I have some issues with disconnect problems due to a quirk in IP Helper that Riot doesn't seem to be able to figure out(I suspect it's my ISP that causes the actual problem), you should see if turning it off solves your issue.  It's listed as IP Helper in Services, and sports a wide variety of connection issues for only some people and some only some of the time.

Hey - pm me or just post your twitch name if you'd like added to the nightbot whitelist. 

Got to play two games of twisted treeline with pacov. One ranked and one unranked. We lost both games but I was pretty happy with our play. Unranked is blind pick and pacov's tryn was hard countered with a lulu/malphite/vi team comp. The ranked game was against an all bruiser team of lee sin, riven and pantheon. I had picked brand early in champ select and against that team comp hes a bad choice. We had a shot to win it mostly because Pacov played well on WK but there team full of snowballers was to much. A few team fights we lost by a few seconds because of ult cooldowns on our team that cost us the game. If I could of got going I outscale there entire team hard but I never did. 

I'm slowly whitelisting folks as I see them and get a chance for the bot. 

yeah... there's a bunch of stuff to learn about that map and I know very little as far as the best things to do, when to push lane, etc.  Also, no draft mode outside of ranked is pretty lame. I'm willing to continuing learning and such -still not super into the map, though.

ranked recap - well - played 1 ranked game where I got to adc.  A 2nd ranked game where I was forced to play top lane due to a duo queue and someone else taking jungle.  I went garen due to a nasus showing and they just sent him tot he jungle and put a jayce against me.  I trolled quite a bit that game, so BM for me (1 earned win and 1 earned loss). 

Anyway, I'm 1 win away from hitting another promo series.  I THINK I've got decent potential to get bumped up to told I if I win my next 3 games.  Guess I'll have to wait and see. 

New heimerdonger skin on pbe - looks pretty good imo.  Also, for those that care - apparently there are lots of new files for "nightmare" bots.

http://www.surrenderat20.net/2014/06/617-pbe-update.html

oo... also, the new SR is now live on PBE... updating..

So, I played a bit on PBE yesterday.  I really liked the new map.  I only tried out an adc.  I might hop on later today to try out jungling to get a better feel for the map.  Everything felt pretty natural to me playing out of mid lane, though.  Corners didn't throw me.  Definitely something to put time into testing out, but it felt good on my 1st run through.  I think the color palette of the map is a little bit too muted.  Feels like they need to brighten it up.

re: the new items - there's quite a bit to toy around with.  The new adc item felt kind of so, so.  It enables you to spam more spells, so its only useful on adcs that would do that sort of thing.  It gives you a bunch of added sustain, which really isn't super useful for the price point imo.  Didn't try out any of the other items. 

I like having lifesteal back on the doran's blade now though. 

They mentioned that they made the color palette muted so that people would have an easier time seeing spells and effects.

hmm... that's probably the case at any rate.  Not sure how much that helps.  Still does feel a bit drab, but I'm really looking forward to seeing it on live. 

Also - swan is apparently staying with Bryff, so we got to catch up with him for the 1st time in awhile.  Was good stuff.  No idea if he's still around or if we will see him again soon. 

well apparently the new support item is bugged (the one that gives AS on heals).

It gives 8% global movement speed. So better than boots for your entire team. All the time. Better than old Janna passive. lol.

haha - crazy.  Wonder if it stacks.  Anyway, I'm sure its disabled or about to be... the things that slip by qa, eh?

doesn't stack.

Discussion around the latest patch

So, I've yet to play as or fight against the new nidalee.  Spent a bit of time banning her out due to a few people going on about how she's actually received a fairly substantial buff and not a nerf, like i thought.  Any insight on what is making her so good?

Same goes with skarner.  I played the changes on pbe, but only briefly.  I'll likely try him out tonight.  Any thoughts?  Good as a tank or damage dealer?  My main question is re: what jungle item.  Any thoughts about his current state?  I haven't checked win rate stats, but I heard they have gone up a smidge.

adc itemization - I'm actually having some difficulty figuring out the best way to build.  On most adcs, I'd rush a BT for my 1st item.  Now, it doesn't feel quite as worth it.... I think that was some of riots goal.  Once I got a bt in the past, I could usually snowball the lane.  Certainly felt like a huge damage spike at any rate.  Now that its just a shield (and I don't understand exactly how quickly it charges at this point anyway), it feels pretty underpowered.

My other adc build would be to rush a cutlass moving towards botrk.  That's still fine, I guess, but most of my adc's would rush a BT.... so I'm kind of in a spot where I don't know what is the best to do and have not settled in.  Thoughts on best adc build?

The shield is level based, it's probably better to wait on building one till late game, you can get plenty of vamp from a couple doran's blades early, or just get the basic scepter.  The shield is very easy to charge though, farm a minion wave or two and it's done.