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[INTRO] Mark “RiotScruffy” Yetter - Lead Game Designer, Champions

RiotRiot Scruffy·12/10/2015, 9:19:55 PM·1 votes·31,290 views

WHO AM I?

Hey everyone,

I’m Mark, but you can call me RiotScruffy here. I’m a totally obsessed video gamer (in the best possible way), and games like DOTA, WoW, LoL, and pretty much anything with the Star Wars brand have occupied the best years of my life.

I’ve been a few places around the game industry before Riot, most notably I worked at Treyarch on Black Ops 2 right before I joined. They taught me some great stuff about how to make everything feel OP, and how to really sell a fantasy.

I currently own: 1 cats.

WHAT AM I DOING AT RIOT? There’s kinda two sections here for me, the past and the future:

The past (and present): I’m the Lead Designer of the Champion Update team, which has worked on many of your favorites (and unfavorites I’m sure) like Sion, Poppy, Gangplank, Fiora, Juggernauts, Marksmen updates and many more. I have a TON of history with this team, having helped build it up from the ground when I started at Riot almost 3 years ago until now.

The future: I’m going to be moving over to be Lead Designer of the Champion team. A new set of challenges and a really talented new group of people there is really exciting. Building up the next generation of new champions and hopefully surprising you all with some great new innovations is my goal.

WHAT AM I GOING TO TALK ABOUT? Champ-Up has grown and changed so so much over these past years, and I can talk about so many things. “Why did we start doing group updates like Juggernaut/Marksmen?” “How do we decide how much to preserve or redo on a champ-up like Poppy?”

Or even less specific stuff that is more related to our champion/game design philosophy like: “How have we evolved our strategy for making interactive gameplay without overusing skillshots?” “How do we build up a new champion from concept to completion?” “How did we go about categorizing our champions into archetypes so that we could better understand them (see juggernauts)?”

I’d also like to bridge the gap - when I can - of how our general game design practice can carry over into good character mechanic design and vice versa. It might be cool to do some topics that explore how to apply our champ design principle to other systems or even games altogether.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR FROM ME? Anything about Champ design or Champion updates is definitely on the table for me. Get creative, I’m open to whatever cool topics you all would like to talk about.

132 Comments

Malicious Metal12/10/2015, 9:30:50 PM6 votes

Hey there Scruffy. As Ghostcrawler already mentioned in his very own Intro you guys consider Darius and Garen to be the two successful Juggernaut updates with Mordekaiser and Skarner being in a somewhat bad spot.

Mordekaiser especially is currently in a very bad spot. His win ratio hovers slightly above 40%, his pick rate is even worse than pre rework and even though you wanted him to go bot over 60% of Mordekaiser players want and DO play him in a solo lane. Now, I love the idea of being able to roll all three lanes with my Main but being "forced" bot did suck and most Mordekaiser fans share that notion.

But enough of the grim shadows of the past; The future is where it's at, especially on how you intend to further support the Heavy Metal Juggernaut in the next few months. He does need your help, even though he'd never admit it.

Most of the frustration behind the rework comes from his Solo lane being really unfun to play out and his Prowess top and mid being nearly nonexistent. Two things seem to be the cause of this; -Abysmally low base stats, especially for a Juggernaut -His W having such a (excuse me) HORRIBLE restriction on it that only serves to inhibit him from using all his skills solo

So, care to share some of your thoughts on this matter, I'd love to hear a bit on your part, seeing that we Morde mains tend to form ahem a bit of a circle jerk when left with no Red input whatsoever.

~M.M

Keevalroy12/10/2015, 9:31:41 PM4 votes

Top 5 problem champions and why.

Lüc12/11/2015, 1:27:29 AM3 votes

There likely isn't much headway on this, but what can you say about the immobile mage update coming next year? Three champions that are compared frequently are ZiggsZiggs , XerathXerath and LuxLux - can you discuss potential direction you'd like to see them go or if they're high/low scope in potential changes?

Eph28912/10/2015, 9:36:37 PM3 votes

I'm curious about if these champions are on ChampUp's radar and any identities they'd like to stick to, or things they'd like to remove/change about them:

  1. Galio
  2. Akali
  3. Talon
  4. Pantheon
  5. Fizz

The first because he was my first main and just feels so lackluster right now, and the latter 4 because when they're strong and get ahead, there doesn't seem to be much you can do to play against them (in lane at least).

Unrelated: Favorite Star Wars game? Were you a movie-only guy or Expanded Universe?

Solideus12/10/2015, 9:39:31 PM3 votes

Could you talk in more detail about the current thinking internally on what the various sub-species of the classes are? For fighters it seems to be Juggernaut/Diver/Light-Fighter. Others that have been mentioned in passing are Artillery, Enhancer and Pick-Off(?). Would you mind listing the subclasses for each class, even if it's just the current thinking? You might be planning to do a Dev Blog at some point, but just a short summary would be appreciated.

LOL Spammer12/10/2015, 9:44:23 PM3 votes

Couple of quickies:

1.) As Taric is now second on the champion update list is there a possibility we could get a couple of spoilers? (I'm assuming that you have probably brainstormed at least a little)

2.) Also I'm wondering why Shen is so high up in the champ rework spots. To me he seems like he is in a good spot. Is he just getting a couple of tweaks or is his kit going to be a full rework?

3.) Since you are now in the champion design team do you have any thoughts on Ao Shin? Is he in the vault permanently are there any spoilers of which we could get anything on?

4.) For S6 are you mainly focusing on designing new champions or updating old ones?

Wind23412/11/2015, 12:01:29 AM2 votes

Hello! I have a few questions, so sorry if this is a little lengthy!

  1. I'm curious about the champion "archetypes" that you mentioned before. We have the six standard classes (Fighter, Mage, Tank, Assassin, Marksman, Support), but we also have the Juggernauts who are...sort of a sub-class, I suppose. A class within a class. What are some other archetypes in the game and how did you group them up like that?

  2. Since you're working with the champ design team, I'm really interested in all the potential new ideas that could come to the Rift. Are there any cool mechanics that you'd really like to see in a new champion? Any sorts of spells, themes or abilities that you think would make something really interesting to play as (or against)? I'm not very good at kit ideas, so I'm not sure what would be considered healthy for the game.

  3. What about awesome concepts that haven't been used yet? Personally I'd love to see a champion based on a hellhound - we don't have too many champions that are outright bestial. Could we even see some more avian champions like Anivia or serpentine like Cassiopeia? I think that'd be some really cool diversity, though I'll admit I don't have too many good ideas myself. I'm mostly interested in all the possibilities (secretly hoping for another Void monster champion at some point).

  4. And speaking of concepts, how do you pick out the ones you end up working up? I'm sure there's thousands of concepts going around about new potential champions, so how do they make the cut? Are there any old concept ideas that you might consider revisiting?

lol I hope I didn't ask about anything too confidential.....but I'd appreciate any answers you could give!

Goodnight Nunu12/10/2015, 9:38:10 PM2 votes

Why are there reworks being shipped without a VU (Mordekaiser, Ryze, etc.)

Some of your updated champions are in dire need of some Visual love and yet all they get are fancy looking VFX with a crappy model XD

Gordofrog12/10/2015, 10:09:56 PM2 votes

Hey Scruffy, congrats on the new role in the company.

Quick question in regards to your new position, is there any fantasy or gameplay niche you feel is missing from League? Anything that you're looking forward to tackling?

Veridens12/11/2015, 11:02:28 AM2 votes

Is it safe to say it will literally take years to update the worst offenders when it comes to outdated design? Are there any plans to speed up this process and focus less on releasing so many new champions? Why don't we see more MTUs like Maokai's or MF's? I thought those take less time and work but they are more scarce than new champion releases.

Eruptonica12/14/2015, 4:06:43 AM2 votes

Hey Scruffy.

I want to ask you about Cassiopeia. I assume that you guys are happy with where she is in the meta right now, me too, I also think she's fairly strong but not out of position.

But I think you missed her weakness on the Howling Abyss; You see, her passive still runs on the same pace as SR, and for a game mode that lasts mostly 20 to 30 mins, a Cassiopeia player won't last to experience the AP transition when reaching 500 stacks (hardly 300 either), and I think it isn't fair for a champion that shines through her passive to not be able to reach that late game fantasy. Even Karthus can get to his late game fantasy faster than Cassio because he's more of an item reliant champion which isn't a problem on the HA, and both Cassio and Karthus usually follow the same build paths. So Cassio is a little left out.

I would love to hear from you Scruff. Love you Rito.

P8mnobZR8412/15/2015, 9:27:22 PM2 votes

you want to rework talon?

Hellioning12/11/2015, 7:37:32 AM2 votes

What do you think the great successes and failures of the champ-up team are, and why?

SuperLuigiLXIV12/10/2015, 10:06:59 PM1 votes

How often do you guys use ideas/designs/etc from the players as a base or even directly on new champions or updates?

SIayton12/11/2015, 1:45:13 AM1 votes

Couple of questions:

  1. Do you see a point in time where "ball of stat" characters aren't a thing in league of legends anymore and where everything has counterplay, or do you think the "i have more stats than you so I win" champions are necessary for the game?

  2. What's your stance on instant spells like Annie's tibbers, instant teleports and dashes, etc etc where there's no startup animation and essentially the only way to avoid them is to stay out of that character's zone?

  3. When designing, do you guys set out with a class that you want to make and build around that (IE Juggernaut, Marksman), or do you come up with designs and then build the kit around it that way?

Myrmiron1/9/2016, 11:24:56 PM1 votes

Hello Scruffy, just one quick question. What was the reasoning behind killing AP Tristana with the Tristana rework, and are there any plans to maybe bring her back? Just asking cause I loved playing her.