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@Meddler "Shen didnt hit the mark thematically" - Will this be addressed?

Dªy·4/16/2016, 1:35:58 PM·95 votes·12,348 views

Hi guys, Shen here. Just wanted to raise a few questions I have regarding my favourite champion on the rift :)

So in last weeks **State of the season **post, Meddler said this:

"Shen’s our most recent update and so far seems to be both fairly balanced and has improved game health compared to his previous kit. Overall, however, we don’t think he’s completely hit the mark thematically, with the floating sword feeling a bit disconnected from his fantasy. It’s not something we have plans to change - there are other champions that would benefit significantly more from having update time spent on them - but a lesson for when we take on future projects."

I love to play Shen but right now I don't feel like I am playing the champion I enjoyed played pre-rework. The spirit sword is a cool idea but that it has never a part of Shen's identity.

  • Could we get some insight into why no changes will be made?
  • When you say you have no plans to change this are you placing that as a definitive that there will never be changes?

Would love to get some feedback

Many thanks!

Shen

159 Comments

OurLestrade4/16/2016, 2:15:24 PM28 votes

He's still cool, but I agree entirely :P (Also, that taunt misses so easily now!)

RiotMeddler4/17/2016, 8:29:39 AM25 votes

At the moment we don't have any plans to work on Shen because we believe we'd get bigger overall improvements to the game by putting that time into other champions in need (e.g. the Yorick rework that will be the next full update after Taric). It doesn't feel great leaving an update with some clear thematic issues like that, but going back to Shen would have to come at the expense of work on another champion so we had to make a priority call.

I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say we'd never make changes to Shen. It's entirely possible there's a point in which it does make sense to do further art impacting work on him. I don't believe that will be any time soon though, so wanted to be open about that. I also wanted to acknowledge that we weren't completely happy with Shen either, and felt there was a good reminder for us about theme in champion updates from his rework.

Melledoneus4/16/2016, 2:56:31 PM11 votes

I'm fine with the spirit sword if they fixed the damn hitbox. It's smaller than Nidalee's spears and doesn't even proc empowered autos if you pull it while an opponent is standing square on top of it.

DREADN0UGHT4/16/2016, 2:24:06 PM10 votes

He said that in that same article that he they wouldn't be willing to spend resources on re-reworking the spirit blade into something that fit his theme a little better. They take Shen as a lesson in the departement of reworks.

Vistha Kai4/16/2016, 5:20:01 PM8 votes

I find it at least amusing.

It's not quantum mechanics, anybody sane could see from a mile away, it wasn't going to "completely hit the mark thematically".

IxtaliKing4/16/2016, 8:36:31 PM4 votes

Sounds a lot like what happened to Karma , and if history is anything to go by they probably won't touch him again for another 3+ years.

It’s not something we have plans to change - there are other champions that would benefit significantly more from having update time spent on them - but a lesson for when we take on future projects

This quote I found interesting because I thought this should have been a lesson learned from Karma's rework... just saying.