Quick Gameplay Thoughts: January 5
Hi all,
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 put 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
Patch 8.1
Happy 2018!
We've been back at work this week and have been looking at what should be in the upcoming patches. Our focus is particularly on what should now be a priority based off how the game played out over the break.
Because of the way patch development works (patches need a lot of testing) patch 8.1 got locked last year just before we went on holiday. That means that, with a few possible exceptions as below, 8.1 will be the same as what was on PBE over the break. Adding stuff this late in the process has the same risk of serious bugs and balance issues as a micropatch/hotfix. We need to be really conservative with both how much we change and the type of things we change as a result. That means we're mainly working on a bunch of stuff for 8.2.
Things that might get added to 8.1 that aren't on PBE: A few high impact bug fixes (e.g. Galio W shield, a bug with Revitalize making people untargetable) Possible Zoe nerfs Possible Sona buff Reducing the amount some of the Kleptomancy gained items sell for
Patch 8.2
Patch 8.2 by contrast has a full development cycle and there's plenty to be worked on. Some of things we're looking at below. This isn't a complete or final list. Some things will get added and some will get removed as we work on the patch.
Runes:
- Further Klepto work, likely reducing the differences between best and worst case users (nerf the strongest/buff the weakest).
- Manaflow Band nerf (still reducing need to manage mana too much)
Items
- Runic Echoes Buff (help AP junglers overall)
- Assessment of Relic Shield line on non supports (appropriate or abusive?)
Champion Nerfs:
- Vayne
- Ezreal (if Klepto changes don't look like enough)
- Ornn
- Kha'Zix
- Malz
- Zoe (if not nerfing in 8.1 as above, follow up assessment if 8.1 nerfs happen)
- Blitzcrank
Champion Buffs:
- Nunu
- Viktor
We've also got a range of champs we'd like to get to soon but who didn't make the initial cut for our 8.2 planning. They're probable candidates for 8.3 or 8.4, though it's possible some slip into 8.2 still. Trynd and Yi buffs are in that category, as is a Fiddle buff unless the Runic Echoes change helps him enough. We talked about Syndra as well as a possible buff candidate for 8.2, she's got a lot of bug fixes in 8.1 though, some of which are likely to add some power to her, so we'll see where she's at after those.
Game Pacing, Snowball etc
Additionally we'll be taking a look at a range of aspects of game pacing during the 8.2 development cycle (game length, snowball, time to kill etc). Uncertain yet if we'll ship changes during 8.2 aimed at that in particular at time of writing. Identifying balance targets is a quicker process, hence the list above, for a topic like this we need to spend more a bit more time however. More on this next week, well aware it's a topic on a lot of people's minds that's not addressed in much detail here. The thing we'll be looking at first is laning phase and whether that's ending too quickly, with corresponding spread of snowballing across lanes.
Rengar Q changes
As we mentioned in December we're planning on changing Rengar's Q back to an empowered auto attack. Timing on that's not certain yet, it's not fully implemented or tested. There are also a few new assets that will need to be made for his Mecha skin, since that didn't exist back before his Q got changed. Should be early this year, though won't in 8.2 at least. Details on which patch it'll be in and whether there are other accompanying changes to come as soon as we've got them.
http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/6.24.1/img/champion/Ziggs.png
Edit:
Couple of updates worth mentioning since time of writing. We're going to move both the Sona buff and the Klepto item sell amount changes to 8.2, given both are intertwined with the state of Klepto overall. Sona buff currently in testing is a partial revert of the Q mana cost increase from 7.24 (50-70, versus live 60-80 and prior 45-65).
I mean she is between 45 and 46% winrate even in higher elo like diamond where she is supposed to shine the most. Don't you think you kinda like over nerfed her this last season?
On top of that absolutely no runes fits her (electrocute doesn't fit to syndra's kit with its cooldown, arcane doen't touch when we q-e, only w is a guaranteed comet and aery is absolutely not made for syndra), a lot of bugs will still be there even after the 8.1 fixes incoming.
I mean as a Syndra main with almost 1000 games with her i can tell you she almost became a trollpick nowadays. You can't do a single mistake with your placement compared to a xerath who can poke from downtown, you have zero mobility, you have super high mana cost (yeah trust me try to lane as syndra vs an orianna and you'll see the difference on mana cost when the damages aren't that different the same), you have a useless pasive until quite late into the game which you probably won't see because games are just snowablling too hard, you have that nullyfiong orb to shut down syndra's burst and u have really low damage on q now, litteraly lvl 1 an autoattack does as much damage as her q.
I think you realize how AD champs are a lot more healty during this preseason than AP ones, not just in the jungle, and syndra is the one suffering the most about this i think alongside Viktor indeed.
Please do something about her, it feels really bad not being able to play your favorite champ in ranked because no matter what u lane against, that opponent will always outperform you in every single way possible even if you are ahead. She needs a serious buff.
Shyvana is not on the list for nerfs, is she still planned to get changes this pbe patch?
