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Between Two Turrets - Come chat with Riot Afic! [COMPLETED]

RiotA Small Man··11 votes·75,825 views


Welcome to the latest installment of Between Two Turrets, a Q&A series through which we connect you with various Rioters to chat about League, life, and anything in between. You can expect an installment every two weeks or so, with Rioters from all over jumping in to spend some time with you on the Boards.

This week, we've got we’ve got Playtest Team Lead Adam "Riot Afic" Cohen!

EDIT - Alright, heading back to work. Good chatting with you all!

Hey all!

My name is Adam ‘Riot Afic’ Cohen, and I'm lead on the Playtest Team. Previously, I'd also done some QA work on the AI update, Doom Bots, and various other gameplay related stuff. The Playtest team is a group of high ranking League players (ranging from mid Diamond to Challenger) who focus primarily on providing empirical, actionable feedback to designers and other teams. When I’m not actively playtesting new champions, items, or other changes, I do my best to make sure other development teams at Riot have a good understanding of what player perception will likely be around their changes.

I personally have been playing League since Beta and was able to reach D1 picking mostly support and AD. My favorite champions are Bard, Tristana, Kalista, and Gnar. When I’m not playing League, I’ll spend time playing through whatever game is my latest addiction (most recently that's been Don’t Starve).

I’ve been at Riot for 2 and half years now, and before then I briefly worked at Turbine and then Irrational Games for ~6 months working on Bioshock Infinite (look for me in the credits!). Seeing as how those are both east coast companies, you might be able to guess that I'm from the area. I grew up in Newton, MA (city just outside of Boston), and majored in physics at UMass Amherst. Since I'm from the Boston area, that also makes me a Boston sports fan. Turns out being a Patriots fan in California isn’t the best conversation starter… go figure.

Feel free to ask me any questions, but don’t be surprised or disappointed if I answer sarcastically or with some sort of awful, awful pun!

-Riot Afic

278 Comments

umpunct15 votes

Annie Why won't you duo with me? It'll be fun, I promise Trundle

RiotRiot Afic18 votes

{quoted}

Annie Why won't you duo with me? It'll be fun, I promise Trundle

Because I value my MMR and sanity, obviously

OhWanderer6 votes

1 POPPY UPDATE :3 WHEN??

2 what about other marksmen like kalista? she seems kinda weak

3 what are your thoughts on maybe not penalizing an entire team in ranked play for a loss, so if your team is bad ( legitimately ) you would not get heavily impacted. instead you could base it off of other stats in the same way MMR is.

RiotRiot Afic7 votes

{quoted}

1 POPPY UPDATE :3 WHEN??

2 what about other marksmen like kalista? she seems kinda weak

3 what are your thoughts on maybe not penalizing an entire team in ranked play for a loss, so if your team is bad ( legitimately ) you would not get heavily impacted. instead you could base it off of other stats in the same way MMR is.

  1. Can't speak to when Poppy is scheduled for release. I have played with and against her though, and I personally think she will be in a great spot.

  2. Kalista is most likely on the weak side with preseason changes. She kinda had her moment in the spotlight for a while, but we will need to see how things continue to change for a bit before making any drastic changes one way or the other.

  3. I would fear for the day where people start to play a team based game in selfish ways because that is what happens to be rewarded. As far as your team legitimately being 'bad' (actually would just be bad compared to the enemy), that is more likely attributed to a confirmation bias and when the opposing team is 'bad', you don't notice it the same way. In the long run it all evens out, and the better players will climb while the weaker players don't. There is a reason after all why pro players are so easily able to rank up other accounts regardless of their teams.

Warui2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Riot Afic,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=VN79WxUA,comment-id=00060000,timestamp=2015-11-18T21:59:35.466+0000)

  1. Can't speak to when Poppy is scheduled for release. I have played with and against her though, and I personally think she will be in a great spot.

  2. Kalista is most likely on the weak side with preseason changes. She kinda had her moment in the spotlight for a while, but we will need to see how things continue to change for a bit before making any drastic changes one way or the other.

  3. I would fear for the day where people start to play a team based game in selfish ways because that is what happens to be rewarded. As far as your team legitimately being 'bad' (actually would just be bad compared to the enemy), that is more likely attributed to a confirmation bias and when the opposing team is 'bad', you don't notice it the same way. In the long run it all evens out, and the better players will climb while the weaker players don't. There is a reason after all why pro players are so easily able to rank up other accounts regardless of their teams.

On that third one. Wouldn't more applicable statistics I.E., The average stats of the champion that you are playing vs you, add in more of a relevant statistic that you can use to adjust MMR statistics? Some of the players are matched up with either people that are toxic, vulgar, don't care about ranked, trolls etc. Or flat out reseting the MMR for this season... As S3 had too hard of an effect on S4...

As a each season should be seperated from the others due to the changes in each season, IE, S5 the marksman changes, S4 Tank meta... etc al.

Can there be a confirmation on if the MMR is going to be weighed on the previous seasons rank or what basis it will be on?

TouchMyNautyBits5 votes

What was your biggest "NOPE!" moment? Like "upon playtesting, we've realized that we absolutely cannot do this under any circumstance."

RiotRiot Afic17 votes

{quoted}

What was your biggest "NOPE!" moment? Like "upon playtesting, we've realized that we absolutely cannot do this under any circumstance."

A while ago there was a brief moment where Urgot could split all ally projectiles into 3... that was quite the day

Kei1434 votes

Hi Riot Afic, I have a few questions regarding your team. Would appreciate if you can answer them (if you see fit)

  1. Would you be able to name your whole team and their ELOs ?

  2. Patch rundown mentions that pros have done play test before (ZionSpartan & Xpecial are a few to name), how often are pros invited to come on, who normally comes on?

  3. Scarra reviews that Graves (pre 18-Nov Hotfix), Lucian's ult and MF's ult have numbers that are waaaayyy over the top, and he can tell just by looking at the numbers without playing them. Are the play test teams able to identify the same issues and provide feedback to the live gameplay team?

  4. How often does your team do play tests and do they have a specific agenda when play testing?

  5. How often do people do crazy, off-meta builds (e.g Gunblade+Guinsoo's Rageblade Victor or AD sona) in play test?

  6. Do you guys have a "sandbox mode" to test stuff with?

  7. Do play tests end up in like .. a stomp for the teams that have a pro in it? Or just who is on what team?

Thats it for now !!

Captain Ishida4 votes

Hey Afic, I met you over a year ago at PAX Prime 2014, and talked to you about possibly applying for an internship or QA position in the future. You gave me your business card and I tried contacting you last month with no success. I was wondering if there was a better way to get in touch with you, to ask a few questions about being a QA? I was mainly wondering if you would personally recommend applying for an internship, or just for one of the QA positions.

Awkward Couch4 votes

I have a few questions and feel free not to respond as these are a little more on the light hearted side.

  1. What is your favorite bug that you have seen in LOL?

  2. What is your favorite off meta pick?

  3. What do you recommend to watch on Netflix (I just finished Sherlock and FMA)

  4. Is the player base going to get the tribunal back? Its been almost 2 years now.

  5. What is your opinion of Fall Out 4?

  6. What game do you think will win game of the year? The choices are Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid 5, Super Mario Maker, and Witcher 3, the link is here.

Thanks for reading my post and hopefully I get a response. XD

RiotRiot Afic11 votes

  1. I still really like the old school Darius Teleporting back to his fountain as he grabs 5 people from the other team at level 1.

  2. Quinn anywhere. I have an alt named Quintimidation... just because

  3. I most recently picked up Steven Universe!

  4. Dunno. Not my area of expertise/knowledge unfortunately

  5. Wish I had more hours in the day to play all of the games I wanted to. Fall Out 4 is on that list.

  6. My vote would be for Bloodborne

Awkward Couch5 votes

I finally got a response from a Rioter in one of these posts. I can die happy now. :)

Flyer Beast3 votes

If you ever get fed as Quinn you should say "I'm Quinning!" (see the resemblance to "I'm Winning!")

RiotRiot Afic4 votes

reminds me of some of the summoner names I have seen... we have Qwin it to win it, All I do is Qwin, and many, many more!

Kochsalz3 votes

What was the reason for the turret nerf? Games end way too quickly on this patch because you can push too easily. An ace almost always gets you an inhib and often a nexus turret due to their lack of Armor.

RiotRiot Afic5 votes

{quoted}

What was the reason for the turret nerf? Games end way too quickly on this patch because you can push too easily. An ace almost always gets you an inhib and often a nexus turret due to their lack of Armor.

I would ask the question of why shouldn't you be able to get some serious objectives off of an ace? Some of the early data that we have gotten back about game lengths isn't as severe as forums make it seem (reddit etc.) One of the explicit goals of the turret change was to have objectives easier to take after winning a fight. It is very possible that it is a bit on the extreme side, but I still think the changes are addressing a problem that is worth fixing.

I personally would rather be able to close out a game when I am ahead early as opposed to needing to play super safe for 40 minutes. At that point a single pick can end the game regardless.

scimmieurlatrici3 votes

why you should take dragon or rift if tower is more easy to take, grants more gold, grants more vision control = take mid = control enemy's jungle, and plus, is so damn easy to take that you can do tower + drake mostly of the time.

Why you should sacrifice tower for an "objective" when they are so easy to take and give you so much gold. This doesn't make sense. Towers are objective. Taking a tower means less objective control for enemy's team.

Legendary Nick3 votes

Hey Afic! Its Legendary Nick from your friend's list! I was gonna creep on you there, but now i'm gonna creep on you here!

My question is: How is it working at Riot Games? I know somebody who recently got turned down, but is it a fun environment? Do you get to meet high ups like Marc Merril or Brandon Beck? I've been playing for years, and it has always sounded interesting working in the same office as Phreak and Riv.

EDIT: Can I join your ranked team (kick out xshepard or something, i'm master tier and much better)?

RiotRiot Afic6 votes

Hello!

I absolutely love working at Riot. I am fortunate enough to wake up every morning and actually look forward to going in to work... can't really sum it up better than that.

The ranked 5s team we have is actually only people on playtest team, otherwise of COURSE we would kick xshepard xD

disgust3 votes

Heres a question: will Ao Shin ever be released? Did u guys get rid of the whole champion?

King of Mongoose2 votes

How do you feel to have reached diamond 1 maining luggage?

RiotRiot Afic8 votes

[{quoted}](name=King of Mongoose,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=VN79WxUA,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2015-11-18T21:09:21.649+0000)

How do you feel to have reached diamond 1 maining luggage?

Sometimes I'd rather be lucky than good. The best play is often to just sit back and don't feed. Let the lane that is already ahead carry and make sure you don't give your lane opponents the chance to do the same.

Swizzle2 votes

More serious question, how many hours of the day do you play video games considering you play test?

RiotRiot Afic4 votes

{quoted}

More serious question, how many hours of the day do you play video games considering you play test?

I actually do a lot less playtesting now that the team is filled out and focus more on improving our process and other much more boring things. All of that considered, I still play a LOT of games, so not counting work hours I would say I play video games for 5 hours a day

demolista2 votes

So less of a game question and more of a career question. I am currently in a Master's program for statistics with the end goal being a career in the gaming industry. If I wanted to try to be a part of the play test team what kind of supplemental education should I try to find to make myself more desirable to an employer?

crazyclay92 votes

What do you think of the new graves

RiotRiot Afic2 votes

{quoted}

What do you think of the new graves

I think he hits a lot of his goals in terms of being an in-your-face shotgun wielding carry. He is however almost certainly on the overtuned side at the moment. We will have a better idea after seeing how the hotfix affected him and more players learn how to play as and against him.

Totalwanabe2 votes

that's the problem with riot nerf/buff before players learn how to play as and against him or any other championsfor that matter.

Ashtana2 votes

Thoughts on Tristana currently?

RiotRiot Afic2 votes

{quoted}

Thoughts on Tristana currently?

Feels very similar to her previous versions. Will depend on what comes out as strong in other lanes. Her thing was always being one of the safer picks, so in a world where ADs are easy to assassinate or pick off, I like her a lot more.

Kürama1 votes

Thoughts on Dragon Trainer Tristana? How awesome is it to you on a scale of awesome to awesome?

RiotRiot Afic3 votes

If she wasn't already my main, she would certainly be after seeing that skin =)

123Polyzer2 votes

Are there going to be any changes to the mastery "Warlord's Bloodlust" because it seems a little op on champions like Tryndamere and Yasuo early game.

Dolasaur4 votes

Check the 5.22 patch notes (updated today). It should only work when you crit against champions now. Nowhere near the same amount of free sustain for those two in early game.

kingpopeye3 votes

so trynd gets free sustian for hitting things when he has his passive fully stacked.... that isnt broken.....

Testicle Tots2 votes

When are u going to make Darius balanced?Darius [zombie-brand-facepalm]

RiotRiot Afic13 votes

I think his win rate was around 46% last time I checked after the most recent nerfs. Are you suggesting we should buff Darius to bring him back in line? [slayer-pantheon-popcorn]

Vaimiimciim2 votes

What happened to ashe's 100% crit to slow target?

Decrit1 votes

I know this gets asked a lot around, but you know it' s the most important question ever.

Embrassing and WTF moments in testing.

I can remember a time where Udyr could stretch all over the map, another where Shaco ult turned to be a projectile and could be destroyed by Yasuo' s Windwall, or Yasuo being able to ult off a jax jump. Or Azir, everything about Azir.

Also, how much stuff that you love was scrapped? How many items were thrown in the trash bin? Or, maybe, your team is more into pratical/balancing testing rather design testing?

RiotRiot Afic3 votes

One of the biggest WTF moments was when you could use Bard magical journey from the base gates to the middle of the map (base gates used to interact... oddly with that ability).

Most of the stuff I love typically doesn't get scrapped, as when it does get scrapped I understand the reasoning behind it enough to soften the blow.

Condemned2Carry1 votes

Why don't I have my Silver Border or Icon? I've emailed support already.

McAnnex8 votes

{quoted}

Why don't I have my Silver Border or Icon? I've emailed support already.

RIOT vetoed your reward after assessing your match history because they decided you are actually Bronze II.

RIP.

Mistress Pyro1 votes

I don't know if this was already asked or not. But any idea when Swain may be getting a new skin? It's been since May of 2012. He is one of my favorites and visually? He isn't that bad looking. Please, give me some sort of hint!!

RiotRiot Afic3 votes

Can't help you out with that one, sorry. I don't really have any insight into the decision making or release process of skins.

Koos1 votes

Hi there, thanks for answering these questions! It's been very insightful so far. :)

I am going to be applying for the QA Playtest position soon, I'm just finishing up some Feedback documents in regards to the preseason before I apply though.

My question to you is mostly on the skill end. Like you, I have been playing League since Beta, but didn't have nearly as much time as I wish I could have to play ranked reliably. My rankings from season to season went: Season 1 - Silver Season 2 - Platinum Season 3 - Platinum Season 4 - Platinum Season 5 - Diamond

I was somewhat stagnant for a few seasons as I actually started a job doing QA for another game company. Since then, I have been apart of MANY playtests and have experience gathering feedback and documenting it. While I am not a high diamond player + regularly, would I still be someone who would be considered? Overall, I have well over 4500 games of League of Legends played as a whole and am very knowledgeable about the game.

Any thoughts at all are really appreciated. Thanks!

RiotRiot Afic2 votes

To be honest there is actually I lot of importance in being higher ranked. In the past we have had a wider range of skills on the team, and it was very noticeable in our games that one or two people can really lower the quality of feedback we can get from a playtest. The rest all looks good and would certainly help in the interview process, but without the baseline skill it is hard to justify even getting to the interview stage.

RiotRiot Koalifier3 votes

[{quoted}](name=Riot Afic,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=VN79WxUA,comment-id=00360000,timestamp=2015-11-18T23:54:00.396+0000)

To be honest there is actually I lot of importance in being higher ranked. In the past we have had a wider range of skills on the team, and it was very noticeable in our games that one or two people can really lower the quality of feedback we can get from a playtest. The rest all looks good and would certainly help in the interview process, but without the baseline skill it is hard to justify even getting to the interview stage.

Wow just calling me out like that, harsh item 3070 item 3070

Killermonkey591 votes

I have only been playing about 6 months. I truly enjoy the game as a whole. My biggest issue is the impact negative players and afk's make on the game play and my rank. I have been between Bronze 4-5 for a WHILE. Every time i get going good, negative players almost make me want to delete League. How are yall working to fix this issue?

Reaper85122 votes

{quoted}

I have only been playing about 6 months. I truly enjoy the game as a whole. My biggest issue is the impact negative players and afk's make on the game play and my rank. I have been between Bronze 4-5 for a WHILE. Every time i get going good, negative players almost make me want to delete League. How are yall working to fix this issue?

i also have been haveing these problems as well, i work hard to get out of bronze 2, i get around 50 points in bronze 1 and then i get a string of afks, toxic players and trolls that always goes untill i am demoted back to bronze 2. this proccess has occured 4 times in the last month.

Zoenivia Sol3 votes

I was a new player this year and i myself climbed from bronze 5 to silver 1 before the end of the season. my only recommendation for you both is to turn off your chat for awhile and just play the game the best you can. Watch/read some warding and pinging guides and i promise you will eventually climb out of it. and probably begin carrying games on a regular basis at least up until silver 3 then after that, getting better mechanics and really mastering champions will move you ahead more. GL on the rift.

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