[2021] Clarity in League

Original Post — Direct link

over 3 years ago - /u/RiotAether - Direct link

Hey all, this was a hefty blog so I wanna call out a link at the bottom to the Ask Riot question submission form to make sure it doesn't get missed. If there's a specific skin you want us to talk more about, submit it to that link. We think there'll be enough interest to do an Ask Riot followup in about a month, but need folks to put those clarification requests in so we know that interest is actually there, and which skins to cover.

(Storm Dragon Lee Sin gets discussed in the Game Clarity section of lol pls btw)

over 3 years ago - /u/RiotScruffy - Direct link

Originally posted by ThisIsSnake

Hi /u/RiotAether,

Could we please get someting like a 'small updates target patch' list that is official and also totally subject to change?

It feels like Riot has MANY parallel 'small updates' around all kinds of champs, items, and runes in the works RIGHT NOW. These are always exciting and interesting, to look forward to and watch unfold. For every champion update, or new item, or rework, or rune change, scores of players are looking forward to them! The evolving game with communicative devs is one of the best aspects of League. It adds to the experience, frankly,

I just wish we had some clarity on when we might see the changes. I fully respect that we won't get the actual changes until they are fully baked and ready to go, and patch targets are subject to change. It would be nice to have an official update every month or so, just a simple list of 'when' things may show up, or if they are in development. That's all.

As an example, it really sucked waiting 2 years in the dark for the new AP Bruiser items to finally show up. I'm super happy they are in the game now. Yes, they could use tweaks and additions, but they finally exist. I just wish I knew when the tweaks/new mage items may finally show up, even though it doesn't actually matter when. Its an optics thing.

Riot Scruffy (Mark Yetter) said that they want to formalize and increase the output of these small updates here as a sort of new dev pipeline:

https://twitter.com/MarkYetter/status/1360295871758274560 https://na.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/news/dev/quick-gameplay-thoughts-feb-12/

That was great to hear. I would appreciate simply knowing what is in the works and when we may see it. That's all.

This is not meant to be a 'Hate on Riot balance thread'. I'm excited for the future and how the game will change and improve. Signed, a filthy casual player who likes the game and accepts that is a continual work in progress.

Hey this is a good question. The main reason why we end up keeping it more vague with these types of projects is because of the way they are developed.

Most of our work (patches, champs, preseason, skins, etc) are staffed and planned for in a very long term way. We have the full set of people needed and plan around a release date that we can almost always hit.

These smaller emergent updates are the opposite - we look at problems we would like to solve in the game and try to fix them in a more responsive way. Because of the uncertainty of the work it's not possible to have consistent staffing around them - for example one type of project might need a lot of VFX and sound but no animation, but another might need a ton of animation but no VFX. So the way we usually ship these is on a flexible timeline where we catch the spare time of an animator of VFX artist who is inbetween large projects.

This isn't a super satisfying answer because we probably still wont be able to promise clear dates for these projects, but hopefully it explains why we're not communicating them in the same way we would our other work.

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