High Noon Thresh skin provides unfair advantage for hooks

Profirix·Nov 11, 2018·4 votes·3,145 views

Fast forward to 1:26 to get to the part where he throws the hook for the first time.

I have had to resort to banning Thresh every game because this skin does not have the proper loud audio queue for the wind-up on the hook which makes playing purple side significantly harder to dodge hooks. This skin undoubtedly provides an unfair advantage to the player who uses it and the cue needs to be made louder to put it on par with other warning sounds.

Original Thresh Champion Spotlight skip to 57 sec for comparison.

15 Comments

Pandemic PunchNov 11, 20184 votes

I have played the game with the sound on mute and with every player muted for about 3-4 years now. I also play with every ping muted for as long as it has been available. Enemy positioning and your positioning, should be enough for you to know when you are in the danger zone of a Thresh hook.

If it isn't, just pay attention to the animation. It has one of the longest wind ups ever. It isn't hard to notice.

Silly NeekoNov 11, 20182 votes

While being a fairly slow missile speed too.

ProfirixNov 11, 20181 votes

You are missing the point. It shouldn't matter whether you do or do not use the visual cue. The audio cue was added to aid in noticing it and plays a pivotal role, at least for some people, to prepare to dodge a skillshot. Riot has said in the past that they do not want skins to provide unfair advantages and in this case it is doing that.

Pandemic PunchNov 11, 20182 votes

I wasn't missing the point, I was just so far beyond it that I felt it wasn't even worth mentioning. I just disagree completely. Wearing a skin with sunglasses vs Leona is significantly more advantageous than this. This is a non factor. If you pay attention to your positioning, you won't even need to hear the sound OR see the animation to know whether or not you are about to get hooked. It is all about positioning preemptively.

Ketel OneNov 11, 20183 votes

While it's fine that you yourself play with a handicap, user feedback should be clear and consistent whether a player has a skin or not. It absolutely does make a difference. In fact, most human beings are much better at reacting to sound than visuals:

http://www.sjosm.org/article.asp?issn=1319-6308;year=2014;volume=14;issue=1;spage=35;epage=38;aulast=Ghuntla

If regular Thresh made a more subtle wind-up sound, I'd be inclined to agree with you. However, he doesn't, therefore I don't. Sunglasses on Leona is a pitiful comparison; Justicar Syndra would be more pertinent to the conversation, just with a focus on a visual advantage. (And players specifically would choose her for said advantage)

Ahri Body PillowNov 11, 20181 votes

How do you play against Sion?

Pandemic PunchNov 11, 20181 votes

This is actually one of the few things that can be affected by playing with no sound. This is a good question. However, I haven't had any problems with champions like this. It is definitely a disadvantage to play vs Sion or Kled, but it wasn't noticeable enough to be apparent. If I decided to attempt to climb to high elo, then it would probably make a difference. I imagine a Diamond Sion would intelligently ult from the fog of war more often than a platinum one.

At my elo and below, it is easy to predict where everyone is by watching the mini map. Everyone plays very reactive and they never use smart pathing to throw you off. These elos are extremely predictable just by looking at the mini map. With this in mind, it softens the effectiveness of global ults like that.

HotarµNov 11, 20182 votes

It sounds exactly the same to me as the default Thresh skin. Am I missing something? Genuinely curious because it really does sound exactly the same

ProfirixNov 11, 20181 votes

It is a much softer whip-like sound that doesn't catch the ear as much as the original Thresh sound. It is much easier to miss the cue.

Brio0Dec 11, 20182 votes

I agree completely, it's way too quiet. I can never hear it in game. Blitz hook, Pyke hook, and base Thresh hook all have loud, clear, crisp sound effects because they are extremely strong crowd control effects. You can hear them over just about everything. I have the sound of thresh hook ingrained into my head. But this light little whish sound is so easily lost amongst the noise, that I can't hear a thing. I have extremely mild hearing loss and I can't hear this at all in game. I guarantee you there are plenty of players with worse hearing loss than I have that struggle to hear High Noon Thresh hooks.

Silly NeekoNov 11, 20181 votes

Let it be a gunshot that is heard globally every time he casts it.

I would buy the skin so fast when i got the money and it would be the only one id use.

ProfirixNov 11, 20181 votes

or an awesome whiplash sound.

Silly NeekoNov 11, 20181 votes

True, but globally :^) cause Sion, and Kleds warning sounds are global :^)

Jokes aside, i normally have music up and cant hear the sounds anyways most of the time.