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Recent changes to Quick Cast with Range Indicators

RiotRickVanPrim·4/10/2015, 7:21:36 PM·25 votes·161,497 views

[Quick visibility thing – we're posting this in English first but getting it localized for all regions as soon as possible.]

Hey folks,

Due to internal miscommunication, two important changes to Quick Cast shipped in patch 5.7 but never made it into the patch notes.

So what did we change and why? The first change is a bug and affects normal and quick cast with range indicators only. Using the right mouse click to cancel abilities should cancel on mouse down, not mouse up (as in releasing the button), as you may have noticed. This has made cancelling abilities using the right mouse click difficult and unresponsive.

The second change was intentional for quick cast when used with range indicators. In order to make chucking out a quick series of abilities more responsive and predictable (think Brand, Annie, or Ryze unleashing their combos), we changed this behavior to fire the first ability held down when the second ability is pressed. Basically we assumed that if you pressed a button, you were committed to using that ability (a la quick cast) and if you decided to press another button, that was because you were trying to cast something else.

What we didn't account for was that some players were using quick cast with range indicators in a different way, where they would hold down each button to get the range of the ability before releasing it to pull off a combo. In other words, they were basically 'queueing' up abilities by holding down buttons - releasing a button was their version of "quick cast."

That said, from a lot of discussion it's clear we've introduced tons of disruption without much context for players who used it to test ranges. Sorry!

So here’s what we’re going to do. We are fixing the right mouse cancel bug and re-implementing the old quick cast with range indicator behavior. In other words, abilities will continue to fire on button release, rather than on button press.

In the meantime, we're going to be re-examining the problem space for players who want to better understand their champion’s ranges while maintaining the responsiveness of true quick cast (that is, on button press). Any future solutions here will not disrupt existing play and most likely live on their own as an option.

One last thing, to alleviate some of the existing pain of using quick cast with range indicators, we’ll be adding individual ability and item binds for this input type in an upcoming patch.

Thanks for your patience and feedback here! We'll be trying to get this in as soon as possible (it could potentially take as long as patch 5.8 due to the scope and stability of the changes, sorry!).

I will be around throughout the day to answer questions or try to give more context into what has changed. I hope this helps clarify things.

-- James

100 Comments

Packerfan5044/10/2015, 9:45:23 PM9 votes

{quoted} So here’s what we’re going to do. We are fixing the right mouse cancel bug and re-implementing the old quick cast with range indicator behavior. In other words, abilities will continue to fire on button release, rather than on button press.

So is that being hotfixed or is that going to wait until 5.8?

Ame4/10/2015, 11:45:05 PM4 votes

Not sure if its related to the quick cast issue but it's messing with Xerath ulti as well, video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPyM749SiX0

OmniMoto4/11/2015, 11:50:35 PM4 votes

How about instead of having Normal Cast and Quick cast, you add a 3rd type, "Super Cast" Or something.

Normal Cast and Quick cast remained unchanged from patch 5.7

Super cast uses the ability On Button Press, and shows no range indicator, because well, it would have casted before you saw the range.

just an idea

zN0KDOdo2Z4/12/2015, 11:40:25 PM3 votes

Thanks Rito, you just fooked up League until you fix this. Not even worth me playing combo casters like Xerath until this is patched. Last match I fed hard due to Q not releasing as I wanted it, or releasing too early, or firing backwards because I thought it already cast and was kiting. Also R was a cluster to use.

Please hotfix, you broke my game.

EnvyDragon4/14/2015, 12:28:22 AM3 votes

It's cool to hear that you guys are starting to treat QuickCastWithIndicators as its own targeting paradigm - I vastly prefer it to standard Quickcast, as it feels like I can fire long-range spells a lot more precisely. It also helps me learn an ability's maximum range much more quickly - even when I'm just firing abilities as fast as possible, the range circle or arrow appears for a split-second, just long enough for me to get a sense of where my limits lie.

That said, now that With-Indicators is splitting off from Without, are you planning on finally providing indicators for a few champions with abilities designed to be Quickcast-only? Just off the top of my head, you've got Karthus, Cassiopeia and Zyra with abilities with a definite maximum range, but no indicator when you hold the button. This makes it REALLY hard for me to learn how far I can fire, and on occasion it screws with my targeting because the ability activates On Press instead of On Release as I'm used to (ex. "Alright, he's coming toward me, hold the button to ready the shot... oh crap, it fired before I released and now it's on cooldown").

TL;DR If QuickCastWithIndicators is finally being treated as its own thing, is anyone doing a consistency run to make sure all abilities work with it the same way?

bbbbill4/10/2015, 7:45:08 PM2 votes

Hi,

Thank you for the explain, but my friends and I had found one weird behavior. When you press a button to aim (not clicking left mouse click, just to aim) and press F1 to zoom back to your character, the spell would be auto cast and would fly toward the opposite direction you're facing. I'm not sure if this is a new system or just a bug. Please fix it if it's a bug though, it has been really frustrating.

Thanks

neTø4/10/2015, 8:03:37 PM2 votes

I thought I was insane. Played 2 games with no issue, played a 3rd as talon and suddenly it felt like I was lagging and my skills just weren't activating right. Turned off the game for the night, tried one the next night as talon and it felt laggy again. I repaired the client, I checked my network, I tried everything. So nice to know that I'm not crazy and it is because I use quick cast with range indicators.

ToxicSinged4/10/2015, 8:55:22 PM2 votes

thanks for fixing the issue. i thought this bug would go unnoticed

Erminefield4/10/2015, 8:56:30 PM2 votes

I'm super happy that you guys have decided to do the individual bindings for spells. I play all my champs with quick cast, but I sometimes want range indicator+smart cast on only specific spells. For example, with Ziggs, I like range indicator on his q, but not on any of his other spells. Again, just wanted to say thanks and you're doing awesome Riot at responding to your community.

Huang Shaotian4/14/2015, 8:41:43 PM1 votes

As someone who 'queues' casting in the way you said I'm glad you reverted the changes.

I've always asked this and posted many times on the forums asking for this change but, while you're looking into indicators. Can you please make an option to display BOTH ranged and line cast indicators at the same time.

It always bothered me that I had to choose between;

  • 360 degrees range of the ability.
  • Line showing path and width of ability.

Each has its own unique advantages, but neither give you the full range of information I need.

Zee7h4/17/2015, 4:31:52 PM1 votes

Is it just me or did LMB cancel abilities before, instead of casting them? Now as soon as I left click the ability goes off. I'm just wondering if it was always like this or if it is in my mind?

Magnathar4/20/2015, 3:27:07 PM1 votes

Any updates? =c ..

@RickVanPrim

pleep4/22/2015, 2:47:28 AM1 votes

I dont understand whats going on here tbh.

I want quick cast with range idicators to activate abilities on button press. Will there be anyway to make it work like this?

thanks

LightEcho4/22/2015, 8:58:18 AM1 votes

Any plans for saving bindings on a per champion basis. Even thought its relatively quick to change it still sucks whenever I forget for example to smart cast varus or vi Q and release it super early in the completely wrong direction. Or I die as a level 6 Akali because i forgot to put my ult on smart cast.

Also is there any chance we can get individual casting settings for spells and ability's and not just keys. For example on Elise I really wish I could click cast cocoon and smart cast rappel, but in the current settings thats not possible without shift/alt/key shenanigans.

HORSE OF FORCE4/29/2015, 10:49:39 AM1 votes

Are you going to make the behaviour consistent throughout abilities? I've noticed that for some abilities (like Karthus's Q, Ahri's R, etc.) will fire the moment you press the button even if you have range indicators on. It might make sense for some abilities, but always having to guess the exact timing of an ability during cast is not something I like dealing with.

MagicCarpetRide12/2/2015, 7:29:25 PM1 votes

RickVanPrim,

This thread is old, but hopefully you still see this.

I use a key binding that I like to call "Shift cast". Everything is set to smart cast, but in addition, holding shift changes everything to normal cast. For example, Ezreal's Mystic shot would immediately activate if I press "q", but if I press "Shift+q", I get the range indicator and could then cast with either left-click or "q". This works fairly well for me in game. One change I would like to see is to be able to force indicators to display for abilities like Karthus' Lay waste, which currently cannot be set to display their indicators.

Swagyolord1/30/2016, 5:25:59 PM1 votes

Question, how would the button holding and cast on release work on champions with abilities like Talon (ex. his Q and R which are instant cast) would it still be able to cast on release or would pressing it cast it instantly regardless of whether i hold the key down or not? (other champs with a problem like this: Khazix Rengar other champs with a instant cast (i guess self cast?) ability that effects things around them or themselves)