Red Post Collection: Quick Gameplay Thoughts: March 13th & 15th, Upcoming Bounty Changes & More

Posted on at 10:54 AM by Aznbeat
Today's red post collection includes Meddler's quick gameplay thoughts for March 13th & 15th, details on upcoming bounty changes on the PBE, challenger rewards updates, and more!
Continue reading for more information!


Table of Contents


Quick Gameplay Thoughts: March 13 

Check out Meddler's quick gameplay thoughts for March 13th, including thoughts on Kayle & Morgana, bounties, 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 
Kayle and Morgana 
Some thoughts on what we're planning for Kayle and Morg now they've been out for a bit. 
Kayle:
Is looking on the strong side. Not all Kayle's are doing well, but we're seeing a lot of power come as players get through the learning curve. We considered a hotfix nerf late last week but decided to hold off since her performance was very variable. What we're currently planning instead are some nerfs and some feel improvements in 9.6 as below. Overall expectation is that her power will be brought down, she'll be a bit more item reliant than she was previously and her W/E should feel a bit better to use as well. 
Stats
  • AD/lvl: 3 >>> 2.5
  • AS/lvl: 2 >>> 1.5
  • Default for Adaptive Force now AD instead of AP
  • Recommended items updated to reflect power of Guinsoo's and BotRK. 
W
  • MS %: 26 - 50 (+.1 AP) >>> 26 - 50 (+.08 AP)
  • Haste at end of 0.25s cast >>> Haste at start of 0.25s cast
  • No longer has ~1s cancel-able winddown after cast (could be canceled by spamming RMB on your target) 
E
  • Fixed 0.25 second cast time >>> Cast time now scales with AS (like a normal AA reset) 
Morgana 
We're looking at Morg nerfs, with a focus on bringing her mid lane performance in particular down, since she's most out of line there. Aiming for a fairly light nerf right now. 
Stats
  • HP5 5.5 >>> 4.5, given she's getting more healing via Tormented Soil 
W
  • Total Min AP Ratio :: .8 >>> .7 (.08 per half second >>> .07 per half second
  • Total Max AP Ratio :: 2.16 >>> 1.89 
Bounties 
We've been doing some further work on bounties for 9.6 and will have post detailing those out later these week, most likely tomorrow. Key things we've been focused on include having CS bounties diminish if enemies catch up on your CS lead, a somewhat slower rate of CS bounty building and support item gold contributing to CS bounties for the owner since those items are CS replacements.
Clash tests follow up 
As mentioned last week we had some Clash tests over the weekend in BR, LAS and LAN. BRs went fairly smoothly, LAS ran into some issues on day 1 which also appeared to a lesser degree in LAN on day 2. We're digging into those with the intention of addressing whatever the cause is before the next round of testing. EU's tests which were scheduled for this weekend are postponed while we get those fixes in place. More details to follow once we've got them."

Quick Gameplay Thoughts: March 15 

Meddler also posted his thoughts for March 15th, on keeping a stable game for the moment, as well as Neeko:
"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 
Keeping the game pretty stable for a bit 
We're hitting a point in the year now where we'll generally be keeping things pretty stable. We feel preseason followup and other recent work like crit itemization have ended up in pretty good places. Ranked and Pro play are both well underway and benefit from having some periods of comparatively low change. Upcoming patches for a while will be lighter on systemic changes as a result, barring some unexpected problems cropping up. 
As previously mentioned we won't be doing a midseason patch this year either. That means there won't be a shake up of things and corresponding need for follow up half way through the year, or at least not one in response to a large patch from us. 
Champion balance changes will still be a regular thing of course. On that front we're hoping we'll be able to focus a bit more on tuning and polish rather than as many sets of larger changes to problem champs. We'll also still be working on non champion content like items too, though that will be more at the individual piece of content level. We'd like to do some work on Corrupting Flask and Dark Seal for example, but aren't planning anything on the scope of the Crit item work just been or the AP item changes last year.
In terms of what that means for these posts for the moderate future, probably means some will be a bit shorter given there's less to talk about, and that there'll be more focus on other topics than SR balance at times. 
Neeko 
Looking at Neeko's performance since her hotfix this week it looks like we've hit her a bit too hard. We'll be putting some of the removed power back in as a result, with her AS per level going back up to 2.5% to help out her on hit build in particular a bit. As mentioned previously our goal wasn't to kill the build (the on hit damage is there for a reason!) but to bring it down given it was the strongest thing in the game at the time by a decent margin."

Upcoming Bounty Changes 

Here's Riot Jatt with details on bounty changes coming this cycle:
"Upcoming Bounty Changes 
Hey everyone, Jatt here. There are some changes to bounties coming to patch 9.6. We’ve noticed some confusion around the bounty system, and we think we can better explain our philosophy and what is actually going on. So, I wanted to start this post with my best effort to explain the system as it currently exists, then I’ll get into what we’re changing, and also why the system exists. 
Bounty Rules (Preseason-Now)
Since preseason, four factors have contributed to bounties:
  • Base kill gold
    • This is usually 300g but decreases as the target racks up death sprees
  • Kill streak gold
    • 150g at 2 kills, 300g at 3, every kill after that adds +100g (kill streaks are worth roughly 100g per kill overall)
  • CS gold (we want large gold advantages from farming to add to your bounty)
    • This one is detail heavy, but the intention is that you will get a bounty if you have SUBSTANTIALLY more farm gold than the enemy team's average since your last death.
    • Enemy team average is determined by summing the opponent team monster+minion gold since your last death and dividing by 4 (for the 4 gold streams of top/mid/bot/jungle).
    • There’s a threshold of a +100g advantage before CS bounties start tracking (starts at 50g), and then every additional +150g above the enemy average adds 50g to bounties.
  • Global bounty reduction (for teams that are losing)
    • This is a big source of confusion since it’s never been explained clearly. If your TEAM is behind, your kill streak and CS streak bounties are lower. The further behind your TEAM is, the more your bounty decreases.
    • This is a lever that helps allow for comebacks, and makes the cases of “I was just CSing to try and get back in the game” or “I’m 5-0 but the rest of my team is feeding” less punishing. Here’s the formula:
    • Beginning at a 3% TEAM gold deficit, bounties are reduced to 80% of their normal values. This scales linearly down to 60% value at an 8% gold deficit, then scales linearly down to a minimum of 20% value at a 24% gold deficit. 
Now, let’s see what’s changing in patch 9.6: 
Updated Bounty Rules (9.6+)
CS bounties will be roughly 25% smaller and account for support item gold. 
  • NERFED :: CS bounties reduced by approximately 25% (50 Bounty per 150g >>> 50 Bounty per 200g)
  • NEW :: CS bounties decrease when you lose your advantage
  • NEW :: Support item gold contributes to bounties
  • TEAM AVERAGE :: Now account for the addition of support item gold and divide CS gold by 4.3 rather than 4. (This and the above line won't have a significant impact on bounty values, but make the system a little more accurate.) 
Big CS bounties are most often seen in pro, because pro players naturally put more resources into the ADC. Because of this, ADC minion/monster gold advantage over the enemy team is usually large enough to create a bounty. To put some numbers to it, in patch 9.4, an ADC needed to be 2200 gold ABOVE THE ENEMY AVERAGE in Minion and Monster gold to gain a +700 CS bounty (would display as Bounty + Kill value, usually 1000g). With the patch 9.6 changes, the ADC will need to be 2900 gold ABOVE THE ENEMY AVERAGE to gain a +700 CS bounty. 
Bounty scoreboard visualization
  • BASE VALUE :: Scoreboards and chat no longer include the 300 base kill gold
  • FIRST BLOOD :: First blood gold is no longer added to bounty numbers if it hasn't occurred yet 
On patch 9.6 the scoreboard display for bounties will only be bounty gold, not base kill gold + bounty gold. We think that putting +450g on the scoreboard was actually a mistake, as many players think that death is worth 300 kill gold + another 450g. In reality, it’s just 300 kill gold +150g, and it's debatable whether or not that +150g should even be played around. (For instance, a minion wave at 25 minutes is worth 195 gold.) We think showing +150g more accurately presents that decision. 
It's also worth noting that First Blood gold was being added, meaning that the first 150g bounty would show up visually as 550g! This is a huge psychological difference. Now it just states 150g. 
Why CS bounties exist 
I want to talk a little bit at the end here about why CS bounties are valuable for the game.
CS has historically been the BEST way to gain an advantage in League since farming let you build gold leads without triggering anti-snowball mechanics. As a result higher-tier players tend to get more gold through CS and less from taking risks, since going for kills not only carries a high risk of failure, but success adds to your kill bounty. 
But bounties are meant to be a reward for killing powerful or valuable members of the enemy team, not necessarily members with lots of kills. In pro for instance, teams funnel tons of CS into their carries. We think it’s GOOD that the bounty system is more accurately assessing their power. 
As for snowball, some is good. When you do well, you should be rewarded IF you can use that lead to carry. Mess up or get outplayed, opponents should get to mitigate some (but not all) of that snowball because they also deserve to be rewarded for doing well (aka anti-snowball). 
We know from iterations of League that had fewer anti-snowball mechanics, what it looks like when games snowball out of control—the winner of the first teamfight just wins the game. 
With the preseason additions of turret plating and stronger first drakes, we knew the ability for a team to snowball was increasing so we wanted to strengthen the ability for a team to come back from behind too. Adding CS bounties helped counter that higher amount of snowball in the game and has struck a closer balance between kills and farming since both forms of advantage add to your bounty now. That said, they've been aggressively tuned and we absolutely agree there have been cases that felt “off”. 9.6's changes to tuning and in-game representation should help them feel more healthy.
Anyways, hope this clears up some bounty stuff and why we think CS bounties are good for the game. 
Let us know what you think in the comments!"

Challenger Rewards Update for Season 2018

Here's Shio Shoujo with an update on Challenger rewards for 2018:
"Congratulations to those who reached Challenger in Season 2018! We're excited to announce that Challenger Backpacks will be shipped to 2018 Challenger players very soon. 
We've really enjoyed creating items for and honoring the players who reached this much-sought-after rank in these past three years. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. For Season 2019 onward, we will no longer be rewarding Challenger players with a physical reward at the end of the season. 
Again, congratulations to the Challenger rank players of 2018! And good luck to all those climbing the ladder in 2019!"

Blitzcrank Changes Heading to PBE 

Here's Riot Maxw3ll with details on upcoming changes for Blitzcrank that will be testing on the PBE in 9.7:
"Heyo party people! Riot Maxw3ll here with my first Red Post of all time. I joined the Champions team about six months ago after seven-ish years’ experience in the industry. I’ve worked at a couple places, most recently being Blizzard, and had a background focusing on Collectible Card Games. 
So, as a show of good faith, I figured my first act as a Champion Designer should be that of removing some old RNG from the game. I’ve got some Blitzcrank changes I’ve been working on that I’d love to get some feedback from y’all on. These should be pushed to PBE later today. 
Just a disclaimer up front: I’m not planning on shipping these changes to live with 9.7. I want to get a temperature read on these changes in PBE to make sure we’re heading in the right direction with Blitz before we pull any triggers. 
Goals:
  1. Make the Passive more consistent and not discouraging you to cast spells.
  2. Reduce frustration around Blitz’s ult passive and widen its uses in team fights. 
Passive: Mana Barrier
Shield Strength: 50% of current mana -> 30% of Max Mana 
Ultimate: Static Field
Passive: When Static Field is active while in combat, Blitzcrank randomly shocks a nearby enemy every 2.5 seconds (removed) 
New Passive: While Static Field is active, lightning charges Blitzcrank’s fists, marking enemies he attacks. After 1 second, marked enemies take 50/100/150 + 30%AP magic damage. 
Just to clarify, a second auto attack will not refresh the mark, nor interrupt it. If you attack again during the mark, nothing extra happens, and if you attack after the mark, you’ll apply a new one. Blitz can mark any number of targets, limited by his access to them and his attack speed. 
Again, just as fair warning, I don’t expect to ship these changes this patch, but I will be listening and responding to feedback where I can." 

Ask Riot: Dragon Vs. Baron 

Here's this week's Ask Riot - "Ask Riot questions, animation, and who'd win a throwdown: Baron or Dragon?":
"This week, we’re talking about how we choose Ask Riot questions, animation at Riot, and what would happen if Dragon and Baron had a throwdown. 
What would happen if the water, earth, fire, wind, and elder drake all go and try to kill Baron? Who would win?

As all 1v5s go, I’m sorry to say Baron loses. On top of their regular attack damage (which deals about 100 damage per hit), dragons’ attacks all have an additional on-hit effect that deals 7% of their target’s current HP as bonus damage. This means that Baron loses half of his HP in just four seconds. 
After that, it takes 16 seconds of wet noodle fighting for the dragons to finally finish him off—by the end of the fight, the drake’s attacks only deal about 40 damage each because Baron’s current HP will be so low. All together, it will take the dragons about 60 hits total to slay Baron Nashor. 
During this whole fight, Baron will deal 15k damage back… which is only enough to kill one Elemental drake, and that’s only if he’s big brain enough to target the right one. Each Elemental drake is a bit different, but the more important thing to know is that Cloud drake hits really fast, and Mountain drake hits slowly but is tanky. If Baron Nashor focuses Elder or Mountain drake, this would be a bad strategic choice because he won’t be able to kill either of them before he dies. 
To increase his chance of winning (which is technically always 0), he should go for Wind drake first, which will die after he deals 13k damage. By comparison, he’d have to deal 15,000 damage to kill Mountain Drake or 31,000 damage to kill Elder drake. 
But if Elder drake and Baron were to have an honorable 1v1 fight at Baron pit… well, Baron still loses. 
Even more than that, Elder Drake’s HP regen is so high (250 HP per second) that Baron can’t even deal damage to him. So basically, Elder drake can take a nap, roast marshmallows, and ignore Baron for as long as he wants until he gets bored and decides to win. 
QA Analyst for the Playtest Team 
Could you tell me what a day in the life of an animator is like?

It can often depend on which part of a project we are in (ideation, pre-production, production) but a typical day for me usually starts by grabbing a coffee and checking my backlog. For example, when working on Nunu I made a list of animations that I knew I would need (attacks, runs, spells… etc.) and used that to keep track of what stage each animation was at. This allowed me to quickly look at which animations had not been started and which were in-game. 
I feel the most creative in the morning and rarely have meetings, so I use that time to start something new and see where I get to before lunch. Hopefully I would have something blocked in that the designers can then use in-game. During lunch I either go to the gym or play a game of League depending how motivated I feel, and then around 1:30 the team I’m on will have a short 15 minute meeting where we can all talk about where we are at and what we’ll be working on. This allows us to quickly see where each member is with their work, ask if anyone is blocked by anything, and share any news related to the champion. 
From then until the end of the day I’ll focus on addressing any feedback I’ve been given or start a new animation. In the early stages of a project, getting animations into game quickly is super important so we can see how it looks and feels from a player’s perspective. I will often get a rough animation for each element of the kit before I try and push the quality too far, which can help avoid any wasted work from things like the kit being changed. It can be very obvious whether an animation will work for an ability from just a few poses. 
Towards the end of the day I’ll usually have a game of League with the other animators. We try to have at least one a day as a team. 
Animator on the Champions Team 
On average, how many questions does Ask Riot get? Does each country have their own Ask Riot, or do the questions come from everywhere? Do you answer all of the questions, or do you just select some of them? If so, how do you select them?

Whoah, a question about Ask Riot. This is meta. 
On average, we get over 5,000 Ask Riot questions every month from players all over the world. We use a script to translate all of the questions into English. It relies on Google Translate, so it’s not perfect—for example, “Aurelion Sol” is often “Aurelion Sun,” “emotes” are can show up as “smileys,” and the grammar is usually weird—but it’s enough for us to understand what players are asking about. 
Since we probably can’t answer 2,500 questions every other week, we do have a way of selecting which ones to answer. I’d say like 60% (or more) of the questions asked we can’t really answer in Ask Riot, because they’re either… 
  • Not actually questions: “Nerf Irelia.”
  • Asking when champs will get a new skin: “Ivern skin when?” (soon, by the way!)
  • Are about when a champion/skin/thing is going to be released 
But that still leaves us with a lot of questions to go through, which is why we use a special tool to help us analyze them. It’s actually pretty cool—we upload a list to the database, then it spits out a bunch of ways of looking at the words used across all questions. For example, we can see a word cloud of the most commonly used words in the last month:
When I click on those words in the tool, it’ll show me what other words showed up near it. For example, “champion” could mean a lot of things, but when I click on it, I can see, “Oh, most people who are asking about champions seem to want to know about reworks, mastery, or skins.” 
We always try to prioritize the questions that show up most frequently, but sometimes we aren’t able to answer them in a way that feels satisfying at that moment. For example, “Is Tribunal returning?” was a common question for a while, but because we didn’t know what the plan was internally, it took us some time to talk about it. If nothing is lookin’ too spicy, then we’ll slowly work our way down to the less-asked about topics. 
And even with the tool, nothing can replace just scrolling through the list of questions and seeing what y’all care about. Sometimes it’s super troll (“Have you ever thought about balancing the game around Ryze, so you don’t have to keep reworking him?”), but it’s the best way to see exactly what you want to know. 
And while we’re here… thanks to everyone who takes the time to submit questions. Y’all are the real heroes. 
Managing Editor, Editorial 
Have a question? Click on the button below, sign into your League account, and ask away. 
We’ll do our best 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."

Miscellaneous


"Who has more attitude and style than Jinx, Vi, and Blitzcrank? Had an awesome time shooting our new line with our friends Luxxbunny, Yoonah, and Skooch :D 
New tees: https://riot.com/2TAHKlF"
"The Creator Spotlight is our way of featuring a variety of different talented League of Legends creators. This week we’re shining the spotlight on Dumplings, a streamer on the rise with a passion for Kled."
"In this awesome fan-imagining of Irelia’s origins, South Korean comics artist Gronoc explores the fallout from the war between Ionia and Noxus. The war might be over, but Ionia’s wounds are still fresh, and its scars may never truly heal. Follow Irelia, the Blade Dancer, as she walks a new path towards an unknown future."

Reminders

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

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