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Patch Chat with the Playtest Team - 7.2 Warwick rework

RiotAesah·1/25/2017, 8:03:07 PM·1 votes·16,168 views

new "Minions" art created by inkinesss!

Hey guys! Welcome to Patch Chat, a Dev Corner thread we make to talk about our new patches every two weeks: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-72-notes

I'm Aesah on Riot's Playtest Team, a group of Diamond+ players who play with the new champions, reworks, balance tweaks, items, and map updates before they are released. It's our job to the test the changes that our designers come up with and ensure that we're introducing positive changes to LoL in terms of both balance and fun. We'll be watching this thread to answer as many questions as we can.

The big change we're looking forward to (well some of us, anyway) in 7.2 is the Warwick update. Warwick is a juggernaut/diver who we expect to shine primarily in the jungle. Underperforming champions that received buffs include Akali (slightly overcompensating Gunblade nerf), Gragas, Graves, Lulu, Master Yi, and Nidalee. On the other hand, Darius, Katarina, and Yasuo received nerfs to bring their power more in line with the rest of the cast. For items, Lethality as well as Duskblade and Edge of Night have been buffed to be more enticing to some of the struggling AD assassins. Support items have been slightly rebalanced (Redemption was crowding out other options). Gunblade's active component was nerfed as well.

All of us on the Playtest Team are avid gamers so feel free to talk to us as fellow LoL players!

Adam "Afic" Cohen Ben “Cezium” Burkhardt Don “Aesah” Ding Nicolas “Gleeb” Haddad Dan “penguin” Hardison Robert “ROBERTxLEE” Lee Nicholas “Nickwu” Smith Blake “S0be” Soberanis Trevor “ThEntropist” Thernes Arnor "TheLastAirbender" Halldorsson

58 Comments

Shadow Hazard1/25/2017, 9:23:51 PM10 votes

What on earth was the team thinking with the camp damage changes. Yea sure it will hurt the top end junglers so that they aren't as enter lane->murder->return to full clear, there are A LOT of junglers that are in a poor to even non viable spot even before 7.2 and this will just hammer down the discrepancy.

Aatrox gets honerable mention for the issues he has been having for way too long but at least that has been recognized and hopefully the team is working on something.

Fiddle has been a very poor jungler thanks to the camp changes specifically and the recent change to him really only made his lane ability more viable as a support/mid champ, either fix his jungling or do a reverse of what you did to nid and push him completely out of the jungle.

I don't even think fizz or ekko are even viable at all as junglers anymore, they aren't even niche picks anymore they are flat out non viable.

Kindred, the marksman made very specifically for the jungle is outperformed by every other marksman that can jungle and unlike them kindred doesn't have the option to go into lane at all, since it is flat out unviable. The excuse of the ult giving kindred something unique to offer isn't even a good one, bard, taric, kayle, and zilean offer similar niches to varying degree's and also benefit for not being useless for the rest of their kits.

Nid's buff is counterproductive with the amount of increased damage that will be received.

there are many others. how did a change like that go through without thinking outside of the one who will be toned down but instead will just be absolutely screwed over. Was there any actually sandbox test for the clear's of the non outlier junglers.

hunterspec1/25/2017, 8:14:58 PM7 votes

when you removing autofill?

dominusx1/25/2017, 8:30:34 PM6 votes

We need towers to ramp up more dmg. outside early game they can easily be ignored by anyone with a single armor item that isnt a mere ninja tabi. And reduce 1st blood tower value so the game in high elo isnt merely a race to who dives bot 1st. Also about the surrender vote i hope you go through with it. kinda tired of the NA open mids lately.

IAmNeverViable1/25/2017, 11:10:58 PM4 votes

How do you feel about increasing damage creep over the past few seasons? (Not power creeps where new champions suppresses the old one, but damage has been increasing too much over the past few seasons.)

In the past few seasons, teamfight and the games took longer to finish. Now this season, fights last too shortly and games are decided predetermine. In season 3-4, most champions cannot 100-0 someone in a full combo rotation. Now most champion can 100-0 someone over just 2 items.

Lord Desert1/25/2017, 8:25:38 PM4 votes

I would like to hear your personal opinion on the state of towers, especially the inhib/nexus towers! I think they need some increase in defense and should get the 75% ArPen back, 30% is not enough, tanks and even squishys can tank them far to long! Again this should not be an offical riot statement at all, its more of a "do you also think they could use some attention?" Typ of quesition :D

And have you already had the chance to test some of the ChoGath experiments meddler mentioned? And if yes was there something promising/nice/awesome? Im not interested in the exact stuff... well i am, but i know you can not say anything about it and thats ok, but i would really love if i could know if there is something cool in testing for my beloved Cho :D Thx for your time

venomous frost1/25/2017, 8:12:51 PM3 votes

What do you think about the "darius is only a low ELO ban" statement?

And how do you feel about the argument that higher AD on monsters forces sustain and waveclear junglers more to the top, and junglers that don't have this more to the bottom, creating more jungle inequality?

Spideraxe1/25/2017, 8:07:07 PM2 votes

I heard if you comment first, that Afic himself will give you a high five. But more related news, how do you guys feel mid lane will be impacted with the ghost nerfs

Lord Caelistis1/25/2017, 8:34:15 PM2 votes

How do you feel about champions like Teemo that may not be particularly strong or overpowered, yet are frequently banned at certain ELOs because of the frustration they provoke in players? Is there any strings you can tug to try and make them less "obnoxious"?

Subsidiary but very related question : how hard is it to stay impartial when balancing the game?

(Props to the Yi buff, very well made)

La Bello1/25/2017, 9:13:47 PM2 votes

Why choose to buff Duskblade the way that you did? whats the context behind it? why not just buff the amount of Lethality it gives?

LuIu1/25/2017, 10:09:29 PM2 votes

Do you think Lulu will soon get buffs that will actually make her a viable support again? (instead of these last two little buffs that barely change things)

ShadowParker1/25/2017, 10:35:28 PM2 votes

So, I've been loving new Talon. I usually do super well early and mid game and these buffs will just add to that.

That said, what are your guys' thoughts on his late game? When everyone is at the point of full build, Talon feels pretty bad. He can't reliably assassinate anyone. On top of this, it feels like if the Adc builds any sort of defense Talon's useless altogether.

Is this intentional for his character or the class?

Kei1431/25/2017, 10:55:03 PM2 votes

sorry if these have been asked / answered already. Gonna fire the questions first while you guys are still around

Please share funny things that happened during ww development
Most enjoyable moments when testing ww
most frustrating moments when testing ww
How stomping would yi be now at lower elos?
How stomping would jayce be at low elos?

Eskimo5031/31/2017, 6:40:36 AM1 votes

At first i was super bummed about the Darius nerfs in tandem with the ghost and CoC nerfs (these two were responsible for his small winrate spike IMO), but I think you guys were really smart about it. Thanks for not hitting him too hard. I believe to further reduce cheese on his early laning, his W slow should scale with level into it- worse at early, better late? This way its less stressful for lane opponent that CANT fight him to go farm, not a death sentence. It also forces choice between E max and W max (after Q). I main this champion in low diamond elo, so im not just venting about him, but trying to reduce community frustration so his damage doesn't get nerfed again. Good day and please give a love tap to Riven when in the hands of an experienced player, she concerns me.

Veraska1/25/2017, 8:54:36 PM1 votes

How do you feel kha'zix and rengar (who are already pretty strong) gonna be affected by the lethality buffs?

Never FF Boy1/26/2017, 2:18:32 AM1 votes

Do you believe that those buff for Yi are enough to make him viable ? The buff was really good and smart, but it feels like Master Yi need more of a small rework than just a small buff.

He's pretty similar to Shyvana and other jungler who are tanky while doing damage and being more reliable, so strategically he's not very interesting at the moment since there is Yi but in a better version (Shyvana, Kha Zix, Rengar ...) who bring damage more reliably.

I'd like to know what are your thoughts about him at the moment and what are your plans about him.

Thanks !

Omì1/27/2017, 4:47:01 AM1 votes

Just a question, was it intentional to make warwick have to click on the next target for his Q to activate?>

TheOnlyBruce1/25/2017, 10:50:29 PM1 votes

Why does scuttle eat honeyfruit now? How do you expect this to affect gameplay?