Looks like I got my internet connection back just in time. Miss Fortune, the newest champion to hit the League, is on release notice for next week.

Take a look at Miss Fortune’s official ability list:
Double Up: Miss Fortune fires a single bullet at an enemy target, dealing [damage to] that enemy and another target behind the first.

Impure Shots: Miss Fortune passively increases damage dealt to a target with each strike. This ability can be activated to increase Miss Fortune’s attack speed and cause her attacks to lower healing received by the target.

Make It Rain: Miss Fortune unleashes a flurry of bullets at a location, dealing waves of damage to opponents and slowing them.

Bullet Time (Ultimate): Miss Fortune channels a barrage of bullets into a cone in front of her for 2 seconds, dealing damage plus bonus damage based on her attack damage or ability power per bullet, hitting up to 8 times on each target.

Strut (Passive): Miss Fortune gains an additional 25 movement speed after falling out of combat for 7 or more seconds, increasing each second up to 80 maximum bonus speed.

Miss Fortune is the second pirate to join the League, and she follows pretty closely in Gangplank’s speedy footsteps. Her passive is a movespeed bump, she has a healing debuff, a targeted shot, and “Make It Rain” sounds an awful lot like a mini-Gangplank-ult. Really, she’s like Gangplank 2.0, because that ult sounds devastating. At rank 1 it will hit a target for as much as 325 damage, on top of whatever other skills she’s throwing at you. She looks to be a very strong ganker, so I’d assume we’ll see her mid often.

I’m decently excited about her release. I really enjoyed Gangplank for a time, but he doesn’t have much presence these days. I wonder if Miss Fortune will be able to replace him.

A post from RiotChris today indicates that we are getting pretty close a release-ready Mac client for League of Legends. Chris asked for players willing to test the Mac client to post in his thread in general discussion. You can bet your sweet ass I signed up.

I’ve been pining after a Mac client ever since I started playing LoL. It would be great to take on the road, and I know a few people who would likely get into the game if it worked on a Macbook.

If you’re interested in testing, be sure to post in the thread. Chris said the pool would be limited, but who knows, maybe you’ll get lucky.

On a side note, I get full service internet back tomorrow, so we’ll be back to full service Fearless Gamer as well. I’m pumped. I hope you are, too.

A few days ago I made a post regarding the recent instability issues with Riot servers, a post that seemed to resonate with a lot of you. In case you missed it, RiotChris dropped by this very blog to respond to some of those concerns, and he was followed shortly by Marc Merrill, the president of Riot Games, who linked his own response to the situation from the League of Legends forums.

Here’s what RiotChris (who is Chris Enock, the company’s Director of Marketing) had to say:

We are sorry that we have been having server stability issues and growing pains recently. Fixing them and making a better player experience is our company’s top priority.

We are as frustrated by the server issues, and we will be taking time to bring everyone up to speed on what we are doing to make the issues better. I know it doesn’t help you play the game, but I can tell you that all the problems are due to the growth – if it was just a matter of buying more servers we would do so instantly – and the cause of the problem is rarely the same issue twice because we fix the problems. Of course none of that makes LoL available to play, but our top men are also working on improving the server stability night and day.

- RiotChris

First of all, I want offer my thanks for your response, Chris. On the official forums it’s one thing – players either go there or they don’t, and it doesn’t exactly feel personal when that’s the only place we see an official response. You guys (meaning the readers, not Riot) have chosen this blog and continually choose to come back, which has made the time I spend writing here infinitely worthwhile and interesting, and the fact that Chris not only reads here, but decided to comment does feel personal, sounds informed, and seems empathetic. Despite a few blunders, I do think Riot is among best developers around in terms of community involvement and outreach, and anyone who has spent time in the customer service industry knows what a horrible, mad bitch of a task it is to keep people happy.

President Marc Merrill’s response further edified the good vibrations RiotChris delivered with a detailed look at the source of the recent issues and the efforts currently underway to resolve those issues (make sure you read his post as well as the service post he links). I had a good feeling that LoL was growing fast. I had no idea it was more than doubling the game’s audience every three months (which could mean a lot of things, but empirically means the game is exploding). That kind of growth would be hard for any young developer to keep up with, and it would be unfair to Riot to not bear in mind the company’s youth.

The takeaway message here is “stick with it.” I think we can all agree that the game is a lot of fun – it’s complex, exhilarating, and interesting enough that I can write about it every single day, and often in a positive light. Though the current stability issues are frustrating, even infuriating at times, there are “top men” working on them, and those top men really are invested and interested in what we, as a community, have to say.

N.B. – I’m really sorry about the delays on posts this past week. Moving in North Carolina in late August is horrible, but it will be done by the middle of next week. Things will return to normal. I will be my typically witty, charming, and timely self, soon.

Though today is just barely slower than yesterday in terms of work and moving responsibilities, I can’t hold back on my patch impressions any longer. Yesterday’s patch had some sweeping impact on the state of the game. Urgot brings another new skill type to the game with his swap, but maybe more importantly, both Heimerdinger and Shaco caught significant nerfs – nerfs that could drop them off most players’ ban lists.

I’ll put together a complete Urgot review a bit later today, but for now I’ll say that he seems to have been designed as an Ezreal counter. The stun/swap combo means Arcane Shift only takes Ezreal back to the front of the battle, instead of outside harm’s way. He’s also extremely mana efficient as he harasses, so it’s easy to see him taking mid against a lot of the squishier carries.

The Heimerdinger and Shaco nerfs will be getting a dedicated post as well because they are so big. Riot has always said that it would trickle nerf, but in my mind they should have considered both toons for significant remake if they were planning to nerf this hard.

On to the less significant changes. Kog’Maw caught a rework to his Caustic Spittle, which now provides passive attack speed bonus in addition to the armor penetration active. Kennen also got most of the proposed changes. He now gains armor and magic resistance while in Lightning Rush, Maelstrom can hit more people, and Surge got an AP buff. In my mind it makes him highly desirable. Vladimir was only half nerfed – his Transfusion has a slightly smaller range but his Tides of Blood is larger.

Malphite also got some nice changes. He should be more mana efficient, and his Brutal Strikes now also grants bonus armor, synergizing with Ground Slam and providing some nice staying power, especially in the jungle. Lastly, Soraka got a small tweak in that her Infuse provides half mana to the target and half to her (Soraka gets the full amount on self-casts). Mana cost on her heal has also been marginally increased.

The last change that is actually very cool is that elixirs can be purchased when you have six full slots and will auto-activate. No more selling and repurchasing items.

That’s about it for the patch. The other posts I mentioned here will be up in short order (especially now that the servers are set to ‘busy’).

I’m moving in about a week so my days have become increasingly hectic and I’m starting to lose sleep. It’s not that I’m worried, there’s just a lot to think about so I end up awake fairly late at night twiddling my thumbs. The obvious solution? You guessed it.

I make the distinction between night and day because night games are a very different animal. While daytime I usually expect someone on either team to know what they’re doing, nighttime that cannot be assumed. Late night games are this crazy hodgepodge of people playing toons they don’t know, crazy level one teamfights, complete and utter indifference to teammate requests for help, the same indifference toward map and buff control. I know, it sounds a lot like normal ranked games, and it is, just turned up about a hundred decibels and driving a ninety miles an hour toward a flaming brick wall. Heimer doesn’t get banned. Are you starting to see what I mean?

In a way it’s been a lot of fun. I stopped placing much stock in ranked queues a while ago, so it doesn’t bother me much that I’m seeing players go well into the double digits on kills again, or that games swing violently back and forth between one side’s advantage and the other’s. It’s been hectic in an enjoyable way.

Urgot has officially been given his “new champion approaches” post, which means we’ll likely see him on Tuesday or Wednesday of the upcoming week. Here’s his official ability list:

Acid Hunter: Urgot fires an Acid Hunter missile that slows the target. The Acid Hunter missile locks onto enemies afflicted with Noxian Corrosive Charge.

Terror Capacitor: Urgot charges up his capacitor to gain a shield. While the shield is active, Urgot’s physical damage is increased.

Noxian Corrosive Charge: Urgot launches a corrosive charge that damages enemies in an area and reduces their armor.

Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser (ultimate): Urgot charges up his Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser, gaining armor and magic resistance and swapping positions with his target. After the swap, his target is slowed.

Zaun-Touched Bolt Augmenter (passive): Urgot’s attacks reduce the damage that his target deals.

As a few people mentioned on my original Urgot post, the release of new champions seems a little too fast, at least for the IP cost/RP price Riot currently has in place. There hasn’t been a champion lower than 3150 in a long time, and most of the recent releases have been at the 6300 IP release. With the rune page release, I decided to try out some of the silly utility runes, I’ve spent a solid 18k IP or so over about a week and a half. Making that 6300 IP every two weeks could become a bit of a chore. And don’t even recommend I spend $10-$12 on that new guy. The new skins have been good enough that any money I spend on this game will be going toward those (when they go on sale), not new champions.

All of that said, I’m still excited about the champion. Vengeful Spirit was always one of my favorite toons in DotA. Hopefully this guy will be another fun support/tank.

Sorry for the absence of posts yesterday. I was fairly busy in the morning and then we ended up losing power in the afternoon due to some monstrous storms and I didn’t get my net back until this morning. There is good news, though! Urgot has made his official forum debut, which could mean he’ll be ready for release next Tuesday.

Here’s his text:

Some stories bring new meaning to the phrase: “cautionary tale,” and I’m pretty sure that this one qualifies. Meet Urgot, the Headman’s Pride. As you might be able to tell, this bloke’s seen a few scrapes in his life and, by this point, is a bit the worse for wear. While he may not be winning any beauty contests, you’re really got to admit it, the guy’s got style. Unless, of course, you’re an arachnophobe. Then the two of you might have issues. Be on the lookout for Urgot as he scuttles his way onto the Field of Justice in the coming patch.

The concept art offered just reinforces the fact that he is super freaking creepy. You can find his skill list at my original Urgot post.

A few weeks ago I asked if you guys would be up for some Monday night in-house games and it looks like we can finally kick it off tomorrow night! You guys up for it? The name in the title will be the name of the chat room I’ll use to get the night started. Chat room. Read that again. I don’t want you to miss out on games because you tried to join a practice game instead of checking your chat rooms. For the uninitiated, just click the little chat bubble at the bottom of your PvP.net client and click the little door picture. Type “FG LoL Mondays” into the text field and you’ll be in the right spot.

From there we’ll figure out how many games we can get together. Hopefully we’ll have at least 10 for a solid 5v5, though I’d be more than willing to run 4v4 on SR. I will say our minimum is 3v3. Below that I think we’ll scrap it and push it for the next week. Feel free to invite your friends along for the fun. Also, if anyone has a vent they’d be willing to donate for the evening, that would be fantastic. I may be able to procure one, but it’s doubtful.

UPDATE: How about a time! I’ll be starting things up at 9:30PM EST. Be there.

As an aside, you get some strange results if you type “be there or be square” into a Google Images search.

Some of you may recognize the name Jon St. John. Yeah, he has a badass name in real life, but he’s also done voice acting for one well-known and incredibly delayed badass: Duke Nukem. Well, Jon St. John has a new project, and one that could be of interest to LoL players. He’s doing voice acting for Valve’s version of DotA.

I don’t really have any details, and frankly, the DotA moniker comes from JSJ, not from Valve. What we do know is that Valve hired IceFrog (the mind behind DotA (along with Zileas)) to make something to please DotA fans. Jon St. John posted to his Twitter account this weekend that he has been doing voice work for DotA at Valve Software. I’m not sure why he would call out the name of the game without hearing it from Valve, and if they didn’t give him the go ahead, you can bet he wouldn’t be talking about it.

This doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot for the LoL community, but it could be bad news for any HoN fans out there. I’ve played a bit of HoN and been completely unimpressed, so it’s not like the name DotA will kill a game like LoL. It could kill HoN, though, especially with the kind of money Valve has. What could be a problem for LoL is just that – the money.

Valve could very easily sweep in on LoL territory with more bank, more developers, but more importantly, more support. With better server uptime and the bankroll to back a quicker development cycle, Valve could make a dent in the LoL player base. That’s not to say Valve will do that, just that it could with the resources it has. Valve was notoriously slow with some of the TF2 developments, though, even if TF2 has a massive player base. Let’s also not forget that IceFrog did work on HoN, and we can all see how well that’s going.

In short, I think it’s totally possible that Valve is working up a DotA clone and it has the potential to make a bit of a stink for the big players in the MOBA world. There are so many variables, though, that Valve has a long way to go before

I don’t know how Riot expects me to pony up the cash necessary for all these great skins. The company announced yesterday that Hillbilly Gragas, Emumu, and Deep One Kassadin are now available. We already knew about the Kassadin skin from the “community inspired skins” announcement, but those other two are just incredible. Emumu made me laugh out loud the instant I saw the splash screen.

If you haven’t seen it yet, Groovy Zilean has to be one of the coolest skins in game. I caught a game with a guy yesterday that had one. Great stuff.