Patch 14.13 marks our 5 year celebration of TFT! And while the official 5 year day is June 26th, I figured a good post for this morning is trying to pull the first thing I remember about each set off the top of my head.
Launch Set – Working with Shynkro to implement the loot orb system, and having leaders doubt the system would be good, only for it to land extremely well and be the backbone of TFT item distribution. Was my first major direction project on TFT!
Rise of the Elements – Going to All-Stars and meeting people like Sologesang and getting my first taste of what competitive TFT could look like. Also learning that League players were not happy with TFT at their events lol. A lot of “TFT ResidentSleeper” in chat.
Galaxies – Launching the set and mobile as we were all being sent home for COVID, literally locking in final changes as we packed up our things to prep for what would become like 2 years of work from home. Also coming up with the galaxies mechanic last minute so the set would even have a mechanic! Was fun adding new ones each patch, and Big Bang Galaxy was a clever save I’m still proud of.
Fates – The first time our player numbers started looking REALLY good and people going “Oh snap, this TFT game is for real”. Felt good, since the people on the team were busting their butts while WFH and still launching the sets on time and getting good results. Really felt like the first time we knew we were going to be around for a long time.
Reckoning – Being on vacation, only to get a message from my boss going “Shadow Items are killing the set, you need to come up with something”, then rallying the team and taking the wild bet to just straight up delete a set mechanic in favor of Radiant Items. Also I’ll always remember wanting Radiant components, only to have Chloe tell me we should keep it simple and just do the items. Was a good humbling reminder that I always keep to remind myself to get more ideas and my perspective is just one of many good ones.
Gizmos & Gadgets – Finally seeing the impact of augments and how much they leveled up the game. We had sort of sacked Reckoning to save this mechanic for the Arcane release, and that gamble came into question with how rough shadow items were. But it paid off, since augments became so core, and the timing of doing it when interest in the game and IP were at their highest.
Dragonlands – Another set where we struggled to come up with a great mechanic, and our dragon eggs concept wasn’t really panning out. So I remember that last ditch meeting with myself, Witty, and Julie, where we brainstormed and knew we wanted Dragons, but didn’t really have time to do much. So we came up with the whole 3 Shyvanas 2 Galios 2 ASols thing that became our dragons, and the mechanic ended up being popular with our less engaged audiences. Another last minute save!
Monsters Attack! – TFT Summit was a really cool experience. Getting to talk to a lot of our NA pros in person, there is something about being face to face that makes it all come together. Online always seems to bring out the worst in people, but all of us there together was really good stuff. Was the start of ineekoh getting hired, got to play smash with SpicyAppies, just generally a lot of good moments from that event.
Runeterra Reforged – Honestly the first thing that comes to mind this set is being proud of how much effort kentwuhoo put into the set to make sure it launched in a great set. His first Set lead experience, and all the hard work and long hours, and just generally being happy to see him succeed. Don’t tell Kent, but I think he’s got so much potential so seeing that come together in a set that did well was awesome.
Remix Rumble – The Vegas Open, how much insane effort went into making sure the set was a banger, the event was a banger, and everyone had a good time. I can’t even begin to list how much work RiotSherman and riot_prism and so many many more folks gave 110% to this event. When it was over and Milala won, and I went back stage, I broke down. Felt like one of the defining moments of my career I’ll never forget.
Inkborn Fables – Seeing the encounters and Kobuko come together. TFTSloan getting the baseline of encounters up and running, and then folks on finalization like TheTruexy coming in and adding a bunch of new ones to help it all come together. Also watching RiotBluecove during the PBE cycle really give it 110%, felt like watching people come into their own, which was awesome.
There ya go. Pretty wild to think we’re still kicking and going strong after 5 years. Here’s to the next 5! Pengu’s Party will be up later today, so enjoy the mode. It’s pretty darn fun!
Last small note, Q&A stream needs to delay 1 hour on Friday, so it will start at 9am, as soon as I finish a different obligation that starts at like 7am. Busy day! Hope to see you there. Until then, take it easy 🙂
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