League of Designs

Agreed that fighters might need some help. Also agree that many of their kits being 1v1 focused is part of the reason why they struggle.

While we're unlikely to increase the size of the map (we like that players are forced together and fight as group of 2, 3, or 5), or slow down the game (we think one of the reasons to play Nexus Blitz in the first place is how fast it is), we have been thinking about other ways to help out duelist champions.

Some of the things we're going to try for 8.17 are adding an early game mini objective to bottom lane that's easier to take with a single person. We're also trying to get a couple new events in that are more advantageous for lonewolf champs (one of which is SUPER SUPER FUN).

Longer term we may also need to look at melee starting items to make laning a bit easier for a number of melee champs.

On the bright side, when I say that fighters "might need some help", it doesn't mean they're terrible. Our internal data is showing many of them to be hovering around 48-50% winrates, so they're not totally left out to dry compared to other maps like ARAM where some of them get down to sub 40%.

Also agree that snowball fight isn't as good as it could be. We've got some improvements to it coming in 8.17 to make landing multiple snowballs feel more rewarding. One thing to remember is that if you don't have your summoners, neither do your opponents. I've seen a number of great engages happen during snowball fight where a squishy on the enemy team gets slowed and then is engaged on by the tanks and bruisers while they're unable to flash away.

She won't be an R-Shapeshifter if that's what you're asking.

OMG TIME THINGS

Overall feels like outer turrets going down a bit later makes the game better overall.

Buffing outer towers for 8.17, but keeping inhib and nexus turrets relatively the same. Should be slightly harder to get a snowball going, but roughly as easy to end if you do manage to get ahead.

In the Ekko cg, "Seconds" at around 0:38, you can see the inner workings a little.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtEpp9lkfxA

Gonna be a ton of work for sure, especially with the changes we have planned for Kayle :3

Our art/production team is amazing though, so I'm pretty confident they'll be able to do all the skins justice, it's just going to take a while (which is why Kayle and Morg are still a long way off).

I've been exploring light changes to Morgana and so far nothing I've tried has stuck. Her kit is already great as it is on live, so we're only going to make small changes if it is clear that they make her better.

We're totally fine shipping ZERO gameplay changes to Morg if we can't find anything that meets the high bar her current kit already sets.

I don't know if I'd go that far... but I do think it's a sign of a good champion if they embody a reason you might play League of Legends.

Warwick, finally giving in to bloodlust, it feels so good.

Zoe, tilting people off of their keyboards.

Yasuo, proving those who would judge you wrong.

Swain, controlling your enemy's every movement, slowly clenching a demonic hand.

My take on it is that it's a landslide victory for one party over the other.

But... it's not a set in stone kind of thing. :)

Canon.

Hi friends, Thanks for all the feedback. As of right now the first Nexus Blitz micropatch is live.

Our initial balance patch is going to be looking at a few balance outliers (very weak or very strong), as well as make the on-fire buff less favorable to ranged champions.

Some notes on overall balance trends: ----Initial winrate spread looks decent - Almost all champions fall between 44-58% winrate. Compared to the 35-70% spread that ARAM and URF can have at times, this is very good. ----TONS of champions are viable in the jungle, including a lot of marksmen, mages, and supports. ----AoE control mages, poke mages, and tanks look a bit strong. Bruisers and Assassins look a bit weak. We'll keep monitoring this and see if class changes are in order for future patches. ----We're hitting Taric and Sona because they seem significantly stronger than other members of their class (enchanters/supports).

Changes Below:

ON-FIRE BUFF Mana regen :: 100 MP/5 >>> 50 MP/5 Ranged champions increase to damage taken :: 25% >>> 35%

RUNES Transcendence Level to turn on :: 6 >>> 8

Gathering Storm Rank up time :: 4min >>> 4.5min

CHAMPION BUFFS Nasus Q stacking :: 6 per last hit (12 vs champs and large minions/monsters) >>> 9 per last hit (18 vs champs and large minions/monsters)

Tristana AD :: 61 + 3.11/lvl >>> 65 + 4/lvl AS :: 1.5%/lvl >>> 2.5%/lvl HP :: 559 >>> 610

Kalista AD :: 3.6/lvl >>> 4.5/lvl HP :: 534 >>> 600 Mana :: 231 >>> 300

Xayah AD :: 60 + 2.9/lvl >>> 65 + 3.5/lvl HP :: 561 >>> 600

Tryndamere AS/lvl :: 2.9 >>> 4 AD :: 3.7/lvl >>> 4.5/lvl HP :: 98/lvl >>> 110/lvl

Warwick HP/lvl :: 85 >>> 100 AS/lvl :: 2.3% >>> 3.5% AD/lvl :: 3 >>> 4

CHAMPION NERFS Sona HP/lvl :: 77 >>> 60 Amor/lvl :: 3.3 >>> 3

Taric HP/lvl :: 90 >>> 75 AR/lvl :: 3.4 >>> 3

magewick said () :

Anyone specific reason why the tahm w damage buff didn't go through?

Also, are you doing nexus blitz specific balancing or is that a different team?

Hi! As a member of the Nexus Blitz team, let me field that second question. We are indeed doing Nexus Blitz specific balance. We're prepping a hotfix at the moment in the hopes of getting it out today I believe; August would know more. The TLDR is we're looking at making on fire less oppressive on a certain class of champions (mostly mages, by changing how its CDR works on the ult slot), we'll buff some of the lowest performers through base stats, and we're debating an ally healing debuff (this one's less likely although Sona and Taric are crazy strong).

They're kinds-sorta in a shared universe. Lunar Revel is.... complicated.

Yes! Love the meme & super excited to talk UX! {{sticker:sg-lux}}

In terms of understanding the problem space, we did not have a current and definitive player-facing map of the world of Runeterra. None of our stories, comics, events, regions, champions, etc. have any clear spatial context within the world. As a result, many players’ connections to Runeterra were fractured and inconsistent. Players were creating their own maps to fill in what they wanted to know, but we wanted to make sure they had an accurate source to base their theories from. We understood that by creating a map, it would be a good way to help players understand spatially a theme or champions by placing them in the context of a location. We want to strengthen these connections and present the lore in an interactive format so players can literally explore Runeterra!

Once we had something to test, such as the usability or general player sentiment towards a new feature, we would go ahead and test with a small pool of internal players (e.g. Rioters) and analyze that data. One of the things we learned through testing was that players wanted or expected to the see more art on the map. This lead us to design a new feature, the Image Galleries and Points of Interest pins on the map! User Research is super valuable and highly insightful!

Since we work in the gaming space, it’s important for us to use tools that are accessible through multiple platforms. While I have a Macbook and a PC, I prefer to play my games and work on my PC and will prioritize using Adobe XD or Illustrator over Mac-only products. Since Sketch is only available on Mac, I decided to use Adobe XD instead. In tandem, our visual designer takes my wireframes and create high-end mocks in .psd using our existing Hextech UI library. Sometimes, I don’t get to do high-fidelity wireframes and instead whiteboard or sketch some concepts and flows on my notebook and present that to him. I haven’t drawn on napkins (yet), but have drawn on post-its and index cards!

For the future of the map, we definitely have some features that were not able to make it to the release of the map due to project scope and time constraints. We want to add all the stories, comics, videos, and champions, and continue to explore new ways to introduce interactive elements to the experience.

I hope I've answered all your questions :). I'm happy to answer any more you might have!

lol