Boards›Dev Corner

Patch Chat with the Playtest Team - 8.1

Novalas·1/10/2018, 8:42:00 PM·1 votes·32,818 views

Hey everyone and welcome to Patch 8.1, the first patch of the new season!

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 champions, reworks, balance tweaks, items, and map updates before they’re released. It’s our job to test the changes that our designers come up with and ensure that we’re introducing positive changes to League in terms of both balance and fun.

Patch Chat serves as an opportunity for us to talk about the patches that come out every two weeks. You can find information on the most recent patch by following this link: https://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-81-notes

We’ve got some love towards Brand, Graves, and Skarner & a whole load of bugfixes for Syndra (and a bit for Evelynn). Zoe and Heimer have eaten some nerfs too! We’ve also got some Predator buffs & Resolve Set Bonus shifts.

Ask us anything about 8.1! Our favorite rune builds, perhaps? Our likes or dislikes? Maybe how often we execute to jungle camps? Or, well, anything! We’re also down to just chat though!

Disclaimer: We have no insight on upcoming/future skins.

Don “Riot Aesah” Ding Adam “Riot Afic” Cohen Chris “Auberaun” Roberts Christy “Riot Ender L” Frierson Nick “Riot Endstep” Frijia Sigmundur “GangIeri” Helgason Arnor “Riot Hjarta” Halldorsson Rob “Riot King Cobra” Rosa Miktat “Riot Koyuncu” Koyuncu Brian “Riot Madness Heroo” Pressoir Nabi “Riot Novalas” Barak Dan “Riot penguin” Hardison Robert “ROBERTxLEE” Lee Trevor “Riot ThEntropist” Thernes

302 Comments

Raxistaicho1/10/2018, 9:31:53 PM6 votes

What do you guys think about Ahri and Kayn these days?

DRÂVĘÑ1/10/2018, 9:00:20 PM6 votes

When are you going to fix the spinning axe bug for Draven after using e?

Or when his axe randomly just disappears when you catch it?

Seems like never.

CrazFight 1/10/2018, 8:50:20 PM6 votes

Disclaimer: We have no insight on upcoming/future skins.

Still keeping project bard under wraps I see

ensure that we’re introducing positive changes to League in terms of both balance and fun.

I know many people have different opinions on what "fun" means, what would be your opinion on what fun is in league. Personally I think playing off meta stuff is one of my favorite parts of league(Excluding getting flamed by team mates), I even mained top bard last season (Its pretty tough to go bard top this season, for now).

Edit: The bard top even generated some memes here on the board :P

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/memes/AwKlNLhm-when-a-riot-member-doubts-your-off-meta-pick

ModAcademy Kayn1/10/2018, 9:44:04 PM4 votes

Have ya'll had any chance to test out the new sightstone/'new' support items, or is that still in the paper stage?

Carnicore1/10/2018, 10:12:14 PM3 votes

Hello, friends

  1. What's your take on Katarina on this patch? Still gonna be a high-priority ban at high elo?

  2. What do you think of Relic Shield on ADCs? How about Vayne specifically?

  3. Is Zombie Ward too strong?

  4. I noticed in a PBE update that Ornn is no longer unstoppable during W. Could you offer some context on that? Very interesting change.

  5. Is the new keystone rune in testing good for Master Yi or Tryndamere? What path/tree is it going to be part of?

  6. Will work continue on making Zoe weaker, or less frustrating/annoying to play against? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcI0SGmAtXs&t=8m51s

  7. What's your opinion on the dabbing penguin emote?

  8. How will the changes to the patch cycle (alternating large and small patches) affect your work?

  9. Any support mains here? What do you think of the Sightstone changes?

  10. Do people still pick on you for nerfing Volibear?

Vig1lant1/11/2018, 5:47:36 PM3 votes

Hi

Recently i've sent a ticket about a possible improvement for the upcoming season concerning ranked games and i got a very supportive reply as well as i was adviced to contact the devs via forums so the following can be seen and discussed in public.

Concerning the ranked games LP system.

my recent experience playing solo/duo ranked games shows that despite any improvements done all these years concerning the matchup, most of the times we are still matched with teamates who are unable or don't wont to perform and this usually leads to a very bad game experience.

surely most players have often a bad game and i'm certainly among them, i don't consider myself any good but i do have some bursts of very good play.

so.. here is the idea i expressed in the ticket:

** i'm wondering if the LP gain/loss could work together with the "Champion Mastery" and specifically with the grade we receive after each game. I believe if the LP gain / Loss is tied to the performance of each player rather than to the game outcome, then it should be more fair. **

e.g if a player performed very bad, but his/her team "carried" and they won the game, the LP gains should be less for that player, or if he/she was the best performer but lost the game, the LP loss should be less than a teamate who performed badly.

that way i believe anyone who has constantly bad performance (in purpose or not) rightfully remains to a lower division for a longer time until there's some improvement and also cannot hold back teamates who are good enough but the matchup system and their teamates used to "betray" them.

DeathProfessor1/10/2018, 9:38:54 PM2 votes

Is any of you a top laner? And is he not a tank/Akali/Riven/Jayce/Pantheon main?

Raptor1/10/2018, 9:29:58 PM1 votes

Hey guys , not sure if this is appropriate but have you by chance got to test the upcoming new champ ?

If yes then how does he/she feel like ?

Chromatic Eagle1/11/2018, 6:02:38 PM1 votes

What's your thoughts on Eve? I love playing her, but learning her has been frustrating. I keep getting invaded, and idk what to do to get ahead. If I farm, my team asks for ganks, and if I gank pre-6, I misplay a lot. Any advice?

BadPiriPiri1/12/2018, 4:27:40 AM1 votes

What are your thoughts in overgrowth?