[2021] Reckoning AMA with the Devs and Friends

Originally posted by FrodaN

I'd love to get some insight into how far along we are into developing spectator mode.

• What are some features you're excited about?
• What hurdles are you encountering?
• Any major milestone that's been recently cleared?
• Are we still confident that spectator mode will be available for the Set 5 world championship?

Originally posted by iglootheraptor

I've been wondering about the spat items. With the previous sets, they all had their own unique item icons, but this time they just have the trait's icon itself. I can see why that'd be desirable when there's effectively double the spats, but I was wondering- will this system continue for future sets when there's not so many spats?

Also, I was wondering what the idea behind revenant spat is. It's effectively just a GA, isn't it? It's not bad of course, but what's the point of putting it on someone when you can just give them a GA?

In that same line, there's a couple synergies that don't have higher, normally-impossible tiers while others do. For instance, Revenant only goes up to 3 with there being 3 revenants and a revenant spat. Abomination goes up to 5, but there's 4 abom units and the abom spat. What's the decision behind this? If I remember correctly, in earlier sets (set 3 at least, I think?) Mort said you try to have a breakpoint if you could reach one with 2 spatulas (so as a quick example, if there were 7 redeemed, then there'd be a 9 redeemed breakpoint in case 2 redeemed spats). Would more breakpoints be added in the future?

Thanks for making TFT :-D

Originally posted by GR488Y

Hey! Is there any news on a dedicated iPad or Tablet App for TFT? Been playing lots of games on my iPad and would love the possibility of playing at native resolution!

Originally posted by Due_Cartoonist4290

If spectator mode would come to tft PC for us, will it also come with a match replay system?

Originally posted by BigBlackSwords

Im not sure how feasible it would be to implement but I think it would be fun to include some of the old sets as a temporary game mode. I know this is not a question about set 5 but the set is great and I have nothing to say about it, keep it up!

Originally posted by Ayz1533

Hey y'all! Thanks for doing this. Question, do you think we'll see any adjustments to unit traits in the near future?

This could just be my opinion, but Nidalee and Riven feel backwards on Skirmisher vs Legionnaire. Additionally, Skirmishers could use a true ranged character (I wouldn't consider Nidalee one because she converts after ~3 seconds) and once she's in cat form, AP benefits her more than AD but she gets Skirmisher scaling for AD, so she just feels clunky and I think Legionnaire fixes this by giving her attack speed.

Legionnaire seems to make her item build path a bit more logical.

Just curious if there have been thoughts about this for her and potentially others.

Originally posted by DrPelipper

I want to talk mid set updates. Are the changes made typically targeted at units/traits the team considers problematic? Or is it for other reasons? I've enjoyed both of the ".5" sets more than the previous iterations, but it sucks seeing awesome units like Set4 Jhin or Set3 MF go. Thanks for all your work!

Originally posted by Silver_Arm_7339

Hi! Is there a chance to have an ingame tooltip for all the spatulas combinations? By default it's only with pure/uncorrupted one, and i dont really like having a cheat sheet to tab to for this...

Originally posted by BleedingCatz

In league, you can easily measure frustration by looking at champion banrate (maybe in the context of pickrate and win% too). For example if something is banned often but has low winrate and is not picked regularly, it's safe to assume that people find the champion frustrating to pay against.

Without an obvious proxy for frustration like league has, how do you measure this in TFT?

Thanks for the AMA (and an amazing game)!

Originally posted by Best_Jhinx_NA

Thanks for doing this! How much do you have to keep the four cost carries in mind when you make a design choice, knowing that the majority of the metas will revolve around them?

Originally posted by bucketsofmercy

1) Any plans on changing the 1/3 hotkeys to rotate vertically vs around the minimap?

2) Regarding the item layout that briefly appeared in PBE where they were in neat rows + could view in carousel but couldn't see opponent items, has their been any movement on that potential feature?

Originally posted by nxqv

I feel like there is this trend of resistance shred on 5 cost units coming to dominate the unit's kit - we saw this with Yone and we see this now with Garen and Darius. It seems like these units eventually get balanced around how powerful this effect is, to the point where the rest of their kit becomes almost totally irrelevant. (At least Garen is also a super tanky boi.) Additionally, the existence of these units makes items such as Ionic Spark, Last Whisper (and especially Final Whisper), and Dragon Claw less than desirable considering how finite your item pool is.

Has the team thought about removing the shred effect from these units entirely to allow both the units' design and all these impacted items to really shine? And if the answer is "yes, but we decided not to," why?

Originally posted by Edonculation117

What are each of your favourite champions and/or favourite synergies in this set?

Originally posted by DesmonReddit

I loved the Ornnaments, who’s idea was that??

Originally posted by CptNova

Hi everyone at Riot, I love the game, and played from set 1, played LoL before that since season 2 or something.

First question: Do you consider ever doing a "cooperative" mode, something like the Dota Underlords one ? Like a 2v2v2v2v2v2v2v2 ?

Second question: how did the covid impact your production process ? Are you working remotely? Do you consider foreign developers now that remote working is more widespread ?

Last question: do you recruit game developers ?

Keep up the good work and see you on TFT or LoL, or runeterra !

Originally posted by naturesbfLoL

What is the best tft-related twitter post of all time?

Originally posted by bucketsofmercy

How many people total are on the TFT team? How many people does it take to make this game?

Originally posted by _draega

This is not a question, so feel free to skip it if comments aren't allowed. (I kept it brief, I swear!)

I just wanted to express a little gratitude and say thank you for the hard work and effort all of you invest into this game. I also would like to commend you, as a team, for the dedication and time you devote to the players and to your involvement with the gaming community. I've been a gamer for quite some time, across many genres and platforms, and in the past it has been all-to-rare to experience the level of transparency that I've witnessed with TFT.

You are all crucial to the overall success, but I think Riot_Mort deserves an extra amount of recognition for making himself even more available, often donating his personal time to provide information and answers to players. (P.S. I apologize once again for the Discord pings...😉)

So, thank you all, and I hope to see you in a game lobby sometime!

Originally posted by MrPepsy

Will u plan to add chromas for victorious little legends for each tier? so far its pretty unsatisfing to get in masters+ the same reward as someone who played just 5-10games to get gold.

Its not that i just play for reward or so but it kinda feels meh at the end of the season..

And the emotes are also kinda meh, when u just can equip 4 at a time

if there would be some higher chromas for victorious skins i probably would use them instead of my beloved spacemolediver :D

Originally posted by StarChar21

Thank you for doing the ama.

I have friends ask me all the time why in the TFT tab in the client, there is only data about the pass and no data about the actual game.

Are there any plans in the future to add in more data about TFT in the client?

Kinda like how for League you can look at all the items, patch notes, and champion details. It'd be really cool if the TFT tab had more sections to it like all the other tabs in the client.

Originally posted by Hell_Derpikky

Quick and simple, if im in the last place, why do i have to fight with the one who is in the first place (sometimes with streak)?
is "kinda" unfair and sometimes estressfull

Originally posted by eilidh_mac

The shadow qss and the shadow zephyr seems like unstoppable object meets immovable rock. How did the team decide which works against which?

Originally posted by ForgivenShanque

How does the team plan to keep developing TFT from the assets of League? Coloring units and reusing skins for different sets has been really creative but I'm wondering if running out of ideas is a concern for the future?

Originally posted by NoFurtherObligations

PORO LITTLE LEGEND PLEASE ??!!

Originally posted by KinglyO

u/Leelor, can you talk a bit about the process of creating the introductory tool tips and mobile onboarding in general?

Getting people into a new game can always be a tough challenge, and there’s lots of strategies people take. Were you able to base yours on initial user testing, or did you have to wing it and guess what people might need the most help to grasp? / how did deciding to include the team builder feature play into this?

Originally posted by marcel_p

Who's going to win the Riot Race to Challenger? My vote is on Kent (sorry Mort).

Originally posted by __fujoshi

This question is for anyone and everyone: is a hot dog a sandwich? Why or why not? Please defend your position.

Originally posted by twonsoon

I just tweet this out to Mort before I realized there was an AMA.

I saw an interaction where Shadow Warmogs damages triggers stacks for a normal Titans. Is this an intentional design?

Originally posted by Rigeroni

Are there currently any plans for making some shadow items easier to see on the carousel? It’s a bit hard to tell on mobile if sojin or gunblade are normal items or not in particular.

Originally posted by ergonomicjones

Hey team, thank you for your continued amazing work on TFT and thank you in advance for taking my questions. Two questions--

1) One of my favorite ideas ever to have been in TFT was the Mountain Hex from Rise of the Elements. Building an unkillable uber-tank Braum or Dr. Mundo over the course of a game was truly a delight in every sense of the word and extremely gratifying. A similar concept was revisited in Warlords last set, but those were capped after a certain number of wins. Any plans to revisit this idea units scaling infinitely over the course of an entire game? What do you guys think of the concept ?

2) Ever since the introduction of overtime, traits that have healing or regeneration as their core mechanic has suffered an indirect nerf. It seems unfair that other traits maintain or even amplify their core mechanics in OT while healers/lifestealers suffer because of the OT reduction. Any thoughts on how to balance this in the future? Perhaps only grant healing reduction from items instead?

Lots of love and thank you.

Originally posted by RiotKent

NEW PATCH I'M ABOUT TO GO 1111111 TRUST

Originally posted by B2Munchy

Hey guys.. First of all thanks soooo much for creating, maintaining and improving this wonderful game so far.
I got 3 questions:

1- I love the work you guys put in the little legends and overall game visuals.. but still
Are you guys (or riot) open to design popular characters as little legends, arenas and booms?.. Personally i would love the possibility to have Sans from Undertale as a little little legends and blasting others with Gaster blasters.

2- It would be great if there is a portal or a tab in the league client (and maybe the mobile version as well) that contains all the info about tournaments, B-Patches and other fun/competitive information that's not easily available.

3- I'm just curious about your ideas/visions on how this game can even grow more in popularity and numbers.

Thanks so much for the AMA guys and for making my favorite game.

Originally posted by Inxplotch

So in set 3 we very briefly had models on the unit cards in the shop, which were ugly but visually more clear. Since then we’ve had splash arts for cards and personally i havent had much trouble with them until this set. I’ve been having a hard time quickly recognizing certain units, especially ones utilizing newer skins or ones that look same-y on the card (like mordekaiser and ivern being two close ups of masks).

So my question is, whats the process that goes into trying to make units recognizable as the character themselves while still making them fit the theme of their tribe. Have there been any clarity issues that have arisen and how do you hope to handle them? Were there any big problems in developments in terms of art or visual design that had to be overcome for this set.

Also, second question for Mr. Mortimer Dog, who on the tft team do you blame when you get, as the saying goes, “mortdogged”? Maybe statikk or kent? Your evil twin Dort Mog?

Originally posted by findmenextdoor

Gunmay here, 2x retiree and the absolute beacon of positivity in the TFT community (trust).

I actually have a real question, when y'all scrap a set mechanic what kind of discussion do you do when it comes to maybe keeping certain aspects of a mechanic for the future sets and introduce it as a part of the core game mechanics? I'm asking because I think that after Reckoning is gone and Shadow Items are gone with it, I still think the part of the set mechanic where we're allowed to pick an item on stage x-2 is fantastic and has opened up for a lot more options through the whole game and I'd personally love to see that be part of the core game as the game moves onto the next set.

I think for example there is stuff like with Set 2 elemental hexes incentivized positioning tradeoffs for power which introduced more positioning mind games and made certain items go up in value like Zephyr and stuff like that is something I wish we would of seen more off, even if it was "remade" to fit the theme of whatever set we were in.

Originally posted by RiotGreenTeej

I'd say combined at least 200 years of developer experience

Originally posted by Glitterkrieger

Which Choncc is the best?

Originally posted by QueenKisses

Hi Riot, so I love League, TFT, Valo and everything that you release and will release of course. But I have one query and that is for the current update for TFT, don't you think you're making the Coven comp too weak now? I mean our Coven girlies are nerfed ok, but also nerfing the whole Coven synergy... don't you think it will make them ummm underwhelming now?

Thank you and more power to all of you at Riot <3

Originally posted by Riot_nicolo

Do you plan to keep doing an awesome job and keep supporting TFT for years, if not decades to come?

Originally posted by ShirooChan

Have you guys ever tried to implement a patch wherein when you right click an item to see the item list, you could then hover to the item itself to see the details of the item? I'm a pretty casual player and that's definitely one of the things I always deal with.

Originally posted by waitidgaf

How far along are you on the next set? If not, when does that begin? Just curious how far out the upcoming sets are planned.

Originally posted by SpiralRavine

Now that TFT has proven to be the premiere auto-battler by outlasting all of the competition, what are some of the future plans for growth of the game? The genre as a whole seems to have fallen out of popularity: is the death of the competition worrisome, or is it an affirmation of your efforts in creating the best iteration on the market? I'm curious to know how you guys are viewing the landscape now that we're about two years into the genre's lifecycle. Thank you for all the dedication you've put into the game! It's refreshing to see big developers continue on with smaller projects at a time where some games are developed and abandoned within six months.

Originally posted by bangarrang16

On the celestial game board there's a little purple poro with horns that wanders around. Can i get rid of it?

Originally posted by noctghost

What made you decide to go for a Sets approach instead of an ever evolving set (like HS Battlegrounds does it)? Have you encounter resistance from the more casual players when suddenly find out they have to learn the game from scratch or have the new sets been better for attracting players overall?

Originally posted by Glitterkrieger

Which Choncc is the best?

Originally posted by screamssss

Will there ever be a way for mobile users to see what a character’s spell does before buying them? You can do this on PC by hovering over them in the shop but right now for mobile you have to buy the unit or just know. I feel like it could be done by adding an icon onto the units in the shop like an eye or an info button that, when pressed, opens a little box that has the description explaining the spell

Originally posted by DazBrakomir

A hot dog is most definitely a sandwich. It's primary delivery mechanism is bread, which is its main qualifier. You might be saying to yourself "But Daz.. a hot dog is only one single piece of hinged bread, not two separate slices". While you would be accurate in thinking this, I will point you to exhibit A.. The Lobster Roll.. it uses the same delivery mechanism of a single piece of hinged bread, yet is clearly accepted as a sandwich.

Originally posted by SNES-1990

Is there a non zero chance we'll see chosen return in a future set?

Originally posted by Ayz1533

Random question. Lux doesn't appear to benefit from a standard Ruunan's when it comes to her ult. Is this intended?

Originally posted by Riot_nicolo

Do you plan to keep doing an awesome job and keep supporting TFT for years, if not decades to come?

Originally posted by PeterPetrik

Hi guys ! I love the game on mobile but it's far from polished in my opinion,there is no match history which feels really bad,l so my question is - Are you planning to do any QoL or UI changes on mobile version of TFT or the game will stay the same for uncertain time ?

There is a problem where if you get matched with PC players in a lobby you almost never get a chance to compete for top 1 because of inability to quickly sell champions from the bench. Can you add something like double tap on champion on the bench to quickly sell him or something like that ?

Originally posted by Carryusdarius

I appreciate you answering… but doesn’t this feel even a little bad to have to say? Riot’s been around the block with mobile now, Wild Rift’s utter excellence is a sign of that. TFT mobile didn’t exactly launch yesterday, it launched over a year ago? Seems really bummer that even if you can’t make a full-blown app for tablets, having basic graphics options that are “change at your own risk” is a reasonable thing to expect by now.

At any rate, no flame, no judgment - I appreciate you, but this is a wee bit less than I expected by this time, exacerbated by how top notch Wild Rift is - which I 100% understand is an unfair comparison where that game was made for mobile from inception.

Originally posted by Due_Cartoonist4290

It would be nice to just pop in a friend’s game and spectate and talk with them about it, instead of having to do something like streaming it with discord. But I understand it probably takes a lot of work for something that wouldn’t be very useful

Originally posted by 328382943

Have you fixed the bug where when selling champions with a spatula item they keep the trait?

Are you working on making it so when you check enemy champion's abilities they don't only show the 1 star value or is that low priority?

Originally posted by Bombabo

What were some of the funniest bugs that you encountered during testing?

Originally posted by Ou7runna

Are there any plans to make it easier for new players to get into the game? While learning comps becomes a little easier over time, there are so many items and it’s incredibly difficult to understand what to plan for and what works on what champs and in what comps. Especially on mobile where you can’t even see combinations on already equipped items, the learning curve is super high.

Originally posted by ShirooChan

Have you guys ever tried to implement a patch wherein when you right click an item to see the item list, you could then hover to the item itself to see the details of the item? I'm a pretty casual player and that's definitely one of the things I always deal with.

Originally posted by KinglyO

Thanks for the reply! Cool to know you also worked on the onboarding for LoR, I was wondering about that but didn’t want my question to be too crowded!

Awesome to hear you’ve got resources to do user testing, it really is crucial IMO.

Are there plans to implement the team builder on PC? Given there’s so many web tools I can see why not, but not everyone has a second monitor/a pc that can alt tab reasonably quickly.

Another question. Since the new shadow items require a bit more knowledge (studying? exposure?) to grasp than other set mechanics, did you guys have a conversation about including a mini-tutorial for that in-game? I know mort is trying to avoid introducing things that might help each set get solved quicker (tysm for taking this stance /u/riot_mort <3 ), but I’m curious if there was conversation about the trade offs between trying to get people over the hump with understanding a foreign set (especially on mobile where I’d assume the percentage of players who are new and less familiar is higher) and making sure people still feel motivated to try out all kinds of different strategies.

Thanks again for your time and caring to answer questions!

Originally posted by CounterfeitCast

Do you mean by this the spectator mode won't be useable outside of Riot either from friends list or custom (unranked) lobby?

If so, that's bitterly disappointing as a TFT tournament organiser, as I'd need to continue to rely on player streams to commentate the competitions I'm running, and would be a huge detriment to TFT grassroots competition of all sizes.

I really hope I'm wrong here because otherwise there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of why people having been asking for a spectator and what that would entail.

As it stands it seems like those calls are being interpreted as "we want this so Riot broadcasts can be better", rather than the more straightforward "I want to be able to watch my friend's game" and from TOs like myself "I want to be able to practically broadcast a TFT event without relying on twitch streams and cameras out of my control."

To clarify, what I'd be hoping for at minimum would be the ability to be a spectator who can change views at will and see the all the player's info we'd otherwise get from watching their stream in real time (shop/gold etc).

Anything more than that would be great, but it's been very frustrating so far to be already be able to easily already reproduce the majority of the desired spectator effect by joining a game and inting out (which is far from ideal and doesn't show the shop) and yet not have a spectator this long, or potentially ever.

Really sorry for the long post, wanted to make sure I was as clear as possible. I'm very passionate about TFT as an esport and don't want there to be a misalignment of expectations on either end.