Originating from complaints on Twitter about Nautilus being too strong, Riot Games employees decided to “play around” by posting videos buffing this champion in a ridiculously overpowered way. Of course, Riot will take player feedback into account, but players are also aware to tone down the spamming of comments like “this champion is too strong, nerf this one, buff that one” on social media.
Recently, players have discovered another “deliberate coincidence” from Riot Games, which is that they often buff champions who are about to receive new skins. Just to point out, in patch 10.12, Senna received an increase in soul drop rates when last-hitting minions, and coincidentally, she is set to have a Legendary Cowboy skin at the same time.
And thus, people began to sarcastically mock Riot Games’ “industrial” approach to game balancing that overlooks the actual game issues, focusing instead on how to sell as many skins as possible. The old story repeats itself, Riot employees are aware of the complaints and switch to “angry yet threatening” mode, saying: “Be careful what you wish for, if you like it, I can make it happen.”
TJ – analyst, North American League of Legends expert: “In patch 10.13, since Taliyah has a new skin, she seems a bit weak, so we decided to buff this champion a bit for better performance.”
New: Q – Seismic Shard will now throw Malphite and knock up any target hit for 1 second. Knock-up duration will decrease with consecutive hits.”
TJ: “It seems a bit strong. To balance it, this update will only occur on the Earth Dragon map or when the Earth Dragon is present on the map.”
Player: “Hey Riot August, Nautilus’s coding antics are now outmeta because of this.”
Riot August: “Be careful what you wish for, if you like it, I will really do it.”
Player: “If this really brings Taliyah back to mid lane, I’m willing to trade my soul for it.”
Of course, Riot August wouldn’t be foolish enough to release a game-breaking update like Taliyah’s Seismic Shard throwing Malphite and knocking up enemies. However, the fact is that Riot Games is showing too much favoritism towards champions about to receive new skins, which is understandably frustrating for players. Given Riot August’s penchant for playful antics, it wouldn’t be surprising if we see more “coding pranks” with Taliyah as he once did with Nautilus.
