Boards›Dev Corner

PBE Chat with the Playtest Team - 8.11

Novalas·5/16/2018, 9:38:32 PM·1 votes·36,841 views

Hey guys!

I’m Riot Novalas. I'm a QA Analyst on Riot’s Playtest Team, a group of high elo players who work on Core Gameplay playing new and in dev content before they’re released. It’s our job to test the changes that our designers come up with to ensure that we’re introducing positive changes to League in terms of both balance and fun.

Rather than a Patch Chat, we’re opting for a new approach these next few patch cycles. Lots of changes are planned in the upcoming patches and a lot of content is or has been on PBE for awhile. We’d like you guys to talk to us about your questions or concerns with upcoming content - We’ve tested a lot of it and would be more than happy to give you guys insight on how the changes are panning out. If you’d like us to test something in particular out - let us know and we can try to get it into a playtest.

The biggest changes on PBE right now are the Marksman changes and Pyke, the Bloodharbor Ripper. If you have any Pyke related questions (or water door related questions), feel free to ask Hjarta and Auberaun who were the playtesters on Pyke while he was in development!

We’d love for players to get in on this & help the Playtest team make Patch 8.11 launch as smoothly as possible!

Here’s a link to the content currently on the PBE. https://www.surrenderat20.net/p/current-pbe-balance-changes.html

Also, we're all on his list.

Brandon "Roku" Davis Chris “Auberaun” Roberts Christy “Riot Ender L” Frierson Nick “Riot Endstep” Frijia Sigmundur “GangIeri” Helgason Arnor “Riot Hjarta” Halldorsson Miktat “Riot Koyuncu” Koyuncu Brian “Riot Madness Heroo” Pressoir Nabi “Riot Novalas” Barak Dan “Riot penguin” Hardison Robert “ROBERTxLEE” Lee Louis "nubblez" Carpetto

305 Comments

SonicÐeHedgedawg5/16/2018, 10:02:36 PM8 votes

@Riot Novalas (Or whoever is best qualified to answer)

A couple comments:

1 - bloodthirster. If the thought is to make it slightly more attractive, how about smoothing out it's build path making it build out of a BF sword and TWO vampiric scepters instead of 1 Sceptre and a long sword?

2- Runic Echos - I question that this will truly open up the jungle for many new AP champions, but either way, since AD champions have different options depending on if they value attack speed or raw AD, is there any REAL reason we couldn't have 2 AP options? The current one with Mana and CDR and an alternative with movespeed and magic pen for assassins? Because I've played a handful of AP jungle games today and the lack of movespeed on jungle item completion feels like a very noticable pain point whereas the mana on the item is honestly NOT that noticable because the buff to Hunter's Talisman was so significant there.

3 - Are you having a good day? Enjoying the summer weather? You aren't melting in the heat, right? Stay hydrated!

Sergeant Wea5/16/2018, 10:33:05 PM5 votes

is there any work for a new keystone for Sorcery? I feel like it's too much MS and not enough mana/mpen

Rajinikanth Fan5/17/2018, 8:19:26 PM5 votes

Why are we talking to the playtest team and not the balance team.

Kaipop5/17/2018, 11:57:08 PM4 votes

What kinds of changes are planned for Zyra? Meddler said they could be in patch 8.11.

Queš5/17/2018, 2:28:21 PM4 votes

Hey guys.Can I ask for QoL change for Yorick ?

For some reason his ghouls/maiden dont update their AD after summon even if Yorick's AD changes(Conqueror proc for example) and it would be so cool if they did.

VICHEL CHAOS5/16/2018, 9:54:04 PM2 votes

Hello guys and thank you for this effort you constantly do. I have a question.

Regarding the new stormrazor item, can you give a bit of insight on the previous iterations that the item has gone through, on which champions it felt good or bad, when to buy it and maybe possibly the direction that this new iteration is taking the concept? Maybe even if it felt too strong on certain users and if that is why the stacking attack speed was changed. Just general insight on the item and how it has tested up to now, it seems very interesting.

Hellioning5/17/2018, 12:04:36 AM2 votes

What are your thoughts on Pyke not being able to build health?

Aurcus Dyrnwyn5/17/2018, 1:02:42 AM2 votes

If Pyke ends up being played more as a jungler than a support, will you try to balance him around the support role or let him fall naturally where he will with his kit?

Algorithmic Bias5/17/2018, 6:15:34 AM2 votes

item 3174 Athene's gives 30AP but item 3108 Codex gives 35AP. It also lost 10-30 AP due to the D.Ring and Talisman changes. Can you guys fix this please?(btw passives are supposed to give bonus stats, not making up for the loss of them) Also, item 3098 frostfang gives 50% mana regen, but item 3092 Watchers gives 25%

Rajinikanth Fan5/17/2018, 8:04:45 PM1 votes

Are bruisers getting any ubdate soon? I heard you are going to nerf tri-force and sterek gage.

M00ndanc35/17/2018, 11:13:59 PM1 votes

How do you feel about champs like Jhin, Rengar and Pyke taking Spear of Shoju. Do you think it might be strong on champs who can stack a lot of bonus AD easily. I know it would be a power down for Jhin in terms of his potential damage but it might be worth it for the potential damage mitigation it gives

KillGoldfish5/16/2018, 10:03:17 PM1 votes

Hey, I’m having fun messing with Pyke!

There’s a lot of changes right now: the role of ADC, jungling being slowed down, the importance of crab, and a brand new style of Support in Pyke. Do you feel like the role of Support is going to fundamentally change? To me, this puts a lot of additional pressure on Support players to roam and help on invading/defending invades. Or is this an overreaction and the “adc bodyguard” will forever be the primary function?

About Pyke specifically: the itemization in the game seems to really let him down at the moment. All his good items are priced for solo laners, and the hyper-efficient Support items like Locket and Redemption just do not work at all. Do you feel like he’s currently in a position to succeed once he hits solo queue, or does something outside of his kit need to change?

Elewd5/18/2018, 3:06:10 AM1 votes

Alrighty i have a couple of concerns about the new item, Spear of the Shojin, This item sounds great on paper when thinking about champions like Wukong, Jarvan IV, and Xin Zhao. However im really worried about how this item will pair up with champions like Fiora and Riven who already build Deaths dance, Spear of the Shojin + deaths dance will make a lot of the bruisers in toplane almost impossible to kill unless they are kited to death and even then it'll be a challenge due to their gapclosers. Is there anything in the devtalks or whispers about maybe making Deaths dance and the Spear have the same Unique passive so they can't stack? I really do see this being an issue.

My other question, Is there any news on the balance changes Zyra is getting or is that going to be in the next patch?

Kai Guy5/23/2018, 6:31:52 AM1 votes

Hey yall I am a bit concerned here, where is my boy Riot King Cobra at? Im often times a Hyper aggressive player myself and Jokes aside I enjoy seeing Robs Comments. Where did he go? [sg-soraka]