Dev notes: lap times and roping
Many players have complained that they have faced players who deliberately let the lap time lapse (also called "roping"). It's never fun to come across one of these players. I have encountered several myself, and it is likely that all members of the LoR team were faced with the same problem. These dev notes are not intended to speak exclusively of player behavior (this would make assessment and prevention of problems more difficult). But in this specific case, we wanted to explain our reasoning to you and make you understand that we are aware of this problem.
First of all, the data indicates that this behavior remains quite rare (it is even more so than we initially thought). But that doesn't stop us from tackling this problem! Some of these games can indeed mark players forced to undergo them ... However, we take into account this rarity when we consider the cost of renouncement and the compromises of potential solutions. For the moment, we are examining the already existing setting options for the lap time system, and we are evaluating potential modifications that could help solve this problem. Generally speaking, rest assured that we are on the lookout and that we will make the necessary changes in due course. As always, a thousand thanks for your feedback, and do not hesitate to continue, you are of great help!
- Teemopalooza, lead designer of the user experience
Card Text Clarity
As we also mentioned in the State of the Beta article, we view in-game clarity as something of a never-ending task where we can always improve. One consistent point of feedback we’ve heard during the beta has been the various examples of confusing or misleading card text. The opportunity was clear enough that we’ve taken a pass on all of our card text, which left us with a batch of changes to some of the worst offenders to more explicitly explain card functionality.
Rules text on the following cards updated for clarity:
Ancient Yeti | Arena Bookie | Ashe | Blade of Ledros | Commander Ledros | Corina Veraza | Crimson Curator | Dawnspeakers | Draven's Biggest Fan | Draven's Whirling Death | Eggnivia | Elise | Eminent Benefactor | Flash of Brilliance | Garen's Judgment | Garen (level 2) | Health Potion | Heimerdinger's Progress Day | Iceborn Legacy | Insight of Ages | Iron Harbinger | Jinx (level 2) | Jubilant Poro | Judgment | Karma | Karma's Insight of Ages | Katarina | Kindly Tavernkeeper | Laurent Chevalier | Legion Marauder | Lonely Poro | Lucian (level 2) | Lux | Minotaur Reckoner | Mistwraith | Noxian Guillotine | Poro Snax | Progress Day | Purify | Rimefang Wolf | Rimetusk Shaman | Ritual of Renewal | Scaled Snapper | Single Combat | Statikk Shock | The Undying | Troop of Elnuks | Trueshot Barrage | Warmother's Call | Whirling Death | Wyrding Stones | Yasuo (level 2)
Master Tier
When we launched Open Beta, our rating system was locking down high-level MMR way too tightly, way too quickly, resulting in extremely static Master Tier rankings. We made a quick initial change to give the system more freedom to adjust MMR based on game results, but It turns out we went a little too far, and we’ve heard frustration about how punishing losses in particular could be. We’re tightening things up again (though not to start-of-beta values) to reduce some of the variance.
- Master Tier players should see smaller swings in rank (both up and down) after each game.
Expeditions Archetypes
Shadows and Dust has been having a tough time lately, so we're adding a card that's exciting alongside Death Mark and can also buy you more time for your Ephemeral units to slip through the opponent's defenses.
- Added: Darkwater Scourge.
- Disruption is in a decent spot, but Zephyr Sage had found its way into five different archetypes and this is the one where it felt least at home.
- Removed: Zephyr Sage.
Bugfixes
- Fixed a crash when playing a Burst spell that ends the game (e.g., by drawing from an empty deck).
- Fixed an issue where players could take a never-ending turn if they kept generating and casting Burst spells.
A champion Wildcards, two other Wildcards, and an Expedition token — receive it all in Legends of Runeterra thanks to Twitch Prime!
