Q: How come Nidalee doesn't get transformations at level 1 like Jayce and Elise?
A: We like the fact that Nidalee has a different feel to other transforming champions such as Jayce and Elise. We try to avoid core feel changes on champions whenever we look back at updating them. That and to be honest, Nidalee is still pretty dang fun. She mostly needs some bug fixes.
Q: Will you make Annie grow up or Maokai uncursed in the future?
A: We considered doing this in the past, but it encounters two problems. First off, the work output to gain is pretty minimal in most cases. Second, the changes to characters like annie or nunu has the potential to be more negative than positive to players who actually like them how they are. Though I have to admit, it would be pretty funny to see a full grown adult riding on the yeti.
Q: What do you think about Zed right now?
A: ZED IS SUPER POWERFUL!!! He is a scarey beast.
Q: Any future changes for Sion?
A: Well, Sion was designed to be an offensive tank, however he deviated from this when players focused on his AP build. Over time we have considered making him more focused on AD, but shied away from it since it goes counter to how the majority of the community enjoys playing him. Honestly, I am not sure if we should change him into a AD focused champion at this point.
Q: Will Udyr be buffed in the future?
A: We have added a new mastery to help out older champions like Udyr with Kiting (the anti Slow Mastery). And we are currently looking into itemization which will help champions like this.
Q: Will Urgot be changed in the future?
A: Urgot is pretty fun to play, but he adds a fair amount of anti fun to the game. He also encounters a few of Zileas's anti patterns, including the false choice that his acid/seeker missile creates. You think you can out distance it, but really you end up just reducing your dps while still taking a ton of dps from Urgot.
Future Champion Types
Q: How about an auto-attacker than scales off of AP?
A: We have rarely had success with ability power champions focusing on auto attacks (Kennen is one of the few). That being said, I do definitely think we could try out a full out AP auto attacker. It would certainly mess with the meta in the bottom lane...hmmm, saying that out loud reminds me that I really wanted to try that... I wonder what sort of thematic archetype would fit the role of AP auto attacker. Ideas?
Q: Will you make more champions like Rengar/Kha'Zix but with more interesting relationships in-game?
A: True counters are pretty bad design in a competitive game. They lead to painful counter picks and a lot of extra information required. There are other ways to get this feel into the game. For example, champions with sunglasses take one less damage from Leona.
Q: Will there be future poison champions?
A: Well, we already have 3 poison champs (you forgot Cassiopeia who has 2 types of poisons). So while we do have space to explore the Rogue poison choosing archetype, it would probably be a while until we tried it out.
Q: How about a debuff that affects the turn-rate of champions?
A: That would negatively impact the feel of a character in ways they would not entirely understand. So while it sounds pretty neat and would add gameplay, I think the overall negative value associated with it outweighs the positive.
Q: How about a champion that can drill underground?
A: I think I've talked about a Yordle riding in a drill tank a few times, a character who we thought might be cool but ultimately decided to pass on. Imagine an ultimate that would drill a hole between two areas (knocking back enemies) and providing a one way exit for your allies. Imagine the Baron/Dragon assaults!
Comment: This sounds like an OP version of invis, glad they're not doing it!Q: Will there be a Sand or Shadow type champion?
A: Sand is one of those core elements that we haven't really explored with mages yet. Heck, I would also love to see a shadow mage some day. What are some other elemental mage archetypes that we have missed out on?
Q: Will there be any "jungle-only" champions?
A: It turns out there aren't really any true junglers. Most of the traits players need to jungle are very applicable to the top lane. For example, I play Nocturne as purely a top lane champion!
Q: Will there ever be another melee DPS released?
A: We want to explore the melee dps class more. But to be honest, it is pretty dang hard. High dps classes are generally glass cannons, champions who are capable of dealing high amounts of dps while also not able to take high amounts of damage. The best way of dealing with this is range. Thus, melee range champions fail on this aspect almost instantly. So we end up having to create short scenarios where they can output their dps (Master Yi's Highlander, Fiora's Bladewaltz). That being said, we are looking at making a new melee dps. But it will take time as it is a very difficult class to figure out.
Q: How about a Chaos Magic Champion?
A: Well, chaos magic is indeed cool, but it has a fundamental flaw. Chaos magic is usually associated with 'randomness'. A champion who is based on randomness is flawed, as it is impossible to balance. Now you could make an argument for making the chaos mage a multi elemental mage who could cast a number of different spells. But that archetype is cleaner when associated with elementalists. So I do believe it would be cool, I just don't believe chaos magic is a good place to explore in LoL (well, other than maybe overwhelming amounts of evil magic).
Q: What will 2013's champions be like?
A: 2013 is going to have a pretty good balance between the two, but will also have a fair number of humanoids, creatures, and yordles!
Item Changes
Q: Nashor Tooth sucks. What j00 gonna do?
A: Nashor's Tooth has always been a painful item to buy due to it's stats composition. Few champions need AP, Atk Spd, AP, Mana Regen, and CDR. We hope to assuage this by removing the most painful, and restrictive stat: Mana Regen. After we do that we'll see how it does and adjust accordingly.
Q: Malady sucks. Show some lovin?
A: As for Malady...I am actually surprised it is not being used more. With the recent buffs to penetration in season 3 it strikes me as a very powerful item. This is one that I would rather sit back and watch rather than potentially overbuff.
Australia Servers?
Q: Will there every be an Australian server?
A: I'm afraid I don't know anything about this topic. But if there is a large playerbase there then I am sure that we will try to help out the players as soon as possible.
When Do You Balance Champions?
Q: When do you decide when a champion needs a buff or a nerf?
A: The community ultimately raises when we need to change characters. Then it's up to someone on the team to come up with a good way to improve the champion. They then need to prove to the team that the character needs the changes in order to be better. Once those are in place we try to find time for them to enact the positive changes. So if the community thinks Darius is problematic then they should beseech a designer to take on the cause of updating him.
WHAT ABOUT THE DWARVES?!
Q: Will Dwarves EVER be in the League?
A: Ultimately dwarves have too much overlap with Yordles to be their own race in LoL. That being said, I think we could take elements from dwarves and create a pretty awesome yordle that would take on these elements. After all, why be restricted to copying what has been done in the past when we can make a new unique version using our own world.
A: Ultimately dwarves have too much overlap with Yordles to be their own race in LoL. That being said, I think we could take elements from dwarves and create a pretty awesome yordle that would take on these elements. After all, why be restricted to copying what has been done in the past when we can make a new unique version using our own world.
Comment: Can't let you guys have the answer to that first pressing question too early ya know!
Why no dwarves? Same reason there are no elves. Not a hard concept.
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