Chapter 611: I'm not sure either

... Thank you for inviting us to participate in this exchange meeting. However, regarding your earlier statement that 'nerfing VG is necessary,' we VG do not agree, and our players are also extremely opposed and strongly against it.

Gao Jun looked at the Riot people on the screen with a slight smile, neither arrogant nor humble, neither hurried nor slow, stating:

"However, I agree with what you said: the S7 World Championship really cannot become boring. As an important part of the global esports industry chain, we VG all sincerely hope to bring a wonderful match-viewing experience to global audiences, making the event more attractive so as to draw more viewers to watch the matches, which is necessary for the healthy development of the overall League of Legends esports ecosystem. Based on this, we are willing to accept some balance adjustments, provided they are not too extreme......"

Ta Da Mi Er listened to Gao Jun's speech, then fell silent for a moment, and then gave a glance to the department head of design, Maikesi.

Maikesi immediately raised his hand and waved at the camera, smiling as he spoke:

"OK, it seems we have reached a consensus. Then let's discuss some specifics. First, I'd like to know how you all view the changes to the Xia Gu Xian Feng in patch 7.9......"

As everyone knows, after the Xia Gu Xian Feng became able to crash towers, it became a significant buff, and many people feel this change is a boon for the jungle position.

However, in the eyes of professionals, this is actually a major nerf to the jungle position.

Admittedly, the Xia Gu Xian Feng and the jungle are almost tied together; to hit the Xia Gu Xian Feng, the jungle must be present. But the question is, whether one can hit the Xia Gu Xian Feng is not decided by the jungle.

Then who decides it?

It's the mid lane and the top lane.

Although there are indeed some strong junglers who can solo the Xia Gu Xian Feng, even setting aside the fact that soloing it takes a very long time, the timing of opening the Xia Gu Xian Feng is actually not decided by the jungle, but by the lane pressure of the mid and top lanes.

When both your mid and top lanes are losing in lane, the jungle absolutely cannot go for the Xia Gu Xian Feng; otherwise, you'd be feeding the enemy and working for nothing.

In short, the buff to the Xia Gu Xian Feng actually raises the status of the mid and top lanes—especially the top lane—while weakening the jungle's position, because the jungle must adjust its rhythm to match the mid and top lanes in order to gain the opportunity to hit the Xia Gu Xian Feng.

Put simply, the jungle's role is leaning toward that of a support, becoming more and more like a tool. In this version environment, heroes that need to consider their own development more, and even those that require teammate cooperation—wild core types—will naturally be phased out.

What is this if not nerfing the jungle?

For VG, strengthening the mid and top lanes' ability to influence the game is equivalent to weakening Liang Yan's ability as the absolute core to lead the team to victory.

Riot cannot nerf his shot-calling, so they can only nerf his personal impact.

If you want to curb VG's invincibility, this approach is absolutely correct.

If Riot goes even further crazy and turns the jungle completely into a support, whether VG can still maintain its first-half strength is truly uncertain. Objectively speaking, the individual abilities of VG's three laners are certainly not top-notch; even when facing those few world-top teams, they are at a disadvantage.

These details had already been discussed by VG in private meetings; Gao Jun had kept them in mind, so now he will answer.

"Afterward, the design department head again asked for others' opinions, which were largely the same as Gao Jun's; when asked about Liang Yan, he replied in three words: 'I agree.'"

This means he agrees with what the management and teammates said. On the other hand, it gives off an air of profundity, making it harder for these Riot people to guess his true thoughts.

"Next, Maikesi brought up several important changes that were already planned but not yet turned into version announcements, such as buffing the small dragon, nerfing Smite damage, reducing monster respawn time...... and so on, and asked VG members for their opinions."

"Some of these were anticipated by VG members, others were not; we will also discuss them a bit and then Gao Jun will give a unified answer......"

The meeting lasted nearly an hour.

As the meeting wrapped up, Ta Da Mi Er said:

"This has been a very pleasant exchange.

"Thank you all for taking the time to give us such valuable feedback; these opinions have given us new angles to consider, and we will surely take them seriously. As for the specific direction of changes, please keep an eye on subsequent version announcements.

He paused, then added:

"Of course, please keep the contents of this meeting strictly confidential.

These are all empty pleasantries; I don't know whether he's unwilling to show weakness or simply hasn't figured out the concrete plan, but Ta Da Mi Er gave no clear stance.

Maikesi closed his notebook beside him, gave a slight nod, and the other attendees began to rise and leave one by one; someone stood up with a coffee cup and stretched, someone lowered their head to whisper something to a nearby colleague, and the atmosphere visibly relaxed.

But Ta Da Mi Er did not move.

This Riot CEO remained seated in his original spot, his gaze passing through the camera to land on Liang Yan; he suddenly leaned forward, lowered his voice, and asked in a half-joking, half-serious tone:

"By the way, I'm curious to ask one more thing——

"Fire, seriously, you're not really thinking of switching to play PUBG, are you?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere instantly became tense again.

Everyone turned their heads to look at Liang Yan.

Facing these gazes that were probing, tense, or expectant, Liang Yan slightly raised his eyebrows.

But he did not answer; he merely looked at Ta Da Mi Er's face on the screen, which was about to crack, kept a smile, and neither nodded nor shook his head.

He remained silent for a few seconds, and just when everyone felt they could barely breathe, Liang Yan finally spoke, also in a half-joking, half-serious tone:

"I'm not sure either."

In the video call picture on the backdrop, one could see Ta Da Mi Er's mouth corner twitch slightly, then he gave a very helpless smile and pointed a finger at the camera:

"Alright. You damn guy, you're as hard to deal with as your Kha'Zix."

"But speaking from the heart, I personally believe you are the most talented League of Legends player in history and will become the most successful, highest-achieving legendary figure, so regarding this transition, I hope you can give it careful thought."

"Finally, I hope none of you fall behind, and I very much look forward to seeing you on the roster for the S7 World Championship."

"Well then, goodbye."

The screen went black.

The meeting room fell silent for a while, then the sound of everyone exhaling in relief rose.

Fu Lan Duo gave Liang Yan a thumbs-up:

"Brother, I'm totally convinced, you're really awesome."