Riot details 9 ways they’re changing Clash

After the very successful weekend of Clash last week, Riot Draggles has already popped onto the forums to share some of our feedback, and how the team aims to adopt it. Here are nine things the team wants to clear up and maybe update.

1. Clarity, tooltips, and UI

Some players seemed to have some issues with incorrect tooltips and missing animations. The team is currently working on cleaning up these errors and generally aiming to make the experience more fluid and navigable.

2. Substitutes

This was an issue that we here at the Rift Herald had when playing Clash last weekend, and it seems like we weren’t alone. First, the Unknown Error substitute bug is already fixed, so no worries there for anyone who ran into it. However, they’re still making an effort to make the sub rules more clear and giving players more time to sub when needed.

For players who want more substitutes, we have some bad news. Draggles points out that subs are for emergencies, not extra roster slots (for reward reasons). So, substitutions will still be limited and still only last for a single day.

Riot Games

3. SMS verification

Some players seem to find this system pretty wonky, and Draggles seems to agree. The team will be adding flags rather than country codes in the future, for clarifications sake, as well as checking with more carriers. Draggles also agreed with players who seem to think that this system doesn’t fix smurfing entirely, saying “You’re right! We’ll never have a 100% deterrent for smurfs in Clash, but we’re committed to removing them where possible.”

4. Matchmaking and Smurfing

This is a long section with a lot of smurfing complaints. While Draggles was quick to point out that you can’t blame every loss on smurfing (good on you, Ben), he did say that the team is aggressively punishing smurfs whenever they find them. The team has apparently also already taken action against a bunch of verifiable smurfs, which is good news.

For players who felt their matches were unfair, well, you can apparently blame a bug. The team is also looking at adjusting their MMR maths to make things a little more fair whenever possible.

5. Tickets

Hitting on another issue the Rift Herald team had, players are confused about tickets in general. The main question seems to simply be: why? Well, it appears that the team has a vision for tickets as these passes that allow you to play or allow you to play AND get bonus rewards. However, the bonus rewards need to be locked behind RP in order to make business sense. In order to clarify this a bit more, there will probably be some kind of basic or premium entry pack in the future.

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6. Team Creation

It seems that some players had trouble finding a good group and sticking with them, wishing that they could simply remove players and form new teams. Draggles came in to say that this is against the spirit of Clash and that teams need to improve together. So, teams will be staying locked for the weekend.

In far more exciting news, the Clash team is planning on partnering with op.gg in order to create a team building tool, so players can run out and find a group of new pals to play with.

7. Eligibility and participation

Some players feel bad about not being able to play Clash because of honor levels. The team recently lowered the requirement to get from level 0 to 2, and the team is still monitoring the changes. Some players have also suggested that Clash be double elimination rather than single, which is a solid “no” considering how long they take to play out.

8. Rewards

Players apparently feel good about the rewards themselves, but not the clarity. Next time around, we’ll be getting more clear indications of when loot is coming and some cool loot tables that show what all we can get if we’re victorious.

Riot Games

9. Other problems

Woof. Here we go.

Some players encountered a bug where they never got into champ select and just lost ... which is pretty bad. Players affected should have tickets refunded, but otherwise the team is still looking for the bug. The team is also working on a fix for in game voice suddenly breaking right after matches.

The team has fixed a bug that times people out when entering tickets, locking in, or inviting teammates. So, good news if this happened to you. The team will also be adding 10-20 seconds after the last lock in for people to edit runes.

The team is also looking at changing start times for days two and three to keep players from starting too early or playing too late depending on their timezone. However, this could cause matchmaking issues and be relatively unfix-able. Finally, the team is looking at expanding some scouting data next time around and asked for some feedback in the comment section.

Draggles ends the post with a big thank you to all the players who came out to jam on Clash weekend. He also teased that the main launch of Clash may be coming soon, and left a classic Riot trademark at the end. Get your teams ready to go, it looks like next month could be the official Clash start.

See you on Summoner’s Rift.