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[INTRO] Brian "FeralPony" Feeney - Live Gameplay Design Lead

RiotFeralPony·12/16/2015, 9:21:54 PM·1 votes·23,408 views

WHO AM I?

Hello folks, I’m Brian ‘FeralPony’ Feeney.

I’m currently the Lead Designer of the Live Gameplay Team, we’re a team responsible for much of the patch to patch design improvements and game balance for previously released content. I’ve worked on a lot of different design teams in my 5 years here including Champions, Champion Reworks/Updates, Game Balance, Systems Design, and Game Clarity.

Prior to joining Riot, I was finished my Comp Science degree and got my Masters in Teaching (focusing on Math and Science teaching). I also worked on a farm for many years in my youth picking up a lot of scars and injuries from boars, cattle, and bees. I play almost every game genre, including board games and sports, and have been super interested recently in how psychology and perception influence people’s experience with games. I also nerd out over cool game design blogs, books, and rulebook writing for board games.

WHAT AM I GOING TO TALK ABOUT?

I’ll generally be talking about League of Legends similar to Meddler, with a focus on shorter term “where the game is currently at” and “what we’re looking at in the short term”. I may also deep dive some specific choices we’ve made/are making in regards to game balance etc but those’ll be pretty ad-hoc. I may also bring up some seemingly random tangential non-league stuff about game design that has been chewing away in the back of my mind I’d love to get additional opinions and thoughts on!

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR FROM ME?

This is a question for you guy, so it feels weird to answer it, but I’m pretty open here. Nothing is inherently off the table, but I’ll play it by ear. I can talk about current work, any random game design stuff, past projects, etc. What would you folks like to hear from me?

106 Comments

aperson112/16/2015, 9:33:00 PM5 votes

Do you have any more plans to nerf Kalista beyond the mana nerfs on PBE (preferably to her passive)? I see her all the time and I really hate playing against her, and whenever I tune into a high elo stream it makes me not want to watch. I watched a featured game once where the red side team simply opened mid after Kalista was 4/0/0, I think the score was like 9-4, it's ridiculous how easily a supposed utility carry can run away with the game. Also I suspect she's holding back decent on-hit itemization for ranged which makes champs like Kog really sad. Sorry I know this is a really big rant but it frustrates me that such an obnoxious champ is allowed to dominate her role for so long when equally obnoxious but far less popular champs get nerfed the moment they seem out of line.

Juggernaut62812/16/2015, 9:27:26 PM5 votes

Who are you? I think you're FeralPony, if that helps.

Simple question: Yorick pre-2020 or post-2020?

D rok12/16/2015, 9:36:14 PM3 votes

Masteries!

Why did you make the choice to enhance the effect of masteries so much? Do you feel this is going to have an effect on your ability to balance the game's champions over the next few months? Small mastery changes at this level of power seem like they could have pretty far-ranging effects on the champion pool's balance.

How do you expect masteries will end up playing in terms of power level? Currently, they're stronger than many champion passives. Do you worry about masteries eclipsing the identity of a champion?

Thanks!

edit: Specifically speaking towards the final keystone masteries here.

SaltyKracka12/17/2015, 3:53:17 AM2 votes

I've been wondering.

Why have you left Lux as the most dominant midlander for the last four months after you gave her a buff she obviously didn't need, and em when are you going to get around to actually doing anything about it?

GaryFreakinnnOak12/16/2015, 10:38:33 PM2 votes

Can you comment on the tank shredding items and how strong the balance team would like them to be? It feels like BORK was nerfed for its synergy with devourer (which is more of a devourer issue than a bork one) and last whisper was heavily nerfed against characters with high base stats. Ever since 5.16 it has felt almost impossible to cut through the juggernauts if you weren't unnaturally fed and the preseason changes have made it feel even worse to auto a tank as an ADC.

The balance cycle used to roughly flow Assassin > ADC > Bruiser/Tank/Juggernaut, but raw damage of a lot of these tanks/juggs make it seem like they are assassins in their own right. The change to last whisper has made it so the likes of Udyr and Shyvanna can almost entirely rely on their base armor values and still be able to towerdive you with no minions as a well farmed (or even fed) adc with full health. This isn't an issue on its own, but it feels like mistakes made by bruisers and juggernauts are so much harder to punish than mistakes made by any other class of champion.

Son Jarvan12/16/2015, 11:39:47 PM2 votes

In 5.24 Brand and Rammus were nerfed. Brand got a lovetap, citing a consideration for an underlying system (Deathfire Touch) also being nerfed. Rammus got nerfed harder directly, three of his masteries (including a keystone) were nerfed, and a core item of his was nerfed. Why was consideration for system nerfs given to Brand but not Rammus?

Pyro12/17/2015, 1:18:10 AM2 votes

ITEMSSS

Seriously though, what's your opinion on the current item system in a more general manner? I've already asked Ghostcrawler about the phenomenon of items with identical recipes (Phage/Jaurim, Dirk/Warhammer, Shiv/Firecannon, Exec/Giantslayer, also LW upgrades). What would be your opinion on the matter?

Also, when are we finally taking on Ohmwrecker and Zz'Rot Portal?

ploki12212/16/2015, 10:16:50 PM1 votes

I’ve worked on a lot of different design teams in my 5 years here including Champions, Champion Reworks/Updates, Game Balance, Systems Design, and Game Clarity.

As someone who might have insights on a lot of the process... how can you back a claim like "Poppy's passive and ultimate were impossible to balance" (paraphrasing it, but that's what the team working on it said afaik), when there were absolutely no iterations done on it (outside of bug fixes) since she was released back in 2010 or 2011. Even in term of balance changes, I don't think she received any actual buffs or nerfs since the Season 1 patch. I hope you can understand why it feels bad to have your champion completely redone without getting the impression that you guys tried to preserve her identity and collected data beforehand. All we can run on is "they probably did X/Y/Z".

Also, please consider this when reworking Yorick/Galio. I feel like he isn't that bad right now, and a (relative) lot of people are probably enjoing him right now. It would be awesome if they didn't end up with a 40% win rate rework that had close to everybody complaining about it for 2 whole weeks on the PBE. On that note, please never release a rework to the PBE during a cycle that has a holiday in it again. You've clearly shown that you're unwilling to keepmassive changes in there for more than 2 weeks, so at least use a cycle that has 2 weeks in it (or find devs who enjoy working during holidays, but that doesn't seem reasonable).

seemingly random tangential stuff

I feel this question touches equally GhostCrawler and the whole design team; Do you feel like there could ever be an item like Aghanim's Scepter in LoL? An item that grants you a unique bonus to your kit based on your champion.

I've also had a lot of fun asking (roughly) the same generic questions to all the devs, so you're the next one on the list :

  • What is in your opinion the best/worst niche in LoL right now in term of design (split push, mobile mages, tank supports, poke supports, all in mid laners, AP junglers, etc.)?

  • Who are your favorite current rioters and ex-rioters?

  • What would you say is the biggest pros and cons of the current way PBE functions?

  • Favorite champion?

  • What design from another game would you like to see in LoL (even if unrealistic) and why? This can be either a complete concept (like a DotA heroes or something), or a systemic one (like Aghs or maybe an ammo system on buildings or pickups, or first-person something... anything really).

  • If everythign was to be turned into ice cream, what flavor would FeralPony be? What about a feral pony?

randomy12/17/2015, 12:39:53 AM1 votes

How has the Rift Herald been received in the wider player base? I’m working my way up through mid-Bronze and I’ve only seen it attempted twice in ten games (one of which was at 19:45 just to see if we could get it). Are players valuing it as much as you expected, and if not, do you expect the changes on PBE to help much?

JohnTheLibrarian12/16/2015, 9:34:23 PM1 votes

Thoughts on Omen? :) I'd love to hear what happened with him, why he was dropped, if he might ever get picked up again. Also Any other random trivia about League would be neat :P Maybe even some spoilers for the future? :D

Jeddy01712/16/2015, 9:47:39 PM1 votes

Okay,no point in not asking you.Care to comment on the Non-SR maps?

1Ferdinand112/16/2015, 9:59:02 PM1 votes

Sorry, english isn't my language.

What are your thoughts on a champion based on resource manipulation? Since Soraka rework in this moment there is nothing that can manipulate them, do you think is a mechanics that will never come or there are ideas floating around?

SpecterVonBaren12/16/2015, 10:00:10 PM1 votes

Which came first? Working on Hecarim or your name?

Do you think there's room in the game to have other focusses in a match other than teamfights and turrets? There's a bit of that in terms of things like Tryndamere split pushing or Singed proxying minions, both done in an attempt to force people to divert resources to deal with the problem. But those tactics aren't supported very much because the tactics tend to be very frustrating to deal with. Is there any chance things could be made where that is a legitimate strategy that has legitimate answers from the enemy team?

Which champion is your favorite that you did not work on?

What are your thoughts on some of the current passives in the game that are either boring or uninteractive or uninteresting? Is there hope for some sort of champion wide change to things like Fiddle's, Zyra's, Shyvana's or Talon's passive?