State of the Game with Meddler, Zirene and more

Riot·7/8/2016, 8:17:27 PM·5 votes·34,504 views

Welcome to another episode of the Patch Rundown, a series where expert analysts and developers give you an inside take on the biggest changes heading into the game each and every patch.

This week, we’re taking a break from talking patch-to- patch as we check in with Lead Designers Andrei ‘Meddler’ Van Roon, Jo ‘Fearless’ Graylock and caster/analyst Aidan ‘Zirene’ Moon to get their thoughts on League’s current state as well as where the game is heading!


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185 Comments

World Ender7/9/2016, 12:29:15 AM65 votes

TL;DL: Still long but it's not an hour [slayer-jinx-wink]

-Overall, the team is happy with the Mid-Season update and how it helped shift power around with mages and mage items, but there may be some outliers that need changes.

-Neutral Objectives (3:30): Dragons are in a good spot after some of the buffs and nerfs, they are impactful and exciting, except for maybe Cloud Drake. Herald has a much better niche than before and feels more useful than a mini Baron. Baron itself is a bit low in power and focused on less. May see changes, as it gives temporary strategic power for against objectives and for sieging, something Ocean and Mountain Drake are now doing permanently. More teamfights around Dragons somewhat removes the need to take Baron, teams can just end after a Dragon fight. Risk/reward of Dragon may be too shallow, losing a Dragon doesn't mean much, losing Baron is game changing.

-Mage Reworks (12:10): Measured in two ways: distinctiveness vs. healthiness. Vlad was already distinct, but needed changes to be healthier. Succeeded somewhat, but still not in the best spot. How is distinctiveness measured? How a champion changes the game, i.e. focus on early game or late game, what objectives, what powerspikes, playstyles, etc. Old Darius and Garen, Diana and Akali, old Graves and Lucian etc. are good examples of too much similarity. MYMU tried to make a champions more distinct, succeeded pretty much (except Vel'Koz).

-Itemization Changes (17:50): New items were aimed at just giving more options and facilitating differences (give tanky mages more options than just ROA, etc). Eliminate issues of Athene's vs. Morello's stat checking and focus more on variety. Hextech line was an experiment to see if certain items could be given clear strengths and distinctiveness, a lot like Zeal crit items.

-Supports (23:00): Support gold and exp. Stronger catch up exp. Supports and Junglers are "low income classes," but this is not healthy currently. Kill gold vs. minion gold, minions are worth so much gold and denying minions through killing is worth more than kills. Junglers and supports are not as impactful as laners, and this needs to be fixed. How to balance support items' low cost with its impactfulness so laners don't abuse it? Gold has too much of an impact in the game for two classes to have low incomes and still remain healthy. Create more options to give supports better and healthier choices (Aegis is too necessary, AP support items are simply outclassed by regular AP items). Support champs are not the problem, it's the systems around them.

-Assassins (35:40): Why assassins? Too many similarities between assassins, not distinct enough. Kept assassins weak because they are too toxic when strong. Assassins are supposed to kill, but to make them less frustrating they are made to kill less effectively. This doesn't feel good for the assassin player. Want to bring more utility to assassins (more vision contributions, objectives, and out of combat movespeed for flanking). Want more assassins that are less focused on mechanical skill and more on game understanding and mind games. Give counterplay to assassins and give those fighting against them a way to outplay them to survive, rather than relying on the assassin messing up to survive.

-Game Predictions (49:40): Assassin update will counterbalance the mage update changes and cause midlaners to think about picks. Preseason will be exciting. Teams playing more strategically around dragons (we have three Mountain Drakes so let's push objectives). Games will get faster as people learn the importance of objectives.

Thanks for reading guys! [slayer-jinx-catface]

jinxedchef7/8/2016, 9:03:34 PM42 votes

"Everything is great. There is no reason to engage the community on the subject of solo queue. Move on nothing to see here"

Thats Outrageous7/8/2016, 8:50:04 PM40 votes

I just want item 2303 item 2045 item 2049 item 2301 item 2302 item 3711 to recharge while away from fountain... So I don't feel blind when they break my item 2043

warpenguin5557/8/2016, 8:43:06 PM31 votes

Still a bad season. game has been getting better but for every good choice riot makes there are 2-3 bad ones

the sheets7/8/2016, 10:51:35 PM11 votes

The game is horrible.

GP Ulted Japan7/8/2016, 10:45:17 PM10 votes

Would it be difficult to make these podcasts into videos? I would much rather see a video instead of hear a podcast although I really enjoy the input put into these.

HeroOfSymphonia7/9/2016, 7:09:37 PM9 votes

"zed is healthier than talon" wtf??? zed has greater assassin power plus manaless wave clear plus stupid mobility to get in and out of a fight

WheresMyDadBtw7/8/2016, 11:03:31 PM9 votes

It seems like you guys are ignoring the risk factor for assassins. The reason people dislike facing zed so much is that he can do the same damage to a target as talon or diana but also do so with very little risk due to his crazy mobility. Sure there's a delay, but who cares when zed can simply just disengage whenever he wants. If he messes up he can just reset then go for the kill later. Assassins like talon and diana are very risk oriented so if they mess up they usually end up dying in fights beyond 1v1s. Don't get me wrong zed is actually in a weak state right now, but to say facing zed feels more fair seems a bit stretched.

Salvus7/8/2016, 9:38:01 PM9 votes

On the subject of Cloud Drake and it's lack of a buff. I disagree for the following reasons: Movement speed is incredibly strong when you think of it it relation to the enemies movement speed. This provides a huge strategic advantage and teams in competitive haven't even begun to master it.(ADC'S get my drift?)If you don't understand, read sin tzu.

warpenguin5557/8/2016, 9:34:02 PM9 votes

If you guys are that concerned about the mid lane meta, why dont you buff champions like Ziggs and Xerath. I dont know if they will do anything about Vlad or Ryze, but they do beat Azir. Azir has the problem of having only 1 strong counter in Viktor(who in himself is overpowered). While i dont have much to say about Vlad and Ryze is getting reworked, i do play a ton of Azir, and champs like Ziggs and Xerath should be what you go to, but nobody does.

ZeeWolfZ7/9/2016, 12:52:05 AM8 votes

None of this information felt to me was important. I'm more interested in real problems.

Raiden27d7/9/2016, 1:07:30 AM7 votes

STATE OF THE GAME "Well guys everythings a bit fucked atm."

Cowboy Disco7/9/2016, 5:38:00 AM7 votes

I wish there was a "fill besides" feature in ranked queues. As in, fill 3 of the 5 positions.

JUNGLE CEO7/11/2016, 5:23:42 AM6 votes

bring back solo queue please, were not going to stop asking. We wont forget about it

Tract7/8/2016, 10:14:21 PM4 votes

Does anyone know were to find the timestamps of topics like they did in other podcasts like this?

Kiddwi7/9/2016, 12:17:13 AM3 votes

Am i the only one who sees the potential of Expose Weakness on Supports ? Just Wondering.

SAKELLARIOU7/13/2016, 5:35:13 PM3 votes

Aidan Zirene is the only person who makes sense. Even in LCS he always wants to say the one thing that Riot wants him to keep hush about... and I respect him more for actually pointing out problems. Be more like Zirene Riot... we will forgive you. [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

MikelTheUltimeat7/13/2016, 1:47:33 AM2 votes

summoner 14

13krish137/13/2016, 10:57:33 AM2 votes

assassin is to powerfull damage but you need to stonger a tankers

Dauthau7/13/2016, 12:42:54 PM2 votes

As a BRONZE 2 (so low elo, not Riots targeted choice for the DynaQ change) I was in queue for low of 5 minutes, high of 12 minutes, average 8 minutes a couple of days ago (last time I played). Used to play daily but things have become so toxic in game and it takes forever to find a game. Once I am in game, we still get afk and have to /remake. Matchmaking is not what it used to be, I don't feel like I'm with players of my skill level (or if I am with players of my skill, we're against players above our skill level by a long shot).

Champion balance, overall is a thing of the past. Also marksmen in the top lane vs. melee is more and more of a problem I've noticed.

The "fun factor" of league now is much lower than it was in season 4 imho (season 5 was nearly as fun but season 6 tapered off a lot). My friends who got me into League and were die-hard fans no longer play due to the previously stated reasons too. So the reason for DynaQ is dead for me, I only play solo now (or maybe with randos).

I never used to be a DynaQ opposer, in fact it was kinda cool when it came out but now I'm seeing a turn for the worse in the league community.