League of Designs

Hey, Gold Light, hope you don't mind me taking a little aside to your main topic, but you spurred a thought. How would you (and the rest of the Story, Art & Sound Board) feel if, say, there were little interactive versions of a champ's story. Now, before anyone gets too excited, this is just a hypothetical, but it's something I've been thinking about with stories being presented in various mediums in other IPs.

As an example - there was a game released a while ago, that had a famous IP, and both players and the developers had strong opinions on what was, and was not, appropriate to see in that game. Some players found the inclusion of characters in a level/time/setting, but who would never have been able to attend that level were in in the movies, jarring and broke their immersion. Developers (I believe, and I may be misremembering this so I apologize - it works for this hypothetical anyway) found this to be acceptable within the IP, due to the type of game it was - but claimed that suggestions of extreme costume changes (that would be out of character) as too far. Some players (probably not the same players who cried anachronism or immersion) didn't see why it would be a big deal. And beyond all this - the very nature of the game was to play out the actions of certain IP events - almost certainly having it play out in an alternative way to what was seen in other media (the 'canon' version).

So to apply this to a champ's story - imagine that there is a canon version of the events that transpired. Let's take Nami's bio as an example. There is a canon version of Nami's bio - both in written and comic form. If there were an interactive version where you could choose, as Nami, whether to dodge left or right when threatened by a underwater monster - which of those actions is canon? Does it bother you that some players took the other option? Now obviously dodging left or right (if there were no differing outcome) is pretty much the definition of a trivial difference - but at what point does a difference become too big?

If, in an interactive version, Nami could, though your actions, fail in her mission and not get the abyssal pearl - my personal opinion is that most players would understand that that was not the canon outcome. What if you, the player, chose to kill or spare Rasho? Would you want some indication of what the canon events are/were, and if so - would that diminish the purpose of the whole endeavor?

I guess it's related to your OP - an interactive story involving a champ would be a What If by its very definition because having a choice means the opportunity to take the choice that isn't 'canon'.

What do you all think?

TL;DR - If you're playing a Spiderman game, and you fail a web-swing and slam into the windscreen of a bus, do you consider that canon? How do you know in an interactive experience what is, and isn't canon?

^This - it was a crappy compromise to make, but we couldn't have fixed the bug in time over the weekend, and we really wanted to get something out as even the smallest stopgap for Clash not working.

We think he's weak and needs a buff. Can't promise an exact patch for that. 8.12 is possible, but midseason followup takes priority over almost everything else so hard to predict right now .

We wanted to increase her ability to lock targets down, whether that's for her own damage (plants especially) or to catch enemies for her team to followup. Duration's buffed at max level, not just earlier levels, so that some power's added over the course of the game, not just early.

I feel a bit like an Azir apologist here :)

You keep calling him a megalomaniac - I'm not sure he qualifies as one.

Sure, he keeps ranting about being an emperor, and his empire, etc. and he did (against tradition) seek the ascension ritual, but I am trying to take into account his situation.

His obsession with being emperor, and having an empire - well that's all he's ever known! He was literally raised to be the emperor, and the weight of that responsibility - the complete inevitability of it - has never been in doubt since his siblings were killed. There was never any question as to whether that was the way of things - to Azir, he is emperor in the same way that birds fly and fish swim.

Is it megalomania to do the thing that you've been brainwashed to do? Is it megalomania when no-one ever suggested that it was even possible for an alternative? Do you think that the very idea of other forms of government existed in his world?

When I say that Azir was revolutionary in freeing the slaves, I really mean it. It would have triggered a social upheaval on a scale almost never seen in the real world - beyond even the Emancipation Proclamation, or women's suffrage - possibly only comparable to if an entire continent suddenly implemented UBI overnight.

Such a revolutionary mind could perhaps get up to speed on the cultural progression that has happened in his long absence. Could be mind-blown at the concept of other forms of government, and the benefits to people that they can bring. Even though such ideas probably didn't even exist. Ever played Civilization? Forms of government are a type of discovery - and you don't start out just knowing all of them!

As for the ascension ritual - his truest friend, most trusted adviser, and to the extent that Azir's culture couldn't prevent, brother-figure - the man who had protected him at every junction - spent years convincing him that it was the best path forward for the empire. Azir was eventually convinced, and there were dissenting voices in the priesthood, but human beings have been convinced to do far worse things with much less convincing a situation.

Xerath's argument was that it would be good for the people - for the empire. The priesthood argued that it would be against tradition. Faced with the choice between those two things - tradition vs. the good of the people - you have already made clear which path you would take. Maybe Azir also believed that it was his due/destiny too - he was only human after all, and an empire of sycophants would do a number on anyone's ego - but again - maybe Azir wasn't acting out of megalomania so much as he was led astray by someone taking advantage of his socially progressive intentions.

Azir, the newly ascended Azir, could go either way - he could double down on what he was taught, or he could find a world that is more in line with his progressive intentions than he ever hoped. We just don't know yet - but the Azir of the past, had he lived, could have been seen as a near messianic figure, ushering in frankly unheard of social reforms despite his tradition-bound, regressive, upbringing.

This has been your dose of Azir propaganda for today. {{champion:268}} {{champion:268}} {{champion:268}} {{champion:268}} {{champion:268}} {{champion:268}} {{champion:268}}

Chromatic Eagle said () :

To be fair, in the eyes of a slave, "working" to end slavery isn't as good as flat out ending it.

Agreed. There are a lot of 'what ifs?' in the tragedy of Azir's fall.

• What if his dad hadn't been a raging nutjob.
• What if his elder siblings hadn't been assassinated?
• What if Azir had told Xerath about his plan to release the slaves?
• What if Xerath hadn't abused his position of trust to convince Azir to ascend?
• What if Azir had released the slaves earlier, instead of during the ceremony?
• What if Xerath's betrayal/invocation hadn't been beyond the point of no return when Azir released the slaves?
• What if Xerath's magics hadn't caused a devastating explosion, killing everyone nearby?

Remember Azir did release the slaves - announced it publicly during the ceremony - it was just too late for Xerath to stop what he was doing. Or so he claimed.

Decaying shields are one of the tools we've been considering. Likely we'll test one or two on a decaying model (internally/PBE, not necessarily in a live patch). Somewhat doubtful it's the correct approach for most shields, but could be a good match for some circumstances.

I think Ignite's already optimal in some circumstances (average MMR if you're not a really good TP user, especially if not playing with a premade). Solo gold changes might push that a bit further.

I don't however think they'll make it so TP isn't optimal at really high skill levels, premades like pro play especially. Given how much average play follows high MMR/pro that likely means TP continues to be the Summoner of choice for most top laners at all MMRs regardless of whether that's the most effective pick for the player in question or not.

I think Shurelia's being too strong on him's what's pushed him over the edge here. Want to assess once we've changed that (8.11) and see if he's still out of line or back to a stable state.

Nothing yet beyond we'll see where he lands post crit changes. That's true for all potential crit users though, not just a Yasuo thing. Blaustoise plays an awful lot of Yasuo though, so I'm not surprised it's on his mind/in his conversations.

I think it's a very real possibility. Not confident enough they will though, or if they will how large a nerf, to do so preemptively though. Need to see where 8.11 lands first as a result, given it will also impact game balance in other ways too.

At a guess (haven't built a change list yet) probably no impact, or very minimal at most, on Sona in 8.12.

Later changes might be more impactful, given we'll potentially be doing some work on the +heal/shield items, which would affect a range of champs.

We're looking at gifted shielding in particular because that's where shield stacking most occurs, which tends to be one of the bigger issues.

From Wednesday's post:

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/VA1W87yI-quick-gameplay-thoughts-may-23?comment=001800000000

TLDR: Will be able to starting looking at him in June at some point.

Yes, those will be in 8.11.