My Tristana feedback

N0ble1·1/23/2015, 2:13:16 PM·7 votes·3,202 views

I'm reposting a post of mine from the PBE forums since that place seems to be relatively slow. (I posted this the day her rework was available for testing and haven't played since then, maybe some of my concerns have been addressed.)

Some context: Trist my second-most favorite champion as well as my second-most played champion.

Gameplay-wise her kit feels fine, nothing feels overtuned so far in terms of its values (except maybe placing stickies on turrets, didn't really test that one). I think the new E changes the dynamics of her kit in an interesting way but she still feels like Tristana gameplay-wise, which is good.

Now for the visual rework/relaunch (very subjective here).

Tristana should have light blue skin with blue eyes, riot pls no indigo Tristana. I think of Tristana as being a light blue yordle with blue eyes, her new look is not representative of how I think Tristana ought to look. Her eyes feel too big, they have an uncanny valley sort of feel to them, her mouth feels too big as well, I also don't like how her mouth is always moving. I think her ears could use a slight size reduction as well as be placed further up her head, her overall anatomy is fine otherwise. Her eyes, mouth and ears just feel a tad too big.

I rather like Knockwurst's vision of Yordles: http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/162/c/5/yordle_explorations__knkl_by_knockwurst-d7m0urm.jpg .

I am pleased to see that art/design for yordles is heading in that direction, I just think the ears should be more toward the top of the head rather than at the side.

I think there should be diversity in eye color across her skins, I think classic should have blue eyes (and blue skin!) Riot Tristana should have pink eyes and Rocketeer should have green eyes. The rest I'm not so sure, but I do like the current amber eyes on Guerilla Tristana. I think that's it for skins.

The new voice bugs me a lot, it doesn't sound like Tristana at all to me, I always perceived Tristana as having more of a high-pitched voice. I think if it's at all possible to change her voice it should sound more high-pitched, otherwise I just don't like the way the voice sounds at all. At times her voice also sounds a bit like Jinx's voice (Edit: I mean literally voice for voice).

As for lines, I really miss "Did you fall down and go boom?" from her taunt, I think that taunt has even greater synergy with the new lines. Another line I miss is "I wanna shoot something!" when moving around, I feel like the absence of these lines is an absence of part of her character, she wants to get in there and have a good time blowing up the (unfortunate) enemy.

Also her overall tone sounds a bit less cheery, she should be a bit more cheery in the enthusiasm department when it comes to the destruction of Bandle City's foes. All the new dialogue is good, her dance is fantastic.

Overall she doesn't look or sound like Tristana to me, should Riot stick with this current iteration of her, I'm wondering if there's any chance of getting a Traditional skin for her.

Also, do her feet not need protection from Rocket Jumping everywhere while her hands need protection from using her cannon?

So that's my re-post minus some things I didn't think were as relevant. So what do other people think about her appearance and voice?

6 Comments

A Superb Villain1/23/2015, 4:07:47 PM10 votes

The problem with Tristana is that her initial conceptualization was so poorly defined that people have a wide variety of opinions as to how she should be represented. Hell, she wasn't even a yordle to begin with!

Honestly, I prefer her new skin tone to the old one simply because no yordle has had blue skin (any that do were previously meglings, a separate species), blue skin is a very strange complexion that is typically reserved for otherworldly creatures, and it brings her closer to Lulu who is a warm purple, or purple with a tinge of pink.

Her voice work is something I can appreciate, even if I do not necessarily like it, the gung-ho, "fuck da police", loose cannon characterization grates my sensibilities, but it thematically fits her. She is enthusiastic about explosives and seems to enjoy being in a fight, not to cause pain, but simply to participate in the thrill of combat. Her old lines were, quite frankly, poor; "Did you fall down and go boom?" what does that even mean in the context of fighting? If anyone blows up, it is because Tristana shot them, in which case they would have exploded well before hitting the ground. It sounds like the taunt a child would make without understanding the connotations of what they are saying. That is not something I would expect from a gunner of Bandle City's elite fighting force.

Her new voice preserves some of her immaturity, while adding a dash of arrogance. Anything that can be construed as stupidity is spoken with a twinge of sarcasm:

"I bravely volunteer to charge in recklessly!"

Her articulation speaks of intelligence that clearly understands the irrationality of her statement, treating it as joke. Or she could genuinely be insane, yordlesVeigar haveZiggs aRumble tendencyLulu forTeemo madness.

To be honest though, I do hear Vi's personality in Tristana's words, though not to the same level of rude dismissal. She also has a bit of Jinx's mania and fascination with explosions. However, Tristana is less extreme than either of them.

The foot debacle needs to be fixed. Get some boots, maggot. http://media.steampowered.com/apps/440/icons/c_rocketboots_soldier_large.00198e308780d412ac1eeed3daf600a44e0d56ba.png

That Maskless Ziggs needs to be a skin though.

Gapybo1/23/2015, 3:24:51 PM3 votes

Her new look is exactly how she is supposed to look. Old Tristana isn't even a Yordle.

AquariusGine1/23/2015, 5:45:58 PM3 votes

you cant make everybody happy

N0ble11/25/2015, 12:26:58 AM1 votes

After some reflection, I can't state enough the need for boots. Also different eye colors and maybe skin tone across her skins. Thanks for the responses so far. Played her again on the PBE, the voice is just awful to me, I now truly understand how Nasus mains felt when they got a voice rework.