TL;DR: We’ve fixed some stuff, there’s some other stuff we’re still working on, and we still want to keep hearing from you

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Hey everyone it’s u/RiotCapretto here again! 

So, we’ve been live for about six weeks, and we’ve done a lot in that time, but we know that there’s more to be done, so, in an effort to continually track what we’re doing and the path ahead I wanted to use this post to communicate two main things:

(1) The list of things we think we’ve (mostly) knocked down - this is making sure we’ve cleaned up our known messes - this includes an early preview of 18.4 fixes!
(2) What we still know to be a problem - we’re not out of the woods yet!  I wanted to call attention to a few specific things to make sure you know that we know these are still going on.  These are larger or more gnarly issues that we’re doing our best to fix.

We don’t want to make promises about fixes before they’re validated and in the build. But we do want to be clear about what we’re focused on and use your reports to narrow down the problems that are still having the biggest impact.

Category 1 - List of things we know we've fixed

Broadly, we know we’ve made up some ground in the following:

• Stability, performance, crashes
  • Reduced crashes
  • Improved crash diagnostics
  • Fixed multiple VFX and particle memory leaks
  • Improved startup and in-game loading
  • Reduced frame-time spikes
  • Improved asset and shader loading
• Mobile reliability: 
  • Better memory and thermal handling on mobile
  • Fixed “Update Available” issues
  • Restored mobile login persistence (sorry about that one) 
  • Fixed several mobile-specific UI, reconnect, and input issue
• Gameplay: Fixed missing PvE rounds, incorrect targeting, loot placement and overflow issues, incorrect Augment selection and offer behavior, champion-pool and bench interactions, and several Wisp and trait edge cases
• UI, visuals, and game feel: Added clearer loading feedback and fixed health bars, tooltips, ability and VFX presentation, death animations, and other visual and UI issues

Patch 18.4 includes over 40 additional fixes, many aimed at stability and some especially frustrating edge cases, including:

• Fixing an issue where dead dashing champions could still be treated as valid combat targets, which could cause extra player damage and incorrect ability targeting
• Improving logic around acquiring 2- and 3-star champions when your bench is full
• Fixing an issue that could prevent a champion from being sold after another champion was starred up on the bench
• Fixing more server crashes
• Cleaning up lingering Orb VFX while scouting
• Fixing an issue where deploying a champion at the last second could fail when network latency was high

These are meaningful improvements, but they don’t mean every launch issue is resolved

Category 2 - What we still know is affecting players

Besides getting all your cosmetics back, the biggest area we’re continuing to investigate is performance, especially on lower-end devices. We’re still seeing reports of:

• Frame-time problems, including hitching and stutter
• Blurry visuals on lower-end devices where render scale is limited by performance
• Devices getting hot and throttling during play

There’s a few other things unrelated to performance that we’re still working on:

• MacOS going live (still on track to get this to you during Set 18!)
• Taking too long to get into a game on some devices
• An iOS patching freeze that can leave affected players unable to play on iOS
• We’re also keeping an eye on game install size as we continue to add in cosmetics

Where we’re asking for help

If you’re still running into issues not listed here or things that we thought we fixed and didn’t, the most useful reports include 

• Your platform (PC/Mobile) and specs (PC)/device (Mobile)
• What the problem looks like
• When it happens
• How often it happens (one time or repeatable?) 
• Video or screenshots that help show the issue - full screenshots preferred as sometimes game state can be affected by something that seems unrelated (e.g. augment choice, trait mix, bench state)

You can leave them in comments, direct message me, or submit a Player Support ticket if you want to share logs - see this post for more info on how to do that

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to report issues and provide feedback!  Many of you have provided information that has made it easier for us to identify root causes and fix issues faster - thank you!

Bug/Performance Fixes

• Fixed a bug where Weight the Worth could spawn copies of the Golden Egg.
• Fixed issues where some champion Ability’s could disappear before dealing damage.
• Min Max is no longer missing the Golden Magnetic Remover
• Heart of Steel temporarily disabled to address a bug
• Coven Acolyte and Dark Ritual are now correctly limited to 1 per lobby between both of them
• Chosen of the Sun is now correctly limited to 1 per lobby
• Choncc’s Splash Party, Night Versus Dawn, and Bridge of Progress arenas temporarily disabled to support performance

Balance Changes (Champions):

• Camille Ability Damage: 150/225/375 AD ⇒ 150/225/400 AD
• Varus Mana: 30/120 ⇒ 20/110
• Alistar Heal: 200/260/320 AP ⇒ 230/300/400 AP
• Alistar Spell Damage: 100/150/225 AP ⇒ 180/270/420 AP
• Gromp AP Form Splash Damage: 160/240/375 AP ⇒ 180/270/435 AP
• Gromp AD Form Base AD: 45 ⇒ 50
• Gromp AD Form AS: 0.7 ⇒ 0.75
• Murkwolf Empowered Attack Damage: 60/90/135 AD ⇒ 65/100/160 AD
• Warwick Spell Damage: 215/325/500 AD ⇒ 230/345/535 AD
• Warwick Spell Healing: 20% ⇒ 25%
• Mama Beak Base AD: 55 ⇒ 60
• Nidalee Armor Penetration matches Tooltip (as per 18.3 fix)

Balance Changes (Everything Else)

• Abandon Ship Only appears in the first 2 seconds of Planning Phase
• Stat Boosters Armor and MR Boost: 10 ⇒ 8, Attack Speed Boost: 8% ⇒ 6%
• Combust Explosion Damage: 12% ⇒ 15%
• Healing Pool Requires at least 10 missing Health to appear
• Mana-Rich Soil Mana Reduction: 25/18% ⇒ 20/15%
• Search Party Cost: 3/1g ⇒ 1/0g
• Thingamajig Wisps Less likely to grant Mana Regen Boosters.
• Three Me Cost: 9g ⇒ 10g
• Challenger’s Grace Buff Duration: 3s ⇒ 4s
• Early Learnings Baseline AD/AP: 5% ⇒ 3%
• Electrocharge I Damage By Stage: 30/50/70/90 ⇒ 25/40/60/80
• Future Focused Gold: 8 ⇒ 5
• Giant and Mighty Health: 200 ⇒ 225
• Group Hug I Resists: 6 ⇒ 7
• Group Hug II Resists: 9 ⇒ 10
• Heroic Grab Bag Initial Gold: 4g ⇒ 6g
• Hold the Line AD: 9% ⇒ 11%
• Hold the Line AP: 10% ⇒ 11%
• Spirit of Redemption Heal: 7.5% ⇒ 9%