Hearthstone Beta Updates

We hope you’ve been having fun testing out the latest beta patch for Hearthstone—this update brought with it a bunch of bug fixes, some card changes, and the new Ranked Play system. Some of these updates were significant code changes, so we expect that some things will break, and we will also need your help to identify what’s still in need of fine-tuning. One other thing to mention is that we’ve been making great progress on improving server stability, but there are still a few things that have come up that we want to fix before we leave the closed beta phase.

With all of that said, we believe the right thing to do for the game is to not rush it out into open beta, but to instead hold onto it a little longer to make sure it’s ready for wider testing. At BlizzCon, we mentioned that we hoped to get the game into a state where it’s ready for open beta this month, but we’re just not quite there yet. The development team has been working hard to get this out before the end of the year, but our highest priority is that Hearthstone has an awesome launch when all gates are lifted and everyone can download it and play at the same time.

We’re close to the open beta—very close. And to enter this final part of our beta phase, we need your help. Keep trying out new decks, reporting bugs, and giving your feedback on our forums. That’s the best way you can help the team get Hearthstone into everyone’s hands as soon as possible.

We have some other news to share too. As of today, we have sent beta invites to everyone who opted in to the Hearthstone closed beta test prior to Monday, December 16. If you opted in before that date and have not yet received an invite email, check your spam folders or different email tabs to see if you invite may have ended up in an unexpected location. If you still can’t find your Hearthstone beta invite, don’t worry! We’re putting together a list of all Battle.net accounts that opted in to the Hearthstone beta test and did not claim their beta key. These accounts will be flagged for beta access within the first few weeks of January.

Opt-ins for the closed beta test will end on January 7; we plan to invite everyone who opts in by that date to the closed beta test at some point before the open beta begins. So keep playing, testing, and amassing your Hearthstone collection, as we do not plan on performing another card data wipe.

Thanks for your patience and enthusiasm. Hearthstone would not be as far along as it is without your helpful feedback. Please continue to let us know what you like and what you think needs a little more work.

And if you haven’t opted in to the Hearthstone closed beta test, you can do so here.

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Battle Of The Atlantic [Cloud 9 vs Fnatic] Predictions

Fnatic(EU)    Vs    Cloud 9(NA)  

LCS Ranking - 1

Head to Head Record - Fnatic [2 - 1] Cloud 9

 Team Achievements -

Cloud 9

• 1st LCS North America Season 3 Summer Playoffs
• 5th-8th Season 3 World Championship

Fnatic

• 2nd IPL 5
• 2nd IEM Season 8 - Cologne
• 3rd-4th Season 3 World Championship
• 1st LCS Europe Season 3 Summer Playoffs
• 1st LCS Europe Season 3 Spring Playoffs

Player Roster:

Position	Cloud 9	Fnatic
Top	Balls	sOAZ
MID	Hai	xPeke
JUNGLE	Meteos	CyanideFI
ADC	Sneaky	Rekkles
SUPPORT	LemoNation	YellOwStaR

My take on both the teams:

                                    Fnatic vs cloud 9, yes there is huge hype around this match, i can only hope it doesn't end up 2-0 stomp, this game is not only a chance for C9 to avenge for the loss at worlds, but this game is also a decider for the BOTA event, since this game provides the winning region with 3 points, and decides who gets to brag till next year(rooting for EU though).

            Out of all the NA teams , its easy to identify how different Cloud 9 is compared to rest , they tend to make less mistake, they focus on objective and team fight oriented game, Cloud 9 steamrolled last LCS Summer Season, but the last time they faced Fnatic, it was evident why they lost, i would say it was the picks/ban phase, but it something that happens to most of teams that go against Fnatic, Fnatic is team which really excels in making right picks and ban, with ever expanding champion pool of soAZ and xPeke, it is not easy to predict what to ban against them, but the most important thing is ban Kassadin no matter what, this just like banning Anivia for Froggen in season 2.

                    Fnatic, with Rekkles rejoining the team, a lot is being expected from him, yes he did put an end to Doublelift's trash-talking at IEM VIII Cologne, but he was not doing well against Gambit Gaming at the same event, every time he over-extended Alex use to pop him to death, but we can call it as the learning experience, and yes CLG is no-where in ranks to be compared with Gambit Gaming as a team or individual, for Rekkles this is going to be right time to show his potential.

Match Up to watch-out for:

    The Junglers, Meteos vs Cyanide, Meteos considered to be the best jungler in NA, but in their game vs Gambit in IEM, Meteos got focused so hard early, he fell behind, at one point he was taking the farm out of balls just to get him back going, this just made balls more useless in team fight, cause Gambit also affected the early game of balls, the problem with Cloud 9 is they expect lot out of Meteos, and you cannot expect one guy to carry your team, atleast not in competitive play, with changes to global gold , and to the jungle it self , this patch could be just the right patch for the play-style of Meteos.

                On the other-hand there is Cyanide, can be named as the most under-rated jungler of EU, or may be xPeke and sOAZ outshine him, this guy is the dark wizard of Fnatic, he mostly never gets credit for the things he does, Cyanide was not at his best at IEM VIII, and his recent champion pool is not yet revealed, he is sure to surprise us all.

Verdict:

                  Fnatic is going to win this 2-1, just because they are a much better team in whole compared to Cloud 9, but all i want is 3 epic games and proper ending to this much hyped event.

You can also read my predictions on GMB and XD.GG here.

Thank you all...

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Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls Launches on 03-25-14

On March 25th 2014, the crusade against Malthael, the Angel of Death begins as Diablo III: Reaper of Souls launches on the PC & Mac! 

Whether you plan to immediately don the armor of the new Crusader character or take your current hero directly into Act V, Reaper of Souls will bring you updated loot rewards, all-new class skills and abilities, game-changing features like the Mystic and Adventure Mode, and highly replayable content in the form of Bounties and Nephalem Rifts.

Digital Standard Edition - $39.99
Digital Deluxe Edition - $59.99

Also Diablo 3 will launch the Ultimate Evil Collection for PS4

If you're looking for even more loot, the Reaper of Souls retail-exclusive Collector's Edition comes fully equipped with all the in-game goodies from the Digital Deluxe, plus a range of premium collectible items:

• Malthael mouse pad, bearing the impenetrable visage of the Angel of Death
• Hardback Collector's Edition art book, chronicling the game's artistic development
• Behind-the-scenes Blu-Ray/DVD two-disc set, featuring in-depth interviews with the development team and members of the Diablo III community

Pre-purchase Now!                     For More Information On Diablo 3:Reaper of Souls

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World of Warcraft - Warlords of Draenor Website Launched,Beta Sign-up Open,New Flex Questing..

Age of War Awaits..

New expansion of World of Warcrafts, Warlords of Draenor Website has been launched, Click Here.

The Website Contains News and Information about the upcoming expansion, most importantly the race model viewer, also more information on Garrison.

New Flexible Questing Sysytem:

Before the orcs first invaded Azeroth, the Iron Horde rose to dominate a historic age. Only the heroes of past and present still defy the warlords of Draenor. Through a refined, flexible questing system, you’ll meet storied heroes and villains in battle without slowing your exploration of a forbidding land. As you and your allies win victories, you’ll be duly rewarded—any quest can randomly award bonus rare or epic items. Stand beside legends. Break the tide of steel.

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No More Sign Up Queue for Dota 2

For the past several months, access to Dota 2 has been granted through a queue system that gated entry into the community. We’ve used this system to gradually increase the size of our playerbase, as we ramped up our infrastructure and improved the experience for new players. As we have recently completed a set of server management upgrades as well as released a huge number of enhancements to the new user experience, we’re going to remove all restrictions to playing Dota 2.

Signups are no longer required to access the game, and we encourage everyone to join the 6.5 million active monthly users currently playing Dota 2. If you have a friend who hasn’t tried Dota 2 yet, be sure to take advantage of the new recruitment feature to get additional bonuses for both you and your friend.

To download and start playing Dota 2, you can head to the Dota 2 Steam page and click the green ‘PLAY GAME’ button. We hope you’ll join the Dota 2 community.

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Winter Veil 2013 and Hotfix Patch

Winter Veil 2013
The Feast of Winter Veil is here and brings new gifts this year! When you unwrap your present this year, you will find a Crashin' Thrashin' Flyer Controller inside. You will need it for The Danger Zone achievement. 

Classes

•  Priest 
  • Talents
    • Resolved an issue where From Darkness Comes Light was not activating correctly from Smite.

Creatures

• [Requires a realm restart.] Resolved an issue that caused Dragonmaw and Wildhammer NPCs in Twilight Highlands to be non-attackable.

Raids, Dungeons, and Scenarios

• To help smooth difficulty scaling as players are added or removed from a Flexible raid, several raid boss abilities that target additional players as the size of a Flexible raid increases will use weighted randomization rather than strict breakpoints. For more information on the change, check out this thread on the Dungeons, Raids and Scenarios forum.
• Siege of Orgrimmar
  • Cross-Realm raid browser (located in the Social Pane under Other Raids on the Raid tab) now has a minimum item level requirement for players attempting to list for Siege of Orgrimmar on Flexible raid difficulty.
    • Vale of Eternal Sorrows requires a minimum item level of 510.
    • Gates of Retribution requires a minimum item level of 517.
    • The Underhold requires a minimum item level of 524.
    • Downfall requires a minimum item level of 531.
  • Paragons of the Klaxxi
    • These hotfixes are upcoming, but NYI as of today.
    • Melee damage from the Paragons should now be more consistent and less likely to spike.
    • Ka'roz the Locust's Hurl Amber should no longer target players that have mutated into an Amber Scorpion.
    • Resolved an issue where Xaril the Poisoned Mind was not using Toxic Injection on the raid as soon as he joins the fight.

Battlegrounds and Arenas

• Legendary Metagem effects (Capacitive Primal Diamond, Courageous Primal Diamond, Indomitable Primal Diamond, and Sinister Primal Diamond) should no longer have a chance to activate while in an Arena, Battleground, or Rated Battleground.

Timeless Isle

• Resolved an issue where rocks from a cave-in blocking the entrance to the Mysterious Den did not have proper collision detection.

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Changes to Flex Scaling - World of Warcraft

At BlizzCon, we'd discussed some improvements to our Flexible scaling system that would minimize the existence and impact of any real or perceived "breakpoints." Our design goal has always been for the system to be neutral with respect to group size. Specifically, you should never feel encouraged to turn away interested players whose skill/gear level matches the rest of the group's, basic role composition constraints notwithstanding. But at the same time, you shouldn't feel like you need to go out and grab warm bodies if you have a perfectly serviceable raid already assembled. Clearly we have not yet fully realized those goals.

In general, the existing healing/damage scaling slightly favors larger groups, since boss health and damage scale up more slowly than does raid throughput. To use a specific example, an 18-player raid with 12 damage-dealers will kill a boss slightly faster than a 10-player raid with 6 damage-dealers (assuming equal skill/gear between the two groups). But it is true that currently some specific abilities exhibit breakpoints, where adding an extra player causes an extra add to spawn, or an ability to strike an additional target.

To help smooth out difficulty scaling as you add or remove players from your Flexible raid, we will be implementing one of our planned Warlords changes to the scaling system ahead of schedule. In the near future, several boss abilities that target more players as the size of a Flex raid increases will use weighted randomization rather than strict breakpoints.

An example to illustrate what I mean:

Today, Sun Tenderheart's Shadow Word: Bane ability afflicts 2 targets if your raid size is between 10 and 14, but begins to hit a third target at 15.

Once our upcoming change is in place, if you have a 13-player raid, there will be a 60% chance for each cast of the ability to hit 3 targets, and a 40% chance for it to hit 2. If you add an extra player, and thus have 14, there will now be an 80% chance for 3 debuffs to go out, and a 20% chance for only 2.

In short, with respect to this particular ability, adding an extra player will always give you an average of 0.2 extra Bane debuffs. No more breakpoints!

There will be a handful of exceptions where breakpoints remain necessary. Imprison on Sha of Pride is probably the most notable such example, where you really want to pre-plan who will cover which prisons, and having a random number of targets each cast would cause frustrating unpredictability.

There's nothing wrong with 14-player groups -- 14 players is a great size for a raid. But so is 15. And 19. And 12. And 22. We just want to help make sure that good players aren't being turned away from groups because of the notion that their presence will make things harder for everyone.

HotFIX
Fun fact: The hotfix has actually been active since just before the weekend, but it didn't get caught in the prior round of hotfix notes. It's no surprise that it went largely unnoticed, since most all of the abilities with actual breakpoints going from 14->15 are things with very minor impact (Protectors' Shadow Word: Bane, Nazgrim's Bonecracker, Hisek's Multi-Shot, etc.). There are indeed a couple of more impactful breakpoints on Garrosh's Touch of Y'Shaarj and Sha of Pride's Imprison, but those both occur at raid sizes well above 14, and randomization isn't the correct solution to either.

The 14-player "magic number" is actually a fairly interesting social dynamic, since there never was anything particularly special about the number, and now there really is objectively no advantage. As we've said in the past, there's certainly nothing wrong with wanting to form a 14-player raid, but if you're turning away strong players or friends because you're convinced that your raid as a whole will have a harder time, you're making a mistake.

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PS4 Sells More than Xbox One in US Nov Sales

Sony has claimed ‘the largest console launch in history’ as Call Of Duty: Ghosts becomes the best-selling game of last month in America.

The PlayStation 4 outsold the Xbox One in the US during November, although given that Sony’s console was released on November 15 over there, and Microsoft’s on November 22, that’s not an entirely fair comparison.

According to Microsoft’s Major Nelson the Xbox One remains the fastest-selling console of the month at 101,000 units per day. Which gives a total over nine days of 909,000. (Reported to be exactly 909,132 by VGX’s Geoff Keighley.)

Earlier in the week Microsoft announced that worldwide the Xbox One had sold 2 million consoles in 18 days, but that still puts it below the record-breaking 2.1 million for the PlayStation 4.

Given the split release dates and the fact that the Xbox One is released in fewer countries worldwide than its rival it’s still hard to make any direct comparisons but the fact that the PlayStation 4 did so well in America is of key importance.

The US and UK were the only major markets were the Xbox 360 outsold the PlayStation 3 and Sony now have the early lead in both. Even getting close to the Xbox One in America is an achievement for Sony, especially as the PlayStation 4 gained ‘the highest first month sales of a hardware platform on record’.

As usual hardware sales figures are not released as a matter of course, by they can be estimated from the various clues and statistics given. If the Xbox One sold 909,132 then the PlayStation 4 must’ve done somewhere between that and 1.6 million.

The 3DS was the third best-selling console of the month on around 770,000 (up 15 per cent on last year), with the Xbox 360 on 647,000 (down 49 per cent).

The Wii U is estimated to be around 220,000, a 340 per cent increase on its launch figures last year but depending on what PlayStation 3 sales were still almost certainly the worst selling home console of the month.

According to Nintendo Super Mario 3D World sold 215,000 in eight days, although given there are are no sales figures for the other games in the chart it’s hard to say exactly what that means.

In fact for the top 10 below bear in mind that not only are the American sales charts only every month but they don’t include digital sales or bundles, so they don’t give the most accurate picture you could wish for.

However, you can’t help notice that the top 10 doesn’t include any format exclusives, and according to chart compiler NPD software sales were actually down 24 per cent on last year. As you’d expect hardware sales were up, by 58 per cent, but that meant only a modest market rise of 7 per cent overall.

U.S. all formats chart – November

1 (-) Call Of Duty: Ghosts (360/PS3/Wii U/XO/PS4/PC)
2 (4) Battlefield 4 (360/PS3/XO/PS4/PC)
3 (6) Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (360/PS3/Wii U)
4 (R) Madden NFL 25 (360/PS3/XO/PS4)
5 (-) Grand Theft Auto V (360/PS3)
6 (7) NBA 2K14 (360/PS3/PC)
7 (8) Skylanders: Swap Force (Wii/360/PS3/Wii U/3DS)
8 (-) Just Dance 2014 (Wii/360/PS3/Wii U/XO/PS4)
9 (R) Disney Infinity (Wii/360/PS3/Wii U/3DS)
10(-) FIFA 14 (360/PS3/XO/PS4/PSV)

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Diablo 3 - Reaper of Souls Closed Beta Opened

Reapers, and Westmarch, and Crusaders, oh my—the Diablo® III: Reaper of Souls™ Closed Beta has begun!

Invitations to this next phase of our public test are now being delivered to nephalem worldwide. If you've been invited to the Closed Beta, we'd love to hear all about your adventures on the forums, watch your live streams, and see screenshots and videos of your experiences in Sanctuary.  Please keep in mind that Reaper of Souls is still in development, which means that all content in the Closed Beta is subject to change and isn't necessarily representative of the final game.

For additional information about the Closed Beta including how to participate, copy over characters, and provide feedback, Click Here.

Closed Beta Test FAQ:

How can I opt-in to the Closed Beta?
To opt into the beta, visit your Beta Profile Settings page in Account Management, check the "Diablo" box under "Beta Tests I'm Interested In," and then click "Update Preferences." In order to be eligible for an opt-in invite to the Reaper of Souls Closed Beta, you must have an active Diablo III license attached to your Battle.net account in good standing (i.e. not suspended or banned).

Please note that you may need to download and run the System Check tool in order to update your Beta Profile preferences.

How are beta test participants selected from the opt-in pool?
Beta testers are chosen according to their system specifications, in-game activity, and other factors, including an element of luck.

How will I know if I'm selected to participate in the beta??
If you are selected to participate in the Reaper of Souls Closed Beta, you will receive an invite via email. Opt-in invites will always be sent to the email address associated with your Battle.net account, while Closed Beta keys may be sent to other email addresses.

To help avoid phishing attempts, if you believe you've received an invite to the Closed Beta, it's best to refrain from clicking on any links in the email(s) you receive. If you received an opt-in invite, you can verify that your account has been granted a Closed Beta license in Battle.net Account Management. If you were sent a Closed Beta key, you can add it manually by visiting the Add or Upgrade a Game page.

Will there be any other ways to get into the beta besides opting-in?
In addition to opt-ins, we are also inviting key community influencers from around the world on a case-by-case basis. Invites to the Reaper of Souls Closed Beta will be extremely limited, however, and opting in to the beta is your best way to get in.

How many players do you plan to invite to the beta test?
The number of players we invite will be based on our testing needs. If during the course of testing we determine we need more players to participate, we’ll invite more.

What game content will be available in the beta?
Players who participate in the Reaper of Souls Closed Beta will have access to all content in the expansion, excluding the final boss fight. For an overview of testable features in the Closed Beta, please see our patch notes [link].

What languages will the beta be available in?
The Reaper of Souls Closed Beta is currently available in English and Korean.

How long will the beta test last?
We have not determined an exact date for the end of the beta test. We will notify participants when the beta test is nearing completion.

Is there an NDA?
There is no non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for the Reaper of Souls Closed Beta test. You are invited to take screenshots, livestream your play sessions, record feedback videos—whatever your heart desires! Please keep in mind that the game is still a work in progress, and we appreciate your understanding when you encounter bugs, graphical errors, or other issues.

Will the Diablo III Auction House be available in the beta?
Neither the gold nor the real-money auction house will available in the beta.

Will Mac users be able to participate in the beta?
Yes, Mac users will be able to participate in the beta at the same time as Windows users.

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League Of Legends Patch 3.15 (The Snowdown Update)

Matchmaking

Back in Patch 3.13, we made some changes to let us more dynamically turn on "Loss Prevented" mode for servers with hardware/connection issues. Unfortunately, there was a bug where "prevented" games showed up as losses. Turning on Loss Prevented mode is a manual process that we're improving on (including the potential to automate) in the future. Sorry for the inconvenience!

• Fixed a bug where Loss Prevented was showing up as Defeat in the post-game lobby and in Match History. Games in your Match History that were listed as Defeat but actually Loss Prevented, will be changed to Loss Prevented.

As a new player, it's no fun going through unbalanced games while the system tries to figure out your appropriate skill level. We've done some work here to speed up our ability to identify new players while quickly improving their matchmaking experience.

• New players will now have their appropriate skill level identified faster in the matchmaking system

"Explanation here: if you've been waiting in the queue for a while, the matchmaker will become less picky about making a perfectly balanced match. That said, there was a rare bug where players who were in the queue for long periods of time would become matchmaking vacuums, where they would instantly suck in all of the more "picky" players who had just queued in the nearby matchmaking vicinity. To the vacuumed player, if a match gets found quickly, that means in our system that the match is guaranteed to be high quality. Occasionally, however, this wasn't the case (due to wider ranges in matchmaking confidence), and can lead to a bad experience – we've since fixed that bug."

• Fixed a rare bug where the matchmaker would create imbalanced matches when a player had been in the queue for very long periods of time

General

Long story short, champions with attack speed buffs will now feel the effects quicker.

• Temporary attack speed buffs now update champion's attack speed immediately, rather than after the first attack
• Damage amplification abilities no longer work on true damage
  • Abilities affected:
    •  Poppy (Diplomatic Immunity)
    •  Swain (Torment)
    •  Talon (Cutthroat)

Champions

Yasuo

Yasuo the Unforgiven is in this patch, keep your eye out for upcoming details.

 Ahri

Ahri's very early laning experience can be unforgiving if she falls behind. These changes are to give her more breathing room before her first shopping trip or blue buff.

General

• Base mana increased to 250 (from 230)
• Base mana regeneration increased to 7 per 5 seconds (from 6.25 per 5 seconds)

 Fiddlesticks

Summary: We've reduced the duration of Terrify at later ranks and lowered the mana cost of both Terrify and Crowstorm.

Terrify is rather… terrifying at later levels, especially with the current pace of the game. That said, we didn't want to straight nerf Fiddle's power without any compensation. Cutting down his mana costs means that Fiddle can stay out in the field a little longer (especially after team fights), while the slight buff to Terrify's rank 1 duration helps his unstable early game.

Q - Terrify

• Duration reduced at later ranks to 1.25/1.50/1.75/2.00/2.25 seconds (from 1.00/1.50/2.00/2.50/3.00 seconds)
• Mana cost reduced to 65 at all ranks (from 65/75/85/95/105)

R - Crowstorm

• Mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks (from 150/200/250)

 Janna

Given our recent support changes, Janna could use a mana cost decrease like the other ult cost reductions we've made. We're still keeping an eye on this weather lady, so stay tuned for more change.

R - Monsoon

• Mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks (from 100/150/200)

 Lee Sin

Summary: Safeguard no longer shields minions or makes wards invulnerable when Lee Sin dashes to them.

"We like that Lee Sin could make cool plays without relying on teammates to Safeguard to, but felt we could trim some of his extraneous power without removing the real ‘fun' of it."

W - Safeguard

• Now only shields the target if the ally is a champion

 Lucian

Summary: We've lowered the base damage of Piercing Light and shortened its cast range.

We're culling some of Lucian's lane dominance – especially when he gets early AD purchases (given Piercing Light's high AD ratios). Rather than relentlessly pursuing a reduction on Lucian's damage, we also shaved some range off Piercing Light, as Lucian was able to poke from just outside of auto-attack range before going in for a strong trade with his passive. I'm sure there's another ability pun to be had in here, but I got nothing.

Q - Piercing Light

• Base damage reduced to 80/110/140/170/200 (from 80/120/160/200/240)
• Reduced cast range to match Lucian's basic attack range (now 550 from 570)

 Lulu

Summary: Pix, Faerie Companion had its base damage increased, Help, Pix!'s base shield strength was increased and Wild Growth's mana cost was lowered.

Lulu's defensive capabilities were a little low for a traditional support, so we sent her to the gym to get buff. Like most supports, we're keeping an eye on Lulu as the preseason progresses.

Passive - Pix, Faerie Companion

• Base damage increased to 9/21/33/45/57/69/81/93/105 (from 9/18/27/36/45/54/63/72/81)

E - Help, Pix!

• Base shield strength increased to 80/120/160/200/240 (from 60/105/150/195/240)

R - Wild Growth

• Mana Cost reduced to 100 at all ranks (from 150 at all ranks)

 Rammus

Summary: We've reduced the duration of Puncturing Taunt at later levels and reduced the mana cost of both Puncturing Taunt and Tremors.

Similar to Fiddlesticks' Terrify, Puncturing Taunt scales to a frustratingly long duration (according to some, it went on forever, so some subjectivity is expected), especially when Rammus has a strong early game. We didn't want to just lower Taunt's durations, so we've made some mana cost reductions to help Rammus recover in games when he has a rough start.

W – Defensive Ball Curl

• Can no longer be deactivated. Instead goes on cooldown when used (total cooldown of Defensive Ball Curl remains unchanged, as deactivating the ability previously did not reduce its cooldown)

E - Puncturing Taunt

• Duration reduced at later ranks to 1.25/1.50/1.75/2.00/2.25 seconds (from 1.00/1.50/2.00/2.50/3.00 seconds)
• Mana cost reduced to 50 at all ranks (from 50/60/70/80/90)

R - Tremors

• Mana Cost reduced to 100 at all ranks (from 120 at all ranks)

 Sivir

Summary: Fleet of Foot's movement speed bonus now scales up to 50 and Spell Shield has had its duration cut in half. On The Hunt also had its duration reduced and its cooldown increased while the enhanced movement speed boost scales up to 4 seconds with each rank.

We like the general direction of Sivir and are now in the process of tuning her power. Currently Sivir has access to a lot of raw mobility (especially in the early game), so we're hitting that to reduce some of her early game snowball potential. We also wanted to give Sivir's opponents more windows of opportunity against her."

Passive - Fleet of Foot

• Movement speed bonus reduced, now scales to 30/35/40/45/50 (at levels 1/6/11/16/18) (from 50 at all ranks)

E - Spell Shield

• Duration reduced to 1.5 seconds (from 3 seconds)

R - On The Hunt

• Total duration reduced to 8 seconds (from 10 seconds)
• Enhanced movement speed duration now scales to 2/3/4 seconds (from 4 seconds at all ranks)
• Cooldown increased to 120/100/80 seconds (from 120/90/60 seconds)

Soraka

We've got larger plans for Soraka in the long-term but for now, we're giving her some extra survivability and mobility in the laning phase to keep her healthy for the preseason.

General

• Base armor increased to 13 (from 9.4)
• Base movement speed increased to 340 (from 335)

 Taric

Summary: The armor scaling of Gemcraft has been reduced and Shatter had several changes made to it. Shatter's aura now increases allied champion armor by the correct amount and the armor damage scaling has been reduced. The shred of Shatter has also had its base value and armor scaling reduced.

We're happy with Taric's kit in the preseason, but his burst damage was just too fabulous, especially when he picks up additional armor items to scale off of. Like other supports, we'll be keeping an eye on Taric as the preseason progresses.

Passive - Gemcraft

• Armor scaling reduced to 20% (from 30%)

W - Shatter

• Aura amount bug fixed, will now give correct amount of 12% (from roughly 15%)
• Armor damage scaling reduced to 20% (from 30%)
• Shred base values lowered to 5/10/15/20/25 (from 10/15/20/25/30)
• Shred armor scaling lowered to 5% (from 10%)

Minor Changes & Bug Fixes

 Brand

E - Conflagration

• Fixed a bug where the cast range was longer than intended (625 from 650)

 Caitlyn

• We've improved Caitlyn's running animation!

 Cho'Gath

Q – Rupture

Rupture's slow after the knockup has always been 1.5 seconds – the tooltip was just incorrect.

• Fixed a line within the tooltip to correctly reflect the duration of the slow (the actual value is 1.5 seconds, where the tooltip previously stated 3 seconds)

 Fiora

If Fiora uses Blade Waltz on a stealth target that's been revealed (through true sight or abilities), she'll now properly deal damage.

R – Blade Waltz

• Fixed a bug where Blade Waltz was not dealing damage to "revealed" stealth targets

 Garen

E - Judgment

• No longer deals reduced damage to monsters (still reduced vs. minions)
• Fixed a bug where Judgment was dealing less damage than intended

 Lissandra

R - Frozen Tomb

• Fixed a bug where the slow would sometimes not reapply properly

 Maokai

R - Vengeful Maelstrom

• Added a counter showing how much bonus damage Vengeful Maelstrom is storing

 Pantheon

W - Aegis of Zeonia

• Now can be cast on enemy minions and jungle monsters

 Riven

• We've improved Riven's running animation!

 Shyvana

E - Flame Breath

• Fixed a bug where Flame Breath was shredding armor in Dragon Form

 Vayne

E – Condemn

• Fixed a bug where, if the target was being moved by a spell when Condemn's projectile hit (dash, knockup, knockback, pull, etc.) Condemn would sometimes not stun on collision with terrain.

Items

Vision Items

• Vision items no longer display their current ward count to your enemies on their tooltip display

Jungle Items

Bounty Hunter as a passive was a risky purchase for some junglers, as it either amped up the gold gains from successful team fights or punished junglers who couldn't get assists / kills. Rather than being seen as a niche purchase, we want the "Spirit" line of jungle items to be a core build on most junglers, so Conservation as a passive is a stronger fit.

Spirit of the Spectral Wraith

• Now has Conservation passive (instead of Bounty Hunter passive)

Spirit of the Elder Lizard

• Now has Conservation passive (instead of Bounty Hunter passive)

Trinkets

We're looking to enrich the interactions between the three trinkets by highlighting the core strengths of each (yellow's in a good place at the moment). The changes to the blue trinket solidify its role as a scouting tool and in-combat vision trinket. Even if you reveal a champion before they go into stealth, they won't be revealed once stealth takes effect.

Sweeping Lens

• Cooldown reduced to 120 seconds (from 180 seconds)

Greater Lens

• Cooldown reduced to 60 seconds (from 90 seconds)

Oracle's Lens

• Cooldown reduced to 60 seconds (from 90 seconds)
• True sight duration reduced to 8 seconds (from 10 seconds)

Scrying Orb

• NEW: Enemy champions hit will be revealed for 5 seconds. This does not affect stealth champions.
• Cast range increased to 1500 (from 1100)

Greater Orb

• NEW: Enemy champions hit will be revealed for 5 seconds. This does not affect stealth champions.
• Cast range increased to 2500 (from 1500)

Farsight Orb

• NEW: Enemy champions hit will be revealed for 5 seconds. This does not affect stealth champions.
• Cast range increased to 3000 (from 2500)

Summoner's Rift

The following changes are for Summoner's Rift only

Jungle Monsters

We've been watching the jungle closely during preseason and while we're happy with the general speed with which champions are making their way through the jungle, we can afford to make it a little less taxing for the first clear.

• Ancient Golem
  • Damage reduced to 60 (from 65)
• Lizard Elder
  • Damage reduced to 60 (from 65)
• Wight
  • Gold increased to 65 (from 60)

Game Flow

Gold income in the preseason is generally high, which can lead to snowballing situations. In addition to clarifying assist gold, we also wanted to remove some of the "untrackable" gold in the mid to late game.

• Assist gold rewards no longer scale up with game time (now 50% of kill reward from 50-80% of kill reward depending on game time)

We want to better reward players for pushing down inhibitors, and felt that super minions should really live up to their name. Now players will need to be extra vigilant about lanes with a downed inhibitor.

• Super Minions
  • Damage boost to nearby minions increased to 70% (from 40%)
  • Armor/Magic resistance boost to nearby minions increased to 70 (from 40)

Howling Abyss

WHO NEEDS A TRINKET WHEN YOU CAN FEED A PORO!?

• Everyone will spawn with a Poro-Snax item in their trinket slot

Masteries

Offense

• Martial Mastery
  • Attack damage reduced to +4 (from +5 attack damage)
• Arcane Mastery
  • Ability power reduced to +6 (from +8 ability power)

Defense

• Perseverance
  • Reduced to restoring 0.7%/1.35%/2% missing health every 5 seconds (from restoring 1/2/3% missing health every 5 seconds)
• Legendary Guardian (formerly the Tenacious mastery)
  • Fixed a bug where the name had gotten swapped with the Tenacious Mastery
  • Required range to gain bonus armor and magic resistances from enemy champions reduced to 700 (from 900)

Summoner Spells

As a side-note, we do have plans to update Summoner Spells to better reflect the state of the preseason but they will not be coming with patch 3.15. In the meantime, enjoy the new Summoner Spell art!

• Clarity, Clairvoyance, Revive, Barrier, Flash, Teleport and Ignite have all had their icons updated

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