We started updating champions because
we started to see this really big difference between
the stuff we're really proud of releasing
and then the stuff that we probably could've
done a little better when we released it.
Irelia's kind of an unusual choice as far as that goes.
She can do everything but she doesn't really excel in all those things.
Everybody would be a little bit nervous hearing that like
a champion that they really liked to play is getting a massive update.
She has a very strong fantasy that's resonated with a lot of our players
but her gameplay has generally been lacking
and actually delivering on the fantasy for one.
It's not fulfilling the fantasy of multiple blades flying at you
or multiple blades who are dancing at you.
If we can really nail the blade dancer fantasy
we can make her one of the coolest champions in League.
As it stands, there's like three spells that are basically --
we can call it basically locked although I'll probably still
tinker with her a little bit.
From there on, we're trying to find the W and ultimate.
What are the most important aspects of Irelia to players.
Let's focus on that.
And then what are the riskiest or least certain aspects of Irelia to us
Let's also focus on that.
More often than not, it actually takes a few months
to really get to the point where we feel like we have a kit
that's trending in a good direction.
This R spell is actually a pretty cool spell,
the main questions I have about it are just like
is this right for Irelia, right?
It's like, it's like a heavy duty like support ult.
Are we turning her into something that she's not?
Irelia's Q has always been her defining spell.
It is like probably the spell that players play the character for.
The first pattern we hit for Irelia was through her passive
her Q and her E.
When we have that, we've learned a lot about what the character is
and probably should be.
And then we validate that with Player Labs.
We have Player Lab on Tuesday.
I know.
I think it'd be really really good if we can get...
at least like a fairly indicative version for both.
I think so.
Into a good spot by Tuesday night.
Player Labs is Riot's opportunity to test out our content
with players not internally, not with our development teams
but with actual, real players.
So we have been looking for people who either
currently play Irelia and like her
or people who play top lane skirmishers or similar characters
and like those as well.
I think with Player Labs you're always a little nervous
to see how people respond.
I would just jump in, I'd get a huge free trade on him
but I had no way of sticking on him.
When I use the W, it kinda like kills the momentum.
It doesn't really feel like it's a part of her.
Get more than one competing idea for what she could be doing in W.
Like get your top three
and then you can poll people and be like,
"Is it cool if she's shaping the battlefield?"
"Is it cool if she's nullifying spells?"
"Is it cool if she's stopping, saving-" You know what I mean?
Get a couple, and then we can just sort of judge them.
I worry a little about the character's impact to the game
being relatively similar to a lot of other people.
I'm basically looking for things that Irelia can do
that other characters basically cannot.
It cannot be overstated how important it is to take time.
What we have are a small group of players that can play Irelia
over and over and over again.
The earlier we can get kit locked,
the more time we can give them to just play the character
with the goal that over time we will actually hone in on the character's
overall balance to be as close to a good balanced character as possible.
The current version is more diver than a skirmisher.
The lane test was a bit rough.
I didn't see the point of even testing it.
Like I had Triforce and two levels up and I still lost the fight.
I like the concept of the anti-poke niche
but the reward for it doesn't actually feel that high.
Sounds like what I'll probably go from here is basically
try lowering her R output a little
and then putting some power of that into W.
The R feels its getting decently close at this point
and then we tried the W which was really cool
but to me, like hitting too high on the execution bar
as in like, the character's getting too hard to play.
We have kit lock, so new and old Irelia players will love her.
As you would have probably imagined, we don't have her kit locked.
So let's put that back to like an in progress, unfortunately.
Oh.
I will probably still need like...
I would assume about like a week to...
like, finalize it out.
There's always some sort of sequence that has to run through the project.
Animation, to some degree, always has to follow
when we can get the model rigged.
VFX often has to follow timing from animation.
So by the time when we're in January and production was starting to finish,
sound effects still have a lot of work that they had to get through.
I can do first pass on her kit in like two days.
So I'm kinda in the spot where like
I need to wait for people and I don't know how to be useful.
Anyone else feel like they're blocked or similarly
not empowered to work on Irelia?
IreliaCarriesU is like a really notable Irelia main in the community
and we want to specifically invite him in to play test.
Oh the hard read.
Aw no!
Oooh.
Well even though the stun wasn't the same
I still felt like, oh yeah it's still there
and I can still setup the same stuff that I used to setup before
but at the same time I'm not reliant on always having my flash up.
Getting his read on it at that point was really really helpful.
Being able to say like,
"Hey, these are some of the things that we want to hold true."
What do you think?
Overall, kit seems to be doing pretty well.
Not gonna hate us for this rework?
No, no I don't think so. I think its in the right direction.
Just like seeing the smile on his face, listening to him talk about it
that's when I knew we can polish things up, but we're set.
We got kit lock!
Has anybody played with the W yet?
I went 15 and 1 in the audio playtest.
It was disgusting.
Music and splash come at the end of the pipeline
and they're going right up until the release.
So as Irelia is about to launch.
And players are going to start seeing her
I hope they look at her as the actual embodiment of the fantasy
that was promised to them so long ago.
There's always that little bit being a developer
where you work so closely to this project for so long
maybe we're gonna be surprised, maybe we missed something.
I hope that players sincerely love Irelia.
And I hope that they perceive her to be still true
to all the core elements of Irelia that they loved before she was remade.