What was that thing they talked about his W and experience gains?
Let's see.
The first thing I wanted to weigh in on is that the changes are definitely trying some pretty out there and meta breaking ideas (i've always admired CertainlyT for his innovation). This comes with a bunch of costs, but also what we think is more benefit. Making an immobile melee kit with no CC work in the bot lane is a really crazy task and from the experience that we have from internally testing it (and you guys are experiencing on the PBE), it takes some time to get used to.
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Is what they're calling it. "Takes some time to get used to" my ass, with the damage nerfs to E he'll have a hard time at bot lane. Especially since they're also nerfing his MS by 15. Making him as slow as ADCs and slower than Vayne and Draven. For a melee champion.
Introducing some new ways to break the meta while preserving the conventional solo lane viability of the character is our goal. When it hits live, try this new morde wherever you prefer and see what works/doesn't. We will be listening and responding to feedback in the following patches for sure.
"Preserving."
I'm sure they meant butchering.
Some things we would fix if we saw them on live:
Morde not viable as a bot lane pick (this doesn't mean he has to show up in pro play)
Morde not viable as a solo laner (same as above, pro play is not how we judge this)
Morde mechanics are buggy
Aspects of morde kit are not fun for the majority of players after people have had a chance to try it out and adap. Sorry that this post doesn't address any of the specific points people have been making, but I did want to pop in and give some context on our approach to making sure that the morde update is +fun +value for players, which is the #1 goal.
I'm glad that idiots can take Morde into the jungle and bottom and they'll look at this and go 'BOY THIS MEANS MORDE WORKS'. Yeah sure Morde is fun just like Taric can be fun. Unfortunately 'fun' is highly subjective. I'm surprised Riot doesn't know that.
"There's some truth in what he's saying about morde's kit not having the amount of healthy 1 on 1 interactions that a full top to bottom rework like Sion or Fiora brings to those lanes. CertainlyT is a super perfectionist and he's just calling it like it is here, morde is not the pinnacle of solo lane skill based matchups.
That said, I think that we're taking a "do no harm" stance on morde's solo lane compared to live. The solo laner may not be getting to exploit some of the crazy new tools (duo XP, dragon, W) as well as a duo morde, but he should be roughly as powerful/fun as live mordekaiser."
Oh, I'm glad his solo lane is 'roughly as powerful/fun(there's that word again! Fun is being used objectively because fuck you!) as live Mordekaiser.'
Except he isn't.
"If solo morde ends up nerfed, we will address it. I'm just spelling out some of the goals/stance on solo vs duo morde."
Uhuh, if the goal is 'fun' well you fucked up.
Oh this part is gold-
If it turns out that most players are still favoring solo morde and that this version of W has too much of a feel cost, we would consider shifting some of his power out of P, Q and E to make room for some sort of "weaker but castable solo" version of W
"Hey how would we fix W being duo only? Nerf his whole kit and let him cast a weak version of W on himself. BECAUSE WE AT RIOT WANT FUN."
His power is so much more melee focused now that I honestly barely noticed it when playing. If he's underpowered, range is an easy number to buff.
What range? His only range is E, which is horribly nerfed. Oh this is my favorite one-
Waveclear has still seemed pretty strong, and we've employed the "merciless pushing wave into enemy turret" strat for bot lane wins many times internally. Granted, this may be a nerf from a full AP morde on live, but I think he should still have enough waveclear to feel good."
Internally. MAY be a nerf from live. Like....holy shit, they should never use internal testing as a gauge to how a community of millions will react to the changes.
Sometimes the balance team at riot is really, really stupid.
His passive is linked to his HP now, so Tank Morde's back in a sense
Does his W no longer give defensive boost? It should at least give it to an ally if not to Morde....
Nope, it no longer gives it to anyone. Just a stronger MS boost compared to live.
