Riot's Future Projects/Plans Speculation
Just trying to get some help understanding when and what Riot is planning for season 8.
As a quick disclaimer: I do not remember specifically what specific posts the information I am collecting here was from, nor the exact wording, nor do I keep a link of every red post I read. That being said I believe I have a fairly good memory and won't screw up too many of the things that were said and could at least give a paraphrase if necessary. However do not take everything I say here as fact of happening because most of these are from a while back and Riot's plans are highly subject to change. Any dates stated are most likely up for speculation.
So far I've heard AP itemization plans, fighter itemization plans/tuning, Swain rework, Ohmwrecker rework, Aatrox GU, epic monsters changes, 4th rune slots, Skarner really early explorations, Leblanc explorations, melee assassins help, Wukong GU, Xin Zhao splashs, Zac gameplay pattern changes, attack speed rework, tenacity rework, and critical strike rework eventually.
Originally fighter itemization rework/changes were slated for first half of 2018 as a way to help out the role seeing as they were no longer planning class updates but saw their items as a way to still help the role. I believe they had then planned to touch each fighter that still needed help after that as they could. Is this still the plan, or did they decide against it with this upcoming patch? Hoping that those are purely rune compensations and the itemization changes will still happen.
Ohmwrecker rework was suggested to have something solid maybe around mid year 2018(kept intentionally vague as they are still in early exploration and it is low priority).
AP itemization was originally planned as adding a few items and moving around stats on pre-existing ones to allow for less straight damage items and to allow for purposely building defenses, not just having them randomly tacked onto items. Since announced this has changed to currently one new item planned with a lot of stat changes for the existing. Chances are it could still end up being two items however, but is unlikely. Should be early 2018, well along with in-house testing.
Swain rework was announced a while back, I presume his teaser will arrive late January.
Plans to make epic monsters feel more epic as a long term goal were quietly mentioned. Likely late 2018, but unlikely to be later than mid-season patch 2019. Currently low priority, potentially in ideation, unlikely.
4th rune slot ideation is already underway. They have some ideas that didn't make it for preseason already on hand and are doing some ideation on new ones too. I personally expect a 4th slot in the second half of 2018. If you have any ideas I'm sure they would appreciate them being posted in Concepts & Creations.
Skarner was mentioned as having an unsatisfactory gameplay-thematic tie. Having said that the pillars feel very forced. They had done some very early ideation/exploration on him a while back but nothing looked promising with what little they did. It was stated that it is a very hard solution to come up with. Unsure of current status, may have been iced.
Leblanc has been in exploration since the assassin rework, not only did the assassin rework not fix her problems but it caused developers a new one in that they now have to cater to people who like the old Leblanc and people who like the new one. Currently well into exploration, has had two promising paths that ended up being dropped so far. Hard to make a kit that feels like her thematic, will appeal to veteran players of her, and new mains. I personally expect her to have a definitive direction/release after mid-season 2018.
Melee assassins have been noted as struggling, at least in high elo. They will get to some work on it down the road, but it is not high priority. I personally expect more info after the new year, with patches likely containing these changes around 8.4 to mid-season.
Wukong was said to be in need of a gameplay update, however he did not seem to be mentioned as very high priority for one. They have not started any exploration on him as far as we know currently. Likely to have exploration started after fighter itemization changes, and probably after mid-season 2018 too.
Xin Zhao splash art is in the works, although because of teams being moved around from runes there's a disruption of that work. No eta given, nor am I familiar with the art team to give a date beyond saying after patch 8.4 at some point.
Zac gameplay pattern changes announced as a way to make Zac feel better as a champion. They seem to be satisfied with his power and his general thematics currently. Seems they feel his kit could be a bit more interactive for people playing him. Attention may be due to concerns on his current play rate compared to his old play rates. Expecting to hear more before mid-season 2018.
Attack speed rework seems to be slated for first half of 2018. Seems like it may be pushed back to mid-season given the volume of other early 2018 plans(unfounded speculation). Plans to give champions a base attack speed and a attack speed scaling number. Would change it so that (as purely example) Runaan's would give 1 AS, but Nunu has an AS scaling of 0.2 so he gets +0.2 AS from runaan's.
Tenacity was mentioned as having a need for clarity. Currently tenactiy either works additively or multiplicatively with no indication in game as to which it is. They have mentioned wanting to make them all the same. No info given as to current plans underway or when they might get to it. I would personally expect it to be sometime after mid-season 2018. The only thing that may make it sooner is if they wanted to get it done sooner to go along with Irelia's rework.
Critical strike has been something that has somewhat displeased Riot for a while now. They don't like the idea that so much is tied to a RNG but they lack ideas for a replacement stat for ADCs if they were to remove it, and a flat damage amp may as well change it to AD. Probably still light ideation on this going on, no dedicated work towards, probably not priority. I would expect it to get mentioned on again after the attack speed rework. Probably nothing patch-wise until 2019 at the earliest.
Irelia rework announced for after Swain, should likely be finished before mid-season 2018(probably about 2 patches before).
Aatrox' s gameplay update is supposed to be after Irelia.
Projected personal timeline:
Swain> AP itemization> Attack speed rework> Nunu rework announce(please let him be chosen because of attack speed rework)> New Champ> Zac pattern update> Fighter itemization> Irelia rework> Xin Zhao splashes?> melee assassin love> Aatrox GU> New champ> Ohmwrecker rework> Mid-season 2018> Leblanc GU> Unannounced rework(plz be Nunu)> Tenacity rework> New champ> Wukong GU> New champ/GPU> Pre-season 2019(crit strike rework?)> New champ> Skarner GU??
That's all I can remember hearing about but I would like to know if I'm missing anything, or if I got anything wrong. For instance, if you have an idea of what they could be doing for mid-season 2018, that would be cool to know. If a Rioter is reading this and can comment on anything here (whether it be a correction or an elaboration) I will gladly edit something based on what you say(I don't want to get you guys mad at me if I miss-stated something).
