Sandwich's Slice of the (previous) Week 1/3/16-1/10/16: A new weekly recap!

Hello boards, it's your (hopefully) favorite sandwich back with a new post I'll be doing weekly, depending on feedback! Here I will collect the main points brought up on the Gameplay Boards over the previous week, and put them into a short, easy to read format. I will also try to formulate a specific question, if it's not already included with the link, so that any Reds who might be interested in chiming in have their work cut out for them!

Things I will include are:

1. Most common thread topics
2. Topics that been brought up for extended periods of time without a "visible" Riot response
3. Awesome Red responses
4. Threads that I personally feel are worthy of discussion
5. Any ones that you may feel are important as well. You can PM me on the client, or you can email me at [email protected]

Okay over with the long part, which won't be part of the regular weekly posts, and on to our slice of the week!

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1. Riot's lack of consistent communication outside of official announcements for Gameplay._ You're all probably tired of hearing about this by now, especially RiotRepertoir you crazy selfless bastard <3, but I felt I couldn't skip over it for this week. I made a monster of a post talking about the apparent lack of communication in spite of their statements of valuing player feedback and sentiments, and boy did it blow up bigger than I ever thought it would. Over 310 comments, almost 8.3k views and 4 Red responses. In response to that, RiotRepertoir created his own thread for people to ask him questions and voice their concerns for his previous and current work, and that quickly became one of the largest threads I think we have ever seen. Good on you man, but please go outside and get some air so you can keep doing amazing work! My thread: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/Y4sgQ4zT-warning-monster-post-contained-within-anyred RiotRepertoir's thread: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/ll6gkAek-heres-a-post-where-you-can-ask-questions-about-the-stuff-ive-worked-on-and-ill-try-to-answer My response: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/gaqH4Jyv-thank-you-riot-repertoir

Question for Rito: What do you feel would be the most reasonable way to continue open communication between developers and players in a centralized location?

2. The state of Zed, with regards to the release of a new AD assassin item and his gameplay against mages. A long time standing sore point, Zed's ability to splitpush and waveclear at only the cost of cooldowns have left many mana-hungry mages frustrated. With the increase in cost of mage items and harder-to-come-by mana regeneration, many mages feel trapped between trying to rush the expensive Zhonya's to nullify a portion of his damage, or to purchase mana regeneration to counter his pushing abilities. While he falls off late game, and in teamfights, his early-mid game is usually strong enough to push him over the edge and secure a victory before he has a chance to become weak. Maybe his base damages should be lowered, with ult increasing all damage down by 20-30%? That way he would retain his assassination strengths while losing his pushing ability. Relevant post with more information: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/sIc2seH2-why-does-zed-get-to-defy-what-an-assassin-is-while-being-deemed-a-healthy-assassin-by-riot

Question for Rito: Do you believe it is healthy to have an assassin able to push, and assassinate targets effectively? If not, then what could be changed to Zed's kit to make him fit more snugly into an assassin's role?

3. The weak state of Kha'zix, once the king of assassins, now mostly just an annoying bug. We all remember when this bug was played alongside Vi and Elise like there was no other champion that could jungle. While he might have been to strong in broad fashion, his current state is very weak, and feels very bad to play. Itemization changes, jungle changes, and other updates have left him in a wanting position, unable to reliably perform his role to an acceptable degree. Very good thread, lots of details: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/j5zutNfE-we-need-to-talk-about-khazix

Question for Rito: His main damage source being his Q with isolation, do you feel it is too unreliable to utilize the isolation mechanic? An ADC stepping one foot forward or backwards can be the difference between cleaving them in two, and playfully tapping them in the shoulder.

4. Mordekaiser, Mordekaiser, Mordekaiser. Oh boy. Longtime toxic solo laner, forced to go bot and become even more toxic. Most of the playerbase who liked Mordekaiser felt violated by the forcing to take him bot, and the obvious subsequent nerfs upon nerfs. Now there are some changes to move more of his power back into his solo lanes, where currently most people still play him. The issue is that it might create a cyclical effect of making him toxic in sololanes once again. Everyone's favorite cult-leader/Mordekaiser main: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/T1M4ftEo-how-to-give-mordekaiser-windows-of-power-and-thus-make-him-a-healthier-addition-to-the-game

Question for Rito: How do you feel the communities backlash to his role change was handled, and how to do you feel it is best to move forward on, with regards to fulfilling the player's fantasy of being Mordekaiser?

5. Tahm Kench's damage output. While he is a melee champion, his long auto-attack range (for melee) and his passive interaction with his Q and W can make Tahm extremely hard to disengage from unless you have lots of hard peel for yourself, or from allies. His ability to deal large amounts of reliable damage and cc while being extremely hard to kill can make him very unfun to play against in solo lanes, or late-game when is a support with items. Relevant thread: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/EIejHR49-why-is-tahm-allowed-to-stun-and-devour

Question for Rito: Is it a good thing that he can dominate melee toplaners and many others, while still being able to go full tank and play support? Or was this something unintended?

_ 6. Blitzcrank's Q, the single most powerful non-ultimate ability in the game._ The reward for hitting Blitzcrank's hook is massive when compared to the downside to missing. The later the game goes on, the more powerful his Q becomes because it can instantly force a 1v5 situation, and by result, a 4v5 fight. The movement speed slow on his W feels a bit out of place to some, while the issue still relies on his Q. Perhaps by changing the risk of missing his Q the power of good hooks aren't lost, while mindlessly spamming it becomes more of an issue. Very good idea imo: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/LJEOyMiy-i-still-stand-by-my-request-have-blitzcrank-retract-his-arm-after-missing-a-q

Question for Rito: What do you feel would be an appropriate risk for Blitzcrank missing his Q should be? Should there be any?

Thanks for taking the time to read through this, and I hope to see all of you guys next week if this goes over well!

Please remember, treat everything like it's your sandwich. Too much salt, and it tastes like crap :)

Edit: I had to repost this from yesterday because of issues regarding my account. I apologize if it comes off as spam. Sorry!