Red Post Collection: 5.1 Patch Rundown, Scrapped Champion Abilities, New Friend Discovery feature headed to PBE

Posted on at 4:18 AM by Moobeat
This morning's red post collection includes the context filled Patch Rundown for patch 5.1, several Rioters sharing alternative or scrapped versions of champion abilities tested during development,  a look at the new Friend Discovery feature that is headed to the PBE, and more!
Continue reading for more information!



Table of Contents


5.1 Patch Rundown

Interested in more context on some of the changes headed to live in patch 5.1? Join Scarizard, Ghostcrawler and Jatt for the latest edition of the patch rundown!

"Scarizard returns in the first Patch Rundown of the 2015 season as Ghostcrawler and Jatt join him on set. The discussion digs into what we learned this preseason and where we're going from here, heading into the start of ranked play and the LCS's opening kickoff."
Over on reddit, Scarizard also commented on this episodes lack of a pro player on the show:
"We love having them on! Reasons we didn't go with one here were twofold -
  1. Timing-wise, many pros and their coaching staff are preparing for the beginning of the LCS. Coming back from breaks, scrims, etc. It's a busy time.
  2. Narrative-wise, we were producing this almost as a 'sequel' to the Preseason Rundown - so it made sense to bring back Jatt + Greg for this episode, as we were comparing it to our previous assumptions.
Having Pros / Personalities (Coaches, Non-Riot Casters, etc) is something we're excited about, but due to the timelines we handle in production can make some really tough T_T. ty for the feedback homie" 

Pre-Releasae or Scrapped Champion Ablities

Several Rioters lurking reddit have stepped up to share a variety of in-development or scrapped versions of champion abilities - iterations of abilities that never saw the light of release!

Xelnath jumped in with oodles of examples to share:
"Lux's shield used to give her allies stealth/invisibility until they attacked." [source]
"Ryze used to deal magic damage on his basic attacks" [source] 
"Yorick used to have an ultimate where a line of creeping hands reached out and rooted everyone in his path. (Zyra E)" [source]

"Xerath's ult mode used to have no cooldown and each shot cost 20 mana on a 0.33 sec cooldown." [source]

"Azir's passive (Tower resurrection) used to be his ultimate, except it shot lasers like Viktor E." [source]
"Lucian used to have two independent auto attack timers." [source]
"Rengar's rework used to allow you to get an acceleration gate effect by running through bushes during your ult." [source]
Xelnath also commented on a scrapped Elise ability, noting:
"Elise used to not be able to jump to her target in spider form, but could instead create webs that would ensnare enemies who ran under her."
When asked why it never made it into the game, he explained:
"Not enough time to make it work properly before Halloween."
Xelnath continued:
"It was a different era - back when the question was "what is the best we can do in the time we have left" rather than "is this champion ready to ship?" 
At least, that's what her designer told me. 
Wall tech was far poorer, karthas slow being spammed wouldn't feel very good - and Elise's core kit got changed from mage assassasin to mage fighter. "

Vesh added a few notes on Soraka, sharing:
"Soraka had AoE Mikael's, a Penance look-alike channel heal, her silence zone used to pacify (no attacking in zone - one iteration it actually polymorphed you into celestial lulu cupcakes). 
Trist didn't have anything to crazy. 
The other champion I'm working on updating though... oh man he's had some craaazy stuff."
Janook also noted that Ahri used to be a bit more mobile while in development:
"Holy crap. Ahri, guys. Ahri. That crazy lady could travel across the entire map, so long as she had enough mana. As the say goes, if it's a Colt Hallam champion, it's an OP champion."

Riot Jayway also shared the original concept for Nami's E:
"Nami's E use to be a targeted spellshield. Squad5 made us change that idea very quickly."
Gypsylord also added his own list, including Jinx, Vi, and Thresh!
"Thresh R used to be a targeted buff that turned an ally into an avatar of undeath and gave them 60% CDR (stacked with other CDR) 
Vi R used to be 3 spells. She'd suppress you and then choose to WW R you, Malphite R you, or throw you across the map. 
Jinx R used to be "Circle of Cats." She'd shoot a missile across the map that she could detonate to spawn a donut of magical smoke that would turn enemies into cats ala Lulu polymorph 
Jinx R used to "Carpet Bomb." She'd shoot out a global missile that would drop hundreds of Ziggs Q's randomly around it as it flew. 
Jinx R used to be "Bring Down the Hammer." She'd designate a location on the map and 4 seconds later a giant lazer beam would come out of the sky and annihilate anyone standing in the area."

Still No Details on Refer-a-Friend Updates 

When asked about the current status of the previously mentioned refer-a-friend updates, dArtagan noted:
"Unfortunately, there is no additional/new information that we can provide >.< It is something that we are still looking at and will make a news announcement once its ready for prime time! 
For now, just sit tight!"

New Friend Discovery Feature headed to PBE

In case you missed it in the most recent PBE post, here's MattEnth with details on a new and optional "friend discovery" feature that is headed to the PBE!
"Hey everyone,

In an upcoming patch, we’re introducing a new series of features that’ll help you find and add your IRL friends in League. We’re designing a hub for these features that’ll grow over time. The first of these helps you add fellow League players from your Facebook friends list. Many of you are on Facebook, and already use it to find friends in gaming networks. To us, it makes sense to start there.

When the new hub goes up, you'll have the option of finding friends in League through Facebook. To clarify, you must choose to activate and use this feature. If you do, you'll start seeing friend suggestions near the bottom of your League friends list. From there, you can add your friend or dismiss the recommendation.

You’ll only see suggested friends under all of these conditions:
  1. Both you and the suggested friend have activated and approved the Facebook connection
  2. You aren't yet friends in League
  3. You are friends on Facebook
  4. Neither you nor the suggested friend have ignored the recommendation

When you add a suggested Facebook friend to your LoL friends list, you'll still see them by their summoner name. In this implementation, their Facebook name will be prepopulated in their friends list note so you remember who’s who. You can still change the note afterward if you like.

We recognize that this isn't a feature for every player. A key design tenet for the feature is that nothing changes for players who choose not to use it. We want this feature to be easy to ignore, while still valuable for those who want to beef up their friends list. We also want to make it easy to opt out of the feature at any time and for any reason.

Another key design tenet is privacy. We’ve taken extra steps to ensure that your Facebook info will never be shared with players if you haven't explicitly activated the feature. If you do authorize and activate the feature, only your Facebook friends will ever see you as a suggested friend. Your Facebook info won’t be shared with strangers, won’t interact with your Facebook feed and will never post to your Facebook Timeline for you.

This feature is going to be on the PBE for a while so that we can gather feedback and iterate. We’re not quite finished yet, but we wanted to make sure to get the word out early. I'll be around in the thread with Limely, a designer on the feature, to answer any questions! 
  • MattEnth"
Both Matt Enth and Limely roamed the boards and corresponding reddit thread to answer questions!

When asked if there is anyway for your LoL friends to find your personal facebook rather than the other way around, Limely replied:
"Nope, your League of Legends friends won't be able to find you on Facebook unless you are already Facebook friends. There will be no indication to other players on your friends list that you have even connected with Facebook."
Matt Enth also added:
"There's no way for someone to see how much time you play LoL through this feature, and it won't post anything to your Facebook feed."

As for linking to multiple accounts and on different servers, Limely explained:
"Each League of Legends account keeps track of what Facebook account it is linked to, so you will be able to link your Facebook account to multiple accounts. You cannot, however, link multiple Facebook accounts to a single League of Legends account. 
We will only use your Facebook ID to help you find friends; it not intended as a tool for banning multiple accounts for a single offense. 
As for accounts on different servers, they can be linked to the same Facebook account, but will not receive friend suggestions for players they cannot play with. Additionally, accounts will not be able to be linked if that region does not have this feature live - we are not releasing in all regions at once, so the timing of our release will affect those players. 
Sorry if this is a bit verbose; hope I answered all your questions. :3"

When asked about linking to facebook and if it is reversible, Limely noted:
"You will have to link to Facebook to use the feature since that is how we will find friends to recommend to you. A Facebook link is not, however, required to play League of Legends.

If you try out the feature and you don't like it, or feel uncomfortable with it, you can always unlink your account - friends that you added through the feature will remain on your friends list. :D"
Limely also commented on if the Facebook data will be stored and used by Riot for any other reason:
"I'm glad you're stoked about it! We are really hoping to help players like you find friends to play with or talk to about the game. That's our focus! :3 
That being the case, the information we use from Facebook won't be stored on our end, and so it will not be used for things such as the tribunal cases."

As for if something similar could pop up for Twitter, MattEnth noted:
:We currently don't have any plans to introduce twitter. In our research, the overwhelming majority of players with twitter accounts also have Facebook accounts. Twitter also has what we call the "bi-directionality problem," which is to say that it's technically challenging for us to verify that Person A and Person B have reciprocated following and have both approved the app."

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