Reign of Gaming

RoG Article Recap

• Free Champion Rotation For 11/6
• Preseason: State of the Game
• Champion Notes: Zyra, Rise of the Thorns By Emeraldw

S2 Ending Has Been Extended

Season Two is ending with the next patch, but since we’re still working on a couple issues, we won’t actually be patching tonight. This means that the season has been extended until the patch is ready to be released, and everyone has some additional time to qualify for rewards. However, note that on the night when the patch goes out, we’ll be shutting off ranked queues several hours earlier than usual.

As for rewards: Victorious Janna, summoner profile banner trims, and loading screen borders should be available as soon as the servers come back up. Summoner icons and forum badges will show up in the days following the patch.

Thanks for your patience and good luck in these final hours of the season!

Champion & Skin Sale: At the Polling Place

Why am I here? I’m a polling place “volunteer”—HA. Yes, because I willingly donned this Statue of Karthus getup and happily skipped outside to be a billboard for democracy. Even my undead derriere is sweating in this unseasonal heat. Go out and represent your constituency, they said. It’ll be great to have a representative from the Shadow Isles greeting people at the polls, they said.

• Oh, look who’s here: it’s Leona with her sunny holier-than-thou disposition. Will you be voting “Yes” on the solar energy proposition? Of course; I’m so surprised. Too bad the Solari lobbyists don’t have half the charisma of their lunar competitors—hey! Sheath that Zenith Blade! 487 RP
• Careful with those spirit blades, Irelia. Although you should only be using the provided paper-poking implements, be my guest and stab away with your magic-trick knives. You have only yourself to blame if your ballot has hanging chads. 487 RP
• Riven! How many times do I have to chase you out of here? I don’t care about your supposed right to picket. No one here is going to listen to your third-party write-in shpiel, especially not after that social media battle-bunny scandal. 487 RP

• For summoner’s sake, cover yourself up, Ruthless Pantheon! You’re the only one here to vote, not each of your 300 individual sinews. This is madness. Go wrap yourself in a booth curtain before I lay waste to every exposed inch of you. 260 RP
• From whom is that foul smell emanating?! It’s like rotting salmon marinated in cystic pus. It can only beJunkyard Trundle. I guess everyone has the right to express his opinion in the matters of governing our fine realm, because clearly politics are easier to grasp than basic hygiene. 487 RP
• And now Jurassic Kog’Maw’s drooled caustic acid all over his booth. Disgusting. And, naturally, he’s eaten his ballot. Someone pry open his ribs and dig it out before he leaves it behind, encased in a fossilized lump.487 RP

This fake torch flame won’t burn anyone, but I wonder if it’s hard enough to leave a decent bruise. Oh, excuse me: goodbyethankyouforvotinghere’sastickerhaveawonderf ulday. (Until I end it.) The polls are open from November 6 to November 9, so don’t forget to cast your vote—there are plenty of tempting sharp pencils in the booths...

Zed, the Master of Shadows AMA Tomorrow

Hey Lore forumites!

We're going to return to doing AMAs here tomorrow with the AMA for Zed, the Master of Shadows. RiotRunaan will do the honors. 

This is just one way we talk with you. We also do posts in general forums, AMAs on reddit (like the recent shadow isles AMA we did) and we're investigating better ways of engaging players in other regions.

Looking forward to hearing you questions about Zed!

More Design Goals Tomorrow

As we reported earlier, tomorrow we should start seeing new information about S3 changes. Morello continued to post teasing about tomorrows information.

Can't wait to show you guys what we have in store. Stay tuned, tomorrow I'll give some more of our design goals with the preseason, and then I'll have some of the designers directly working on the changes come in with juicy details 

Season Three Tournament Rules

Below are the initial details of the online qualification process. More details about the next stages of the Play-In Tournament will follow. 

1. Eligibility & Contest Rules 

1.1 Tournament Structure 
The Season Three “Play-In” Consists of 4 components in 2 regions (EU & NA): 
(1) Online Ladder: November 6 (after patch 1.70) through December 27 

Online Ladder will use the PvP.net Ranked Team feature in combination with a manual review process for team eligibility

i. Top 32 teams from NA will be eligible for next round 
ii. Top 16 teams from EUW will be eligible for next round 
iii. Top 16 teams from EUNE will be eligible for next round 

Ladder will conclude at 12:00pm GMT+1 on December 27
i. Central Europe (GMT+1): 12:00pm
ii. NA East (GMT-5): 6:00am
iii. NA West (GTM-8): 3:00am 

(2) Online Tournament: Friday, January 4 through Sunday, January 6

i. 32 teams
ii. Single Elimination
iii. Best-of-3 Matches
iv. The top 16 teams from EUW & EUNE will play in a unified online tournament using the European Tournament Realm (EUTR)
v. The top 6 teams from each region will advance to the live qualifier

(3) Partner Tournaments: Various Dates to be announced

(4) Live Tournament (EU & NA): Dates to be announced 

i. 16 teams
ii. Group Play then Bo3 Single Elimination
iii. Best-of-3 Placement matches for team eliminated in Quarterfinals
iv. The top 5 teams will advance to the Championship Series

1.2 Eligibility for Ranked Teams Ladder
All players with a level 30 account who can join a ranked 5v5 team are eligible. 

1.3 Eligibility for Online Tournament
Teams and their rostered members must meet the following requirements.

1.3.1 Ranked Ladder Placement
Ranked ladder placement will be determined by team Elo.

Europe (EUW):
Teams must place in the top 16 positions of the ranked 5v5 team ladder on the EUW server.

Europe (EUNE):
Teams must place in the top 16 positions of the ranked 5v5 team ladder on the EUNE server.

North America:
Teams must place in the top 32 positions of the ranked 5v5 team ladder on NA server. 

1.3.2 Age
All players must submit proof that they will be 17 years or older as of February 8, 2013. 

1.3.3 Work Eligibility & Residency
All players must submit proof that they are either a resident of the region in which they are attempting to qualify (i.e., NA or EU) and/or eligible to work in that region.

1.3.4 Intent to Participate in Live Qualifier
All players must submit travel information and confirm their availability to participate in the Live Qualifier.

1.4 Teams under the following categories are ineligible for the Online Tournament:

1.4.1 Pre-Qualified Championship Series Teams
All rostered players must not have already pre-qualified for the Championship Series.

Players on the following LoL teams have already qualified for the Championship Series and are ineligible:

Europe: 
Moscow Five 
SK Gaming 
CLG EU 

North America: 
Team Solomid 
Dignitas 
CLG NA 

1.4.2 Employees of Riot Games or its Affiliates 

1.4.3 Teams (& their rostered players) who have already earned and accepted a spot into the Live Qualifier 

1.4.4 Ranked teams created after December 14, 2012 

1.5 Eligibility for Live Qualifier 

1.5.1 Online Tournament placement 

The only teams eligible for the Live Qualifier are those which finish in the top 6 of the Online Tournament*. 

*Additional invitations to the Live Qualifier may be extended in the event that other qualifying teams within the competitive structure are unwilling or unable to participate, for any reason. 

2. Roster Rules 

2.1 Ranked Teams Ladder 

The roster rules will be governed by the ranked team restrictions on PVP.net. 

2.1.1 Roster Size 

A minimum of 5 players are needed on a team roster. A maximum of 9 players are allowed on each roster. After a team is created with 5 players, it is allowed to send out 3 new player invites per week until the maximum roster size has been reached. 

2.1.2 Maximum Teams per Player 

An individual player may join up to 5 ranked teams simultaneously. Players can advance to the Online Tournament only with one team. Teams that do not remove ineligible players by December 14 will be disqualified from the ladder. 

2.2 Roster Lock 

Team rosters must be submitted prior to the advancement of the team into the Online Tournament, after which the rosters will be considered official and cannot be changed. The roster must identify the five starting players and up to four designated substitutes. 

3. Unfair Play & Penalties 

3.1 Unfair play 

The following actions will be considered unfair play and will be subject to penalties at organizer’s discretion. 

3.1.1 The use of any cheat program and/or map hack program 
3.1.2 An intentional disconnection without a proper and explicitly stated reason 
3.1.3 The use of any settings exceeding the standard and permitted settings 
3.1.4 Intentionally allowing an opponent to win a game or colluding with another team to decide a match outcome or split prize money 
3.1.5 Unsportsmanlike conduct or disruptive behavior such as inappropriate and/or unprofessional actions directed towards another player or tournament official 
3.1.6 The use of a game bug 
3.1.7 The use of an ineligible player (e.g. “ringing”) 

3.2 Penalties for Unfair Play 
Upon discovery of any player committing any violations regarded as unfair play, the tournament director may issue any or all the following penalties, at his/her sole discretion. 

3.2.1 Verbal Warning
3.2.2 Prize Money Deduction
3.2.3 Loss of Side Selection 
3.2.4 Game Forfeiture
3.2.5 Tournament Disqualification