Reign of Gaming

Panda Annie Skin Preview

The Panda Annie skin we reported on yesterday is now live (we weren't joking about soon!). It is also the first skin to have a unique recall animation!

Matchmaking Changes [1-16-2013]

In the latest game update, we rolled out a second beta test of a new matchmaking change that is live in all territories. This change will increase your average queue time by about 30 seconds, but we hope the benefits are worthwhile.

The matchmaker will now take into account the Number of Wins a player has in every matchmade queue (Normal SR, Normal TT, Ranked Solo/Duo, etc). 

This means that for the first few minutes, the matchmaker will attempt to find teammates and opponents that have a relatively similar Number of Wins as you in addition to trying to find teammates and opponents that also have a similar skill rating. However, this does not mean it's impossible to get matched into a game with a large difference in Number of Wins--it's just more rare.

We need your help! Please give us feedback on the changes.

PS - RiotKiddington was the dev that did most of the work.

That would explain why it felt like it was taking longer to find games. 

Have you guys ever found any kind of data suggesting that teams with more wins are more likely to win? Especially in certain queues?
Yes, the main reason we are testing this feature is because of data suggesting that Number of Wins makes a meaningful difference especially when it's players with lower number of wins. For example, a player with 10 wins versus a player with 100 wins is a meaningful difference; however, a player with 1000 wins versus a player with 5000 wins isn't that different.

These 15-20 minute Dominion queues are no fun 


It might work in more popular queues like summoners rift, but it needs to be dynamically adjusted based on queue popularity at the time, so that there aren't super long queues at off times, or in unpopular queues like dominion draft.

I don't mind waiting slightly longer for a SR game to get a much more evenly matched game, but when the queues get excessive it really isn't worth it IMO.
We'll be taking a look at Dominion during these tests. If it turns out that the queue time increases are not worth the benefit, we can turn it off in Dominion.

Thanks for the update! Keep up the good work Dr! 

Btw, when is the preseason ending involving pro play?
Not sure, Yegg or RiotMagus or RedBeard are better people to ask this.

I have three times the amount of wins of the two people i queue up with the most and am about four hundred behind someone else i queue up with often. How will it balance out when all four of us are playing together?
Currently, we simply search for team compositions that average a similar number of wins to face you.

So far, all I've noticed is like 1-2 minute longer queue times, every time. Still getting lots of players with several hundred wins over me. Will have to play more and see if this is really working. 
It really come down to if the system can find people within your elo range and also within your # of win range. if after a time limit the system can't find a perfect match, it will have no choice but to increase the search range. That's why you are still getting some people with hundreds of wins over you. 

Lyte and I want to know is this, the longer the queue time the better "match result" you will get, but it comes with a cost (of time). Is the current 30 seconds increase in queue time worth the benefit of matchmaking with additional consideration of # of wins?

Earlier, 2 friends and I queue'd to play a game of normal 3's. My friend is not yet level 30 (don't accuse of us smurfiing since we are entirely pre-made!), and when the game began to load - we were against 3 players all of gold Elo or higher, as well as one being a player on the #1 rated 3v3's team. This seems like a possible problem with the matchmaking system - I don't see how we could have had such a spike in our match making search. Often we see teams that have relatively clueless players, or players that are also not level 30. What caused this to happen? I hope it was not a glitch or something in the system.
That's a different problem, mostly has to do with premades. I will discuss with Lyte when the time comes.

Dominion would love it if you disabled this anyway. The whole Normal Wins = Matchmaking on Dom is damaging to an already fragile mode.
The matchmaker will now take into account the Number of Wins a player has in every matchmade queue. Which means Dominion queue(s) will use # of wins from Dominion queue(s).

Does this override you normal que elo? 

so in short if i have say 30 Wins but my normal elo is 1500 because this is my second account will it match me with people who also have 30 wins but their normal elo is 800 because they are new?
No, the feature takes both your skill rating and your number of wins into account.

Thresh, the Chain Warden Revealed

Right has posted the official reveal for thresh, you can see our video preview and skin preview below as well!

The newest support champion to join the League is Thresh, the Chain Warden. This gruesome specter wields wicked, articulated chains, and specializes in harassing and disrupting opposing teams. His collection of crowd control effects thwarts enemy plans, while harvesting souls allows Thresh to grow in power.

Abilities:

• Damnation (Passive): When Thresh stalks the Fields of Justice, minions, monsters and opposing champions occasionally manifest their essence as souls after they die. Gather the souls of fallen foes to power up Thresh’s Armor and Ability Power. Thresh gains no Armor per level normally.
• Death Sentence:
  • (Passive): Thresh winds up his attacks, dealing more damage the longer he waits between strikes.
  • (Active): Thresh throws his scythe forward, dragging the first enemy struck a fixed distance toward him. Activate Death Sentence again to hurtle towards the bound unit.
• Dark Passage: Thresh hurls his lantern towards a target location. Nearby allies gain a shield while inside the lantern’s area of effect. Teammates who click the lantern will be pulled to Thresh.
• Flay: Thresh sweeps his chain, knocking all enemies in the direction of the blow.
• The Box: Thresh creates a prison of walls around him that slow and damage enemies that cross through.

In game, Thresh is a support that thrives on communication and cooperation. He controls fights by displacing enemies and repositioning allies. 

During the laning phase, Thresh uses the range of his basic attack to terrorize opposing champions with his Death Sentence passive. He shields his lane partner with Dark Passage and – with well-executed positioning – offers them the unique benefit of the lantern’s escape potential. Flay’s versatility lets Thresh push enemies into range for further harassment or swat them away to protect an ally.

In the mid game, the synergy between Thresh’s abilities shines. An opportune lantern can bring a teammate along for the ride when Thresh hooks an enemy with Death Sentence. Flay can chain into a mid-range Death Sentence to knock an opponent up and grab them out of the air. Thresh can put enemies in an even scarier situation by isolating them in The Box or can cast The Box and then drag or knock enemies into it to trigger the damage and massive slow from breaking its spectral walls.

Because Thresh scales through collecting souls for Damnation, an effective soul harvester will become a potent damage-soaking tank during the transition to late game. In team fights, Thresh frustrates enemy positioning with Flay and Death Sentence, while shielding allies with Dark Passage. The Box can inflict heavy burst damage and split enemy teams as they try to disengage. 



Optimize Thresh by collecting souls and protecting your allies before wreaking havoc in team fights. Your opponents better listen carefully for the scraping sound of his encroaching chain, or it may be the last sound they hear!

As with any champion, Thresh’s abilities may change before release.

Lore:
Thresh is a twisted reaper whose hungry chains ensnare the souls of the living. A moment's hesitation at the sight of his ghostly visage and there is no escape. He leaves in his wake hollow corpses, their souls ripped loose and trapped in the sickly green light of his lantern. The Chain Warden takes sadistic joy in tormenting his victims, both before and after their deaths. His grim task is never complete, and he stalks the land for ever more resolute spirits to unravel.

Thresh carves careful, deliberate paths through Valoran. He handpicks his targets individually, devoting his full attention to each soul in turn. He isolates and toys with them, gradually eroding their sanity with his twisted, maddening humor. Once Thresh takes an interest in a soul, he does not relent until he possesses it. He then drags those he captures back to the Shadow Isles for an unimaginably dreadful fate. This is his only purpose.

Little is known about the Chain Warden's past, and many of the details live only in nursery rhymes and campfire tales. They tell of a sadistic jailer from centuries past who took great delight in torturing his wards. Patient and brutal, he used a variety of methods to break his victims' minds before their bodies succumbed to his grisly designs. Chains were the jailer's preferred instruments of terror. Their shrill scrape marked his dreadful approach and promised agony to those he visited. His dark reign went unchallenged until his prisoners escaped during a massive riot. They overwhelmed him, and without ceremony or remorse, hanged him from his own chains. Thus began the unlife of the horrible specter known as Thresh, or so the tales go.

Thresh now haunts the land, leaving an aftermath of horror and despair. However, there is a devious purpose behind his dark machinations, and the meager spirits of average men are insufficient. He seeks stronger souls. Only when he has broken the wills of Valoran's most resilient warriors will he finally have what he needs.

''There are few things as invigorating as taking a mind apart, piece by piece.''
-- Thresh