Hello, everyone?
Before We Begin
This post contains information about work currently in progress or planned, and whether it will actually be released is uncertain. These projects may change in nature, be delayed, or be cancelled as they develop.
If you'd like to see new announcements posted on this topic immediately, please refer to https://twitter.com/RiotMeddler (English).
7.18 Patch / World Championship Balancing Wrap-Up
Balancing work for the World Championship is nearing completion. Before finalizing changes, we plan to evaluate gameplay over the next week, especially pro play in the upcoming 7.16 patch over the weekend. Of course, we are already considering several changes as listed below.
• Possible Buffs – Azir, Ryze, Nidalee, Ivern, Fiora, Urgot
• Possible Nerfs – Kalista, Tristana, Elise, Jarvan IV, Gnar
• Possible Buffed Items – Spellthief's Edge line
• Possible Nerfed Items – Knight's Vow
As mentioned earlier, these are not finalized but merely under consideration. Additionally, most of the listed champions and items do not yet have specific changes decided at the time of this post. Investigation is ongoing, and if we ultimately determine changes are needed in 7.18, updates will be prepared. Of course, these aren't the only changes coming in 7.18; there are already other changes on the PBE.
Reviewing Gold and Experience Work as a Preseason Project
To tell you more about potential projects, there are a few lower-priority projects being considered for the preseason. In terms of gameplay, this preseason's focus will be on runes and the champion and item balance adjustments to complement their impact. In fact, preseason and midseason are ideal for pursuing various systemic changes that are difficult to handle normally. Therefore, this preseason we will examine possible directions regarding gold and experience acquisition. First, beyond simple investigation, we aim to identify areas where changes are definitely needed. Then we plan to select projects that can be completed on time without interfering with the rune work. Since these projects may or may not come to fruition, I remind you again that the following are not finalized changes but current considerations.
• Experience acquisition – overall jungle experience, experience from specific camps (especially the early Raptor camp), experience reliability (how much difference there is/should be between winning and losing games)
(how much difference there is/should be between winning and losing games?)
• Gold – the amount of gold obtained through gold income items, the impact of removing the Bandit mastery on support gold acquisition, and whether simply farming lanes and both jungles after securing vision provides excessive reward for risk-free play
Accelerating Game Start
We aim to make several additional improvements within this year—likely around the preseason as well—to reduce the steps required to start a game. Our current main goals are to shorten the time before minions spawn (early game starts will still allow jungle invades) and to have champion select picks happen simultaneously rather than consecutively two at a time. Matchmaking, of course, is also being worked on as usual, and many updates are implemented incrementally rather than in a single change.