Teamfight Tactics developers certainly learn from their mistakes.
TFT lead designer Stephen “Mortdog” Mortimer reflected on Rise of the Elements in a Dev Post today, breaking down what will be different for the upcoming Set Three: Galaxies. Though the autobattler’s second season introduced some fun new mechanics, it still fell short in a couple of areas.
Here are some ways in which TFT devs will try to improve going forward.
Spell impact and excitement
Set one had many exciting and game-changing spells. Whether it was Karthus blasting the entire enemy team or Sejuani freezing unsuspecting enemies, it was great to see your units pull off such game-changing moments. Rise of the Elements moved away from this kind of exciting and impactful gameplay, according to Mortdog.
“The best example to illustrate this is Sejuani compared to Malphite,” the dev said. “Both serve a very similar purpose (frontline tanks with a big AoE CC move), but Sejuani’s spell had much better anticipation as it was cast and a much clearer impact.”
To improve the player and viewer experience, these kinds of high-impact and thrilling spells will be incorporated into Galaxies’ design.
Combat clarity
With Zyra plants, Malzahar’s minions, Azir’s soldiers, Yorick’s Ghouls, and Annie’s Tibbers, it was nearly impossible to tell what you were looking at. The board was flooded with minions, which severely impacted the ability to see how the fight played out. Pair that with invisible spells, like Berserker’s cleave, and you had one big mess.
Set three will have “more visible and appreciable spells” to further the excitement when seeing your team pull off a great combo.
Champion balance and design
Mortog is happy with the balance of spell power and stats in relation to Star Level. This led to “more possible win conditions” and an increase in satisfaction when upgrading your units. But one and two-cost champions were a “bust,” according to the lead designer.
“With a few exceptions (3-star Kog and Vayne come to mind) you couldn’t really consider viable late game options with one and two cost champions,” Mortdog said. “They merely existed to act as trait bodies instead of having their own win conditions and fantasies.”
Riot will make a big push toward making low-cost units viable for the end game instead of needing to replace them for the next best thing. There will be “more satisfying carries” within each tier of units.
With Set Three: Galaxies debuting in mid-March, TFT fans still have a couple of weeks to go before jumping into the intergalactic battle.
