Quinn and Valor AMA Results

Posted on at 3:04 AM by Moobeat
Yesterday, several Rioters took to reddit to host an "Ask Me Anything" about Quinn and Valor, opening up a discussion for summoners to share their questions, comments, and concerns of the heart.
Continue reading for a smorgasbord of answers, from Morello, Volty, IronStylus, RiotRunaan, and Beat Punchbeef, on anything and everything related to Quinn and Valor!

Interested in digging up answers or discussing things yourself? Visit the reddit AMA thread here.

To ease up the reading of this collection a bit, I've separated the questions and answers into five categories: Design, Gameplay, Aesthetics, Lore, and Odds & Ends. Some of them overlap a bit ( esp Design and Gameplay ) but I hope this makes things a bit easier to navigate.

DESIGN

Q: How did the idea of Quinn and Valor come about?
A: Morello - "One tool we have for champion creation is the "Champion Ideation Board." This is a place where ideas are started and teams can pick them up to work on them. 
Quinn started as a loose concept simply called "Falconer." We knew we wanted to find a champion that played up the teamwork aspect that only could exist with a relationship like this, and it also let us do a ranger-style character without needing to be a full-out pet champion.

With this, we tried to make sure it delivered on everything important to that - it's why Valor is part of every skill, so they fight together. It's not master/servant like a lot of rangers, it's more like an Elite K-9 unit, where they're partners working together. 
There's lots of champions on this board - and some die there if the concept looks cool but doesn't work out. Many of the champions you see come from this place at somepoint in their development."
Q: How did you come up with the name Quinn and Valor?
A: RiotRunaan - "We brainstormed a ton of names and came up with "Quinn and Valor" as a group. We wanted something tomboyish and intelligent-sounding for Quinn. 
For Valor, we wanted something that spoke to an idea or quality that Quinn saw in him. Valor reminded her of the qualities she once saw in her brother: honor, ferocity and, most importantly, valor. She gave him the name accordingly. :)"

Q: Did you chose "Quinn" because the game didn't have a "Q" named champion yet ?
A: RiotRunaan - "We chose the name because it fit her. We wanted something short, pointed, and intelligent-sounding, and Quinn really fit the bill. It's also an androgynous name, we didn't want something overly-feminine. 
The fact that it starts with "Q" and finishes up our alphabet is a cool side bonus, though. :D"
Q: Why is it now just "Quinn" on the PBE instead of "Quinn and Valor"?
A: Morello - "Based on a strange bug involving text length in the air Client. We agree this is cool, but there's some odd technical issues there :("

Q: Was Quinn designed first, or her kit? Was her kit built to fit her theme, or vice versa?
A: IronStylus - "We mainly designed around the theme, the rager trope with a twist. Usually Creative and Art coalesce before design do, so we were able to get something very concrete together before design got a hold of her proper."
Q: What is her intended role? A lot of arguments whether she is designed for top lane, or an AD carry.
A: Morello - "AD Carry or perhaps ranged Top Lane duelist. We've looked at her being successful in either, but players will likely find things out about this that we hadn't thought of - which is good :)"
Q: How long was the proces of the making the champions?
A: RiotRunaan - "We started work on Quinn and Valor in May of 2012. Whew!" 
Follow up: Do all champions take that long to develop? 
A: RiotRunaan - "Generally, especially with more recent and upcoming champions, yes. Some take longer." 
Follow up #2: How does it feel to finally release a champion after almost a year of work? 
A: RiotRunaan - "We all feel pretty accomplished, and it's always a bit surreal to see something we've been working on for so long finally get into the hands of players. It's truly rewarding! :)"
Q: Why an attack range of 525?
A: Volty - "Quinn has the tools to get into closer range and fight profitably there. Blinding Assault doesn’t have much of a point if the enemy can’t attack you to begin with. Quinn also has access to Vault which can be used to close a gap from just outside attack range to just inside it."
Q: What was your thought process on putting a Blind on an ADC? And how did you factor in Ranged AD Carries having autoattack disabling skills in the past (Corki's Blind on Phosphorus Bomb and Ezreal's 5 second attack speed debuff on Essence Flux)?
A: Morello - "In this case, we wanted the blind because we wanted her to have a high dueling potential - in the examples like Corki and Ezreal, they already had strong aspect besides that. In Quinn's case, tradeoffs like 525 range and lack of full-out steroids (plus an ult that requires melee) means we could add a Blind. 
With Ezreal and Corki, these were things we didn't understand as fully as we do today - and their kits weren't build to contain that type of power fundamentally."
Q: Corki had a blind but it was removed from his kit. Did you have any reservations about putting a blind in Quinn and Valor's kit? Or did you feel her range and minion potentially blocking the blind balanced the dueling power of the blind?
A: RiotVolty - "This was very interesting to develop. We started with a blind from the very beginning, so we were able to account for it on the kit. 
The blind is short and can be dodged. Minion blocking is also a factor, yes. Its very potent if you use it at just the right moment."
Q: Does every new champion need two sets of abilities? Passive and active in one ability, two forms, ult changes abilities, etc. Feel bad for our older more linear champions who suffer from less champion synergy.
A: Volty - "We've learned some great things in the last year on the pros and cons of developing multi-part kits. Not every recent champion includes tons of multi-part skills though, and I do feel that we're using this approach where it makes sense and avoiding it where it doesn't. 
Quinn and Valor is closer to 1.5 sets of abilities, since you don't replace your base skills during Tag Team, but rather access versions of them that make sense for a melee autoattacker. I was strongly motivated to include Skystrike on the kit because I wanted a cool finale moment to accompany Quinn's return to the battlefield. I'm very happy with the result."
Q: How do you fell about making new champions with skills that are strictly better the old champion skills (ashe hawkshot) this in kinda related to that NA forums post.
A: Volty - "Hawkshot has longer range and persists for longer than Heightened Senses, but it also has a longer cooldown and a cast time.

For Ashe's total kit (Enchanted Crystal Arrow, Volley) Hawkshot makes more sense. Heightened Senses pairs more naturally with skills like Harrier and Tag Team."
Q: What is the reasoning behind making AD Carry with ult changing her into melee fighter? Or is she going to be a bruiserish like Jayce?
A: Beat Punchbeef - "Allowing players to take control of Valor gave us an opportunity to realize the fantasy of being incredibly swift while at the same time creating a strategic niche within the role of AD Carry. There are a number of ways to successfully utilize Tag Team though it was not explicitly designed for her to be a bruiser."
Q: Why did you choose to make tag team only last for 20 seconds? Why not do something like Nidalee/Elise/Jayce? That would have also been really cool IMHO.
A: Morello - "It's a difference between transform and a opportunity ult. By giving it an ult-level cooldown, it can be more powerful when in it and more opportunistic."

Q:Who came up with the idea to give Quinn a super badass flip kick and will this person be receiving the promotion they deserve.
A: Volty - " The kick-off attack is something I'm quite keen on, and have been trying to put into the game in one form or another for some time. Getting the ranges, distances, and timings on this correct has been a challenge, though I'm very pleased by the final result. In particular, we tuned the movement speed of the dash when moving toward the target to be rather high, making this a responsive way to apply a slow. Quinn's speed away from the target is much slower however, giving us time for "visual ceremony"."

Q: Were there ever any iterations where her E was safer to use? Example not being able to get silenced by a Garen when jumping to them? Or have you always liked the risk / reward of how the ability currently works?
A: Beat Punchbeef - "We contemplated the idea of making it safer to use but we have always liked the gameplay decisions presented when Vault makes Quinn vulnerable. Additionally, we preferred to give more power to other places on her kit rather than make this skill 100% effective in all situations."

Q: Why did you nerf her Vault ( E ) slow on the PBE?
A: Volty - "I wanted to rebalance Vault slightly to improve it's value when used as an escape without making it stronger for ganking or chasing. 
We increased the range that you get kicked-back from your target to the maximum possible, but only when you are close to the target to begin with. This improves the value of Vault when used for escape. 
At the same time, we also made Vault place you slightly closer to the target when you use Vault from far away. This helps in the chase / gank case and offsets the loss of movement speed."

GAME PLAY

Q: Since i play a lot of supports i want to know if someone pics quinn for adc, what kind of support should i take?
A: Beat Punchbeef - "It depends on which aspects of Quinn you want to enhance. My favorite pairings are extremely aggressive supports such as Leona. Additionally you can enhance her slippery nature with a peel support such as Janna."

Q: Why did you decide to make the "shape shift" a level 6 ultimate instead of a level 1 like Jayce and Elise have?
A: Volty - "Tag Team is a short period of high power, unlike Elise or Jayce who are "balanced" in their two forms. Organizing the skill in this fashion enables us to also include Skystrike as an awesome finale. Compare Skystrike to the bonuses Jayce receives for switching forms, for instance."
Q: I am also of the opinion that the ult could be problematic in a teamfight. AD carries tend to have a small hp pool and one CC might be enough to get her killed. Are you expecting people to only use the ult for a short time and then swap back and create distance again using E?
A: Beat Punchbeef: "We understand and in fact designed Tag Team knowing that not every button press was going to be 100% successful. However, there are a number of use cases that present high levels of both fun and success. In our experience there are three general ways that Tag Team can be used best: 
Strategic movement across the map. It lasts 20 seconds and gives +80% movement speed outside of combat. That’s more than enough to move from one lane to another or approach a fight from base after recalling. A smart Quinn and Valor will surprise enemies where they don’t expect it. 
Chasing fleeing enemies. Combined with using Vault as Valor (doesn’t kick you off the target) and the in-combat movement speed you can usually catch a running target. Your sustained dps as Valor should usually be higher than as Quinn if the target is actively moving away from you. If they flee to brush you can activate Heightened Senses. And then Skystrike is designed as a finisher. 
Fleeing combat to re-position and re-engage. Not every fight will be started on your terms, and sometimes you might be caught out of position. The movement speed from Tag Team can make the difference in survival, and the long duration is designed to allow you to re-engage on a fight when it makes sense to do so." 
Q: Is Quinn killable during her ult? how does that work? Is the health shared?
A: Beat Punchbeef - "Quinn and Valor share a health bar and are susceptible to death while using Tag Team."
Q: If stuck between an enemy and a wall, could you use vault to launch yourself backward over a wall to escape? Or would it hit the wall and make you stop.
A:Beat Punchbeef - "If there's path-able terrain on the other side of the wall you'll hop over the wall. I've seen people use jungle creeps to make some pretty amazing jukes."
Q: Is Quinn really going to be a adc? Her small range and ultimate makes her seem like a top lane bruiser. Are you guys thinking of buffing her range in the near future?
A: Volty - "There is a lot being made of Quinn's attack range, but also note that she has much higher than average movement speed at 335. This makes a big difference. Her range is (a little bit) short but she has other tools which enable her to fight profitably at this distance."
Q: I read a bunch of people saying she won't be viable at competitive games because of her range and kit. Playing on PBE I disagree, what do you guys think?
A: Morelllo - "She's not standard, much like Teemo or Kog'Maw - we like that because it gives her particular strengths and weaknesses. We heard this about Draven too, who is just starting to be used.

We work to balance it on launch, but to be frank, the theorycrafting is rarely the reality. If we can design champions to have interesting strengths and tradeoffs, then balance is easier than if we make everything an arms race."
Q: Do you think there's enough in her kit to make her truly competitive with other AD carries, given that 1) her escape move is quite limited compared to most popular competitive picks and 2) her ult requires her to go melee, which is a death sentence for someone who stacked damage items unless you've already won the fight and are cleaning up? What is Quinn's role on a team that's behind? Not having played her, it seems like by being behind she'd basically be unable to use her ult in team fights and be too easy to catch out and kill if relying only on vault and a blind to survive. Her kit doesn't seem to have the insane damage potential of Draven or the aoe cheese of MF to compensate for her weak escape and an ult with seemingly limited use in a team fight. Is there something I'm missing?
A: Morello - "She's a more powerful duelist, but a weaker team AD Carry. This allows us to make her have incomparable elements so she doesn't get into a power "arms race" with other AD Carries. When you pick Quinn, strategically that should mean something to your specific strengths - like how picking Kog'Maw means different things for how your team will function. 
Additionally, Quinn has a realistic top lane game as a strong duelist, which can give her some flexibility."
Q: Why the semi-random nature of the Harrier passive? It seems that's where a majority of her damage will be coming from, so why not make it so players have more control over it (e.g. Lux, Varus, Vayne)?
A: Volty- "Harrier has some semi-randomness to it so that it can mix up the lane and encourage confrontation as both sides react to Valor’s choice of targets. 
Thematically the goal is to give a sense of Valor’s independent agency – he usually does what you want without you having to specifically tell him to. This is what separates Valor from other types of companions we've seen before."
Q:Why is Quinn's passive random? Why make it arbitrary?
A: Volty - "It's not actually very random, though what randomness or unpredictability there is exists to convey a sense that Valor is an independent agent who works with you as a partner, not a mindless servant who only follows your instructions.
This said, here are some things to note about Harrier target selection: 
o Valor will attack targets you attack. o Outside of this, Valor will opportunistically mark enemy champions, with some sensitivity to the range between you and them. The closer they are the more likely he will mark them without you attacking first. o Perhaps most enjoyably for Quinn, Valor also like to help you last hit minions, by often marking them when the mark will make the difference between last hitting and not. o Generally, if you are pushing your lane he comes as quickly as possible to assist you. On the other hand if you’re holding back and just last hitting he will help you do just that. o Valor won’t give away your position if you’re hidden."
Q: Alcatraz953 on the German forums asks: what happens when Quinn gets stunned in mid-E? Will the ability finish? Additionally, do enemies see when they're revealed by W?
A: Volty - "Getting stunned or immobilized during Vault will stop your movement, similar to other movement abilities. This does mean that Quinn is vulnerable to getting stunned out of Vault as she closes in. 
Enemies who are revealed by Heightened Senses can see the cast effect, which should tip them off."
AESTHETICS

Q: How did you guys go about picking the voice actor for Quinn? She sounds very feminine despite her outwardly androgynous appearance, was that intentional?
A: RiotRunaan - "We settled on Quinn's voice actress after going through a pretty large set of auditions. We liked that her voice wasn't overly feminine, actually--she's got a bit gravel to her tone, but she's still distinctly female, and I think she stands out extremely well against the voices of other female champions."
Q: What are some particular challenges you faced with developing Quinn that you didn't have with creating other champions? (Any distinct features you HAD to put in Quinn but that had never been done before).
A: IronStylus - "Yes, "what does a Demacian ranger look like?" "What is her personality?" "How do we deliver the companion aspect?" 
A lot of those did present some challenges. We had to keep her Demacian but tone down her look. Some solutions: 
Demacians are all about overkill. They literally scream it. We wanted Quinn to have a bird motif and we were unapologetic in how how adapted that to her costume. We thought somewhere between batman and an elite soldier, costumed but with some feelings of practicality. 
We did indeed give her a lot of avian themed components. Again, this is about as toned down as a Demacian military officer can possibly be, so we were ok with things being overt.
We also put a lot of “story-telling elements” on her which could be used to communicate that she has some history and logistical know-how. Her bird-themed pauldron links into the holster on her back. She has a gauntlet for Valor to land on which has seen some use by the 
We felt that we wanted to flip what was considered a more masculine role (being woodsy, utilizing an animal for a weapon, a loner) and put a strong female in that role. There was an opportunity to take something and twist it a bit, so that’s what we did. With “The Falconer” being a female, this led us to explore the idea of an introspective, intellegent and resourceful young woman. The story became more personal and the animal/human connection felt more symbiotic."
Q: Quinn is a champion who is not overtly sexualized. Is this a new direction for champion design, not to hit the easy clichés?
A: IronStylus - "I think we simply are trying to hit the right notes with whatever is best for the individual champion. It's not so much a pre-determined direction, "oh hey, let's cover up the ladies" It's more of "Oh, that's a cool character". We don't ever really want to make an initiative that so much caters but rather is us driving to make better individual champions. 
For me, it's a bit more intentional to find the fertile ground for non-sexualized champions, but I don't see it as a huge initiative. That's just my style. More broadly, I see it as "Whatever is best for that particular character" If "sexy" is a core theme, then cool! Maybe less clothing! In this case there wasn't really a reason to non-practically expose flesh. Just sort of didn't make sense. 
I think broadly speaking though we don't want to hit cliches. We want to be unique!"
A: IronStylus - "Hi! I did indeed mention that! We felt that we wanted to flip what was considered a more masculine role (being woodsy, utilizing an animal for a weapon, a loner) and put a strong female in that role. There was an opportunity to take something and twist it a bit, so that’s what we did. With “The Falconer” being a female, this led us to explore the idea of an introspective, intellegent and resourceful young woman. The story became more personal and the animal/human connection felt more symbiotic."
Q: I appreciate that in her lore, she hailed from the lower class of the Demacian society. Here in the orient, traditional falconers are generally mountaineers, peasants. However, the notion of falconry and the trope that usually is attached to it is especially in the west is someone 'regal' and 'elegant' and 'alta-society'. What brought about the decision of making her a rags-to-riches character?

Why does her outfit resemble the traditional aquila - not a falconer in a literal sense? Is Valor even a falcon?

Why is her headpiece unnecesarrily ornate for a falconer/ranger?
A: Morello - "We wanted to use the fantasy, but we wanted it to be a bit of a twist. Quinn's visuals have the clarity and cleanliness of Demacia (which is more elegant) while the story makes her less high-society. We think this takes the expectations and put them in a different place, meaning Quinn and Valor are specifically League of Legends' version. 
It's a bit of a special sauce that consists of a number of different flavors to create something a bit familiar, but in a way that has surprises in it. It also develops out some of the non "Rah rah rah!" side of Demacia - important in the long-term world-building of the world." 
A #2: IronStylus - "We wanted to have her be unconventional in terms of Demacian society. We had an opportunity to tell the story of someone who wasn't just in the military and was a hero, or was a rogue who's all go-it-alone. With Quinn in particular we wanted a reason to feel complete because of Valor. She needed to have some loss and some dreams. That's where her brother came in and she was given a reason to hope to live the adventurous life. 
This added more depth in that we could explore her journey of fulfilling that dream and then recognizing that the city life wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and the forests and field were calling her back. 
We wanted some hints of a traditional falconer, but it did need to be fantasy. So, we have a very blown up version of the glove. That was at least a decent nod I feel.
Her headpiece is a different matter. Purely decorative, a bit functional, but very much her main piece of Demacian flair."

Q: What do you think about the discrepancies between drawings of Quinn from the journal pages and her final splash art? Have you seen the negative reaction to it here on Reddit?
A: Ironstylus - "We have seen a lot of feedback on the splash, we're taking notes to see what we might be able to do in the time frame." 
Follow Up: Awesome to hear you guys are listening to the feedback on the splash art. I don't think anyone means to disrespect the artist who made it, but they just seem to have taken so many liberties with the design, it doesn't feel like the Quinn we've already met. 
A: IronStylus - "We are. Whether it's actionable at this point remains to be seen. We're going to evaluate what can be done.
Q: Spellbreaker asked in the BR Forums if not having the Demacian symbol in her clothes was intended and if it was, why?
A: IronStylus - "Actually! If you look near her stomach, she has a modified Demacian wing integrated into her body armor. Also! Valor's head from profile view is the Demacian wing, COINCIDENCE?! INSPIRATION!? A little bit of both =)"
Q: Just a brief thing on Phoenix Quinn: When pitching launch skins for her, did anyone stop and think "Are we really doing another fire skin?" It's a great looking skin, and I love how it looks, but guys, everyone and their mother has a fire skin.
A: IronStylus - "For this, I think it was highly appropriate. We were weary of more fire skins but.. bird.. phoenix, it seemed appropriate!" 
A #2: Morello - "Additionally, we explored the idea of Quinn actually having Phoenix-based powers (like her death and spawn animations!). It contains fire because Phoenix are fiery, but the thematic is really about this type of warrior, more something you could imagine an order of these warriors."
Q: Why so many bows. Why not a ranged ad champion that "shoots" magic looking crap. I just feel ad ranged are very limited in their weapons which almost always makes them a gunner/bow person.
A: IronStylus - "Demacians aren't inherently as magical as other factions I feel, so we wanted something practical but a little beefy. We had to make something sort of crafted, a little more advanced than their traditional arms, but not as advanced as hextech."

Q: Why is there such a difference in "mood" between the concept images and the final splash art?
A: IronStylus - I think it's a bit of a misalignment between departments. We love our Splash bros, they're rockstars. They were dealing with a lot of crunch time and I think there might have been a misunderstanding.
Q: Tropa Elite asked in BR forums why Valor can't be seeing overflying or around Quinn.
A: Volty - "Valor does make an appearance at a number of points, including recalling and spawning, and of course during all ability casts.

There are a couple of reasons why Valor doesn't persistently remain on screen at all times. Valor's position isn't important from moment to moment. A fast-moving but non-clickable object flying around would be very distracting. Thematically Valor is flying high above the battlefield, and moves very fast to take various actions."
LORE

Q: The journal idea was really fun, and it seems like every time IronStylus and the team gets their hands on a champion, there’s always an interesting reveal. Moving forward, can we expect spectacle and suspense like this with every champion? What kind of new ideas do you have planned?
A: RiotRunaan - "I'm really glad you liked the journal! Moving forward, yes, we'd like to do more reveals like Quinn's. I can't guarantee that every champion will get one--we're still in a very experimental phase with these kinds of things. Quinn's journal was highly personal to her, something that might not fit just any champion. For future champions, we want to shoot for a similar goal: something unique, something personal, and something memorable." 
A #2: IronStylus - "We are indeed looking to further the lore effort we put on the front end of releases. Quinn and Valor happened to work in the right timeframe, now that we have an idea as to how long this sort of promotion takes in terms of resources I think we can incorporate similar efforts for coming champions. That's not a guarantee, but it's something we are indeed trying to derive an initiative from." 
A #3: Volty - "I can't be happier with the final journal, this was totally awesome. The short answer is that I want to really drive more things similar to this but as it is makes sense for the champion in question."

Q: Her lore says that she defeated a wanted assassin. Was this Talon?
A: IronStylus - "The assassin she defeated was not Talon, but the Demacian military was convinced was Talon, but Quinn new better.. 
But.. WAS TALON INVOLVED?! 
THE MYSTERY."
Q: All right, lore-questions for future potential fanfics:
  • How long have Quinn and Valor served as knights of Demacia? Are they fresh to the crew, building their reputation on their real-world experience? Are they recent graduates of the academy, passing with ahemflying colors? Or are they five-year veterans of the corps?
  • How connected is she to Shyvana, Jarvan's other protege who also has the ability to fly but is incredibly savage and powerful? Does Quinn fear Shyvana like so many others do, or have they bonded as "outsiders"?
  • Were Quinn and Valor involved in the dragon hunt that found Shyvana?
  • Whom did Jarvan meet first--Shyvana or Quinn?
  • How much does a Demacian Eagle eat? How much can it carry? Is Valor's average air speed greater or less than that of an unladen swallow?
A: RiotRunaan - "
  • They've had some time to climb the ranks and have done very well for themselves, but a lot of the "old guard" still sees them as, well, fresh meat. They're in no way veterans, though.
  • Quinn doesn't fear Shyvana, but I don't think they've had much of a chance to bond just yet. Shyvana keeps to herself and, to an extent, so does Quinn--both of them have a distaste for crowds and prefer to serve society, but not necessarily mingle with it. Eventually, though, they might become friends and relate to each other as outsiders.
  • No, they were not.
  • He met Shyvana first.
  • A Demacian Eagle eats quite a lot and becomes grouchy if not properly fed. As for the second part, well, is the unladen swallow carrying of the Bilgewater or Freljord variety?"
Q: What does Garen think of Quinn?
A: RiotRunaan - "He has a strong distaste for her non-traditional methods and what he perceives to be a lack or respect for core Demacian military training. After her success against the Noxian assassin, he's developed a begrudging respect for her, I think, but they're still going to conflict with each other pretty often."
Q: Does Quinn have any relation to fiora?
A: RiotRunaan - "I think they've crossed paths occasionally. Quinn sees a lot of potential in Fiora, but probably thinks she's wasting it by not truly serving Demacia (essentially, Fiora serves herself).
While Valor basically "agrees" with Quinn about Fiora, Valor's also got a bit of an ego. I like to think that, in certain situations, Valor and Fiora's egos kind of inflate each other. For example... Valor squawks in utter disapproval of Garen, and Fiora chimes in to make fun of him as well, etc. :)"
Q: What more, how does Swain feel of Quinn and Valor, and vice versa?Is there a respect for her intuition, and intellect, or does he compare her to a Dog amongst bugs. Smart, but not as smart as him?
A: RiotRunaan - "I think Swain is pretty wary of her. He's confident he can deal with traditional Demacian militarism--large armies, open battlefields, etc--but Quinn and Valor bring something new to the conflict. As a team, they're a new kind of "soldier". He probably respects her for that alone, at least. Their strengths are unique, something that would be valued in Noxus--but he'd still want to crush her with the rest of Demacia, of course."
Q:What do Quinn and Valor think of Yordles? What does Quinn think of Ashe? What does Quinn think of Swain? What does Valor think of Beatrice and Anivia? ALSO Why does Valor not have his own set of /joke, /taunt, /dance, and /laugh?
A: RiotRunaan - "
  • Quinn doesn't think much of yordles. Valor probably thinks they'd be delicious if he could manage to catch one of 'em (they're so dang slippery--looking at you, Teemo....)
  • Quinn would probably think Ashe would make an awesome hunting partner.
  • Quinn doesn't have any kind of personal vendetta against Swain (though she understands Jarven's particular hatred of him). She considers him a very powerful threat and wouldn't hesitate at the chance to take him out.
  • Quinn's ult is not a persistent transformation, so these weren't prioritized--it's something I'd like to investigate in the future, though, since I do think Valor-emotes would be a fun addition."
Q: Does she have a boyfriend/husband/fancy anyone?
A: RiotRunaan - "Well, she's got nothing going officially, but there may be someone "waiting in the wings"*...
*Ironstylus made me do the pun. HE MADE ME DO IT"
Q: Who made her crossbow?
A: RiotRunaan - "It was specially made for her as requested by Jarvan, but she heavily influenced the design (in the same way that she personally helped design her uniform). Both her weapon and her uniform are one of a kind--while they follow the "acceptable" design of the Demacian military, they are entirely her own."
Q: Are Quinn and Valor able to speak to each other? Or Does Quinn just sorta 'understand' Valor's screeches?
A: RiotRunaan - "They can basically understand each other intuitively. Quinn doesn't "speak bird," but she does understand Valor. As a note, I know her in-game jokes KIND of push this a bit too far, but we thought the idea was too funny to pass up. :P"

Q: Is Valor the last of his kind? The lore mentions Demacian Eagles having long been thought extinct, yet it also mentions it being a rare bird.
A: RiotRunaan - "Demacian Eagles have long been believed extinct. Valor's existence calls that into question--he may be the last of his kind, but a lot of Demacians hope that he's the first of the species' re-emergence instead."
ODDS AND ENDS

Q: Where is Quinn when the ult is active?
A: RiotVolty "Quinn leaps high into the air, high-fives Pantheon, and then returns to the battlefield in a hail of arrows, dealing tons of damage."

Q: Any chance of getting a full blown pet champion? Like a perma-Tibbers that your spells improved or were cast from.
A: Morello - "We'd need to do a lot of tech work to make the pet controls interesting and responsive, as well as make sure this typically passive-style character to have good counterplay. We did try to do something like this with Yorick, but that didn't go as well as we'd liked :)"

Q: How many champions do you think can realistically fit within a trope without stepping on each others toes? In this case I was thinking Quinn overlapped quite a bit with Ashe, as the "Ranger Duet" trope vs the "Frost Ranger" trope, they even share a similar "vision-through-bird" ability.
A: IronStylus - "I think we have a LOT of room to play, especially considering how many factions we have alone. What does an elite Piltover ranger look like? Or a yordle ranger? They could take any form even if they were companion based. Noxus could have a wolf hunter or something, Ionia could have something with a dragon, Piltover.. robots? 
I think there's nearly endless possibilities! We indeed might have some overlap, but that's unavoidable, I think so long as we make them unique and strong characters overlap can be overlooked!"
Q: What's next for "Team Diana"
A: IronStylus - "Welp, short answer: "Some cool stuff". But more granularly I'm focusing n Reworks with Grumpy Monkey. But I have my eyes on a number of champion concepts floating around. When we have the opportunity we'll no doubt join forces for the cause of awesome =)" 
Q: It was mentioned that there’s been a growing shift toward more thematic elements making different factions recognizable. For Demacia, this is an art deco theme. What kind of themes are you planning for other factions, like Noxus? Should we expect to see small, subtle visual reworks to a wide variety of old champions to help them fit these new themes?
A: IronStylus - "It depends which champions might need thematic pushes. Being on Reworks in particular, we know that some champions need a bit more theme told in their story. That means some champions will go further as we flesh out city-state motifs, but some might just want a few tweaks here and there. 
Production comes with its share of hiccups, this might have been one of them. Quinn and Valor have been challenges all around in many respect from concept to completion. It was difficult to figure out what a "Demacian ranger" was, it was challenging to encompass the pet fantasy, and it was challenging later on in the process where we incorporated some pretty sweeping changes in her character model. Some cadence and production elements did contribute to some truncation of the timeline. We're going to see what we can do and where."
Q: Any special in game interactions you can hint about?
A: IronStylus - We had an expansive plan for interactions, but I'm not sure our timeframe accommodated that. I think we might be able to put in some features in the future, but I'm not really sure.
Q: While I do enjoy the champions that have been released lately. I cant help but hope for a more... fun champ. I remember when Ziggs was released, it was in the spotlight or something that you guys wanted to lighten up the champions being released. Arent we due for a fun/goofy/silly champ?
A: Morello - "We are. Stay tuned - we want to have some more fun champions to balance this out."
Q: How much depth went into the choosing of the dance from "Are you that somebody" as Quinn's dance. It seems fairly deep as you can draw parallels to her hunt for "Talon" in the murder a la "Is it really Talon killing these people?", her relationship with Jarvan in so far as "is he the one for me" or perhaps some third parallel that we've yet to understand. Perhaps one related to the deceased Alliyah?
A: IronStylus - "You're going to have to ask Ohmikegoodness on the in-depth for that dance =) 
I am AMAZED you picked it up, and had no idea that the song was so appropriate for this character!"


PHEW! That was a lot of questions and answers! I hope you guys enjoyed some of these responses as much as I did.

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