maraudaur-blog

[maraudaur-blog]

Leveling on League of Legends is not something that players look forward to, when I found out this leveling achievements, I thought it was a great idea to get people to like the idea of leveling an account instead of rushing into a level 30 account (bought of course) and then start playing whatever. Would there be any updates or incentives on leveling an account in the future? e.g. key fragments after games was a great idea so why not champ shard fragments too?

There are always going to be things that League of Legends can do to improve. I’m sure we have discussed and thought about the progression system from 0 - 30. But usually it comes down to priorities, should we work on a new leveling system? How much work will that be? How much value will that bring to players?What about the other projects or features we are discussing? Is there something else that would take the same amount of work or less but deliver more value?

We just shipped Mid season patch - http://oce.leagueoflegends.com/en/featured/midseason-2017

From there I believe the next few big projects include Honor 2.0, 10 bans and team competition. I wish we could just fix EVERYTHING and add ALL the features but in a world of limited resources and time you have to pick and choose what you decide to work on.If you want to stay more up to date with what we are working on definitely check out these linkshttps://youtu.be/pFwrySPCff8

http://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/#category/dev

[maraudaur-blog]

what is the "Season Highest Grades" on champion view based on? (only normals?) Also, I have a champion that I got S- and when I check on champion view, it says the highest grade was B+, how long does it take to update? or does that mean it did not count at all?

Hi,Season Highest Grade represents the highest mastery score you got with that champion this season. If it’s not updating correctly for you get in touch with player support they should be able to provide some insight into whats happening.

[maraudaur-blog]

is the level up achievements used in LoL garena going to be implemented in the oce server? or implemented at all?

I don’t think there are any plans to implement that system. If you want to know more about whats coming definitely stay tuned to our nexus blog - http://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/

It is a look inside the why/what/how behind League of Legends =DYou might find these interesting

World building - http://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/2017/04/dev-diary-ryze-on-worldbuilding-in-league/

Dev plans - http://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/2017/03/riot-pls-2017-dev-plans/

Midseason update - http://oce.leagueoflegends.com/en/featured/midseason-2017

[maraudaur-blog]

Do you play games with people in the community?

I play solo queue mainly =D but….but obviously i get matched with 4 people every game if that counts?Usually I expect most people don’t know who I am. Occasionally people will recognise my name and have a nice chat though.

[maraudaur-blog]

Whats your thoughts on singed? his win rate has dropped hard and alot of singed one tricks are quitting league. will he see any change soon?

Remember these are just opinions haha I’m no game designerI think Singed is in an alright place. His winrate overall is 49.9% (I know this isnt the full picture but its something). He’s definitely viable in solo queue even with the really unique gameplay patterns.If you’re interested in game balance/design I highly recommend checking out Ghostcrawler - https://askghostcrawler.tumblr.com/And watching this video - balancing LoL from bronze to bengi - https://youtu.be/ii_Q4OCoHvU

[maraudaur-blog]

Thoughts on ninja tabi?

I think Ninja Tabi are okay..maybe a little on the strong side. But I think every one overvalues them when its not Ninja Tabis that are OP its just that they are more efficient to get now based on the types of champions that are being played.

[maraudaur-blog]

What made you want to work for Riot Games, and how did you go about applying? Also, do you get any special stuff in-game from being a Riot staff member (like exclusive icons or skin discounts)?

I started playing League of Legends in 2011. Before that I was playing Starcraft 2, before that I was playing Dota (Warcraft 3 frozen throne map). For some reason League of Legends was the first game to draw me into doing more than just play the game. I was reading forums, reddit, news articles and really any League content that was coming out. I saw all these awesome conventions and Esports finals where players from all over came together to celebrate their passion.

Picture: Season 2 World Finals at Galen Center

I watched Season 2 world finals in New Zealand, at home, on a TV with my girlfriend. It was an amazing broadcast, but what was truly special was seeing the atmosphere in the stadium and all those other league players getting hyped. Unfortunately I was on the other side of the pacific ocean.

I wanted to have that experience, but I couldn’t just fly to the United States for an event. There was nothing really going on at the time in NZ that I knew of, so I started organising events myself. I started with small tournaments at internet cafes, online events and found a group of awesome people that wanted to help out. Together we could host and stream tournaments with graphics and transitions between wait screen to champ select and champ select to start of game (All felt super fancy at the time =D). We ran live tournaments to find the best uni students, high school students, Auckland players and an online one for best in Aus/NZ. During this time I learnt a tonne, met a lot of awesome people (including Rioters who supported us) and built an events portfolio that could show my passion and skill in this field. I did all of this during weeknights and weekends as I had a full time job to keep the bills paid.

In 2013 Riot Games launched the Oceania servers and opened an office in Sydney. That’s when I truly considered joining Riot. California seemed so out of reach before that. Luckily that year Riot decided to run a live event in Sydney (EB Expo), I bought some tickets and flew over to see what it was all about.

I’m actually in the vid for like 1 sec at 1:35! (I’m the guy who reacts with the dramatic hands on forehead).

A tonne of League players were there, we had fun games where players were picked from the crowd, saw cool videos, art AND got to watch Worlds as well. The experience was exactly what I had imagined it would be like from watching those videos of NA conventions. I talked to a couple of Rioters at that event about my little group and what we were doing in NZ and they showed a lot of love for the community and gave some good advice.

I probably wanted to join Riot the moment they announced the Sydney office, but that event reaffirmed the direction I was headed in. 

I applied a couple of times, got rejected once but tried again when a junior position was available. I applied by merging my cover letter and CV into one and presenting myself as a “champion” haha a bit cheesy but it felt like the right thing to do. I’ve been at Riot for almost 3 years now and its the most intense and rewarding place I have ever worked at.

Wow that ended up longer than I had planned for, but it was a long journey to get to Riot Games =D enjoyed every moment of it though. As for the benefits of being a Rioter, there are a few, we get a small amount of RP every month, a bit of money to buy games each year. However the best thing about it though, is being able to work for the game you love and the community you love, with other passionate gamers.

[maraudaur-blog]

What are your current thoughts on the position nasus is? should he be left in this ap nasus state or be fixed soon?

I’m not a game designer or on the balance team so take this with a grain of salt. My “expert” opinion as a plat player =PI think Nasus is actually in a decent spot. Strong scaling juggernaut, with a weak early game and susceptible to kite. Against tough match ups he also has the option to build some early ap to use E as a fall back farming skill.

Numbers aren’t everything but they do matter - https://oce.op.gg/champion/nasus/statistics/top48% winrate overall with the most successful and common builds being Triforce into tank.

[maraudaur-blog]

When did you start playing League?

I started playing around Rumble release. That was April 2011, cant believe its been 6 years! Still loving it, although it’s getting harder and harder to climb these days.

[maraudaur-blog]

What rank are you? and what are you favourite roles?

I’m currently Platinum, ended last season Diamond 5. My favourite roles are adc (Ezreal) and mid (Xerath, Ekko, Ori, Ahri soon too) =D

[maraudaur-blog]

Horizon: Zero Dawn

I recently just finished Horizon: Zero Dawn. Wow. What can I say? It’s probably the first RPG I’ve played that has come close to Witcher 3. Great game and really interesting story, definitely one of the best RPG’s I’ve ever played. Below I’ll go through some mechanics I thought really stood out, some that were really close to being top tier, and some that didn’t work for me at all.

What I liked:

1. Merchants: At first, I thought the fact that you had to get specific parts to get specific items would be bothersome and annoying. But as I progressed through the game it felt good to have pieces available or go out hunting for the piece you needed. It really added to the overall feel of being a hunter and suited this game well. The ability to create “jobs” to add to your quest log for certain items was also a great addition. Really helped me keep track of key items I was after.

2. Machine combat design: This is probably one of the best parts about the game for me. I really like that to be an expert hunter you need knowledge and execution.  Each machine had different ways you could take them down, different weaknesses you should exploit, different attacks to be mindful of. My favourites were the Stalker, Ravager and Thunderjaw. I remember the first time I came across a Stalker, it felt like I was the one being hunted; not knowing where the attacks were coming from then slowly noticing the camouflaged machine lurking around. Ravager and Thunderjaw were great because they felt epic to take down and being able to knock off their heavy weapon components THEN using it against them was a wonderful feeling.

While there weren’t too many variants of machines it felt like just enough to keep you interested for the game length while also letting you become an expert hunter as you neared the mid to late game.

3. Climbing mechanics: Not too much to say here, really enjoyed climbing across the various buildings and mountains. It felt smooth, I never accidentally jumped off the side of a cliff or building and the occasional slow mo given for the “big” jumps just made it feel cool.

What was almost awesome:

1. Overall Combat: While I mentioned how great the combat against machines were, there were a couple of small things that did bother me. Human combat and melee didn’t quite hit the mark for me. Bandit camps and the Eclipse were generally pretty boring to take out. While I will admit the first time clearing out a bandit camp by picking off people with head shots was great. Most of the time I came across humans I just got a heavy weapon and mowed them all down. They felt like more of an inconvenience than anything else. Melee for me felt unsatisfying and also a bit clunky. It was disappointing that in close combat you were extremely impotent even spear vs bow. (It felt like we were using the spear as blunt force rather than more traditional slicing and stabbing). Maybe I’m just salty that randomly in fights I would swing my spear the complete opposite direction. 

2. Equipment progression: I loved the variety of hunting weapons you got to use throughout the game. Slings, ropecasters, tripcasters, rattlers etc. Each had their purpose while hunting machines and created more ways to hunt the way you wanted to. There was just a little bit missing for me in terms of special or unique weapons. Bar a couple of items everything was pretty much purchased from a merchant. I think it would have added a lot to the mystery and sense of discovery if there were more ways to find unique “ancient” weapons to enhance your combat ability.

3. Crafting system: It felt smooth and satisfying to craft ammo for your weapons, traps, potions. My only gripe with this is that most of it didn’t really feel like it made impact. I would have loved for there to be a couple of things that I really wanted to go out of my way to craft. (while it doesn't necessarily count as crafting getting that golden fast travel pack felt so good). The crafting system could have really made me want to hunt certain machines and components. In the end when it came to crafting, I was mostly just killing small animals and picking up plants.

What I did not like:

1. The quick item system: having to scroll through to different items and potions during a hectic fight did not feel good. There might not be a good solution for this as most buttons on the controller were used. Potentially a hybrid of the existing system in horizon and Nioh (where you press a button to switch between sets of items).

2. Lack of meaningful story choices: This is probably the biggest reason why I feel it didn’t stack up to the Witcher 3. Throughout the story in Horizon there were pretty much no decisions to be made around morality or even preference to change how you impacted the world. There were some choices to be made, but they seemed to have no effect on anything throughout the game.

3. I couldn’t think of another one....that’s got to be a good sign. I did hate fighting Glint-hawks though, they always were annoying. I blame the game for being inconsistent with “critical” strikes when they hit the ground and I blame myself for sucking at FPS with a controller.

[maraudaur-blog]

What part of the game do you work on?

I work on the Community team in the Sydney office. My role is mainly based around finding, listening, engaging and supporting players that do more than just play the game. This could be anything from fan artists, streamers, youtubers, cosplayers, event organiers, university club leaders etc etc

One of my main focuses are on players that build communities and bring others together. Think about the leaders in big facebook groups, forums or discord servers. I do my best to make sure they are supported in what they do. This could mean supporting their events/projects, removing barriers for them or providing guidance and knowledge.

It’s a lot of project management (making sure the right projects to support them are in place) and communication (making sure they know about it and understand best practices) =D

[maraudaur-blog]

FF15 thoughts

It’s definitely pretty old news now, but I wanted to write down some thoughts about Final Fantasy 15, Square Enix’s latest try at creating a compelling open world RPG. This isn’t a full review as there are plenty of those around, I’m just going to be talking about a few aspects I liked, disliked or were close to being awesome.

What I liked;

The Adamantoise. The way they introduced an end game boss during the main story line was awesome. It gave me a sense of grandeur, and bought into the idea that I should take the time to beat it even after I completed the main story. Usually in a lot of RPGs once I finish the main story I pretty much lose all motivation to continue playing.

The size of the world. Being able to drive/chocobo/fly around the map really helped build a sense of how large and diverse the map was. Seeing different cities (Altissia blew me away the first time I saw it) , areas, landmarks and giant beasts roaming the land was a great experience throughout the game. Some of the scenery had me driving and running around just so I could get the perfect picture.

The photo album that you build up throughout your adventures. Final Fantasy 15 was a good looking game. At every pit stop I would always find pictures of awesome scenery or action shots from a boss fight. At the end of the game I got to look back and reminisce about the whole journey, bosses, characters and beautiful vistas.

So close to being awesome;

The car rides. Like I mentioned above, the car rides actually did a great job of giving you an appreciation of the size of the world. There were many moments in the game where I just took it all in and enjoyed a 5 minute journey with music and great scenery all around. Where it really missed the spot was the character interaction. These 3-5 minute rides could have been great opportunities to have some banter and conversation between the main characters. Instead all I got was Prompto asking me every few rides who I wanted to take pictures of. Just let me change that whenever I want and give me actual choices and character development! It really hinders any emotional development to the main characters when every car ride is just silence.

The summons. They looked amazing and felt amazing to use. I actually enjoyed that you couldn’t just select which ever one you wanted, whenever you wanted. However I think they went a bit too far in taking away player agency here. Most of the game, Summons made themselves available during fights with trash mobs. (The amount of times I got to use Ramuh on random beasts). I hardly ever got to invoke that kind of power during boss fights, it felt backwards to me that these god like powers would come to me during random bounty hunts but not actual boss fights.

The combat. I think its a great step in the right direction for the Final Fantasy genre. Moving towards a skill based action system can add hours of enjoyment to the game as you learn combos, and gain mastery over the fighting style. Unfortunately this iteration was a bit off. I feel like there were opportunities to create combos with the weapon switch mechanic and potentially add some more reason/depth to warp striking from afar. In its current state I found the mastery curve pretty much ended at learning when to dodge, block and counter. What was really disappointing for me in the combat front was; a) The Adamantoise attack pattern was extremely easy to figure out. Once you know to warp strike from rock to eye, you literally can just rinse and repeat. b) The  MA-X Angelus-0 Boss was pretty much just a numbers check. There wasn’t much gameplay involved in beating him (except one block/parry opportunity). The only way to really beat him is to just grind your numbers up, otherwise you do about 500~ damage on the block parry opportunity and ~30 damage on hit.

Things I did not like;

The “real” thematic. There isn’t much to say here but the gas stations and diners reallllllly killed the mood for me. Maybe I’m not appreciating something but the beautiful fantasy beasts and vistas were ruined by the grungy diners and gas stations all round. I’m all for steampunk and magitek around, but those damn diners really took away from the experience for me. I hated those god damn diners, “welcome to the crows nest”.

The Ring. I watched the movie, I was keen on finally getting that ring into the rightful kings hands. But when I got it, it felt extremely underwhelming from a power perspective. The most useful thing in my opinion was the dodging AOE you got for melee attacks. The other abilities felt really sub par, you couldn’t even use them on big beasts/bosses. I think it would have been much better to design one of the most powerful items in the world story wise so that it could be effective in boss fights and not just overpowered against trash mobs.

Lack of meaningful choices. This might just be a final fantasy thing, but it is time to enter the new age Square Enix. With western RPGs really putting an emphasis on choice and consequence, FF15 felt extremely linear. Sure there was a big open world to explore, but the side quest lines didn’t really feel meaningful in anyway (save chocobos, find frogs, find dog tags etc) and offered no extra consequences to the world or story. Even choices made in the main quest line didn’t affect anything really other than giving some extra exp or AP. In a game where it’s more about character development and narrative, please give us some meaningful impact on these things. Making tough choices in the game world and seeing the consequences of our decisions really helps build immersion and emotional attachment. The Witcher 3 was a great example of this, there were multiple moments in that game where I literally sat there for 15 minutes thinking about what I should do because I cared about the world and characters.

I know I said this wasn’t a full review but it felt bad to end on just my main criticisms about the game. Overall I did end up putting in 100 hours to the game, so in my mind it was pretty good. Just not what I had hoped for the modern reintroduction of the Final Fantasy series. I hope it was successful enough for them to continue investing in more though =D. In the end I’m still just a Final Fantasy fan boy. Thanks for reading.