played a few games of hexakill. won and lost some and no icon

OK - so I would really like some feedback from you folks.  The tl;dr is that I'm contemplating creating/releasing a program that will allow folks to enable offline mode in the lol client.

What will it do?
It enables you to have all the same functionality that you do today, but you can toggle on or off whether or not people will see you if you are on their pals list.  

Current state of app 
I can provide instructions and files on how to do it.  Next step is to create a simple program to facilitate this... which I now have the tools to do so... prob about 4 hours work to sort and get something solid/production ready.  

Why to release
Well, this is easy for me to explain.  Not everyone is like me ofc, but I'm pretty sure a LARGE % of folks playing LOL want this functionality (honestly, I'd say a min of 30% of LOL population... think about that number...).  Appearing offline means you don't necessarily offend a friend by not playing with them (they don't even know you are on).  Sometimes we'd rather not play with certain folks sometimes.  Other times its cool.  It's never fun to say - oh sorry bro, you are actually crap at this game and its going to be very hard to win if you are on our team.  It's much easier to simply not be online if you would rather not play with X person.   And last, sometimes you just want to solo.

Why not to release
Well, this gets much more complicated and is kind of what I'm looking for your thoughts on.  Please stop reading for a moment and go ahead and google "lol appear offline."  Just do it quick and look at the dates.  Also consider whatever else you might search for.  I trust you will find VERY FEW RESULTS (worth noting I think).  Anyway, if you do some digging, like I did months ago, you will find a few programs.  The 1st 1 ever created to my knowledge was by Bloopje (I'm forgetting his name exactly).  His content was discontinued.  The next instance that I'm aware of appeared in Bot of legends (shady scripting community).  That was discontinued AFAIK.  Then it went to another location written by Snowl.  That stopped working/was discontinued.  Last, Snowl's code was ported to a program called LMH in March 2015.  That stopped working as of 5/28 or w/e the patch was that came out then.  Now, there's what I've coded... and that actually seems to be the only code that I'm aware of earth that provides the same functionality today.

So, let's cover the shady side of things.  The 1st version of appear offline contained NOTHING malicious in any way. Nothing that could be construed as a hack, etc.  It stopped working and I think the creator of the code was hired by riot.  At the very least, there were no updates to the code at a point.  To me, that means the coder was no longer able to make updates (eg riot didn't want this code going out there).

Now, all of the other variants of the code contained game "hacks/mods."  The majority of these were benign, but they could and did modify game behavior.  Here's an image of the last program that worked:

Anyway, I don't know how many of you code and are enthusiasts, but believe me when I say, if you are a modder, you generally get really involved (I was constantly working on the Demigod AI some time back).  You don't just say FUG it if your program suddenly doesn't work.  You try to fix it and would only consider stopping if you were FORCED to or it suddenly went way outside of your scope.  For whatever reason, folks I'd imagine were enthusiasts stopped working on their code.  Now, you could just say they stopped because there were programs including hacks... but the 1st guy that did any development of this did not do any of that.  My thought is that folks were "motivated" to not put out this content rather than just decided not to... I'm also thinking this motivation perhaps included an NDA based on discussion.  And from what I've read, riot was quite aware of these programs and even reviewed them/approved of them... then suddenly, no more updates and coding changes in the client made them invalid.  

Who does it hurt?
So, there's my last question - who is hurt by a program as simple as this. Please believe me that the development time required by Riot to include such a feature is SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO minor.  Yet, that being the case and me believing folks would actually like the feature means that there is a reason its not in the client.  On that, I can only quess.  I guess some people would get less games in with their pals.  I also guess that most folks wanting the feature are folks that generally prefer not to play with pals that they feel awkward ignoring their request(eg pals).  AFAIK, there is ZERO resource loss by enabling this feature (eg there isn't a server, bandwidth cost associated).  The QOL of folks wanting to duck people is improved.  The QOL of folks wanting to play with more skill people is decreased (oi - don't super analyze that.. just generalizing).  Perhaps its just a dollars and cents decision that the latter folks will stay and spend money more likely if their more experience pals play with them out of guilt or being nice, or whatever.  Honestly, that's my conclusion.  

Anyway, your feedback is appreciated.  I've already got what I want until a new client is out... eg I can go offline as I like and that will work with every version of the client until a new one is released. 

If you do make a client, probably want to:

Make sure works for different regions and figure out what you will do about Riot IP changes (release an update? Or host a json file on github or a private server, w.e that you manage.

Assuming the core of the program is just the bat you probably don't need a code review But I can check out whatever you give me, even if just to beta test right before releasing to make sure it installs.

I've always heard that Riot's stance on an "offline mode" is negative which is why they haven't instituted it.  Sounds like they've become more proactive in getting rid of mods from what you've said.

At first you would think that this is typical shiney happy people who live in a land of gumdrops and make believe with frogs who wear silly little hats behavior from Riot.  But think about it for a second Pacov.  What would happen if we all disappeared?  No one to play with, no one to read this blog.  I think you'd stop playing this game as much as you do and Riot doesn't want that.

Riot wants you to have more friends not less.  See that find your friends on Facebook thing they just put in?

So be careful.  Sounds like you're looking to violate their 3rd party software agreement big time.  But not just to make custom cursors or things they don't care about.  You're planning on doing something they actually don't want you to do so good luck to you if you go through with it.

You might not fully understand why it's a big deal to Riot so I'll try and explain my personal opinion on it.  First of all I get why you want to appear offline sometimes cause I do to. Sometimes I don't want to hear people bitching at me in TS3, sometimes I don't want my good friends to get frustrated with my bad friends, sometimes I don't want to figure out the puzzle of who goes where when I'm with a bunch of people with limited roles, etc etc.

But sometimes I play with friends anyway.  It's good to keep the group together for when I do want to play with friends which is most of the time. Sometimes I explain to Cow that I'm with low level players and we don't need no Diamond MMR in the game.  Sometimes I go play Ranked.

So let's say I have a friend named Bob.  I love playing with Bob.  If I couldn't play with Bob ever again I'd be very sad and definitely not as into LoL as I am.  Bob's my pal and playing with Bob is great most of the time.

But Bob has a Diamond MMR and sometimes likes playing Lee Sin Support.  So those games don't tend to go well which makes Bob mad at the people who got beat up on by the other Diamonds who are not playing Lee Sin Support he brought into the game.  And Bob likes to Jungle and do crazy invades when I have my Bronze friend Bob in the game who doesn't have the skillset or map awareness to back him up properly. Sometimes Bob likes to go play on a level 15 account on LAN and comes back not as good as he was but doesn't seem to realize that.  So he gets frustrated with his teammates and goes back to playing on LAN and when he comes back he's...

So yes, sometimes I need a break from Bob so I go play Ranked.  And yes Bob is all of my friends.  And I'm sure you guys understand because I'm Bob too and do frustrating shit that y'all are nice enough to put up with.

We can all escape our Bob situation with Ranked or whatever.  But it might lead to some bad feelings when someone is so desperate to escape playing with you that they use a third party program to go offline.  Some might take that as a bit of a personal FU and think twice about inviting you next time they have a game going.  Pretty soon, you're off each others friends list and Riot doesn't want that.

Interesting take on things.  Thanks for sharing!

Some times I'd like an offline mode as well but thats usually only if I am really into solo queue but its hard to get into it in Diamond V when there is hardly any incentive to play solo queue because you need to dump a large number of games to move up (or you already are a diamond 1/masters player and can win consistantly in diamond V).

The other times I don't feel like playing with you guys I just don't and 75% to 80% of the time I solo queue and say my good byes in Team Speak (my tone of voice might not always be pleasant and I am sorry about that). I usaually leave after a tough loss that I got frustrated in.

For the most part I wouldn't use an offline mode since I like people and its fun being invited to things even if I am not in the mood (I want you to want me!).

PS: I think lee sin support is legitimate. He has two skills that are great for "support" his shield and round house kick. He's fairly threatening to lane against since you don't want to take his Q damage and hes very good at gank support. He plays well with wards and CDR. IMO hes sort of like a leona/alister/braum with a little more solo kill potential and just as much play making potential (it might be a little harder to pull off though). 

2-0 with him playing with you guys so far  

Four skills, three seconds true sight is good for harassing people out of the bush, and cripple is a good skill for catching or escaping since Lee can tag the carry with it and then shield back to his own, getting them both out of danger.

His only problem with being a solid support pick is that it's just so damned easy to kill people yourself with that 8% missing health damage amplifier.  It makes him better at picking up kills, as opposed to securing them for his carry.  He has to use cripple early not to kill the target with the several hundred damage he'll do even without a single point of bonus AD.

Infinite crisis is dead - glad I only spent a few hours with it. That was the really ugly looking MOBA I mentioned a bit back.  Really, really, ugly.  It was fun to play with the licensed characters, though.  https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/38bott/another_moba_infinite_crisis_dies_welcome_their/

There aren't enough stories in the world where everyone becomes Bob, so well done. 

I think I've reached a conclusion on what to do with my magical code: nothing.  I noticed some instability in the client yesterday as well while I was doing some testing, so I restored the client.   Anyway, I'm pretty sure the invis functionality will be stripped out of the new client entirely (not sure why its still accessible today...).  Anyway, in the past, 99% of the time I used it if I just want to be off by myself; most of those times are when I know I'm on tilt and would rather not inflict myself on folks; others, for some of the reasons you mentioned.  I certainly wish functionality like this existed in the game already, but rito does not appear to be in favor of that. 

As a side note re: playing with folks to keep people together; hurm...I think there is a VERY big perceived difference between you seeing me online, inviting me, and me blowing you off over and over and over again vs not seeing me at all for a day or two.  The former is precisely why I don't play with certain folks and eventually drop them from my pals list - I just don't see any point in even having folks on my list if I don't play with them ever.  It's another thing entirely if I'm very frequently up for a game... every time you SEE me online.  Appear offline functionality accomplished that very nicely.  No hurt feels, no need to explain jack - twas delightful. 

I still think there is something else to why rito does not appear to be a fan of this outside of $$.  I really don't know of any possible malicious utilization, but I'd have to think there is something to it as previous versions of the programs silently stopped working.   Curious - maybe I'll get an answer to that sometime after the new client, but probably not. 

Re: Lee Sin Support

I think it's totally doable and I'm fine with you playing it whenever you want.  Especially when I'm with you in lane, it was fun!  Just keep in mind that things like that work really well when you're the best player in the game, but if the goal is to win then having our best player on a Support with poor late game scaling isn't ideal.  I don't care about winning every game but a lot of my friends seem to.

Re: My Long Ass Thesis

Sorry if my main point got lost in a wall of text and Devil's Advocacy.  I personally would be stoked on a function that made me invisible to not only everyone but had targeted functionality.  But Riot apparently doesn't want anything like that to be available and I think I'm the only one who threw out any real theories to why that is.

- If you don't play with friends when you're not super into playing with them, they might not be around as much when you're back in the mood to play with them.  Then you stop playing as much.  Which makes your friends play less... so on and so on.  

- People might get hurt feelings having people go offline on them.  Can't hide yourself on LoLnexus or your match history AFAIK so people can find out if someones online or has been with very little effort.  They might start thinking "Wow, what a snob.  Fuck that guy." or "Oh, guess he really really hates playing with us but was too nice to decline my invites.  I'll stop bothering him."  Stuff like that.  I'm not saying I'd feel that way, but some people might. Riot seems to think so because why else haven't they allowed or instituted that function?

new HUD on PBE

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/page/game-features/hud-update

With this, you can adjust champs when you press tab now "We’ve moved the scoreboard around so the two teams are listed horizontally, and added drag and drop so you can shift people around and line up midlane vs midlane, or move people around however you like. "

I'm still thinking new client will be release within 2 months... Also think it will have a very similar feel to this hud update

Well, my great riven experiment is going super well.  hue.

Aside from me not being good with Riven as of yet, let me tell me what I learned.  Usually when I try out a champ I haven't used in a bit or want to work on, I do several things - 1 - watch vids and replays 2 - practice combos and things I see in those vids.

I learned how animation canceling works properly with riven.  Before, I actually thought you were canceling animation just by doing the q auto-attack combo (aa-q,aa-q,aa-q).  And you are... kind of.  There's actually something referred to as the fast combo.  It requires a little work to get down, but makes a very big difference in your damage output and how quckly you can get things done. The fast combo takes about a full second less to do if not less (1.5-2sec).

Here's how you do it.  Keep in mind the key is in precise timing and the goal is to chain 3 of this pattern together, but you can tell pretty easily when you pull it off once and then just try replicate that.  Here you go:  stand next to a jungle creep to practice.  Autoattack, now press q to cancel the autoattacks animation - you do this very quickly after the aa.  Next, autoattack again to cancel the q animation... more on this in a sec

OK - back the fast combo. 

• Stand next to a jungle creep to practice - you can do this combo at level 1
• Auto attack
• immediately cancel the auto attack with q
• issue a move command by clicking near the target but not on top - you do this very quickly after hitting q
• REPEAT until q stacks all used

How to start as riven

• long sword + pots
• Most good riven players run flash/tp

The preferred start to the game is to solo wolves.  Drop a ward if you are concerned about invade a little early.  You can solo wolves if you have mastered the fast combo without using a pot.  If you are even remotely concerned, though, you can use 1 red pot and you will probably have no issues clearing it. The most efficient way (confirmed via testing) is to fast combo and kill the large wolf, then kill off the small ones.  You can do wraths, but you MUST use a red pot as the dmg is a little too much. I haven't confirmed the BEST way to clear the camp, but I fast combo'd the large 1 first, then put in 1 aa onto each small one.  Do one more fast combo and all are dead - use 1 red pot after 5 sec or so. 

Once you finish either camp, base, get a pink ward + max out your red pots to 5, and tp to tower.  You will either have a slight lead on xp or be even with the benefit of 5 health pots and a pink.  use the pink as appropriate.  Anyway, this brings you to lane in pretty good shape and you either want to win your lane or sustain, etc, until your tp is back up.

Now... here's where things get dicey for me.  I can execute all that crap well.  But I'm playing like a doof after I get that going.  I do ok with fights and trades in lane and play that pretty well (so far), but ugh.. I get really, really awful as things progress. 

I need to work on stringing her other combos together.  For instance, you can cancel animations with your w/e/r.  The trick is string things together well.  A good combo should look seamless and also be very close to impossible to avoid.  If done right, I should be able to chain stuns and damage together including the damage from my ultimate.  As in if I do it right, you don't have the ability to escape.  That, I kind of suck with.

I need to spend more time with the mechanics and work on several other combos.  Riven requires more APM than most champs imo due to the required clicking and intricate timing associated with when to use her abilities. 

Anyway, fire up a custom and give her quick combo a go if you haven't tried it before.  Kind of night and day difference imo. 

oh... also there's the wall hop mechanics.... all of this crap requires quite a bit of practice to be consistent.  I know there's no real comparison to someone like me and good ol [][], but you should check out pretty much any of his challenger top lane games as riven vs pretty much any other champ.  Super strong mechanically.  With riven, its like ok super, you can do this one combo - you need to do that combo while weaving in another combo precisely which requires clicking on this exact spot while you simultaneously pretty e and r to cancel the animation, weave in that fast combo, time your stun right, use your hydra to cancel the animation on your stun.... blahblahblah.  All in motion. 

Anyway, I think I'm going to spend some time working on my ult combo tonight against some bots to see if I can get the mechanics down.  Feels like a champion that you absolutely need to put a ton of time in to master.  Or, according to champion masteries, I'm 12 more wins away from completely mastering this easy to use champ... hurrdurr

Yeah.... Ill pass on learning her... shes like THE definition of snowbally. If you don't get going you never get going on her. Yes she can hard carry but she can also flop like a magikarp.