BardicKnowledge

Just played my first online set, with anosou. I don't know how his connection was, but mine felt really good -- this is easily the best netcode of any fighter I have ever played. What custom characters have you guys made, btw? I've got Lightning (Leixia), Samus Aran (Ivy), Motoko Kusanagi (Devil Jin), and Capt. Blood, a living pirate Cervantes.

Agreed wholeheartedly, hahaha. Always makes for the most entertaining games! Edit (to help make something constructive): The one game I've played with locket, it was super useful. Definitely going to be getting it after Aegis on all of my support heroes. Also, Aegis + Merc Treads + Locket makes for a fairly tanky support, which is really nice.

You're not thinking creatively enough, which is something you usually tell me when I make similar lists. Let's see a support item that lets you shoot a zero-damage projectile that gives vision and reveals in a fairly wide beam once every 60 seconds -- think Ashe's hawkshot distance and Janna's tornado hitbox (or a little wider, to cover one entire lane's width. Split Exhaust into two Summoner Spells -- one that is a longer slow, and one that reduces overall damage output even more. Make it a choice on your team, not a requirement. Your idea of an item that lowers armor/MR but geared for supports is ideal; something like 10% CD and mana regen. Make an upgrade path for Kage's Lucky Pick that gives an active AOE silence. Medallion of Courage would be slick, I approve. High risk, high reward. Give more effects that reduce healing; create an anti-lifesteal champion. Create heroes that are designed to push obnoxiously fast but are not effective in general combat. Revise the jungle buffs to be more interesting -- what about bringing over white and/or and green buffs from TT, for potential starters? Finally, give me heroes that control multiple units. I'm not saying to port Syllabear over (note: yes I am), but a character that is either very mobile or can have a widespread presence would help encourage a more aggressive early game a bunch. Even summoning temporary controllable units (not like Annie's bear, like a real controllable entity) would help. Anything to help thwart this metagame that does not encourage interaction between people in lanes for the first 15 minutes. That is the biggest problem right now, that leaving mid to gank is not viable.

I definitely agree that there are too many tanky DPS heroes atm. I would also like to see myriad strategies; someone who pushes extremely hard would be amazing, as would more support characters who aren't healers. For instance, I love playing Janna and think her kit is one of the game's best designed. Give us more support heroes, and more variety. My only complaint about the Lee Sin nerf is that there are _lots_ of other tanky DPS junglers ready to take his place, so changing just one character (who probably did need the small nerf, I'll be honest) isn't going to fix an underlying problem with the current metagame.

I like this analogy, but with a sufficiently small distance requirement to get gold from dead creeps (somewhere closer to melee range than most ranged attackers -- Sivir's range or closer), one would still have these range games played -- the mechanic of getting the last strike as opposed to being present when the creep dies (which is different for ranged chars already!) does not change range to creep, range to enemy, danger of gank ratios. Not that I agree with the .pdf proposal; let's just approach from a different angle.

While I'm not a fan of the above linked proposal, I am definitely a fan of how it was put together and presented -- it does not surprise me that the only Riot post in that thread is to link the OP to their job application for designer.

Let's talk about those AS / on-hit items such as Malady, Wit's End, Ionic Spark, and Madred's Bloodrazor. Who should be getting them, and when to get each one? Malady imo if you can follow up with a good spell to utilize the shred -- if you can't (Irelia, for example), then the others are better. Wit's End is essentially a Hexdrinker replacement -- the one you get when you need damage and MR if your damage comes from AS. Ionic Spark is more efficient for jungling and wave-clearing...but by the time you get it that shouldn't be an issue. Unsure when to pick this up still. Madred's Bloodrazor: I only get this when the other team's tanks stack too much armor (in that their damage will suffer even if they survive). Makes killing someone with Randuin's, Wriggles (don't forget about that armor! Wriggles too good), Warmogs, and GA possible (last, obviously). Situational at best though, as it IMO is too expensive to be a main item for anyone. Note: Black Cleaver is an on-hit item, but IMO it is an IE replacement, and most heroes who pick up the above are not heroes who get IE, so I didn't put it in the list. Feel free to debate this one with me... Now: Who gets these? Note: I only play Irelia and Kayle of the below; discuss! Irelia for sure, as her W active thrives with a bunch of attack speed. Teemo / Kogmaw: Probably not the ideal build, but they work well. Jax makes his ult really good by picking one of these up. Nice synergy w/ Ionic Spark. Kayle gets more mileage out of E with more AS, but does she want something beyond Rageblade before buying support stuff? I'd say yes here, others may argue. Shaco's clone benefits from on-hit effects; which to get? Twitch makes good use of his naturally high speed burst to get a lot of magic damage out of Wit's End / Malady... Who else?

Lightbringer will be brought into Summoner's Rift when the stealth rework is done, just wait. I agree that there are just not enough developments to the metagame to warrant large variance in item builds based on opposing team comps yet... ...but that situation would be rectified with the inclusion of more items with good supporting active abilities e.g. Shurelya's.

I am totally pasting this into Skyrim to hear it as a bard song on command. Great work!

Happy birthday, Deia! Also hurry up and move out here already, jeez... <3

Chaos Rings was outstanding -- a great jRPG that I enjoyed much better than the intro of FF13. Well worth the money, imo the best full-length original game on the platform to date (note: I have not played the sequels) Infinity Blade II is likely worth the cost, as I thought the first one was great, if a little repetitive.

Flik, you are welcome to drive down and have an improv'd party with me and OA whenever you like.

I really enjoyed using Turntable for the listening party -- it made everything flow very nicely, and allowed for the neat introductions also. Great work for putting all of this together, Deia!

We really should have been coordinated and actually done this. Next time!

Or just view the source code of the webpage or convert it to a working page through the Readability bookmarklet.

Related kinda: Addie bought me a cribbage set in back in college, and despite not advertising it (or looking like it; it's just a plain brown wooden board) the deck of cards inside has Sonic jokers.

Happy birthday! Hope both of you enjoyed the day!

There are a number of ReMixes that demonstrate the quality of modern games -- this is an issue of nostalgia, not quality...which has only increased as video games continue to improve on all fronts.

Yeah this was a blast, even though I didn't have a real instrument along to play (shaking my keys was fun though). I'll bring something along next year for sure!

Happy birthday, Dustin!

1) OCR is a great venue to get your music heard -- the community reaches quite a few people compared to the average YouTube video, for instance. It also places one's works in a greater context, which is usually impossible to do as an individual (without sounding pompous, in any case). 2) To participate fully in a community that enriches so many aspects of my life. I get so much out of the site that I enjoy giving back any way I can, whether that is m yearly donation in April, or singing now and then when I'm asked.

Split push, forcing them to either split up, which should allow you to have a better shot at winning smaller fights, or lose a tower. Either way, you get what you want out of the exchange.

Toku night was good stuff -- we should definitely make it an event next time around also.

Kat doesn't really need to rely on her ult in teamfights to do well. It's useful for sure, but the raw damage on her E and Q instantly refreshing when anyone dies is what makes her good.

Start with this recipe here, it's one of my favorites and easy. Also, getting a few visitors might inspire Addie to update more often