SKT T1 Jhin - Bang Wants Wings
Let me preface this by saying that I tried my hardest to find the appropriate discussion board for feedback. The PBE Feedback board is only open to users with a PBE account, and mine was deactivated some time ago.
I've been following the PBE content and while the new SKT T1 championship skins do look phenomenal, my one gripe is with Jhin's wings. I'm not too certain these meet the quality level that I would expect, as I explain below.
Jhin is a theatrical and over-the-top character by nature. He is incredibly deliberate and perfectionist, especially with his "art". This is why the current implementation of "wings" on Jhin feels incorrect to me. My imagination is that his gun flips around, he jumps in the air, and as his shoulder veil breaks off to reveal the four shots, wings come flourishing out from his shoulder blades, lining up with the location of the shots, and then coming down to a resting position, swaying around as he fires off his shots. Currently when he ults, two cut-outs resembling wings phase into reality halfway down his back, barely noticeable, especially to the person playing Jhin, as the camera is far zoomed out and Jhin players are typically looking downrange.
I feel there are ways to increase the quality of Jhin's wings without compromising other important values, such as gameplay clarity, character silhouette, or others. Garen's shockwave on his ult is one example of a way to circumvent gameplay clarity without compromising quality - an effect that only displays for the player is allowed to be over-the-top, since it's opt-in. At a bare minimum, I feel the wings need more texture than they currently have, and a better spawning animation than simply phasing in, neither of which should compromise any gameplay values any more than the current implementation.
Jhin's wings' current implementation does not do the character justice, and it would surprise me to discover that they meet Riot Games' current standards of quality for a skin. Everything else about the skin, from the sound effects on the shots (shattering noises on the ult are wonderful) to the way the signature of Bang appears while Jhin backs are very well done, which make the wings seem even more disproportionately off.
Ultimately, Bang's opinion of the wings is what matters, however if I were in his shoes, I would not be truly happy with this implementation. Currently, the wings dilute the fantasy of playing Jhin due to their imperfections. In my personal opinion, I'd prefer him not to have wings at all compared to what he currently has. In the original video portraying the skins, one of the artists explicitly stated that there was more work to be done on the wings before they hit PBE, which is why I reserved judgement until now.
I don't mean to sound overly critical - I know the skins team did a lot of work on these skins, and there was a lot to do. Jhin is my favorite champion, and thematically I feel like his current wings don't do him or his personality justice as a character.
I am open to questions or clarification regarding anything I've said, and while I understand that rioters do not usually give feedback on posts, any clarification as to why the wings would, should, or need to stay as they currently are would be equally appreciated. I understand the issues that Riot sometimes faces when developing skins, but I have thought heavily on this topic and see no reason that the quality can't be improved, even slightly.
