What if RIOT supported Pipeline Transparency?

Critkeeper·4/16/2014, 7:42:31 PM·1 votes·476 views

So we can see what they have planned throughout the coming months, their estimated progress levels and interdependencies, and the confidence levels for whether they will be completed or scrapped.

They could have multiple levels of confidence varying from "neat idea but probably never going to really see the light of day" to "absolute certainty". And there could be multiple stages varying from "soon™" to "completed".

You could search by completion level or confidence level to see what RIOT is currently working on or what they want to work on.

Why not support transparency? Its an easy way to put everyone on the same page and keep simple misunderstandings from occurring. And there is a huge community desire for it.

3 Comments

AbiwonKenabi4/16/2014, 7:51:22 PM5 votes

It would definitely be cool to see what's coming up and get excited about it, all while learning a little bit how the pipeline works. Unfortunately, there are still some problems with this.

In the past, Riot has announced something is in the works, and then it takes some time before it falls through. The negative backlash of this is staggering, and it's not really fair for Riot to promise things and then not follow through. No matter how sound Riot's reasons are, people are still going to be disappointed.

Another reason they probably won't do this is the whole "surprise factor." Where's the fun in seeing everything that's coming? Sure sneak previews and kit discussions are one thing, but to see Twitch's VU coming from a mile away...maybe it's just my own personal preference, but it's much more exciting to suddenly see a preview for something and then not have to wait more than a few weeks to get my hands on it.

I am glad that they are at least sharing some things with us early, like that peek at Ao Shin or their early kit and theme discussions. There are at least things like this for people who want to know more about what's going through the pipeline at the moment.

Neofederalist4/16/2014, 9:04:41 PM2 votes

I don't think you're considering what a massive timesink for Riot just keeping track of such a thing would be. Not just maintaining the list, but the communication with the community that would be necessary when something that the community latches onto goes to "soon" to "shelved indefinitely."

Sir ArmaMalum4/16/2014, 9:14:06 PM1 votes

I agree it could be awesome for our end, but although I love you all I do not like the idea of the entire community being 'on the same page' as Riot. I include myself in that.

The simple fact is we are not game designers and our feedback as players is best suited for when we're actually playing and experiencing the product, that's our field of 'expertise'. When we get sneak peeks to 'on-paper' changes and upcoming features tings can easily be blown out of proportion and otherwise form mis-informed conclusions based on simple (and unavoidable) inexperience.

Now there are exceptions in instances and in people. There could be perfectly qualified people playing League that can give an informed opinion and there are features that would require general acceptance and feedback to even launch (AoShin being a perfect example), but on a general standpoint leave it to the professionals to know when player feedback will help more than hurt. My $0.02