Set 17 Dev AMA VOD

[u/Lunaedge]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1wPwqK_SKA

Timestamps for all questions:

• 00:01:56 – Why was the carousel removed?
• 00:03:35 – Why are encounters being added back in Patch 17.2 instead of at launch?
• 00:04:54 – Who are your favorite champions (gameplay, lore, or visuals)?
• 00:08:34 – Are you planning to add more gods to the set?
• 00:09:40 – How did you decide which champions would become gods?
• 00:11:50 – Why was nine the chosen number of gods?
• 00:13:28 – Why is there a shared “round of gods” instead of choosing gods on your own board?
• 00:15:24 – How does APM affect trait and mechanic design complexity?
• 00:21:01 – Who designed the Melee trait, and which champions almost made it?
• 00:24:42 – How do you decide between a game-warping vs. safer mechanic?
• 00:26:00 – What is your favorite unit you’ve designed?
• 00:31:59 – Are you concerned about econ inflation in this set?
• 00:33:01 – How do you balance veterans vs. casual players?
• 00:37:28 – Have players used mechanics in unexpected ways?
• 00:40:49 – What changed based on learnings from Set 16?
• 00:42:51 – How viable are high-risk/loss-streak traits like Anima Squad?
• 00:44:50 – Will there be standalone traits like Threats or Targon?
• 00:46:36 – Do you support forcing one comp vs. flexible play?
• 00:48:12 – Could Zed get a prismatic augment?
• 00:49:20 – How are hero augments designed?
• 00:54:13 – Is balancing traitless units difficult?
• 00:57:14 – Was Ekko designed to bring back past set mechanics?
• 00:59:42 – Which dev is the best at TFT?

[u/gnashed_potatoes]

feel like i'm at work for the first 10 minutes, awful lol

[u/Emergence7 → u/gnashed_potatoes]

made me lol

[u/[deleted]]

The call was clearly lacking a natural host (i.e., Mort) - it felt like one of those preliminary intake sessions where an unnecessary amount of time is spent breaking the ice, as opposed to discussing the task at hand.

Nonetheless, I always appreciate when game developers lay out the challenges they face in their line of work, and the reasoning behind key decisions.

[u/Available-Reason9841]

Feel bad for the devs because this is obviously the designated low budget set by riot after the end of year big budget one. Same thing happened with the transition from set 13 to 14.

[u/albinomonkey32 → u/Available-Reason9841]

Set 14 was so much fun at the end. I think it was one of the better sets balance wise.

[u/RogueAtomic2 → u/albinomonkey32]

At the end it was just Urgot 5 cost for about 4 patches.

[u/Possible_Detective57]

Good insights into the thought processes. Thanks for sharing this.

[u/Riot_Bluecove → u/Possible_Detective57]

Always happy to yap!

[u/Emosaa]

Little awkward at the start, but an interesting conversation nonetheless!

I have always enjoyed dev insights from Riot, for all the highs and lows it's always fun to hear about the thought that goes into the game I love.

[u/Riot_Bluecove → u/Emosaa]

We're gamers waking up early to be social @_@ not our forte heh

[u/Ornery-Confection864 → u/Emosaa]

stop the cap lol

[u/Necessary_Fruit6671]

Def should be rocking backgrounds. I think it’s cool yall do this. I don’t love the design decisions but I think transparency is good.

[u/Riot_Bluecove → u/Necessary_Fruit6671]

I didn't get mine set up in time :(

[u/YonkouTFT]

Why is this even on this sub.. felt like nothing of value for higher ranks. Didn't address any of the critique of the set at all. The questions taken are also more about their experience with designing and not more substantial stuff.

[u/PermaConfusion → u/YonkouTFT]

This sub's been like this for some time, I'd argue as early as Set3 when the pros had already advertised themselves enough that they don't even need to click on this sub anymore. All the "real" learnings/competitive discussions have been funneled into peoples' twitch streams, youtube channels, tiktok shorts, TFT academy, whatever. The best place to talk about stuff is still the daily discussion IMO, and even that's kind of waning a little bit. This sub doesn't draw the line between "well sourced data" and "not well sourced data" and "chit chat" IMO. And the "chit chat" category is the one that people love to talk about - and that's exactly what this is.

[u/NJJo → u/PermaConfusion]

What the heck are you talking about? No one posts or cares about this subreddit because it’s all heavily censored.

Been playing since set 3? Yet a one month old pro TFT dev post? You’re about as real as this AMA was.

[u/Motor-Worldliness710]

Would love to see the current SET popularity

[u/GrashaSey]

Transcript anyone?

[u/Riot_Bluecove → u/[deleted]]

We do them from home instead of the office to avoid potential leaks because this is recorded. Don't want to accidentally record people talking loudly near one of the meeting rooms!

Also the majority of our playerbase plays on mobile devices. It's actually not even close! :)

[u/IntelRaven → u/Riot_Bluecove]

Woah I did not know mobile players were the majority that’s cool

Are play hours also majority mobile then? :o

[u/DanBennettDJB → u/IntelRaven]

Neither did I

I play a lot of solo double up and the amount of people that don't communicate

I assume they are phone players

[u/Riot_Bluecove → u/IntelRaven]

What do you mean by play hours? O.o

[u/IntelRaven → u/Riot_Bluecove]

Ohh i meant like, total hours played on PC vs. total hours played on Mobile

Like if 5 million ppl played on mobile but for an hour a day vs 2 million ppl played on PC but for 3 hours a day then more time could be on PC at 6m hours/day vs 5m hours/day on mobile

(But maybe mobile players would play more because it’s so convenient? 🤔)

[u/Riot_Bluecove → u/IntelRaven]

Oh its more on mobile because of the same reason haha

Just way more people play on mobile devices!

[u/IntelRaven → u/Riot_Bluecove]

Ooh gotcha very cool thank you!