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@Riot "Champs. Champs. Champs."

cHAncEman1292·7/7/2014, 4:17:04 PM·10 votes·6,153 views

I am I new player to the Rift. I have to say that have greatly enjoyed League of Legends, playing the many unique champions and spending a great deal of time picking through the lore. I love learning about champion playstyles, their personalities and in general hearing the internal stories about their development. The biggest event in League of Legends for players it seems in the unveiling of a new champion. Nothing fires up summoners than buckling down for the release of another combatant. I remember seeing the Yasuo teasers and rushing through the forum and reddit posts to see if any more information had been released. Yet there has been a huge shift this year in the release of content. I also remember the agonizing wait between Yasuo and Velkoz. Admittedly that was during the Season Change; however it has also been pointed out that different teams at Riot take on different projects; two of these teams being Content Release and Champion Design.

My question...
Does Content Release stall the announcement of new champions due to other gameplay implementations?

Has scope creep begun to paralyze the creative process? Additionally why is there such a vice grip on hints/lore and information regarding champs new and old?

As it stands...

It has been almost two months since Braum's release. Its been about three months since Braum's teaser. If we usually get a tease a month before a champion's release and we haven't gotten a single word regarding the new champion since - I'm definitely up at arms. I'm curious if development as hit a hiccup or something or Riot is just playing with their cards to their chest.

At least after Velkoz we had two back to back VU's leading into Braum. Around the time of Braum we also got Karthus VU.

What I want...

Rather than require a lecture about "unsustainable growth" , "desire not to get hopes up" or anything like that I'll be kind of straight forward with what I think I would like to see as a summoner.

More VU previews. More Concept Art. I want to see into the mind of our Riot overlords. Getting a chance to see some of the ideas and concepts circulating with be very exciting for me even if nothing of it came to fruition. Seeing scrapped kits or champions, early concepts for favorite champions, even viewing some of the pitch material for champions. Also VU PREVIEWS. This could be anything to outlining the "Pillars of Creation" Riot has talked so much about in recreating old champs. It could be a splurge on concept art or pretty much anything that reveals the pending work on a old champion.

More Developer Blogs. Developer Blogs on Past Champs I love Developer Blogs. Riot has gotten a little preachy lately and that I don't mind but I would love love to see some blogs done on past champs. Just seeing how our beloved characters were conceptualized can get an emotional or nostalgic response from our summoners. I also feel like developer blogs would be a good avenue to explore lore.

HINTS

Like seriously. It seems like the Rioters have all but stopped hinting at future champs. I miss the puns and I miss the excitement that comes with perhaps stumbling upon a hint. I remember looking back on an exchange between two Rioters one saying that they had been "jinxed" and the former quickly replying that they didn't want things to be "left up in the air". Soon after Jinx and Yasuo came out.

I've heard that "hints" this might "betray" the integrity of the Champion Release team - but honestly that hasn't stopped any Rioter in the past. I'm curious if anything has changed internally due to the Velkoz/Ao Shin leak. I'm also wondering if something might be on fire within the Champion Development team due to the huge delay.

**TL DR; I love this game. Everyone has noticed that we're in a bit of a content drought this year. I hope that we can get more rewarding fulfilling information about lore and champions rather than how pretty Karthus's Q animation and updated cannon minions look. **

28 Comments

Garentheon7/7/2014, 6:07:04 PM5 votes

I would just like more than 3 VUs every 7 months. Its obvious champion production takes longer than VUs but why are the releases almost the same pace as each other

Btw, All this is coming from love, not hate

Random Task7/8/2014, 6:56:50 PM2 votes

I've been playing since mid season 2 and I actually enjoy waiting on champions now then i did then. Why? because every other week they were releasing champions. Diana and Zyra came back to back a few days apart.

I do not think we're in a drought, I think we are in the prep year (year of the rework) for the new summoners rift. Just in transition. Since it's just primarily getting new items/changing items, vu/kit reworks, and animation updates with few new champs. It only feels like a drought. But we're also getting some sweet skins and kit reworks.

Since, they have different departments for each thing in league, I don't believe something is slowed down, I think they just prioritize.

RiotStayAwhileNlistn7/10/2014, 12:50:14 AM2 votes

About the hints; correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't those recognized only after the champs themselves were released? So maybe what you're looking for is already out there...btw, did you know that Braum got teased too?

I wonder if anyone caught it.

Protosoul7/8/2014, 12:47:16 PM1 votes

Caitlyn Aatrox Talon Sivir ........Ezreal Aatrox Riven ........Caitlyn Udyr Talon Ezreal !!!!!

Caoil7/8/2014, 4:41:51 PM1 votes

I personally feel like Riot should give us more itemization changes. Right now it feels like things are a bit stale as far as champion selection and item selection go. Despite there being over a hundred champs and items in the game, the same 15-20 champs are picked almost every game, and the same items are built every time. I don't necessarily think we need a lot more items, just more meaningful diversity and reasons to build certain items over others. I really liked the concept of item 3508 and item 3504 that were just released, but other items are just so much stronger that they don't see any play. More itemization diversity would make the less-seen champs more viable too.

CaptainWednesday7/7/2014, 6:30:35 PM1 votes

Right there with you. I love the build up of anticipation for new champion releases. That being said, I do not want a short video teaser and that be the end of it. Quinn, Zac, Lissandra, and Aatrox had huge lore and teaser buildups to their release. I'd like to see that and more content, just as you've stated.

In any case, welcome to the League! Remember, fight for the glory of Demacia, always.

Lord Xander 097/8/2014, 9:50:00 PM1 votes

what is the best champion?

cHAncEman12927/19/2014, 4:04:27 PM1 votes

To Vent:

But seriously. Is it ridiculous to request some sort of schedule? I'd rather Riot vastly lower my expectations by offering a schedule that they adhere to than to be sitting in the dark. Only 1 Champ every 4 months? Perfect I don't care. VU every 3? I'm with you. Just create a schedule that can be stuck with rather than having so much inconsistency. I honestly wish they did "forecasts" for the entire year so we as gamers would know what to expect. I'm kind of upset that Riot hasn't taken control of their community instead of letting us run rampant on boards. And I feel like the bare minimum is HONESTY, TRUST AND TRANSPARENCY. I'm more upset as a gamer when the organization can't meet their own deadlines/ don't have any obvious numerical goals. Like...what happened to an "increase in the amount of visual updates"? Once a month was suppose to be the eventual goal. But consider the fact that we've only had 3 this year with no teaser/hints in sight. And champions? Don't get me started. And to be honest...I would be completely okay with less champs if they were actually aggressively revisiting some of our current champs. But we have Xerath, Skarner, Nidalee, Rengar & Sona. What about champions like Viktor? Champions like Irelia? Yorick? There are soooooo many ways to revisit previous champs and DIVERSIFY their kits such that it will contribute to the game. You can only run around putting bandaids on for so long...But the worst part? "There are separate teams that work on Champion Relaunch/ Visual Updates/ New Champion Release". Is everyone on a coffee break? I am just really salty about all this. What worse as the season is getting close to competitive times the likely hood for new content is going to decrease.

Sorry, I had to get that all off my chest. I've been eagerly awaiting the visual updates/kit reworks that Riot mentioned. I really hope that Riot could be more vocal about their timeline/goals perhaps for the year/quarters. In a perfect world I would want Riot to be able to say something along the lines of (We're working 5 kits this year, 3 champ, 4 visual updates) and that be the end of it.

Rastamon Ganja7/10/2014, 3:06:34 AM1 votes

IMO the 2 champ releases a month was a little too much but this 1 champ every 2.5 + months seems a little to slow. I think 1 champ every 1.5 to 2 months is perfect. I too really liked the hints and teasers. Really built the hype and excitement of getting a new champ and lore. Riot said that they have different teams working on different things, (SR update, skins, VU/GPU, balance, new game modes, new champs etc.)so the new champ team should not be affected by the other content that is released. So why the long period between new champs? and no hints/teasers?

Don't get me wrong i really do enjoy the new game modes, skins and, VU but one of the things that I really enjoyed were the subtle hints and teases about new champs. Even though there might have been a longer period of time between champ releases, the speculation on the forums and reddit kept me interested and hyped enough between champ releases. It made it kinda fun and exciting. Sadly this really hasn't been happening recently.

Any explanations as to why? What do you guys think?

cHAncEman12927/7/2014, 8:59:33 PM1 votes

Out of curiosity, what kind of content do you enjoy? What holds you over between champion releases? Is there a content schedule that you'd be okay with?

In general I just want to hear opinions on the content released thus far in 2014 and perhaps what kind of supplements people want that would add to the experience.