Category: News (Page 26 of 108)

Hyena Warwick on the way

December 3, 2011 / Jeff Morgan

I have to give credit where credit is due. Bloodybunny, who reads here and plays with us on Monday nights, scoped this story a few days before it hit the forums. He sent me a message the other day saying he expected a legendary Warwick skin, based on the remakes to Warwick’s animations. Wouldn’t you know, we’re now looking at a teaser for Hyena Warwick. Good call, Bunny.

It looks like Hyena Warwick is in the works. I know I say this every time we see a legendary release, but I still have trouble understanding why Riot continues to release legendary skins. I guess people are still buying them. The only problem I have with it is that Riot willfully devalues legendary skins by releasing skins of equal or higher quality for half the RP. Those skins eventually go on sale, cutting the price in half again. It gets pretty tough to justify spending the 1820 RP with that scenario.

league of legends, News, Skins

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Notch passes Minecraft development to his #2

December 2, 2011 / Jeff Morgan

Big news in the game world today is that Notch has passed development of Minecraft to his number two at Mojang, Jens Bergensten. I was surprised at first but it makes a lot of sense. Jens, who goes by the moniker “Jeb,” has become the personable face of Minecraft over the past six months, guiding the community through the glut of development that led to Minecraft’s official release.

In the meantime, Notch has created his fair-share of public snafus. His involvement in social platforms is admirable, especially considering the size of the Minecraft community, but Notch has used his massive fanbase to air more than a little bit of dirty laundry off the cuff. It’s an ugly way to do business, particularly when you consider how much of Minecraft’s development has been a community effort at this point.

That’s only going to increase. Jeb’s primary focus at this point is implementing an API to make modding more accessible. We probably won’t see anything until March, but this is the next big step for Minecraft’s open world.

It’s funny how hot-and-cold I feel about Minecraft at different times. I’m in a cold spell now. We had a huge dearth of content for a while, then a massive boom. Unfortunately that boom required new worlds on a nearly bi-weekly basis, and I just burned out. With API modding I’m sure I’ll get interested again. I like the promise of easy mod access, especially for community run servers.

I realize I’m rambling a bit, but that’s how Minecraft goes for me. It’s a game that slips in and out of my consciousness but something I’m sure I’ll be coming back to for some time. I’m glad to know the game is still in good hands.

Minecraft, News

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Jungle update should be happening tomorrow

December 2, 2011 / Jeff Morgan

The jungle hotfix slated for earlier in the week has been pushed back until tomorrow. Morello’s given us a look at the changes. Here’s a quick preview:

We’re working with a “banking” system that has the big mobs in jungle camps build XP and gold rewards over time after being there for a bit (currently, one minute). This caps out after a certain amount of time as well, and while farming heavily is greater than waiting for the bank to build, the bank lessens the need to constantly farm to keep up.
Why this system?
* It rewards ganks and is a bit less punishing on gank attempts that don’t result in kills for the jungler. After a gank attempt, the jungler can clear the jungle which has scaled a little bit while they were ganking.
* Smart counter-junglers can watch enemy gank patterns, then kill the big monster to steal the bank that’s built and reset it. This adds additional value to counter-jungling in the new jungle on the efficiency side. This will encourage more jungler conflict as well as add tons of opportunities for great counter-junglers to pull ahead.
* It allows junglers to farm and catch up a little better if they fall behind early (Of course, enemies can continue to disrupt this and push the advantage as needed), but the option is there, which creates new strategic options for coming back.

Check back tomorrow for more thoughts.

league of legends, News

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Why is Riot “fixing” the jungle?

November 30, 2011 / Jeff Morgan

Leave Well Enough Alone.

After yesterday’s patch I decided to spend a little time on the forums, checking the reaction to the jungle changes. Yesterday’s jungle patch is the most significant change to the meta we’ve seen in more than a year, or at least it could have been. According to recent red posts, it looks like Riot will be hotfixing the jungle to pretty much keep things as they always have been, the only real change being that low-level summoners should be able to jungle more easily. I’m stuck wondering one thing: why does Riot think the jungle needs “fixed?”

Before you go all ragey on me, let’s consider a few things. First, the game as it currently is hasn’t changed in any significant way in more than 18 months. Having a dedicated jungler has been a staple of the game for so long that people forget what the game was like before jungling became popular. Second, the changes have been live for a mere 36 hours. Even Riot was saying players were complaining too early, but a day later they’ve changed their stance.

I agree that current jungle rewards might be a little low, or maybe they just don’t scale up fast enough, but let’s imagine, just for a second, that Riot left the game as it is. Maybe we’d see more duo lanes top. Wouldn’t that be an interesting twist? Wouldn’t that offer more flexibility in lane choices and in-game swapping? As things currently stand, when a top or mid-lane starts to lose lane, there aren’t many options for them to switch out. With two duo-lanes there are more options for addressing problems once the game has started, not just at the champ select screen.

If League of Legends needs anything right now, it’s more changes like these. Changes that shake things up. Changes that make the game different. Changes that make the game something other than what it has been for two years.

league of legends, News, Patches

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Season Two starts today

November 22, 2011 / Jeff Morgan

Today marks the official start for League of Legends competitive Season Two. If, like me, you aren’t on a pro team or striving to become one, the launch is a bit anticlimactic. All except for the introduction of Ranked Teams.

With the arrival of Season Two, Riot has released the Ranked Team feature. Through the Summoner profile pane you can now create and join Ranked Teams, all of which will hold a separate ELO. It’s a nice feature for allowing players to get ranked with various groups of players at various skill levels. The teams come free-of-charge; all you need is an account with Summoner level 30.

Each Summoner can be a part of up to five teams, which seems generous. I know I definitely don’t play with enough people on a regular basis to get on five teams. It’s pretty nice to have the extra headroom, though. Riot also added a special “Ranked Team Draft” to the invite screen, making it somewhat easier to invite just the people from your team.

Along with Ranked Teams, Riot has put together a competitive minisite for all the competitive news. Check it out when you have a chance.

Will you be making a ranked team today?