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Red Post Collection: Quick Gameplay Thought: August 17th, Nexus Blitz Micropatches, & More

Today's red post collection includes Meddler's quick gameplay thoughts for August 17th, notes from Riot August on Nexus Blitz micropatches, and more!
Continue reading for more information!


Table of Contents


Quick Gameplay Thoughts: August 17 

Check out Meddler's quick gameplay thoughts for August 17th, including thoughts on how 8.16 landed, changes for 8.17, and more:

"Hi folks, 
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 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 
How 8.16's landed/a few 8.17 things 
We've been looking at how 8.16's landed over the last few days. Some notes: 
  • So far at least reducing runes burst damage doesn't seem to have hit any individual champion excessively hard by itself.
  • Wukong however's been hit pretty hard by the combination of direct nerfs and Rune changes. We'll see whether he stabilizes before potentially making changes to him (burst threshold changes add a brief but noticeable relearning period). If he remains as weak as he's currently looking we'll want to do something for him, likely in a way that doesn't add burst damage back (so something like sustained damage, tankiness, regen etc)
  • We'll be exploring changes to Duskblade and Stormrazor, potentially shifting their power a bit more towards sustained damage and/or making them not stack. Not certain yet if either change will go into 8.17 though, dependent in part on seeing some more 8.16 play.
  • Tahm Kench changes don't seem to have impacted his performance in solo queue. Our hope was we could reduce his appeal in pro without nerfing him elsewhere by shifting power around. Waiting to see if that's actually working, but not struggling in solo queue's a good start.
  • We'll probably be buffing AD Trynd a bit in 8.17. We ended up hitting E CD because, when paired with CDR, his mobility wasn't sufficiently windowed. While at present only his AP builds build CDR we were confident it would also be a future issue whenever AD itemization let those builds grab CDR too. Wanted to address that issue as a result and then put some power in to help out AD Trynd based off where he ended up post nerf.
  • The tanks we buffed are doing a bit better across the board. They're looking as hoped so far, though we'll want to dig into a few specific cases (Sion mid, Amumu in low MMR, Rammus jungle) to make sure they're not overbuffed.
  • Zoe's been hit noticeably power wise. As mentioned previously we've got work looking at reducing frustration playing against her already underway. No current plans for other changes to Zoe before that's ready. 
State of Akali 
Akali's been out for a little while now so figured it was a good talk about how we think she's doing. Her average performance is still gradually climbing as players get more experience on her and things like playstyle/builds get socialized. Players with 15+ games on her are also performing pretty strongly, with effectiveness similar to what you'd see on similar champions for the same number of games played. She's been seeing a bit of pro play too, so far looking like a decent pick sometimes, but not pick/ban worthy, at least so far. 
Overall we feel Akali's on a good trend. No currently planned changes as a result. 
Non LoL: Flavour Text 
Usual deal: If you're not interested in non LoL game design discussion, would skip this bit. 
Link here to a discussion of flavour text in games by Alex Wiltshire of PC Gamer. Includes discussion on flavour text as a tool, how it helps build theme/worlds, status as optional 'gameplay' etc. Examples drawn from games like Dark Souls, Alpha Centauri, Pillars of Eternity and more. Well worth a read if that sounds like your sort of thing. The Dark Souls bits in particular resonate with me personally, given how distinct a world that series offers despite being pretty minimalist with its story telling through traditional channels (very limited dialogue, no quest log etc). 
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-art-of-flavour-text/"

Nexus Blitz Live Alpha Micropatch Details: 8/17 & 8/20


Here's Riot August with a changelist for a micropatch that went out over the weekend for the Nexus Blitz live alpha:
"Hi friends,
Thanks for all the feedback. As of right now the first Nexus Blitz micropatch is live. We'll likely do another on Monday. 
Our initial balance patch is going to be looking at a few champions who are balance outliers (very weak or very strong), as well as make the on-fire buff less favorable to ranged champions. 
Some notes on overall balance trends:
----Initial winrate spread looks decent - Almost all champions fall between 44-58% winrate. Compared to the 35-70% spread that ARAM and URF can have at times, this is very good.
----TONS of champions are viable in the jungle, including a lot of marksmen, mages, and supports.
----AoE control mages, poke mages, and tanks look a bit strong. Bruisers and Assassins look a bit weak. We'll keep monitoring this and see if class changes are in order for future patches.
----We're hitting Taric and Sona because they seem significantly stronger than other members of their class (enchanters/supports). 
Changes Below:
  • ON-FIRE BUFF
    • Mana regen :: 100 MP/5 >>> 50 MP/5
    • Ranged champions increase to damage taken :: 25% >>> 35%
  • RUNES
    • Transcendence
      • Level to turn on :: 6 >>> 8
    • Gathering Storm
      • Rank up time :: 4min >>> 4.5min
  • CHAMPION BUFFS
    • Nasus
      • Q stacking :: 6 per last hit (12 vs champs and large minions/monsters) >>> 9 per last hit (18 vs champs and large minions/monsters)
    • Tristana
      • AD :: 61 + 3.11/lvl >>> 65 + 4/lvl
      • AS :: 1.5%/lvl >>> 2.5%/lvl
      • HP :: 559 >>> 610
    • Kalista
      • AD :: 3.6/lvl >>> 4.5/lvl
      • HP :: 534 >>> 600
      • Mana :: 231 >>> 300
    • Xayah
      • AD :: 60 + 2.9/lvl >>> 65 + 3.5/lvl
      • HP :: 561 >>> 600
    • Tryndamere
      • AS/lvl :: 2.9 >>> 4
      • AD :: 3.7/lvl >>> 4.5/lvl
      • HP :: 98/lvl >>> 110/lvl
    • Warwick
      • HP/lvl :: 85 >>> 100
      • AS/lvl :: 2.3% >>> 3.5%
      • AD/lvl :: 3 >>> 4
  • CHAMPION NERFS
    • Sona
      • HP/lvl :: 77 >>> 60
      • Amor/lvl :: 3.3 >>> 3
    • Taric
      • HP/lvl :: 90 >>> 75
      • AR/lvl :: 3.4 >>> 3"

He provided an updated changelist that went out earlier this evening (8/20):
"New week, new micropatch. 
Today we're ADDING A NEW EVENT AND REWARD. Looking forward to your feedback when they show up in your games. 
Also trying a global Magic Resist buff to reign in the power of Tanks and AoE mages. This is a heavy handed approach and may not be ideal in the long run. We're going to monitor its effects and follow up on Wednesday. Personal worry is that we may be leaving our AP assassins out to dry.

8/20 Patch notes:
  • Global Aura
    • All champions gain 5 +.5/lvl Magic Resist
  • Events and Rewards
    • Added EVENT Scuttle Racing
    • Added REWARD Brush Stealth"

Reminders

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

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