Surrender at 20: Red Post Collection: Patch 11.18 & TFT Notes, QGT: 9/10, & More

Today's red post collection includes the Patch 11.18 & TFT notes, a new QGT post from Riot Afic on the Gameplay Analysis team, a new Mordekaiser XL figure, and more!

Continue reading for more information!

Patch 11.18 Notes

Check out the Patch 11.18 notes:

"𝔏𝔢𝔤𝔢𝔫𝔡𝔰 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔯𝔢𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔫𝔢𝔡. 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔞𝔩 𝔟𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔩𝔢 𝔩𝔬𝔬𝔪𝔰...

Every year, we compose a set of nerfs and buffs to breathe new life into the Pro meta for Worlds. Doesn't it just set your heart aflame when you see your main champion on stage for the first time? Or when your favorite team melts their enemy's faces off with ungodly new builds?

Since this is the first of two Worlds-focused patches, we're cranking up the dissonance—but with style, of course. The solo queue show must go on, so we've done our best not to corrupt regular gameplay. With that said, we're willing to revert any of these changes if they go too far, but we're hoping this bit of chaos will rock your world... s.

After a full day of headbanging to Pentakill, come over and Penta-chill with this portal to the TFT patch notes!

JINA “AHRISOO” YOON
PAUL "RIOTAETHER" PERSCHEID"

[Full Patch Notes here!]

Teamfight Tactics Patch 11.18 Notes

Here's the TFT Patch 11.18 notes:

"Adventurers, it’s dangerous to go alone—take these patch notes!

With the vital balance outliers adjusted in our 11.17 Mid-Patch Update, 11.18 turns the focus to opening up more late game frontline options with nerfs to staple frontliners (Ivern, Jax, Volibear), continuing to adjust Radiant Items, and making 3-star 4-costs feel as dangerous as they should be. We’ve also got the new Inktale Little Legends and Esports Pengu!

RODGER "MINIONSRPEOPLE2" CAUDILL"

[Full Patch Notes here!]

Quick Gameplay Thoughts: 9/10

Here's this week's quick gameplay thoughts from Riot Afic - "The Gameplay Analysis Team: Who we are & what we do"

"Hey all! I’m here to talk to you about the Game Analysis Team (formerly called the playtest team)! We work with the gameplay devs and our role is to understand how players might utilize new content—think champions, items, runes, etc.— and how each change might impact League holistically. I often get asked the question, "Oh, so you just get paid to play games all day?". While playing the game is certainly a big part of the job, what we really do is analyze gameplay, and playtesting is just one of many tools we use (hence the new name). If you care about how we discover the impact of content before we ship it, this is the post for you!

What if, for example, Prowler’s Claw’s active was a blink instead of a dash? Well, early on in development it actually was, and our task was to predict how players might use it months after it shipped. Here’s what that process looked like:

Theorycrafting

First, we thought about which champs would be most oppressive with Prowler's Claw. Pyke immediately came to mind since he could combo the blink active with his E, guaranteeing a stun with little counterplay on a relatively short cooldown.

Playtest

Next, we tried this out in game to see how powerful it would be. We put our resident Challenger tier Pyke player to the test and saw what he could do. (The average rank of the team is somewhere around Diamond 2).

Analysis

After seeing Prowler's Claw in action, we watched game replays and identified moments that showcased its impact, which resulted in multiple scenarios like this:

[Video]

Deliver Feedback

Finally, we presented our findings to the original designer and discussed the implications. We decided that this combo of abilities removed the counterplay to Pyke’s E too easily without enough drawbacks. (Flash for example at least has a longer cooldown). It also made tracking the movement of the Prowler’s Claw user more difficult, and we predicted that higher skilled players would be much more likely to succeed with this item than the rest of the playerbase. Pyke is just of example of a possible Prowler’s Claw abuser—you could imagine how the blink could be used in other combos like Lee Sin with his ult, or Poppy with her E, but this one was the most demonstrative of the type of gameplay that we want to shield players from. As a result, the designer of Prowler’s Claw changed the blink to a dash.

Rinse and Repeat

After identifying a play pattern that we did not want in the game, we had to try out this new iteration of Prowler's Claw, so we repeated the cycle to consider even more outcomes. Going through this process multiple times sheds light on the problem from different angles, which helps us deeply understand what impact it might have on League.

TL;DR—we identify risks and use cases of new champions, items, or runes. Sometimes this leads people to ask, "Why didn’t you catch this?" or "How did you let this ship?” We often want to empower designers to take appropriate risks to keep League moving forward. These risks don’t always work out, but once we stop taking risks, League will quickly become a stale game. For something smaller in scope like a champion nerf in a routine patch, we often just provide a gut check for unintended side effects. Or, we might share our thoughts on whether the changes are over or under magnitude. These smaller changes are intended as low risk nudges to a champion or item and usually don’t require too much analysis.

For grander ideas like Akshan’s revive mechanic, we go into deeper analysis. Our job isn’t to tell designers that they can or can’t do something; a designer will try and push the boundaries of what League is, while our job is to anticipate how those changes will fit into the ecosystem. In other words, we demonstrate the risks and how they might manifest by projecting what their idea might look like 6 months into the future once players have mastered it.

So, yeah, that sums up a large portion of what we do on the Game Analysis Team! If you're a high diamond player who loves to think and talk about League, you might be interested in joining us. Keep an eye out for job postings here!

Esports Pengu

Here's MinionsRPeople2 with a look at the new Esports Pengu Little Legend - "This Little Legend is only available for a limited time—just like your opponents’ health."

Available for a limited time between now and October 19th is our hardest clapping Little Legend to date—and they don’t even have hands! Esports Pengu is a Little Legend with the confidence and style that only players who consistently get top-eight could possibly rep. If that sounds like you, then you can pick up Esports Pengu for 750 RP or 5.99 (mobile). With 77.1 surround sound headphones and grey-screen filter shades, not only can Esports Pengu hear the thoughts of their foes, but they can also see their foes’ future at the bottom of the scoreboard. Here’s a quick clip of the first time I equipped Esports Pengu.

***Disclaimer*** The above clip is a staged game not actually featuring the writer, who’s currently tanking LP for the better of the TFT community. Esports Pengu does not increase your chances of winning, but does grant you points for style."

Miscellaneous

Here's Riot Jag with a preview for Patch 11.19 balance:

"11.19 Patch Preview is here!

This one is focused on follow-up for 11.18, a few more pro-targeted changes, and one solo queue focused nerf (Sona)."

Captain Gameplay provided a Sona changelist headed to the PBE soon:

"Looks like Sona failed to squeak."

A new Mordekaiser XL figure is now in the merch store!

"Welcome to oblivion."

Mordekaiser opens the gate to the Realm of Death as #07 in the Series 4 figure line. Ready to instill fear into all of his enemies, this special XL edition figure has translucent elements that light up when plugged in.