[AMA] We’re the team behind League’s newest mode, Brawl, Ask us Anything!

Originally posted by JNorJT

I just want a Rioter to say hi to me :(

Originally posted by WarpCitizen

Who’s OP?

Originally posted by Eliarece

What makes Brawl a better game mode for new player ?

I've tried showing League to a few friends and the experience was so miserable for them despite my best effort

Originally posted by Urpog

can u tell phlox and sirhaian they're my goats thank u

Originally posted by IBgbI

Why Bandle City? It was only one idea or you had other too?

Originally posted by BambooTabi

For my friends who only play ARAM, how can I explain Brawl to them to make it feel distinct and separate?

Originally posted by Stock_Emu_2588

Will it be a lot of fun or not much

Originally posted by imafloof

Hi, I would just love to thank you for making this map in Bandle City!!

I would love to know the thought process of adding add Norra and Kobuko as shopkeepers - as we normally have our yordle shopkeepers present from the rift, so it was a very conscious decision to have them appear in a league game (I AM DEFINITELY NOT HINTING TO WANTING THEM AS PLAYABLE CHAMPIONS)
As I adore both yordles and their 'shop' details (I see you Yuumi!) - the book being present in Kobuko's stall and the missing slice of pie in Norra's shop - I would love to personally thank this person who came up with this because it really warmed my heart.

Originally posted by popegonzo

If you were all hot dogs, and you were locked in a room and starving to death, would you decide to slowly eat yourselves at a similar pace, or would you cannibalize one of you at a time?

Which teammate would you cannibalize first? If Meddler-the-hot-dog was with you, would you start with him?

Originally posted by Demonchar02

Can we get more bandle city maps in the future? PLEEAAASE it’s my favorite region

Originally posted by kubasemi

How do you go about balance? I feel like some champs that are problematic in aram will also be problematic here. As example teemo and asol. Holding waves for free with no real danger.

Originally posted by 90back

Favorite thing and least Favorite thing in Brawl?

Originally posted by cutlerymaster

What are some of your guys favorite anime or recommendations? I know riot phlox favorite is death note.

Originally posted by TheDarkRobotix

1 balancing of items/runes like hubris/dark harvest?

2 was 6v6 considered? being more chaotic and personally really miss that hexakill announcement

3 will there be bans?

4 was 200haste summoners spells cd on aram testing for this? and if mark/dash and smite are available

5 why it was bandle city themed and not ionia themed? (thought it would be like arena, ionia first then later reskinned to be bandle to be more general

6 why water on one side only instead of a river down the middle like this? (qiyana question

7 is the recall empowered/baron ver? else just walking back to base seems more practical most of the time

8 cannon minion not worth more points?

9 cappa juice available?

10 will little legends show up like in aram? potentially even helping in battle like the SR jungle pets?

Originally posted by noahcou

This mode seemed similar to Smite's Arena mode. Will this mode feel just like it or will it offer its own differences and feel just inspired by it? There was a mention of no big objectives but it seemed like there are still camps, how do those work?

Originally posted by cutlerymaster

What are some of your guys favorite anime or recommendations? I know riot phlox favorite is death note.

Originally posted by RiotDerkese

Whatever u/RiotPhlox or u/AzuBK decide to steamroll me with that day

Originally posted by TheLetter_Eight

As someone who has poured alot of hours into Smite and at a relatively high level, I have 1 large concern and 1 smaller question regarding Brawl. The first being, what other measures are in place/being considered to prevent stalling and second, when will be able to see champion specific buffs/nerfs within a game mode in the client?

My main concern is what is in place to prevent stalling. In lower elo leaning games in Smite, players tend to play what they want irrespective of team comp, and people tend to play more to not die. I think these 2 issues are unavoidable, you can't (and shouldn't want to) dictate what people play, nor can you flip a switch in someone to fight to the death. This occasionally resulted in games stalemating due to the abundance of safe clear on ranged champions (Admittingly a larger issue in Smite's god design than League), and how easy it was to reset and heal in between waves. In higher elo games, people realize there is no punishment for staying closer to your fountain as it made it easier for you to heal and rejoin your team resulting in a similar issue where teams sort of just wait for someone to overextend/make a mistake.

I'm happy to see that the minion portal is not directly in front of the base, something that really bothered me in Smite Arena, but I was wondering what other measures have you guys considered taking to reduce the possibility of stalling? For example, your minions getting a movement speed buff depending on how many opponents are in base healing, or slower ticks of healing forcing you wait a few seconds longer in base?

My second smaller question revolved around, when can we get something implemented into the client that tells the player what is buffed/nerfed on a particular champ. I presume with accelerated gold gains, you'll be forced to make champion specific nerfs within the game mode, but with Arena changes and Aram specific changes, it's pretty hard to keep up every single change each champion has undergone.

That being said, I'm still excited to see a new game mode and testing to see how it plays!

Originally posted by lordtentai

Do you think there will be unique balance changes for this mode like there are for aram and arena?

Originally posted by Urpog

can u tell phlox and sirhaian they're my goats thank u

Originally posted by Geegs30

Funniest Brawl unique bug you ran into during testing?

Originally posted by The_Curve_Death

Are there any Veigar references for the minions or the portals they come from?

Originally posted by imafloof

Thank you for answering! I think it is so cute especially since they are both on the 'elder' side of yordles (not that it truly manners with their kind :P)
I imagine them having so many stories to tell eachother - if there were any other decisions or details that u/RiotPoise wanted to add to the shops environment specifically, but didnt for whichever reason, I would love to hear about it! Hope you had a lovely birthday :D

Originally posted by Spideraxe30

For /u/RiotCadmus how did you guys land on bandle city for the map, given this season is focused on Ionia. Did you guys explore any other map ideas and whats the story behind this place, does it also have a proper name?

For /u/RiotPhlox given this map is in bandle city can we expect intermittment pipes to play through the mode. Also what initial design goal for the mode?

Originally posted by JNorJT

I just want a Rioter to say hi to me :(

Originally posted by RiotSirhaian

It's like ARAM but faster, with more fighting, and without structures!

Originally posted by pr3d4tr

I heard each game would be around 10 minutes long. How fast will someone get to late game items and levels, like if I pick kayle or kassadin will I just be useless the whole game since it ends so fast.

Originally posted by TerenasIII

Is there any new spicy items coming to Brawl?

Originally posted by pr3d4tr

I heard each game would be around 10 minutes long. How fast will someone get to late game items and levels, like if I pick kayle or kassadin will I just be useless the whole game since it ends so fast.

Originally posted by Eliarece

What makes Brawl a better game mode for new player ?

I've tried showing League to a few friends and the experience was so miserable for them despite my best effort

Originally posted by Geegs30

Funniest Brawl unique bug you ran into during testing?

Originally posted by Diligent_Deer6244

add bans please, then it's playable

Originally posted by TheGreenGamer

First of all: I want to thank you sincerely for bringing this game mode to life (before I've even played it). Based on description, this is the exact league experience I have been wanting for YEARS now. I mainly play aram because I want fast, action packed games where I don't have to suffer through laning phase or draft before I get to have fun, but I have always wished there was a game mode that l could play the champions I actually want to play and still have that same experience. I am SO excited for this game mode, and I sincerely hope that the team will push to make this a permanent mode (yes, all of this hype before I've played it. I CANNOT WAIT!!!!)

Second: actual questions!

1. I'm very curious about the choice of Bandle City as a setting! I've always pictured Bandle City as this massive, unimaginable metropolis that spans an unfathomable amount of land/area. But this new mode seems to be quite a small map, perhaps something more akin to a ravine in the middle of terrain, so why choose Bandle City?

2. One experience that I think players like me, who are hyped for this game mode, might agree could take away from the fun is scaling and laning phase. It's not really fun to play a game where you're completely useless for a while before you scale and THEN you get to play the game. Is there any consideration for implementing (in this game mode or even future game modes) gameplay that bypasses scaling? Perhaps a game mode where you load in with infinite gold and get to set up your build at the beginning (or even just using runes)?

3. It's super cool to me that this game mode came about from the "Thunderdome" - I've always loved doing game jams myself and seeing some of the cool ideas that come out of it. I'm sure you can't dive into specifics, but are there any other cool ideas that have come out of these game jams that you have considered or are considering adding to the League experience in future?

Can't wait to try out Brawl and I hope that the team will consider making this a permanent gamemode!!!!

Originally posted by Bt25

All the pvp maps that have been released have been small in size compared to SR. Would you ever consider releasing a map larger than SR?

Originally posted by stephanl33t

How much shroom could a Teemoshroom shroom if a Teemoshroom could shroom shrooms?

Originally posted by SteoHao

How will balancing work in Brawl? How can you balance Hwei, for example, who has great wave clear and beast in team fighting and, for example, zed whose teamfighting and wave clear is not as good?

Originally posted by hurshielee

How much of Arena in Smite have you guys played? Someone said Brawl was like that and I got SUPER excited.

The only thing that's taken time away from me playing league well over a decade is Arena in Smite.

Originally posted by Synergy2098

What were the inspirations and goals for this one? Really liked hearing the making of arena and swarm and their goals.

Originally posted by SteoHao

How will balancing work in Brawl? How can you balance Hwei, for example, who has great wave clear and beast in team fighting and, for example, zed whose teamfighting and wave clear is not as good?

Originally posted by ItsEvgen

I guess portal will be done similarly to one you made for Arena, right?

Originally posted by montonH

Just wanna say thanks for still creating new game modes.

Originally posted by cutlerymaster

What are some of your guys favorite anime or recommendations? I know riot phlox favorite is death note.

Originally posted by hurshielee

How much of Arena in Smite have you guys played? Someone said Brawl was like that and I got SUPER excited.

The only thing that's taken time away from me playing league well over a decade is Arena in Smite.

Originally posted by AzuBK

Big fan of Baccano! and Samurai Champloo. I'm also contractually obligated to state that u/Riot_Cadmus is wrong and FMA '03 is better.

Originally posted by Rexsaur

Will we be able to gain mastery points and S grades on this mode?

Originally posted by greenracer123

Have you considered less players for the mode? It might be more fun with a team of 3 rather than sticking to the traditional team of 5

Originally posted by Wohanx

Can we accumulate champion mastery in this mode just like in the arena? I hope so because otherwise it feels like a wasted game.

Originally posted by iWantThali

Sona will be broken on release with her kit and accelerated gameplay

I'm convinced with 100% certainty that your team will miss the mark.

Please prove me wrong!

Originally posted by korro90

Was K'sante able to get back into combat?

Or would they both retire in Brazil?

Originally posted by slawcat

I feel like it's going to hinder the game mode's longevity if there are no bans, which will lead to data showing people dropped off playing as the 3 patches go by, and then we will never see the game mode again.

What guarantee do we have that some champs will not just be obscene in the game mode, where it's almost expected to see the same rotation of 5-10 champs in every game? ARAM gets around this because it's somewhat randomized at least. Every other game mode that doesn't have bans suffers from people losing enjoyment because inevitably there is a meta formed and certain champs can't be blocked.

It just seems super counter intuitive to say that the mode is for people to have fun and play the champ they want without giving them a way to ban one of the near-170 champs that exist that would hinder their enjoyment.

Originally posted by TheDarkRobotix

1 balancing of items/runes like hubris/dark harvest?

2 was 6v6 considered? being more chaotic and personally really miss that hexakill announcement

3 will there be bans?

4 was 200haste summoners spells cd on aram testing for this? and if mark/dash and smite are available

5 why it was bandle city themed and not ionia themed? (thought it would be like arena, ionia first then later reskinned to be bandle to be more general

6 why water on one side only instead of a river down the middle like this? (qiyana question

7 is the recall empowered/baron ver? else just walking back to base seems more practical most of the time

8 cannon minion not worth more points?

9 cappa juice available?

10 will little legends show up like in aram? potentially even helping in battle like the SR jungle pets?

Originally posted by korro90

Was K'sante able to get back into combat?

Or would they both retire in Brazil?