounding out player offense and defense while also leaving room for some pretty sharp builds for players that want to invest in one or the other.
  • The current stats options we’re testing:
    • Offensive - Attack Damage, Ability Power, Attack Speed, Cooldown Reduction
    • Defensive - Armor, Magic Resist, Scaling Health, Health Regen  
Miscellaneous 
  • We’re moving the minion spawn and monster spawn times about 30-40 seconds earlier. We want to leave room for invades and other interesting early strategies, but in 95% of games players end up waiting around for 30s. In our efforts to make LoL the best game it can be for the vast majority of you, we think streamlining this phase lets you get to the fun quicker.
  • Long term (probably not this preseason) we’re aiming to get text chat built in to the loading screen! This could turn dead time on the loading screen into fun banter and team strategizing. 
We’re exposing these features because they’re not completely locked down so we have time to listen and react to your feedback. Also, if you feel like there’s something that we're not doing that you think would be a big improvement to the game, we’d love to hear it. We’re also bringing in a bunch of players (and pros) to test this stuff early and gather their feedback. 
Scruffy"

When asked about the changes to minion/monster spawns and how it would effect jungle champions who use the time to their advantage, RiotScruffy commented:
"We definitely will be considering it. Whenever we do systems changes like these, there is some splash damage on champions that have been using things the old way. We usually try to take a look at whoever was affected in a negative way."

As for loading times, RiotScruffy replied:
"We're currently (and always) looking into fixing and improving the load times people are experience in load screen and right when they load in."

When asked about overcomplicating the game, Maple Nectar commented:
"Complexity is definitely a thing we worry about/think about frequently. Ideally we want the game to make as much intuitive sense as possible, though we make concessions from time to time. Of note the bounty system is likely going be complicated behind the scenes, but to the player we'll visualize it as 1 value in the scoreboard. It's less important to know all the rules and conditions that lead to a bounty, and more important to know "oh that champ is worth x amount if we kill hem" 
Edit: Intuitive doesn't necessarily have to mean simple, but rather when a thing happens in a game, players should be able to understand cause and effect without having to go through a ton of mental hurdles"

Maple Nectar noted jungle spawn timers probably would't be changed:
"We'll be highly unlikely to touch spawn timers of jungle camps. We played around a ton of different timings during midseason, and even small deviations from current values resulted in afk farming being the correct go to strategy when trying to win."

He also noted there were no current plans for any new keystones:
"No plans currently. We want to first open up the system to wider choices for players before adding more to the system. Think of it like separating stats as a first step, then we'll take an inventory of all runes and see where we need to do reworks or add new ones."

When asked about Locket of the Iron Solari changes, Maple Nectar commented:
"We were doing some quick testing to see if we could land on a positive iteration that solved some of the problems we see with it as an item in it's current form when strong. It's not a priority right now however, and we aren't exploring other options"

Maple Nectar commented on earlier start times and AFK players:
"Yep, we're doing some investigation into some of the more egregious cases in regions around the world so that we're not inadvertently ruining games for folks that load in slow. Luckily it's also a really easy thing to revert without having many knock-on effects for other stuff in flight for preseason"

RiotScruffy commented that they were looking into the systems behind minions getting stronger for winning teams:
"We're actually looking at that system. Currently testing a more unified version where minion speed scales up with game time rather than with "turrets killed in the lane" (which advantages winning teams a lot)."

RiotScruffy commented on the Runes stat choices:
"We're trying to keep the stat choices simple and clear so we want to limit the amount of options to 3-4 offense and 3-4 defense currently. We're still iterating on and testing the different choices so "honorable mention" stats that we've considered but aren't currently our top picks include things like pen and scaling resists."

PhRoXz0n noted something for AP fighters was being looked at:
"Speaking to the AP fighter itemisation, Solcrushed and I are looking at something as a slow burn project to address this itemisation hole."

Nexus Blitz - Week 3 Feedback and Patch Notes

The Nexus Blitz alpha patch notes were updated with a micropatch for August 30th:
"Week 2 feedback thread 
This post marks the halfway point of the alpha, and patch 8.17 is shipping with a bunch of feature updates. You can read the full list here, but for convenience, here's a quick summary: 
  • Two new events: Paranoia Royale and Loot Veigar
  • A new reward: Blessing of Caitlyn
  • A new item: Sword of the Divine
  • Changes to the Snowball Fight event
  • Tunings for the Push the Cart, King of the Hill, Bardle Royale, and Juggernaut events
  • Added a scuttle crab nest to bot lane
  • Various balance changes 
We'll be watching for any balance update needs as the patch goes out. 
Keep giving us that feedback!
8/30 micropatch 
Once again, we're looking to address the balance of certain class outliers. Today we're targeting some of the premier poke mages as well some OP fighters. Also reverting the Nasus Q buff cause it made him bonkers. If he goes back to being overly weak will be looking at his base stats.
Buffs
  • Lulu
    • HP/lvl:: 74 >>> 90
    • AD:: 46 >>> 51
    • Armor:: 28 >>> 32
  • Tahm Kench
    • HP/lvl:: 95 >>> 110
    • AS/lvl:: 2.5 >>> 3.5
    • Armor:: 47 >>> 52
  • Zed
    • HP:: 584 >>> 630
    • AD/lvl:: 3.4 >>> 4
    • AS/lvl:: 2.1 >>> 3
Nerfs
  • Graves
    • HP/lvl:: 92 >>> 85
    • Armor:: 33 + 3.4/lvl >>> 30 + 3/lvl
  • Brand
    • HP/lvl:: 80 >>> 75
    • Armor:: 22 + 3.5/lvl >>> 18 + 3/lvl
  • Ziggs
    • HP/lvl:: 92 >>> 78
    • Armor/lvl:: 3.3 >>> 3
  • Vel'koz
    • HP/lvl:: 88 >>> 75
    • Armor/lvl:: 3.5 >>> 3
  • Lux
    • HP/lvl:: 85 >>> 75
    • Armor/lvl:: 4 >>> 3
  • Nasus
    • Q Stacks per Kill:: 3 >>> 2
  • Wukong
    • AD/lvl:: 4 >>> 3
    • Armor/lvl:: 3.5 >>> 3
  • Yasuo
    • Armor/lvl:: 3.4 >>> 3
    • AD/lvl:: 3.2 >>> 2.5"

Meddler Looking for Feedback on Lissandra Passive

Meddler hit up R/LissandraMains to look for feedback on her passive:
"Hey folks, 
Wanted to check something with you folks. If you had the option between: 
A) Lissandra gets the new statute passive, her old passive is removed and her mana costs are lowered 
or 
B) Lissandra gets the new passive, keeps her old passive as well, mana costs stay the same 
Which would you prefer? Assume that power is equivalent for the two cases. I'm asking since something I've been noticing is that laning can feel a little shallower at times without the current free cast to optimize around. Not sure how much that's just reflective of my personal play experience versus being something other players would also want to continue to play around still. New passive would be there regardless to address satisfaction and distinction, so it's basically a question of whether the free cast is a fun tiny skill check or just a chore." 

Quick Hits

"Hey I just want to shed some light on some things we are currently thinking about. 
In terms of bundle exclusive Chromas, we never intended to pick the player favourite colors. We wanted an easily recognisable color that was not a part of top 3 colors (Obsidian, Pearl and Rose Quartz). Ruby because the best candidate as it is easily identified in game. Remember, Chromas have no indicator in loading screen. Usually collectors who chase after rarity want some way to showcase what they have is rare. 
For high cost of bundles, this is something we are actively looking at. Currently, it is definitely a point of my worry. For those of you that just want to buy Chroma bundles, these will be available after a period of time. Ex: Pool Party Chroma bundles at launch have icons and wards. Now there are Chroma only bundles in store. 
Now, the chroma bundles price themselves are still a bit concerning for me. 
I am still conflicted between:
1) Stick with current plan - Collectors are happy with how rare their bundle exclusives are. We have a good variety of different chromas with 6 to 8 choices. People who usually get chroma bundles get a nice discount compared to buying individual chromas 1 by 1. However, due to the sheer amount of chromas, the bundles can be hefty.
2) Smaller bundles of 3-5 Chromas - Bundle exclusives are still rare making collectors happy. Price of bundles are cheaper. But there will be less chroma options :(
3) Smaller bundles of 3-5 Chromas with the rest being single purchased - The con of this one is that people who usually buy 8 pack bundles will now have less of a discount. 
What we know: Generally, players buy 1 Chroma (Obsidian, Pearl and Rose Quartz makes up large majority) or they buy a bundle (even without bundle exclusives). Thus, this makes option 3 quite punishing for those people that already buy bundles. This is also why putting those three colors as bundle exclusives would probably be the most lucrative but it would make the favourite chromas less accessible. 
We are trying out different options and monitoring purchase patterns. I'm not sure there will be a perfect scenario for this. However, I'm looking forward to finding the best option for all."
"Grab the new Arcade Team Minis set and join the heroes destined to save the Arcade World. The set features Arcade Riven, Sona, and Miss Fortune as they join up with Ezreal and Ahri to save the game-verse from the big bad bosses."

Reminders

To round out this red post collection, here are a few reminders on current promotions or limited time events!

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