Quick Gameplay Thoughts: April 20

Hey 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

Back to regular posting schedule

I've been back in the office this week catching up on everything after a couple of weeks in Japan (somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for years, was a fantastic time). Should be back to the standard two posts a week thing now. Apologies if I end up repeating anything that's already been talked about a lot in my absence, I think I've got a pretty good handle on what has/hasn't already been discussed, but might have missed something.

Input Buffering

Something we've been doing on some individual abilities for a while is making it so that, if their button is pressed just before it would be useable (e.g. while in the middle of another spell or just before it comes off CD), the command is saved and then executed shortly after. A particularly clear example of that is on Lee Sin W back in 7.11.Buffering like that makes executing combos and other cases of precise timing smoother on connections that aren't extremely low ping.

While working on Irelia we developed some new tech that makes input buffering like that much easier to apply to other abilities. It's been working well on Irelia so we're looking to roll it out to almost all abilities in the game shortly. That change is currently in testing on the PBE and we’re hoping to have it be part of 8.9.

Target Champions Only as a Toggle option

At present it's possible to make it so you can’t click on non champions with spells/attacks by holding down a specific key while casting/attacking (default: ~). That works well in some cases and for some players, but can be pretty cumbersome for others. We're currently working on an optional setting (would be found in the Gameplay Options part of the menu) that would let you change that from a Press and Hold approach to something you can toggle on and off with a key press instead.

That's just getting some initial internal testing now, so probably won't be on the PBE for a little bit at least. It's also possible, though I'd imagine unlikely, that we find something that makes it a bad idea to add that functionality to the game. Letting you folks know ahead of time though since I know this is a feature a number of people have asked for over the years. Wanted to provide visibility into how we're looking at it as a result, regardless of what the timing and outcome of that might be.

Shifting approach somewhat on some midseason stuff

As previously mentioned we want to open up positions to more classes. That would allow players who wished to to play champs in ways they currently can't and enable new team comps. At the same time we'd also want to ensure what currently works is still effective - broaden options, not force anyone onto something different. Based on that goal we set ourselves a target of getting mages into bot lane in midseason. After a lot of experimentation though we're shifting our approach somewhat there. We tested some large changes, which were very effective in letting mages be powerful bot lane choices. They resulted however in a lot of game balance costs though, some breakdown in interesting/healthy bot lane play and a lot of disruption when done all at once.

As a result what we're aiming to do instead is a range of changes that both improve some other issues and lay some groundwork for getting more classes into each position. That includes, but isn't limited to, mages in botlane. These changes won't radically redefine how the game plays. Instead they'll be part of a gradual process (multiple patches, not just 8.9) to open things up more, avoid balance costs and other unforeseen consequences of changing too much at once. Might see a few champs being played in new ways after them certainly, but not a massive meta overhaul. LoL.com publishing will also be quieter this year as a result too. We'll have one or two patch-specific articles for later changes that are more complex than 8.9's stat/cost tunings, but no website this time.

Examples of what upcoming changes will be trying to do below (more details about exactly how to come pretty soon). While these changes are things we think should help open up the game somewhat they're also changes we believe will lead to good improvement on other grounds as well.

• Changing mid/late game marksmen damage so they're less able to burst squishies but still able to grind through defense stacking targets. That gives other squishy champs longer windows to act later game while still letting marksmen kill tanky enemies effectively enough over time.
• Adjusting mage mana access so they can contest lane against a wider range of champions at early levels but also can't just cast on CD as much mid game onwards (results in excessive waveclear power in particular)
• Increasing the damage AP champs deal to towers,so that, regardless of position, they can contribute more to tower/base taking, reducing dependency on bot lane for that function. Might need to be paired with some increase in tower tankiness so they're not falling faster than at present.
• Making it easier for champions from a range of positions/classes to carry, so teams aren't as dependent on their marksman's damage output every game to be successful. A fed mid, top or jungle champ should more often be a good choice for a team to rally around and support.

http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/6.24.1/img/champion/Ziggs.png