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Quick Gameplay Thoughts: July 14

RiotMeddler·7/14/2017, 3:36:57 PM·1 votes·71,276 views

Hi 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

Approach we're taking with 7.15/Qualifiers

First off, quick update, was talking with some of our Esports folks and they mentioned some of the qualifiers will likely be played on 7.16, rather than all of them on 7.15 (LPL seems most likely from the sounds of it).

Secondly, wanted to talk a bit more about the approach we're taking with pro balance for the coming patch. We're looking at groups of champions more than usual, with a few observations driving a lot of our changes and then a number of one offs. What we're currently looking into therefore looks like:

  • Jungle - Belief is that it's more appropriate to bring the top junglers down a bit than trying to buff others up to their level. That means smallish nerfs to Lee Sin, Gragas, Elise, Rek'Sai and Zac are being looked at. That also has the added benefit of bringing jungler impact overall down slightly, in addition to hopefully being the better way to see some more diversity.

  • Mid Lane - Looks to be in a reasonable spot overall, so here we're targeting specific champs we think could get into the competitive pool. That means buffs to TF, Ekko, Ziggs, Xerath and potentially one or two more. We haven't seen artillery champs in pro play much for a while, Jayce excepted, so are hoping to get a bit of spot play on one or two. Buffs will be pretty light though, so that's more a hope than an expectation however.

  • Champs we've adjusted recently - We're watching, but not yet testing changes for, a number of champs we've recently nerfed. Those are competitive staples recently like Galio or Caitlyn. Want to make sure we've trimmed then down enough but don't want to swing at them again if that's not needed. On the other side of things also watching a couple of champs we've recently buffed who are getting a bunch of pro play, Gnar being the biggest example

  • Misc champs - Finally we're also just exploring some minor tune ups/tune downs for a few miscellanious champs we think are either a bit strong or could be pro viable with smaller work. Thresh (-), Nami (+), Jinx (+), GP (+) are good examples of that.

Singed Hotfix

As a lot of you will have noticed we hotfixed nerfed Singed yesterday. Buffs for him gave him much more power than we'd predicted so we felt it necessary to take some power off him quickly. Urgency there was particularly high given that high performance wasn't just experienced Singed players doing well, but happening even with a lot of people with limited Singed experience jumping onto the changes, indicating power when played effectively was noticeably higher again. We're glad to see Singed in a stronger spot, and that was one of the big goals of the recent changes, but that doesn't mean any magnitude of buff was appropriate and this one overshot quite a bit. More thoughts on his state to follow once the patch has been out a decent amount of time.

Hotfixing in General

For anyone unfamiliar with the term a hotfix is a quick change to the game outside of the normal patch cycle that often doesn't require the player to download a new patch (done on the server). They've got some added risk, so they're not a standard tool, with less time to test things both in terms of bugs and balance. If things are urgent they can be a good choice though.

We're planning to do slightly more hotfixes, in particular because we recently saw some tools changes get finished that reduce the risk of bugs from hotfixing and the amount of developer time they take to do. They're still a riskier tool, so won't become the standard way of rolling out changes, but it's much more likely you'll see a balance change or two following up after a patch goes out. Goal with those is primarily to adjust anything that had a much larger or smaller effect than we expected (e.g. correct extreme cases of overbuffed or overnerfed quicker). Those changes won't be aiming to fully solve a problem gebnerally though, both because of the limited testing time possible and because it's not clear enough what that would require shortly after a patch. Instead they'll be aimed at moderating the most out of line cases a bit before we give them a more extended analysis over a longer period of time.

Kayn

Seems to be in an ok spot so far. We're seeing a lot of Kayns fail, that's very much expected for a new champ, especially a squishier melee one. Assassin Kayn seems to be struggling more than Darkin. That's somewhat expected off assassin being the harder to learn form, also possible there's too large a power difference between the two though. No immediate plans for balance changes, discrepancy between the two forms is one of the key things we'll be watching though.

301 Comments

LankPants7/14/2017, 3:39:37 PM37 votes

Are we going to do something about Pantheon any time soon? He's had an insane winrate for ages and he's a champ who just makes the game unfun and removes all interaction whenever he's in the game. He's a prime example of a champ who shouldn't be allowed to be strong, yet he's been oppressive for months.

I actually think it was pretty much unjustifiable not to nerf him when the Lethality buffs came through considering they were itemisation buffs to an already overpowered champion.

Vier7/14/2017, 3:52:47 PM12 votes

Why do you keep targeting Caitlyn's attack speed? It feels bad to play her now with Berserkers and 2 Zeal items leaving her at 1.4 attack speed at lvl 18. Please just nerf her traps over this, she feels so bad to use. Please just nerf traps and revert attack speed changes.

Kengy7/14/2017, 3:40:33 PM10 votes

No comment on lethality is very concerning.

Solavis7/14/2017, 8:26:00 PM9 votes

Is anything currently being worked on or planned in the future for Wukong? He isn't in a terrible state by any means, but I feel he's a very one dimensional champion with a lot more potential. Being one dimensional isn't necessarily bad I suppose, it's just boring for me personally, and I've been looking forward to a fighter class update ever since the class updates began; but now that they are done, I'm curious as to whether he might be seeing any meaningful changes in the future.

P.S. I've been playing pretty regularly since S3, and I'd like to say that Riot has gotten so much better at communicating with the player base since then, both in being more transparent about ongoing work on upcoming content and in providing justifications for changes that have or are about to be made. This adds a lot to my experience and enjoyment with the game, and it's good for the community. Thank you.

Melancholy Hill7/14/2017, 4:53:14 PM8 votes

Will ziggs get an indicator for where he lands like the blast cones?

Jinzo Torrance7/14/2017, 6:10:28 PM8 votes

Thought on Viktor?

Solideus7/14/2017, 3:55:23 PM7 votes

Are there explorations for "Gameplay Updates" going on internally? Azir, Yasuo, LeBlanc, etc?

ProXXoN777/14/2017, 3:41:29 PM6 votes

Kayn can walk trough walls - Better nerf Singed :)))))

Overlord Forte7/14/2017, 4:48:15 PM6 votes

I've deep concerns about buffing Xerath, as he seems to function in a near 'sleeper OP' state in my experience, and is one of the few picks I regard as such. Playing him is tricky, but once you're familiar with his pattern, his damage output capacity is absolutely insane. Giving him enough to compensate for the problems of pro play (where being counter picked and coordinated against is a more extreme issue) will almost undoubtedly make him overbearing in solo play, I think.

Granzeboma7/14/2017, 5:25:13 PM6 votes

Please don't buff Ekko. Every time you guys do he ends up pick or ban. He's already popular in high elo and a reasonably common pick in competitive. What makes you think he needs a buff? Putting him in the same category as champs like TF and Xerath seems crazy. Those champs have been out of meta for like a full year whereas Ekko has been a decently popular since the assassin class update.

Ekko ends up too generically strong every time he gets buffed. He's supposed to be a niche pick with a particular set of unique skills and he's already fairly popular. In what sense does he need a buff? Please reconsider, the last thing I want is for Ekko to be pick / ban again and have to wait till you guys nerf him so I can play again.

RavenHusky7/14/2017, 3:48:30 PM6 votes

What was the plan with the Lux buffs that you mentioned on the 11th?

DCYOUNG8887/14/2017, 3:59:48 PM5 votes

When will Reav3 post the article about the champion reworks (and diver update)? I remember you said sometime this month.

Adalvar7/14/2017, 6:02:25 PM5 votes

Any changes planned for Sivir ?

What about the proposed rework to Ezreal W?

kama od7/14/2017, 5:44:38 PM3 votes

mind saying what are you planning for Jinx\Ekko? thank you :)

Report Evelynn7/14/2017, 4:09:59 PM3 votes

Still no updates on abillity Icons? :/ I just want new ones for Janna

Sahn Uzal7/14/2017, 4:01:42 PM2 votes

Misc champs - Finally we're also just exploring some minor tune ups/tune downs for a few miscellanious champs we think are either a bit strong or could be pro viable with smaller work. Thresh (-), Nami (+), Jinx (+), GP (+) are good examples of that.

Is Trial By Fire still the part you're looking at? Just outa curiousity :P