[INTRO] Andrei “Meddler” van Roon - Lead Gameplay Designer

{quoted} What that means for Dominion and TT then's something I agree we should figure out, they feel stuck in a limbo at the moment.

For Dominion at least, axing Blind and Draft queue and giving us a single Blind Draft queue would help a ton. That would allow us to at least ban out champions that are frustrating to deal with every other game. Teemo and Shaco are especially bad now that AP champs don't have an anti-trap item to build. This would be a pretty decent compromise, I think, since we're clearly never getting Ranked.

I've also noticed that account farming bots seem to be making a huge comeback. While it wouldn't solve the problem, making it so sub-30 players don't get matched with level 30 players would at least prevent bots from ruining the games of long-timers just trying to have some fun.

Can you please do that you can see the range of FQC when hovering over it? c:

DO NOT nerf the mana regen, the ONE stat that (almost) every utility support NEED.

Doing so still does not solve the problem that FQC is outclassing other mage items. With such an easily spammable active, ability to make it into a "free" item from passive gold, AND pretty much the only cheap mana regen item option, FQC will stay superior to Morello's and Athene's.

A better idea is to bring the other mana regen items to the same level as FQC, such as decrease the costs to build those. Increase FQC's combine cost is still a better idea than nerfing the mana regen. Make the active have a 120 second CD again, like what Twin Shadows used to be.

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Our current thought is that it's fine if FQC is an option for mid laners, provided it isn't crowding out other item options. We're also seeing FQC be more dominant than it should be on duo laners too, so current intent is to nerf the mana regen and change the slow duration so that it scales based off how far the ghosts have traveled (worse point blank, slightly better at really long ranges). Goal there is to reward the more distinct use cases (scouting/long range catch) over the mid combat extra CC.

No immediate plans for spell vamp specifically, though we may follow up on some of the individual items with spell vamp like effects on them that were changed recently (Gunblade for example).

We do want to keep supporting Morde as a duo laner, though are also looking at ways to add a bit of power back to his solo lane at present. Morde's been both an experimental and a challenging project, so I'm sure we'll need to put a bunch of further work into him early next year too. Longer term we do want to get some more variety into bot lane, approach I'm most interested in investigating myself is trying to allow some mages to take the place of the marksmen there if desired.

For items and power in stats versus actives it depends on what the goal of the item is, the comparable options, who the users are, how windowed the power contribution should be versus always on etc. Seraph's Embrace has an active I personally think's quite well designed, since it gives strong, but very temporary, defence to a class that shouldn't be permanently tanky, presents a clear choice to enemies (wait out the shield or burn through it) and has some interesting interactions with other items/systems (increases value of other mana itemization, strong synergy with blue buff etc).

Any reason why not take the same path as SOTL, SOAG, Rune glaive ezreal, and general jungle item needing smite?

Oh sure, nerf the mana regen. Not like WE don't need it or anything.

Sincerely A Support Main [zombie-brand-facepalm]

It worries me that the notion of a dedicated support item representing healthy item diversity for midlaners is acceptable to you all. You made something that Supports needed (efficient/affordable stats) and are now having to punish them to keep it out of the hands of midlaners. Why not make items intended for use by AP mids more attractive than the support item? I feel like the draw to FCQ represents a weakness in items intended for AP mids, not evidence of an OP support item. FCQ has been awesome as a support and has made me feel like a more relevant part of my team. I feel punished and not because the item was too good for me (it was just right) but because it is better than lackluster AP mid items. I really think there is a more creative way to solve this problem. Items crowding out other items might indicate an OP status, but an item dedicated for supports crowding out all other items an AP mage might prefer represents a problem within their options.

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Our current thought is that it's fine if FQC is an option for mid laners, provided it isn't crowding out other item options. We're also seeing FQC be more dominant than it should be on duo laners too, so current intent is to nerf the mana regen and change the slow duration so that it scales based off how far the ghosts have traveled (worse point blank, slightly better at really long ranges). Goal there is to reward the more distinct use cases (scouting/long range catch) over the mid combat extra CC.

No immediate plans for spell vamp specifically, though we may follow up on some of the individual items with spell vamp like effects on them that were changed recently (Gunblade for example).

We do want to keep supporting Morde as a duo laner, though are also looking at ways to add a bit of power back to his solo lane at present. Morde's been both an experimental and a challenging project, so I'm sure we'll need to put a bunch of further work into him early next year too. Longer term we do want to get some more variety into bot lane, approach I'm most interested in investigating myself is trying to allow some mages to take the place of the marksmen there if desired.

For items and power in stats versus actives it depends on what the goal of the item is, the comparable options, who the users are, how windowed the power contribution should be versus always on etc. Seraph's Embrace has an active I personally think's quite well designed, since it gives strong, but very temporary, defence to a class that shouldn't be permanently tanky, presents a clear choice to enemies (wait out the shield or burn through it) and has some interesting interactions with other items/systems (increases value of other mana itemization, strong synergy with blue buff etc).

Why does this item slow at all? The vision is enough.

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We ran into both gameplay and animation challenges (serpentine body) with Ao Shin, which is why despite the reveal of concept art for him nearly two years ago he hasn't happened. We do still want to make a serpentine dragon at some point, we think it's a really cool space, can't offer anything more concrete than that at the moment though alas.

Wouldn't taking the same approach you did with Wolf (2nd half of Kindred) work for a model base? I mean, Wolf is pretty serpentine like with the spirit trail following him and he flows nicely.

Thanks for the Syndra story! That sounds funny, and also surprisingly like the One For All Syndra experience.

And thank you for all the time you spend on the Boards, it's nice to have a steady rioter talking to us all the time!

Is that wise? (making more ways to deal with the amount of strong mobility) It feels like you are building a whole new system to deal with mobility creep instead of more accurately assessing the power of mobility and compensating a kit to match.

speaking of job applications. How important is submitting a cover letter to you guys? I've been procrastinating submitting an almost complete application to you guys for a player relations position due to getting writers block when it comes to writing a cover letter.

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We do think Kog's a champ you should feel rewarded for building a protective team around, given his lack of escape/hard CC and dependence on sustained auto attacking. That's a space that a few different champions should be able to exist in though, provided they're doing it in different ways (e.g. MF as the wombo character you want to pair with AOE lockdown for the duration of her ult, Kog as the one you want to protect for extended periods of time with AA enhancing buffs where possible, Trist as the one to protect if you want to push towers quick mid game etc).

If Koggy is meant to be the 'protect this champion for a sustained length of time' ADC, then shouldn't his W be a toggle (Koggle-toggle?) that consumes mana per second? Because right now MF packs a ton of damage into three seconds. Kog deals lots of damage, too, but from a closer range to one person for up to six seconds. And when those six seconds are up, he's dead weight.

See, getting good results out of MF is much easier than Kog. Comparatively speaking, chaining two Ults together is something that's pretty easy to pull off in Solo. Koggy, by contrast, needs protection for six seconds while being exactly as immobile as a channeling MF if he wants to do any significant damage. That's quite a bit harder for a team of randomly assembled players to accomplish.

And that isn't even considering how much stronger MF is at the early stages of the game.

So yes, her way of filling the centerpiece ADC niche is different. However, her different way of doing it is safer, easier, and without a crippling early game holding it down.

That's why I asked the follow-up question that wasn't addressed. How do you make a mechanically (both for Kog's player and his team) more difficult centerpiece ADC desirable when contrasted with one that's more reliable and less teamwork reliant?

If he just gets his damage pumped until he's as attractive in Solo as, say, Jinx, then Koggy will rip the competitive scene a new one. If he's balanced around the competitive scene, then he'll be relegated into the dumpster in Solo. I bring this up because I have the sinking suspicion that you guys might be approaching the problem of balancing Koggy from a direction that really won't leave anyone satisfied.

If you will, at least consider an alternative approach if you decide that Kog still needs his power level boosted up. Make him a little more self-sufficient rather than just amping his damage. And I don't mean give him mobility or hard CC or a knockback on his E against melee opponents or anything like that. I mean a new Innate that lets him heal somehow. That would make him a little more resilient against dives and in duels without making his raw damage output too silly.

Thematically it makes quite a bit of sense. His Lore is all about eating stuff, right? And stealing health is one of the most consistent ways that concept is conveyed in League. Right now Koggy's Innate punishes enemies for playing against Kog correctly. It's hilarious, sure, but it just doesn't fit with his kit. Given his condition , now would be the perfect time to cook up an interesting new Innate for Koggy, maybe even something that makes his gameplay a little more interesting to make up for the loss of his old W-Trinity-R kiting play style.

Regardless, I hope you consider what I wrote up. As I'm sure you can tell I'm pretty passionate about the Voidpuppy and I would hate to see him left by the wayside after his rework while basically all the other ADCs enjoy their time in the limelight.