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      Dominion potentially delayed until October

      September 6, 2011 /

      Things have been extremely quiet at Riot headquarters of late. The forums have been utterly devoid of red posts concerning Dominion, the end of Season One, and the beginning of Season Two in the last week or so. This wouldn’t be all that shocking – Riot has always struggled to provide good communication about timing – but we had been hearing about those things and in quantity for the three weeks or so prior.

      From the time Dominion was announced until about three weeks ago, Riot was pumping the Dominion hype. We got the Dominion minisite, gameplay vids at the major gaming news outlets, plenty of screenshots, and chances to play the game at several industry events. We saw Rioters play pros, Rioters play Rioters. We got excited.

      Next we were told about the end of Season One and the rewards that end entailed. For the first time since the launch of Season One players had something more than just winning/losing/farming IP to worry about. It was a great announcement, and hopefully a challenge a few people enjoyed as much as I did.

      This past week, though, it was dead silent. I thought that meant Dominion was on the way. I thought that meant we’d see it before Q4 of this year, which is when every other game I’ve been excited about for the past several years is coming out. Sadly, that’s probably not the case. RiotRara finally posted in the forums today regarding the timing of Riven and the patch that follows her.

      Here’s the quote:

      Riven, and the changes within her patch, will be coming next week. As we previously announced, Season One will conclude with our next scheduled game update. Therefore we will also be calculating the Season One Ladder rankings and rewards during downtime for this patch.

      Additionally, there will be an extra week (3 weeks total) between the Riven patch and the patch to follow. This extra time will ensure we bring you the best content possible in League of Legends.

      I can’t imagine “best content possible” is code for anything other than Dominion. Three weeks from next Tuesday is October 4th. I’m not impressed, Riot. Not at all.

      Development, Dominion, league of legends, News, Patches

      Champ of the Week: Master Yi Wrapup

      September 6, 2011 /

      That’s right folks – we’re on YouTube. Each week I’ll be providing a video wrapup for the Champ of the Week along with my usual writeup. And now it’s time for shameless plugs: like the video, subscribe, feel free to drop comments. I promise I’ll be checking them.

      Master Yi was an odd champion to kickoff the video spotlights, mostly because it can be so damn hard to dominate with him. If the planets don’t align just right, I end up doing pretty much what I show in the video. I get a decent number of kills but I die a lot too. I overextend. I play a little recklessly. You get the point. In a lot of ways, those mistakes are also where Yi’s magic lies. He can streak under a tower at mach 10, snag two kills, and get out. It’s rare, though, to be able to do that often.

      Yi’s biggest problem right now is survivability. Meditate does give him a little boost, and really I love the way that skill is designed. It has no ridiculous passive stats like Garen’s Courage. It’s not a giant shield. It totally disables Yi while he’s doing it, but it’s an enormous bump to his survivability. It needs something, though. As I mentioned in the video, well over half the champions in the League have a way to interrupt Meditate and several of them have more than one.

      Build
      I take a Cloth Armor and 5 pots into the jungle, grabbing a long sword and another pot or two at my first recall. I try to stay out at that point until I have Madred’s Razor, then I’ll go for my rank one boots, finish Wriggles, then finish boots. I follow that with a Ghostblade, after which pretty much anything goes. If I’m not having survivability problems, I’ll take an IE or a Bloodthirster. If I need to stay a live a bit longer, it’s GA or Banshee’s Veil.

      If I Could Change One Thing
      If I could change one thing about Yi, I’d give him a CC Immunity during Meditate. I do think his healing would need to be reduced, as would the AP ratio. I don’t want to kill off AP Yi, but if he can’t be stopped in Meditate, short of bursting through the massive armor and MR buff, it can’t heal as much as it does currently. I think the change would offer him some very unique gameplay.

      That does it for Master Yi. If you’re in the mood for a manic play experience, give him a shot. He’s not the most durable champion, though, so make sure your Flash is close at hand. This week’s Champ of the Week is Morgana, so be sure to check back for updates on her. I just lost my first game with her (out of four) and I’m not happy about it.

      Champ of the Week, league of legends, Video

      Champ of the Week: Morgana

      September 5, 2011 /

      fallenangel_splash_1

      I know I haven’t yet posted the Master Yi wrapup, but that’s coming tomorrow in a new format. I didn’t want to delay the release of this week’s Champ of the Week any longer. This week I’ll be playing a champion that I’ve seen with increasing frequency over the past couple weeks, a champion that was in a surprising number of matches on my way to solo queue gold status. This week’s Champ of the Week is Morgana.

      Morgana has had one of the most contentious careers in League of Legends. Anyone remember when Black Shield lasted for 8 seconds at max rank? When her Dark Binding seemed to hit the width of a lane? When Dark Binding dealt damage over time? What about the massive 3-second stun on her ultimate? Her power level has fluctuated quite a bit over the past two years, and though I didn’t see her for several months, I’m seeing her fairly often of late.

      This week I’ll be playing the Fallen Angel, trying to see if I can’t make a little magic happen. I’ll say this for Morgana – she can farm as well as just about anyone in the game. I was ready to pull my hair out when playing against her as Brand. The player couldn’t land a Dark Binding to save his life, but the size and damage of Tormented Soil early in the game meant I was constantly up against my tower, desperately trying to last-hit minions. With such a massive farm, Morgana can be a devastating force in the early game, not to mention the power of a 5-second debuff shield as the game wears on.

      If you have any up-to-date build advice or burning questions, drop them in the comments. As always, check back over the course of the week for my impressions of Morgana.

      Champ of the Week, league of legends

      Riven Sneak Peek is Up

      September 4, 2011 /

      Riot posted the latest champion sneak peek this weekend, giving us a glimpse of Riven, the Exile. It comes again in the form of a mini-comic with some incredibly cheesy and over-the-top nonsense for a storyline. Ah well, this game isn’t about lore. It’s about trolling and rage-quitting.

      I haven’t seen anything about her skillset that isn’t speculative, so I’ll just say we’re waiting to see whether or not she should build a Trinity Force. My guess: yes. From her looks I’d say she’s another melee assassin, which seems like a really odd release after Talon. It might be interesting if she had some mobility and so was capable of being a real force on Dominion.

      It looks like we’ll be waiting until next week for server downtime to bring her live, which will also mean the end of Season 1 and, hopefully, the launch of Dominion.

      Champions, Development, league of legends, News

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