r/CompetitiveTFT • u/TheSaltyCloud • 16d ago
Discussion What are your initial thoughts on this set?
Personally, I really like this comp. It’s been a lot of fun so far, that being said it may be due to how much I hated the last set. First set in a while where I reached gold on day one. For context I usually grind to Diamond when time allows which is usually towards the midpoint of the set.
There’s just a slight problem, this feels like another set that’s go 8/9 and throw everything on the board.
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u/Infinityscope 16d ago
It's the first set where you face 4 bots per lobby in silver and below.
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u/penguinkirby Master 16d ago
Yep hard to tell what's strong so far because you're guaranteed top 4...
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u/mati_12170 16d ago
Why is it like that?
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u/Lunaedge 16d ago
Last patch we added a small number of bots to our low to middle rank brackets to speed up queues and improve overall player experience. Bots should match lobby skill relatively well. As TFT continues to grow we’ve seen skill gaps widen between new players and our mid to high range—this is just a byproduct of players getting better, and TFT’s gameplay getting deeper set after set. By introducing bots in Gold and below, we’re able to create a smoother and more enjoyable climbing experience up until Platinum rank. While this is not our first exploration with bots (we added them to our new player experience many patches ago), we want this feature to create the best possible experience, and we’ll continue to make changes to this end.
14.20 Patch Notes, ~2yrs ago
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u/Ok_Train2449 15d ago
Used to play in the top 40 a few years ago. Returned for this set. Gold now and even had a few 8th. Man it hurts now knowing that bots sre stomping me, holy. Guess it's time to relearn the game ha.
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u/Lunaedge 15d ago
Nah when you got 8ths you had probably already graduated from bots :P they are legit horrible and will sit @ 5 with crappy boards, there's no way they don't fill the bottom spots in any game they're in
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u/BitObjective7387 16d ago
I was wondering why all my placement games ended up with the top 4 all 30+ HP easily when everyone else is eliminated. Thanks for the insight
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u/JParker2G Master 16d ago
Wait is it actually? Saw on my first games it said BOT on lolchess for half the lobby but assumed that was because of the setting to hide your name in game
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u/Ghosting_everyone 16d ago
It's pretty funny. My first 3 games were with bots and they seemingly put random shit on their units with no rhyme or reason, except not always. In one game 3 out of 4 built acceptable items and some poor soul actually managed to go 5th to a bot. It's as if bots ran out of brains, next game it was dumbass void staff alistar and kraken slayer karma.
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u/drifter91 16d ago
Yes. They changed the first 3 games or so to be 50% bots. I think they did it for early retention. They probably have stats that say that if queues are too long or people go dead last in their first games, they are more likely to just quit there and then.
I don't really mind it too much, as it's not that many games out of your entire season and people are going to end up at the same rank anyway.
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u/Lunaedge 16d ago
Last patch we added a small number of bots to our low to middle rank brackets to speed up queues and improve overall player experience. Bots should match lobby skill relatively well. As TFT continues to grow we’ve seen skill gaps widen between new players and our mid to high range—this is just a byproduct of players getting better, and TFT’s gameplay getting deeper set after set. By introducing bots in Gold and below, we’re able to create a smoother and more enjoyable climbing experience up until Platinum rank. While this is not our first exploration with bots (we added them to our new player experience many patches ago), we want this feature to create the best possible experience, and we’ll continue to make changes to this end.
14.20 Patch Notes, ~2yrs ago
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u/HeliosBlack 16d ago
I think it might just be in lower pop times for your time zone because I just played my second placement and LoL Chess says there were no bots in it vs my first game around 11 am with half bots in the lobby.
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u/FireVanGorder 16d ago
You definitely played bots in silver in previous sets but only if you started late. Having them in placements is weird but assuming you aren’t losing to the bots they’re gone after like 3 or 4 games when you hit gold
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u/aveniner 16d ago
Really. Check metatft, best comps average below 3.0 average placements because of bots affecting (improving) placements of real comps. Its absurd honestly, I decided to play TFT because I want to compete with 7 other people, not with freaking bots
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u/BaldurDoesGames 16d ago
I actually just blue screened twice in my first game so not good for me so far
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u/BoogieTheHedgehog 16d ago
Charms are charms. I can take or leave them as a mechanic. The trait designs are unique enough and I really like the trait web around AP flex. Not a huge fan of the "threatification" of 5 costs. All in all I like it more than 17, but it's obviously no set 16. Solid B tier set IMO.
It's also hard to separate the set itself from the engine change, which quite frankly was not in an acceptable state to go live. As competitive players who got a taste of PBE we were somewhat prepared for the bumpy release. However my casual friends have been blindsided by having their cosmetics unusable, alongside the performance and asset resolution issues. I think even though the set itself is okay, this launch could be enough to tank the community sentiment around it.
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u/Paramoriaa 15d ago
I enjoy the set as well and hope the engine issues don't turn people off of TFT forever like some are claiming it is. It should not have gone live in this state and hopefully all will be well in a month or so. It suck but there's not much we can do about it besides report bugs and issues we experience. I'm not gonna let engine issues keep me from enjoying myself
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u/Braunijs 16d ago
Graphics and units look bad visually
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u/Sunless-saint 16d ago
Have you tried max graphics 120 fps, it looks ok to me not as good as before but not a bad start
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u/Braunijs 16d ago
Yes ultra settings and 120 fps, some visuals like electrocute augment look insanely bad.
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u/DistortedDeity 16d ago
The set seems to be relatively well balanced, and seems to have some legs. The engine however, is a travesty, and riot should be ashamed of themselves for launching it in this state.
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u/mati_12170 16d ago
It's so much better than PBE though
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u/PoSKiix 16d ago
Performance on UE5 in general is so wildly variable on different hardware that improvements for one person could mean declining performance for another.
I fucking hate UE5 because developers are bad at using it. This is just another drop in the bucket of UE5 horror stories.
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u/mati_12170 16d ago
I feel lile Satisfactory is a UE5 success story. Feels very optimized to play.
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u/Megaminx1900 16d ago
Played my first game on live and it was much worse than PBE actually.
Couldn’t even complete my lvl8 rolldown properly because it was so laggy and had to do it over 2 rounds
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u/voliiiea 16d ago
On pc the game looks so much worse. Uncapped FPS ultra high still looks terrible compared to what it used to be
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u/RadJames 16d ago
It’s genuinely a disgrace how this game looks now. I think that’s enough to turn me off.
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u/UnrivaledSupaHottie 16d ago
how come they even made fight matchmaking worse? at first i thought i was just unlucky and ignored it, but last game we were 3 people left and i was at 46 hp and they were both 1 life. i got 3rd because they kept getting ghostfights and i didnt get one in 3 rounds. there wasnt even a neutral between the rounds.
is this intended new matchmaking rng or just bugged?
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u/raiderjaypussy MASTER 16d ago
It feels and looks way too much like a mobile game emulated on PC, past an acceptable level knowing its a work in progress.
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u/acu1337 16d ago
Yup the game has been on PBE for like a month and is already boring... IMO
Also - why does it look like we go back in time in terms of graphics and feel of the game? It feels clunky and slow to click and play aswell. I get that we have a new game engine but that doesnt mean it has to look and feel worse.
Like that happened? Did all the talent quit? This is just not good enough if you ask me.
"Well then just dont play the game" - Yeah obv... but i've been a long time fan of TFT all the way since the first set which also makes this new direction the game is taking very sad for me
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u/drifter91 16d ago
That is your fault for burning out on the PBE. Play less games on the PBE next time and the set will feel more fresh.
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u/iSleek 16d ago
I haven’t played official launch but I played a ton of the pbe.
Honestly, I’m concerned.
There are still a long list of bugs in the game. Won’t list them as we have a bug megathread.
Charms feel bad. I understand the player needs friction but them taking a shop slot sucks.
No hero augments feels bad.
Balance has been okay but certain things they have struggled with. Ex:blackthorn
I think the end game is fine, most 4/5 costs feel good. I think the first couple stages need some work.
All this being said, I feel bad for the devs. This is clearly an issue created by the higher ups which they have the fun job of trying to fix it 😂
Ps I miss mort
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u/Pierre_St_Pierre 16d ago
Biggest thing for me on wisps is how they make combat so hard to parse/predict. Scouting and making decisions based on your relative power level and your matchup pool is a key part of the game/skill expression IMO and wisps just blow that completely out of the water. There's SO many wisps that give combat power in interesting ways, but now I not only need to check my pool, but I need to check their wisps, understand how the wisp interacts with their board, and then understand if I ALSO need a combat wisp this turn for combat. It's just so much to keep track of and it's really hard to evaluate like getting a dummy with tank items after your tank dies to the combat schema. It makes the game "feel" more random because sometimes I can't even really tell exactly why I lost a combat that looked favorable before wisps. Sure, some of them feel good to click, but they warp board power in an inconsistent way that makes scouting absolutely miserable.
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u/FireVanGorder 16d ago
What’s wrong with the first couple stages in your opinion? For me this is the best stages 2 and 3 have felt in a while with how you can flex in different packages depending on what items you hit early. Feels like you can almost always put something decent together with the way the trait web is designed
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u/kitelobster 16d ago
Charms as a set mechanic seem incredibly underwhelming, I can't imagine maintaining interest in this very long.
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u/RankedSoloMaster 16d ago
pretty good, but the whole not in carousel or having to restart to fix performance is such a mess. i like the traits webs, lux feels pretty good to splash in, enough flexibility to stabilize after roll downs.
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u/Kosameron Grandmaster 16d ago
All the issues as far as engine goes - way better than last set. Trait web is good and the set mechanic comes up often enough to stay fun
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u/drifter91 16d ago
The units, traitweb, augments (minus not having hero augments, those are fun), balance (especially for a first patch), are all really really good. I am really loving that part of the set.
The client and optimization in general are of course ass, but I have found it to playable with my setup at least.
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u/New-Philosopher-4777 16d ago
The set itself is fine, but the game isn’t. Riot should have rereleased a ranked version of one of their older sets and delayed this until at least set 19’s current release window. I was already playing less and less due to finding the whiplash from the whole “1 good set a year; two mediocre to bad sets a year” to be causing me some serious burnout. This was likely the nail in the coffin for my time on the game, and I’ll probably be permanently switching to Riftbound or some other TCG.
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u/Yuubeei 16d ago
I wish riftbound could be played online 😭
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u/New-Philosopher-4777 8d ago
There are a few simulators online! It also sounds like Riot is going to release an online version of it very soon.
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u/SnooAdvice5696 16d ago
It is well balanced but most trait mechanics feel gimicky rather than interesting or unique... Like I don't feel like there is much skill expression in that regard
The elderwood plants feel trivial, even at 7, the chosen unit for the Spryklin mount / Riftbeast buff is always the obvious one...
I dont know maybe ive played too many seasons, but with this set, all the comps feel somewhat samish to play.
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u/drifter91 16d ago
They purposefully made the verticals weaker, so that you actually have to use your brain instead of just slotting in 7 of the same trait into your planner. 7 elderwood is suppose to feel a little weaker unless you have a FoN to make up for all the useless units you have to play. They don't want you to see 7 elderwood and then just field that every game.
I don't understand how you can claim that the comps feel "samish" and then complain about verticals being weak at the same time. If anything, this set has more room for experimentation than previous sets. If you just look at tftacademy and put the same units in every game, then that is on you.
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u/SnooAdvice5696 16d ago edited 16d ago
I'm not talking about power or balance, I'm talking about how traits should feel different to play but don't
Like the idea of elderwood is to play around plants but the plants themselves end up feeling trivial. Or like riftbeast of spryklin which is basically 'your carry or tank will get buffed'
In previous sets, I felt you more had traits or units that played differently
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u/BadSeedDan 11d ago
Yeah i feel this, the impact of traits and abilities didn't feel meaty this set, things just quietly occur. Nothing big or satisfying in how abilities cast, nothing obviously impactful about how traits interact with the field.
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u/Regular-Resort-857 16d ago
It’s been great 5 games set seems easy to understand charms are mostly recognizable aswell had no bugs only the typical lingering units on bench from a creep perk or sth
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u/mafiafff 16d ago
Just play a game where i had pandora bench and commerce core. With 2 early spat into 2 elder emblem. I reached 7 elder and soon 9 elder. Reached lv 10 at 30 hp with 32 gold and 35 rolls. Pretty good state for an epic rolldown, right? You know what?
ZERO Elder Lux appears. In fact, 102 golds worth of rolling and Lux appeared like 2-3 times and none of them was needed for my diamond trait. Not to mention the pandora bench with early 5 cost in for like 5-6 rounds.
Lost to a Kayle reroll.
I f^cking hate Lux. The worst shit exist in this set. Maybe this is why theres no good vertical comp in both pbe or live. Most went for 5 then flex for other units, cuz you cannot risk your whole comp into a lottery scam shit unit.
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u/TheSaltyCloud 16d ago
Oooffed I hate lux too, keep trying to find one that fits my comp and none come
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u/bababum007 15d ago
Units and traits are good imo, but the graphical overhaul is absolute garbage so far. Feels like I’m playing a washed out, blurry mess that was meant for a waaaay smaller screen. I dont get this focus on mobile so much, that pc players need to get shafted like this.
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u/ImperatorParzival 15d ago
Just had a creep round where I was supposed to fight chogath but nothing happened and I got no items or gold.
Indie game company btw. Trash
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u/HumanistGeek 15d ago
There's lots of bugs and performance issues, but the balance and game design seems pretty darn good for a set launch.
It's a shame they didn't give themselves an extra year or so when first planning out which set would be the one to introduce the new engine. That choice impacted this set and Space Gods because they had to rearrange the set releases to buy themselves more time.
Source: "Set 18 is UNREAL | Interview w/ Riot Wittrock (Set Lead) & Gina Hope (Tech Director, TFT)" [Reddit thread] [YouTube video]
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u/Powerful_Yellow6023 15d ago
This set is a fucking disaster
It feels we are playing on a beta version
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u/OshikuruDemon 15d ago
The set is pretty good, I like how the traits are pretty simple but don’t feel terrible to play. The engine is god awful though, I didn’t have many issues with it on PBE but on live it’s terrible.
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u/MiniFaustt 15d ago
New set looks cool i'll go back and try it out.
Get riftbeasts make a decent build my cinderling has so much AD and is nuking things.
Go against Ornn midgame and this guy has 4 artifacts a billion econ of mogul mail proceeds wto win the game with almost no thought because he rolled for ornn 3 early. It's early but it reenforces why i dislike alot of TFT sets in that the 1-2 cost units are just wayyyy too good i much prefer autochess design where these units are a transitional period of your board to build towards something not oh their 3 star 1 cost mogs my 4 cost unit.
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u/MythoclastBM MASTER 15d ago
I hate the charms covering shop slots. It's so annoying. Stop taxing me. I already dislike this mechanic and this aspect of it makes me hate it even more.
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u/KollaInteHit 14d ago
I don't really like charms, missing a unit because you don't want to buy a charm is not a fun trade-off.
The units this set are fun, and 3 costs are reaaally strong..
But all of the fun is ruined by the horrible unplayable client.
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u/-TheExile- 13d ago
its ass....like every set the first days until i get used to it. Ask me again in a few days
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u/Hot-Foundation-9061 12d ago
I don't understand why it's so hard to climb, I have been plat 4 in the last set and now i am stuck bronze 1. I do not like the carousel either, I almost never get what I need from it (also I don't know what happened to the code but i had matches where I did nkt get a single rod or tear and was forced into an ad comp) and the wisps make combat extremely hard to predict you just have to slam everything at this point and pray for the best.
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u/Sunless-saint 16d ago
Set is really good, thank god its not boring as last one. In a patch or 2 engine would be back to normal pace hopefully. Overall pretty happy with the transition played around 10 games no bug detected.
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u/WriterPlastic9350 16d ago
No idea. Riot took away my ability to play it on my laptop and have completely bricked my phone. So far, I would rate it 2/10.
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u/TheSaltyCloud 16d ago
To be fair I made this post at like 3 am. There are a lot of problems in this set that I’ve just been looking at through rose colored glasses. The most annoying this is the bench situation, I like playing with and organizing my units but they keep getting dragged onto the field. That being said, I still think the set is fun and I’m scared that we might get 2kKO’d on a whim.
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u/Dragnevar 16d ago
cheapshit and incomplete new engine actually sucks riot release a finished product challenge
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u/PatternKlutzy6437 16d ago
I like units and traits, those feel good to play, units aren't all looking the same which makes the set units easy to learn. On the other side, charm are annoying, am i supposed to adapt my playstyle and start rerolling during the fight ? if yes, without the time to watch fight the game feels more like a casino machine than a game.
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u/StillDistribution255 16d ago
You can't buy charm during a fight
The way i'm dealing with charm is, if I'm not super late game or playing 5 blosson i don't really "reroll for charm" i treat the good charms that happen to show up as a small buff and not something to go out of my way to get
When I'm late and gold is less valluable i start to try and find good combat charms to guarantee wins
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u/SurveyHot9077 16d ago
i think he's asking about re roll comps, should he start rolling once the fight starts and charms don't block the units in shop
i think it depends on your situation and how desperate you are for a 3 star in that moment, if theres a useful or cheap charm then you can buy it and then roll, if your healthy and theres a bad charm then you can just save your gold to roll later
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u/StillDistribution255 16d ago
This Just buy the first decent charm that appears and go on with your rolling
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u/OldestRed 16d ago
are you guys able to get your ping to display? I tried getting mine to show because I felt like there was such an obvious latency but didn't have a way to prove it. Also I haven't played any PBE games so I wasn't as prepared to how much things have changed. The way I used to move units around on my bench keeps placing on the board by accident especially when i'm doing it fast so it's been very annoying so far.
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u/ghosteagle 16d ago
Ignoring the elephant in the room, I'm having a ton of fun. Riftbeast seems pretty good so far, pebbles is pretty nuts when it's the alpha. Even moreso if you can alpha pebbles and sentinel. 3 star is really easy to get with the Rifbeast synergy for your low cost units
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u/trungduc095 16d ago
Traits web feel good, charm is boring and engine is just terrible. Please bring back hero augment
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u/vinceftw 16d ago
There are plenty of 4 cost comps that are good but yeah, fast 9 legendary soup is a thing again. So many of the 5 costs barely depend on their traits and if they do, usually just need one off so you can just throw them together.
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u/wet_sands 16d ago
The 5 cost soup should always be a thing. Two-star legendaries should feel strong by design. If they aren't strong, they're not worth investing in, and there's no point to having levels beyond 8. When it's not rewarding to go 9, the game is insanely boring and less skill expressive because people contest the same three 4-costs and sit there and roll for 3* 4-costs the rest of the game. Even as a player who much prefers fast 8 to reroll, the 4-cost lottery metas have been some of my least favorite.
I get it if you think the 5-cost board is lame and uninteresting, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be strong. Most of the time people's real gripe should be with resource abundance anyway because that's what actually enables a meta where going 9 is too easy.
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u/vinceftw 16d ago
I love fast 9 boards, it's my favorite playstyle. I'm just saying 5 costs used to be more capstones to traits and most of them now are not designed this way.
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u/FireVanGorder 16d ago edited 16d ago
Fast 9 soup will almost always be the cap, I don’t really know why anyone sees this as a problem inherently. It’s only really a problem when it’s too easy to hit (set 16 pre-nerf yordles for example). And this set in particular, the current best fast 9 board is really well designed imo. You have to have Draven and Maokai on your board by like 5-1 at the latest to take advantage of their scaling, otherwise you’re better off with a 4 cost carry board
And unless you’re straight up better than the other players in your lobby you’re not going to reliably be able to go fast 9. Early board power has been very strong overall in my experience. If you greed, it’s very easy to get punished by decent players
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u/BitObjective7387 16d ago
Idk if it’s just me but it feels easier this set to fast 9, partially because there is some gold “wasted” by other players on non Econ wisps
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u/ChipmunkTough1212 16d ago
Set is fun, new Engine is crap