I won't be posting a patch 3.0 review but here's what I would write if I did
I won't be posting a patch 3.0 review but here's what I would write if I did
More like patch 3.no stop harassing developers
Patch 3.0 launched earlier this month, a smaller patch as the devs were just coming off of their winter break. Nonetheless it tweaked the meta a bit and now that I’ve had some time to play on it, here are five thoughts.
1. Sett up for success
Sett is quite good. He’ll be much better once people stop first timing him in ranked. His strengths as a top-jungle brawler map very well onto the current meta. As I wrote about in my earlier blog about Garen and the WCK, the best regions in the world are putting a heavy emphasis on tanks and HP scaling. Provided people stop trying to build him with Trinity Force, I see him slotting into top, jungle, or support roles in pro play.
Sett struggles to engage people in Wild Rift. It’s a combination of his short little arms, and the higher movement speed in Wild Rift (compared to LoL:PC). I think the protobelt as boots enchantment will negate this. We’ve seen that happen with Darius and Alistar.
He’s also very vulnerable to long ranged CC. Morgana being added to the game just before him is a lucky break for un-suplexed frontlines everywhere. This will be a limitation in casual play more than pro play, as current_meta demands that pros play a tank in the support role.
2. Firing up the Hextech Megadrive
I’ve been really enjoying this item recently. On engage supports, the Megadrive ensures that I have Locket, Protobelt, or Stoneplate up every fight. It’s a little expensive, but Stoneplate scales better than raw armor. Of the items added in the last few patches, it’s the one I most know what to do with. Ixtali Seedjar is still a mystery.
3. Font of Life
has been quietly powerful for a while. I used to default to running Aftershock —which provides the most obvious benefits—, but Font of Life can heal your entire team when it’s triggered. Pros have understood this for a while and used it to great effect (including on Garen and Ziggs).
Font of Life: Hitting an enemy champion with an attack or ability marks them. When allies or you damage marked champions, heal those allies and yourself. Each ally can trigger this healing once per mark.
Ally Heal: 6% of your max HP + 30% of your AP
Self Heal: 2% of your max HP + 10% of your AP
If you’re able to isolate key targets at the front of a teamfight, your team’s focus fire (or AOE flailing) will sustain you just as well as Aftershock. Unlike Aftershock, Font Of Life gets substantially more powerful as the game goes on. Your completed tank items earn the entire team more HP.
Don’t arrest me, but:
I’ve been running a truly deranged Alistar build that I pulled from a top Brazilian one trick. It maximizes Alistar’s AP and HP offerings. I can’t recommend the build, but the scientific process of “Sprinting It Down” has underscored how good Font of Life is.
4. Is that a Riven main?
During season 0 of the WCK, Riven was a staple. Her teamfight CC made her a must pick in the top-focused meta. At Horizon she was even flexed into the mid lane, being used as a hard carry by the tournament’s most mechanically skilled players. At the WCK Season 1 Pre-Season, Riven was still the third most picked character. Her win-rate ended the event at a perfect 50%. And she just got buffed.
The patch notes explained this buff as an attempt to “give her some leeway so she’s not exiled from laning phase after a trade gone wrong” thus making her playable at lower ranks. Mechanically that means a significant increase to her passive health regeneration. It should allow Riven to go for more trades during the early game.
Unfortunately I don’t play Riven, and we’re fresh out of competitive play in the regions that like to run this character the most. I suspect we’ll have to wait at least a week; until the SEA games to get into playoffs and the WCS qualifiers kick off, to see this character in competitive play.
5. “Ben Forbes has another breakdown”
I’ve been accused of iceskating uphill before, so I’ll keep this brief. This patch was met with genuine anger by a portion of the Wild Rift community that I don’t really understand. Somehow a slightly perfunctory patch —that no one seems to think was bad— was the tipping point that prompted multiple(three at time of writing) hours long “podcasts”
. Multiple developers have tweeted about harassment in the last month.
The developers that regularly engage with content creators and community members are being punished for their activity. Even as Ben Forbes posted what I can only read as a cry for help, he was harassed. His replies are full of well known video makers demanding that the changes they want be implemented. The remainder are their followers mimicking the behavior.
I’ll be blunt, I think this is irresponsible. The human brain doesn’t handle this kind of pressure well. Digital harassment causes real mental health problems.
As people who create on the internet, YouTubers ought to understand this. There is no justification for hurting people over a video game.Additionally, entertainers working in video games should understand that they are modeling how adults engage with the world to children. That’s a responsibility I’ve come to consider very carefully in my mobile esports broadcasts. We have a younger audience and we should teach them to be kind. Especially to the artists and developers that entertain us.
No attempt was made to encapsulate any of this audio in an RSS feed. The productions were much more akin to a live stream. As a card carrying NPR member, I object on principle to the erosion of language.
Victims of online harassment are twice as likely to attempt suicide and self harm. A study of teens found that online harassment lead to increased use of drugs, smoking, and alcohol.