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Quick Gameplay Thoughts: June 16

RiotMeddler··1 votes·82,139 views

Morning 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 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


Gnar

We've been trying out some Gnar changes recently, looking at both adding a bit of power and whether his play pattern needs a bit of work too. That's included looking at things like moving his % health damage from his W to his Q. After some testing we'll probably be going with some simpler changes though, conclusion being he mainly just needs a bit of power. Likely targets are mini Q base damage and mega E range, might see those on PBE shortly.


Diana

We don't have work currently underway for Diana, wanted to mention her though since it's been quite a while since we mentioned her however. Our belief is whenever we next look at Diana we should be doing some changes beyond just balance, so probably a mini-update like Rek'Sai or Heimer's. Unsure when exactly that would be, but did want to mention we're not just forgetting she exists or unaware of player feeling she needs help.


Kindred

Early assessment of the 7.12 patch suggests the buffs there may not have been enough to put Kindred in a good spot. We're still evaluating whether that's the case or not, on the belief it probably is though we're going to be looking at some follow up buffs, likely in 7.13. Possible targets include E base damage and looking at number of marks needed for the AA range increase after the initial 4 marks.


Spectator and Allied View team indicator circles

Last year we did some clean up on which team indicators (green/red rings etc) show up to allies, or to spectators, on a number of champions. Result of that was things like the green ring around Trundle's W not being shown to some players or to viewers (didn't offer meaningful information, so was clutter without benefit). We'll be doing another pass like that shortly, in part because we're getting close to the time of the year where there's a lot of Esports viewership of particular patches. Sing out if there's something you've spotted in Spectator in particular that's ugly or distracting and just doesn't need to be there and we'll give it a glance.


World's Patch

Speaking of Esports, for anyone interested it looks highly likely that 7.18 will be the patch for Worlds this year. We'd originally been thinking 7.19, but that ended up being a bit too tight timing wise. That will mean 7.18's a smaller patch though most, with the goal of avoiding both late significant disruption and minimizing bug risk. Some changes will also be avoided where possible in the few patches beforehand (e.g. major systemic gameplay changes to things like objectives, whole categories of item etc).


253 Comments

Rainfall28 votes

are you planning on making any changes on the armor items? it doesnt feel like any of them are worth buying right now. specificaly item 3143 which barely gives any hp anditem 3068 which lost half its damage do champions

Queš10 votes

Just compare item 3109 to them,its pretty funny

Adalvar3 votes

item 3143item 3068 giving low HP is the entire point since previously, you could stack these 2 and item 3047, negate most physical damage due to it's dampening effects, while negating magic damage aswell due to a high stack of HP.

Rainfall4 votes

well right now excluding a few exceptions almost all toplane champions are between 49-51% winrate. Shows how much the role is impactfull to the game.

Adalvar3 votes

So they're pretty much balanced then, since by your own words it's at a 49-51% winrate? Sounds good to me.

Rainfall9 votes

when a champion is at 50% winrate it means that he could be balanced. when every champion of a role is close to 50% winrate it means that the role is irrelevant to the outcome of the game.

Champion Skin11 votes

item 3143 is actually quite powerful against crit champions at least... Since it reduce AA DPS by up to 32% (if the enemy has 100% crit) down to 15% if the enemy has no crit

Math AD DPS = AD X AS X Crit 50 AD X 1 AS X 2 Crit = 100 50 AD X (1 X 0.85) X (2 X 0.8) = 50 X 0.85 X 1.6 = 68 The numbers are just chosen for simplicity since it doesn't really matter what the numbers are because it will always end up being a 32% reduction as long as it is a crit.... if it isn't a crit then it will be a 15% reduction in DPS 100 X 0.68 (-32%) = 68

Though it isn't quite that good in game since the enemy usually don't stand still and auto attack as often as possible so some AA time will be lost to moving/casting abilities so the -15% attack speed might not reduce the amount of auto attacks by 15% Also keep in mind that attack speed slows have no effect against AA resets

AlistarMilking18 votes

Hi Meddler! I'm a Gnar main, and I believe his play pattern isn't inherently problematic. His main issue is that buying Frozen Mallet makes his already top tier kiting extra oppressive.

I firmly believe that if Gnar didn't have access to Frozen Mallet (maybe making it melee only?) he'd be perfectly balanced and wouldn't be oppressive when strong like he was in earlier seasons.

What are your thought on the Gnar item 3022 combo?

Partybringer7 votes

i quit playing mordekaiser top lane cause i hated seeing gnar take mallet

Time423 votes

Watching frozen mallet Gnar in pro play was not great at all

sirwaterfles3 votes

Dont know about that play pattern. I like him but never really picked him up because whenever he is close to viable in soloq he is op in lcs.

RiotMeddler13 votes

That's been on our mind too. Changes to Frozen Mallet, possibly as simple as a weaker slow again for ranged, maybe something larger, are being discussed a bit. Nothing settled on yet.

Recuro9 votes

Have you considered giving Mallet % base attack like steraks? I feel that would make it naturally better on beefier champs (I typically prefer to avoid melee ranged splits when possible.

RiotMeddler15 votes

Huh, seems like a plausible direction at first glance at least. I'll bounce that off the team, see if it's something they've looked at previously or not.

Tantarboy16 votes

Is there any thoughts off adding new MR scalings on Galio instead of buffing his AP ratios (along with nerfing his base damage which is essential atm)?

iahim986 votes

Saw a post about this idea, really liked it. Hope meddler sees it.

Gareth Tankin6 votes

Yeup.... galio building 'generic tank' in pro play makes me feel like the rework wiffed a bit.... watching a galio stack armor and not only do really good dmg in teamfights but be super tanky just feels wrong.

It's not an ap ratio issues, MR went from a uniquely efficient stat on him to blasé.

RenanRein9 votes

Any Thoughts on Sivir Sivir Meddler? She feels very unsatisfied to play on soloq. I made a proposal topics for her, if you have time and wanna take a look.

SecondComing9 votes

Hello @Meddler

Any info/thoughts you could share on Garen? He still struggles, being last or close to last in position efficiency (he's only viable top and many easily give him a hard time) and he sees little to no play at all (champion.gg, probuilds.net). I think he could really use a reworked kit.

Qiyana is SO HOT8 votes

Meddler in regards to Diana are you guys planning to massively change her playstyle? I ask because her playstyle is so similar to Akali that when Diana is good theres really no reason to ever pick Akali because she has more burst and more innate tankiness which is why alot of people call Diana, Akali 2.0. Akali is on the list for a full vgu (hopefully soon) but was wondering if the plan with Dianas update is to while fixing her issues also maybe flesh her kit out a bit more so theres more difference in playstyle between the 2?

HalcyonDweller4 votes

I think Diana would be really fun as a diver. It might be really cool if she were balanced around that role.

RiotMeddler9 votes

We'll want to separate Diana and Akali more, yeah. What that means for each of them isn't something we've got details on yet though (we'll get there at some point, but are working on other champs first).

OH NO ITS LU BU8 votes

Will Urgot be available for Worlds

silverwolf357 votes

I have a few notes on spectator view:

1. target frame : this cover the chat and info (who buy what and stuff) log (on the left down corner). i usually have to turn this frame off because I couldnt see the msg and those infos. It would be great if we move either the frame somewhere or pump the chat area higher. 

2. When you quit spectating mode , it should directly put you in the lobby instead of asking you to hit reconnect or quit. It is redundant since you have to wait 5 sec in game to escape spectating mode already. Also, there is a minor visual bug after you quit spectator mode is that on your friend list, the one who in game have yellow font indicator (in game) now have green indicator (online) even though the text itself says in game (and they are in fact in game).

Also a small question: Do you have any update on singed ? Singed main community has been eagerly waiting for some info about his update.

RiotMeddler4 votes

Thanks for the spectator feedback. I'll pass that on, though at present we're just looking at indicator displays to different players (UI stuff's handled by a separate bunch of folks).

Singed's still getting some work, think it's likely something's on PBE early ish next week.

Solidair36 votes

So it's great that you guy's haven't forgotten Diana, glad to hear it. You haven't started work but you know she needs it. Is there like, a priority order for these mini reworks?

Will we be seeing something for her in a couple patches... by the end of the year.... next year? What is the plan. We know Azir, Yasuo, Diana, probably some others I'm not listing all need work. When should we be expecting some of these?

Kaìju5 votes

I think Azir and Yasuo are top priority for them right now, Yasuo for his ban rate and Azir for his problematic kit

RiotMeddler9 votes

That's true ish. We've got explorations into Azir and LeBlanc going on, when they'll come out though depends on what gets found (how much change is/isn't needed?). Yasuo we'll want to look at, could be quicker though, depending on whether it's actually an update or more a large set of balance changes that shift power/mechanics around.

Sazser14 votes

Rengar? Hello???

DCYOUNG8885 votes

Will there be a diver update for this preseason? Will Kalista have an update after Azir's and LeBlanc's?

EDIT: Any news related to Mordekaiser (and possibly his bugs)?

beany4 votes

Reav3 has a blog coming up next week which should answer at least your first question.

Adalvar5 votes

What about the assassin items you said were being looked at? Can we expect anything this patch? If so, what?

RiotMeddler6 votes

Looks like next patch (7.14) is much more likely at this point. Still being worked on.

SsDragonzPT6 votes

{quoted}

Looks like next patch (7.14) is much more likely at this point. Still being worked on.

Hi Meddler, just wanted highlight how weak Assassin itemization is right now, specialli lethality. Some champs are being too indirectly nerfed by it!

Sun Wu Ryuumoku5 votes

Diana

We don't have work currently underway for Diana, wanted to mention her though since it's been quite a while since we mentioned her however. Our belief is whenever we next look at Diana we should be doing some changes beyond just balance, so probably a mini-update like Rek'Sai or Heimer's. Unsure when exactly that would be, but did want to mention we're not just forgetting she exists or unaware of player feeling she needs help.

Whut ? U didn't planned to rework her during Divers update along MonkeyKing &Aatrox ?

beany4 votes

Does mega gnar E range affect the bounce from mini into mega? I still think exclusively buffing mega gnar is better since it's gated power and mini gnar buffs tend to make him a nuisance that eventually gets nerfed like last time.

Also, with timing of champ release the new champ will be playable at worlds while any further vgus won't?

Finally, Thoughts on gargoyle stoneplate? I feel like it's simply too good at what it does now.

RiotMeddler4 votes

Just the Mega E by itself.

TheMeta883 votes

Why do you hate Kindred?

RiotMeddler31 votes

Because we fear death. That's why we never do any work on them and haven't talked about them in months.

Sοlo Leveling4 votes

Any plans for Quinn rework/mini update ?

Cosmic Warper1 votes

{quoted}

Any plans for Quinn rework/mini update ?

she already had one early on in the season

Aisle1 votes

Wait, what?

Quinn?

Cosmic Warper1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Malefucius2 ,realm=EUW,application-id=A7LBtoKc,discussion-id=cdLdcO0j,comment-id=000c00000000,timestamp=2017-06-16T17:32:15.082+0000)

Wait, what?

Quinn?

ehh, it was a power shift, but yeah they changed her. She doesn't really need a rework. She fits her niche of roaming marksman assassin well

Sοlo Leveling4 votes

Not really. She is even worse than before.

Spideraxe4 votes

Hey Meddler do you ever miss living in New Zeland?

RiotMeddler4 votes

Sometimes yeah. I miss friends and family more than anything else. On the other hand I've got a bunch of friends in LA now too and there's fantastic opportunities here :).

Great to go back and visit regularly though of course.

OoggoO4 votes

What happens to the changes to Lissandra? There was word of her new passive being out in 7.8 but no word since then? When will we be seeing her changes ?

RiotMeddler7 votes

No work's currently being done on Lissandra or likely to be done in the short to medium term. We'd like to improve her passive still someday, but concluded time was better spent on other champions since progress wasn't fast and the need isn't as high as in other cases.

Shwonglee2 votes

item 3074

RiotMeddler8 votes

item 2052

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