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Quick Gameplay Thoughts: April 7

RiotMeddler·4/7/2017, 5:27:49 PM·1 votes·47,696 views

Happy Friday all!

Mid-season changes starting to appear on PBE

We're at the point where we'll be putting some of the mid-season changes onto PBE a patch early and letting them soak there a bit longer. Many of the changes won't be there until the 7.9 PBE cycle starts though.

Right now the durability item changes are there, details can be found at:

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/WgNuqAK8-midseason-durability-goals-and-direction https://boards.pbe.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/champions-gameplay-feedback/8g2H4vjy-midseason-durability-feedback

It's also fairly likely we'll have some changes to support starting items there early next week as well. Those are focused on stuff like laning patterns (especially on Coin) and recognition of success. More details on that soon.

Renaming the support position?

As some of you may have seen in game or from screenshots posted elsewhere we've been conducting a few surveys recently to get players's thoughts on other possible names for the support position. We don't have any immediate plans to try and rename it, long term though, once we've done more work on the gameplay possible from that position we'd like to try and find a more appealing name than 'support'. Something that still recognizes how important team interaction is, but that also doesn't imply a secondary, less empowered role. We'd then be interested in changing the icon from something so ward like at the same time.

Haven't found anything yet we're happy enough with, or that has gotten a strong positive response from players surveyed though. Words we've been looking at so far include terms like multiplier, flex, catalyst and specialist. As above even if we found a good replacement name players liked we'd also want to address gameplay issues first - renaming without doing so otherwise feels pretty empty/pointless.

Testing some spell buffering changes on PBE on Karthus and Ryze

We've got a couple of changes to how Karthus and Ryze buffer their spells on PBE at present that are intended to make them a bit smoother to use, in particular on higher latency connections. Any feedback on those from folks with PBE access much appreciated. We're not mentioning specific details for now though on what's changed to see if there's anything good or bad that gets specifically noticed when you're not sure exactly what's changed.

298 Comments

Kritty4/7/2017, 5:56:56 PM30 votes

I actually really like "Specialist", or something along those lines. It signifies that the person doesn't fulfill a traditional laning role in the game, but allows for interpretations other than just "there to tank damage or heal up teammates".

Adalvar4/7/2017, 6:14:52 PM17 votes

Have you considered the massive impact that some of the new items will have on AP mages/assassins? Adaptive Helm by itself takes a massive dump on DPS/Combo based mages, Banshee's will be a 1st/2nd item pick up. Items like Spirit/Maw/Edge can already screw up a mage's function as a burster and now with this alot of them will fall even further into darkness, unless they have some form of in-built utility.

And this not withstanding the massive AP drain from items that has been going on since mid season 5, now you are giving MR per level for everyone? The only effect this will have is that AP characters will become a liability and will get phased out completely, which in turn will cause AD characters to take their place, which in turn will cause tanks to completely shift to anti physical defense and we'll return to initial issue: tanks being too strong against damage dealers (of the primarily physical kind).

On the other hand item 3116 this is completely gutted, this item 3285 has no identity, these item 3027 item 3003 fail completely on their jobs as scaling items due to either providing a low end payoff for their scaling curve, or being too slow to reach their peak. item 3089 is an overpriced mess with an equally crap build path, and we were promised new endgame buildpaths from item 3802 when the mage rework came out in the first place. item 3151 is niche as hell, but because everything else is gutted, it stands out as the better option in broken down armory. Used to be, with a double scaling build you could reach 1k AP and around 750-800 with one scaling item. Now you get what? 800-850 at best? And even with a scaling item like item 3027, you can't even break 700 AP without consumables. And note that double scaling builds were not that common and had plenty counterplay due how slow their spikes were and how weak the champions that went with single/double scaling builds were in the early/mid-game.

You mentioned that Kassadin wasn't providing the lategame payoff he should for how weak his laning was in the recent patch notes. Maybe the fact that two of his core items (item 3027 item 3157) lost a decent amount of AP value and Kassa is one of the most AP dependant champions in the game due to low bases and large scalings.

Have you guys considered that maybe, just maybe you should consider making a infusion of AP back into the game and take another look at the AP armory (specifically passives and actives) if these changes do go through?

EDIT: Then there's the Hextech armory of which two are pretty niche item 3146 item 3152, though fun and interesting items and the other item 3030 either gets outdone stat-wise with item 3027 or get overlapped with item 3116 and it still gets the short end of the stick.

Huudi4/7/2017, 7:48:22 PM12 votes

Call it what it is and name supports "Martyrs"

Redesignated4/7/2017, 6:41:49 PM10 votes

Even if you rename "support," do you think people will actually adopt the changed name? The vast majority of people still refer to ranged basic-attack focused champions as "AD carries" rather than marksmen/women. When LCS lists bot lane as the ADC, and it's Ziggs of all people that match, it's kind of obvious people are being stubborn.

Something that still recognizes how important team interaction is, but that also doesn't imply a secondary, less empowered role.

It's not even a matter of it being implied, it's kind of the reality — least gold income, least EXP gain, very few items with the majority of them being tailored around a single subset of the roster, no recognition from the game itself (let alone the players), easiest role to target for harassment along with jungle.

DCYOUNG8884/7/2017, 6:25:12 PM10 votes

Are the Lissandra buffs coming back for this PBE patch?

Fisherman Fízz4/7/2017, 5:59:13 PM9 votes

Hello Meddler, with bruiser/tank Fizz making a comeback, are there any plans to deal with that?

Stacona4/7/2017, 8:54:45 PM7 votes

For support why not something like "Tactician" since they are a very tactical position that controls the game on a more calculated level than a brute force power one.

The icon maybe an ancient scroll ordeal or a star, spit balling here.

Devölution4/7/2017, 6:31:28 PM6 votes

Pls give us some thoughts on Yorick current state/plans for him.

Linna Excel4/7/2017, 6:23:15 PM6 votes

Potential support names:

Ward Slave KSing A - - Likes to be carried That thing I got autofilled to again That thing I can't take as a secondary role as I always get it when I do The sidekick Your ADC's personal servant/meatshield That guy without gold or levels That guy with the terrible itemization The B*tchrole of botlane

SplinterTwin4/7/2017, 6:09:55 PM3 votes

What about "Enforcer"?

noun noun: enforcer; plural noun: enforcers

a person or group that compels observance of or compliance with a law, rule, or obligation. "the city police's role as enforcers of traffic rules will increase"

  •     informal
  a person who imposes their will by violence and intimidation.
  "gangland enforcers linked to a drugs gang"

  •     informal
  (in sports) a strong, aggressive, or intimidating player whose role is to protect teammates or dominate an area of the field of play.
   "a surprising twist in career for the burly defensive enforcer"
Tomeksz4/7/2017, 5:41:03 PM3 votes

Meddler, can you confirm that the wait between Xayah and Rakan and the next champion after them will be shorter than usuall?

4NoxiousHours4/7/2017, 5:29:13 PM3 votes

How about, Guardian or Protector? Maybe Defender? Savior?

Something that sounds cool that both male and female will agree on.

N1bbl34/7/2017, 5:45:54 PM2 votes

Is there any reason why nunu got some stealth changes on patch 7.7 that weren't on the pbe or patch notes?

Jeddy0174/7/2017, 5:38:47 PM2 votes

Wait, you guys are renaming the support role? Since when was this a thing? Did I miss something while playing Breath of the Wild?