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"Ultra Rapid Fire" Q&A with the Play team. 4/6, 11AM - 1PM PST

RiotL4T3NCY··43 votes·174,714 views

Heya Everyone ^o^/

Our latest Featured Game Mode, “Ultra Rapid Fire” is currently live (I was so looking forward to NURF mode), and the Play team is here to answer any questions or suggestions you guys might have! We make all the Featured Game Modes, so feel free to ask us anything about URF or any previous modes. Who are the OP champs in URF (apparently it's the whole roster :P)? Who is your favourite champ to play? Are those two questions even different? :P

We’ll be online from now for 2 hours, from 11:00AM ~ 1:00PM PST.

-L4T3NCY -BuffMePlz -DefaultChar -Ponts -Riot Terra

EDIT: Ok guys, we're going get back to work. Thanks for so many questions though! o.O We'll keep an eye on this thread during the day though and try to pop in and answer a few more questions where we can.

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/sites/default/files/styles/scale_xlarge/public/upload/urf-ama-1280x720.jpg

1,062 Comments

Dylightfull162 votes

Who was the genius that came up with the current login screen? No, seriously. They deserve an award. They deserve every award. Give it to them now. Not only did they create the most amazing thing to ever grace the login screen, but they had the courage to go in to the conference room and say "Guys, I just had a great idea. For the URF login screen, we see a mysterious blob-shaped shadow. Then, the screen zooms out and lights turn on to reveal Urf wearing a toga and sitting on a throne of gold behind 6 gigantic machine guns while dubstep plays, later revealing bubble machines and flamethrowers in his presence."

GIVE THAT MAN A RAISE.

Level One Bard28 votes

Best so far.

RiotRiot Terra36 votes

I'm not sure who initially came up with the idea, but typically it is a team of people that works on login screens (a splash artist may draw the image, a GFX artist does the animation, a composer comes up with the music, etc...).

RiotO2ymandias29 votes

A ton of creative people were involved, but I believe the art and animation was primarily a collaboration between RiotPastaBomb's team and RiotSilver's team :D

Lucid Hypnosis134 votes

Can we just keep it year round?

I think that Sky Williams said it best "Urf is the Cure for League." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHzpkUFsefo

YeuhKaiWei73 votes

Or at least on the weekends <3

Dylightfull27 votes

"Brian, when is URF available for anyone to play?" "On Weekends... And Holidays..."

...Somewhat obscure Brian Regan reference is somewhat obscure...

Moobeat47 votes

how fun was it to see every other related mode post or Q&A turn into "WE WANT URF" over the past year :)?

RiotL4T3NCY102 votes

URF OR RIOT!

RiotBuffMePlz95 votes

BRING BACK URF

The Jedi Master35 votes

When will we see the release of Urf the Manatee in the featured game mode URF, where we all have to defeat him?

RiotRiot Terra44 votes

Do you really think the almighty Urf could be defeated by mere mortals such as ourselves?!

TrollingYeti35 votes

Will the intro music be available as a ring tone? It is so sweet.

Garlyle Wilds26 votes

So I have to admit I have a morbid curiosity about the NURF mode that never happened.

Based on the URFitational it appears you guys did, at least internally, create this mode for a bit. How... how was it? Is there any chance we'll get it actually enabled, even if just for a day? I'm still curious, in a masochistic sort of way.

RiotL4T3NCY107 votes

It was terrible... we burned it.

We burned it with fire.

..let us all pray it remains dead..

Aatrox Herself16 votes

Burned Fire and Prey are Italicized, 3 words, Like a triangle. The constellation for bards icon is a triangle, Bard is mute, Who else is mute? SONA! Sona Is a support, so is Taric, Taric is Flamboyantly gay, he probably likes Yasuo. Yasuo wears Blue, So does Sona. Sona is a support, so is Taric. ITS A TRIANGLE! ILUMINATEE CONFIRMED

Amizar41 votes

IlluMANATEE* confirmed

Im GladLife98 votes

Boom, new reported players destination. If people treat others poorly, they are FORCED to play N.U.R.F. >:3

Potte26 votes

I've always kind of imagined that one of the biggest reasons for not making URF a permanent gamemode was the amount of resources it would take to maintain it. All of the champion specific micromanaging that went on for this year's URF sort of gives credit to this theory (not to mention the fact that despite all of these changes, there are still tons of complaints about balance). Is any part of this correct?

Shamelessly tacking on my opinion to this, I support the decision to make URF a temporary gametype. I'd much rather see time and resources going into managing and adding new content to the normal Summoners Rift gamemode that we all came to love from the beginning. That said, like Moobeat said, I hope you guys are looking forward to another year of "RITO BRING BACK URF PLS!"

RiotBuffMePlz10 votes

Yep, you've nailed it right on the head - it is indeed one of the largest contributing factors.

LaZodiac25 votes

Will we ever see URAM (Ultra Rapid All Mid) in the future?

RiotBuffMePlz12 votes

You can do this is custom games right now. I don't know if we would ever support a queue for it - we tried a couple of games with this internally last year and the lack of strategic options on Howling Abyss makes the champion selection even more dominant than it already is. Coupling that with the inability to heal and shop generally made the games very frustrating - either they were too long (with neither team gaining any traction) or they were too short (with one team absolutely crushing the other).

Shuri45 votes

In the same vein, I think "All Random Ultra Rapid Fire" (ARURF) could be fun, on either map, so people don't just pick the OP champions. Plus, ARURF is fun to say :^)

Scipptastic16 votes

What about an all random-SR queue?

RiotBuffMePlz28 votes

This is much more interesting in my book. I wanted to do this for URF, but we ultimately felt that it was more important for players to have agency over the champions they were picking in order to fulfill the power fantasy that URF grants - it would be unfortunate for the player who really really wants to see what Yorick is like on URF to only have a <1% of chance of doing so.

It's possible we might explore having multiple queues in the future (or at least having it as an option in custom games). We'll have to do some further investigation into this - but I'm definitely with you on this. =)

Vampire Loli 24 votes

imo URF should be surrenderable at like 10 minutes or something. I've seen some inhibs down before 10 minutes so yeah... Although, I must admit, even when I know my team's not able to win, most (if not all) URF games are really fun :D

SolarKnightJ22 votes

I'm kind of curious about this, but did you guys during development of the mode think about changing the minions (and jungle creeps) to being URF themed. Things like golden spatula wielding melee minions and mini URF riding siege minions?

Ace is God18 votes

How long will URF last this year ? Do you consider making it a permanent mode one day ? Not necessarily this year I mean. Like on the Howling Abyss with random champion select to avoid the spam of OP picks

Best Aatrox NA16 votes
  1. Where did the idea for the death animation summoner icon things come from?
  2. Could you consider implementing N.U.R.F. mode at some point? It seems like it would be hilariously stupid and would be very enjoyable.
  3. Do you guys have any plans on bringing ascension back? That was BY FAR the most fun mode in my opinion.

I've been having a lot of fun with AP Kog'Maw. His ult is on like a .3 second cooldown so that + e + q can pretty much instantly delete someone 5 minutes into the game, and then they type /all WTF just happened?

RiotBuffMePlz30 votes

  1. L4T3NCY's post on this: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/summoners-rift/h1wWRH1v-ultra-rapid-fire-qa-with-the-play-team-46-11am-1pm-pst?comment=000a0000

  2. So...we actually did build NURF. This is a real thing...and it's TERRIBLE. We made it in order to capture the footage for the promo videos, and the act of doing so was quite painful. We are not going to inflict it on you guys anytime soon. =P

  3. We're definitely exploring our options for rotating game modes, and Ascension is definitely on that list - that was also one of my favourites to build and to play. =)

FloatingAlpacaYT11 votes

Have you guys thought about making the death animation summoner icons for other game modes as well or just keep it with urf?

RiotL4T3NCY17 votes

I think there could be a way to implement them beyond just FGMs. We themed the current finishers to URF mode specifically, so they're ridiculous, 'over the top' and totally not something you'd want noising up a Ranked game. There's probably a middle-ground though where we could do some awesome finishers without sacrificing gameplay clarity.

Once URF mode is finished we'll take a step back and analyse it to consider if this is something that could be cool to pursue.

Mastahgolem10 votes

What gave you the idea to increase all champion health and damage 1000 fold?

RiotBuffMePlz113 votes

BECAUSE BIG NUMBERS ARE AWESOME AND BIG

SeexydVanessa10 votes

Did you intentionally name this gamemode Ultra Rapid Fire so the first letters of each word come together into URF?

RiotBuffMePlz90 votes

Wait, it spells URF?!?!

YeuhKaiWei9 votes

Are you allowed to give a set in stone answer to "Will URF be permanent", or is it not even an answerable question as of yet?

MrEpicosityDude9 votes

How about every 5th, 10th, 15th and so on every month we have urf? Or something like every Monday?

RiotL4T3NCY69 votes

For the more popular FGMs, we're investigating the potential of bringing them back on a shorter rotation cadence. We're not sure what this could look like yet but, it's something we're considering.

Dalphklobic8 votes

I think nurf should be released for like 1 week and allowed to be played by people who really want to try those lovely buffs :)

RiotRiot Defaultchar47 votes

If it help contextualize:

-Graves' passive expires between autoattacks up until ~ level 6 -It is mathematically plausible for some champions on that mode to cast their ultimate at level 6, and then not be able to recast it before it reaches Rank 2. -Many champions lose 1v1s with Creep Waves -Cassiopeia still has a .5 second cooldown on her E

...trust me, you don't want to :)

ßabÿ6 votes

Love URF its so fun! My fav champ in urf would be Evelynn! Is there a way that any type of game mode such as URF would become permanent? That way us players would have more choices of game modes to play instead of just aram, normals or rank which gets tiresome time to time. Would love if you guys could find a way to have more game modes! Other than that all game modes that has come out have been great! Keep up the good job :)

RiotL4T3NCY12 votes

URF (like other FGMs) is not designed as a long-term engagement mode. It has play balance and pacing issues, which become clearer with increased engagement (as I'm sure you guys notice the more you play). We wouldn't be able to maintain the required ongoing balance of it as a new permanent mode, as we're focused primarily on normal SR. This means play balance would eventually collapse and the game would stop being fun, making for a pretty terrible experience. :(

If you're interested, I go into a bit of depth here about the pros/cons of FGMs being temporary VS permanent. http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/features/featured-game-modes-2014

Dalphklobic6 votes

is URF going to be something which happens each april of the year. OR are there other plans for next year?

Gurutsu6 votes

Have you aver though of doing some crazy stuff with jungle in urf? or at least had any crazy ideas : for example ultra scuttle crab that would turbo rocket from 1 end of river to other? xd

RiotBuffMePlz19 votes

One of the guys on our team actually had the idea to made the Rift Scuttler go into Zhonya stasis everytime you were about to kill it just for maximum troll effect.

We didn't touch the jungle this time (or last time), which is why blue buff still exists on URF and does nothing except bling out your champion. We've thought about it, but I'm not sure the mode needs more crazy changes - the current buff is enough to mutate gameplay in a way that is very different from classic SR already. Drawing players into the jungle in a mode around skirmishing might not necessarily be a good thing either - even now, taking Dragon sometimes seems more like a chore than a point of strife in URF games.

Riven Yasuo5 votes

Who is your favorite champ on urf? Mine is zed :D

RiotPonts20 votes

I've been playing a lot of Varus. I know what you're thinking..."You can't play a marksman on U.R.F. Ponts, you're crazy!" Build him like an AD mage and toss out those arrows for days! After a Black Cleaver and rank 3 in Q you can just watch those arrows chunk ppl for 30% of their life....every 1.8 sec! :)

F3stanie4 votes

What made you guys think of finishers? BECAUSE THEY ARE AMAZING.

RiotL4T3NCY17 votes

It was an idea we had when thinking about ways to 'double down' on the power fantasy of URF. I'm all about that Orbital Laser. :D

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