I wish you luck getting your pals into TT.  Not everyone's cup of tea.  Still not really a fan even with folks helping me grasp the concepts and mechanics, but maybe it'll be a hit w/ your pals.

haha - you mostly have me pegged.  Bah though - I do enjoy reading about the nerfs in patch notes - specifically if I've missed something, but even if I was going to take adv, you only get a day or 2, so its a waste to try to run with "temp buffed" champs.  Also bard's kind of poop imo.  Limited experience, but I have played him on pbe and checked out his kit. His biggest use would be in coordinated teams building strategies around his kit and going for surprise picks using his go through walls thingus.  Looking forward to seeing if other folks figure out things, though. 

What I am wasting time on is trying out various champs with the new jungle item on pbe. Um.. what about ali?  Seems pretty strong on him.  His clears are ok as well... not great, but ok early and he has sustain to stay in there longer if needed.  Not sure how awful the ol quick gank ali would be.  They are doing a patch on pbe now... 

bard champ spotlight out

patch notes:  http://oce.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-55-notes

new nasus skin on pbe

more info and additional skins (raka with banana, def not udyr (crazy) here:  http://www.surrenderat20.net/2015/03/311-pbe-update.html#more

oh - and you notice a pretty freaking big difference between ali with the old jung item vs the new.  Like really big diff imo.  

also, they are pushing the synergy between the cinderhulk item and righteous glory

Righteous Glory

This item is actually very close to a healthy spot. We're just pushing it a little further so getting it earlier in the game improves its synergy with the new Cinderhulk enchantment.

jebus... lots of news today.

Champion master thingus on pbe

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/features/champion-mastery-hits-pbe

In short, you get a rating on champs you play.  + badges... + custom emotes + ...asdlasdlkajsdlasd

I am really liking the direction riot is going with the jungle changes. Seeing nautilus, malphite, mao kai, amumu, ali (probably going to be back to OP status), sejauni, skar skar, rammus, etc... back in the jungle should be loads of fun. I think jungle champion diversity will be at an all time high.

might even get some terror leona junglers.

here's the new udyr skin in action

We'll see how diversity goes. I'm curious to see what folks do with the jungle changes now. 

random pacov notes...

gromp buff.  Easily the most valuable buff for tank junglers now.  Dmg is sick good anyway.   Smite this.  Try it out and see.  

righteous glory annie support or mid.  Righteous glory any tank jung.  Get catalyst and sit on that for a bit - upgrade to righteous glory when poss.  Kind of thinking someone on the team should be getting this item in most comps. 

zz portal still kind of smeh, but power levels are up now.  I really don't think folks ever understood one of the biggest bonuses of this item.  When it 1st came out, you could completely freeze a lane at any spot with it.  Don't use it to just take turrets.  Use it to keep waves from pushing.  It lasts 2 min 30 sec.  Drop it anywhere to keep any creep wave from pushing a turret.  You get the gold from last hits.  The wave never hits the tower.  It WAS very strong before.  Nerfed into crap in next iteration.  This is the 3rd iteration and the power levels are back up and its at LEAST useful for the purpose I described.  I think the ideal use is to place this somewhat deep in your own territory and then group somewhere else. 

reddit has a note saying that the patch takes a bit longer than others to download/install.  Might want to get the game updated when you get off of work, etc. 

Oh its out today? dammit I was going to be productive tonight...

yup - bard has also been released and I main him.  By that I mean I leave hunny in a lane and roam the map chasing laterns and flashing away from junglers. 

GOTTA CATCH EM ALL GOTTA CATCH EM ALL.

Ash Catch'em Bard RIOT PLEASE.

Well Bard's kit is bazarre. Got to play him one game yesturday and it didn't go well mostly because I had no idea what I was doing. I like his Q, the health thingus is interesting. Not sure how to optimally use it. His ulti has very strong capabilities to swing fights but can also be used very poorly. Not sure how useful his "gate" ability is. I think I used it once the entire game intelligently.

Also his passive is such a giant cluster fuck of weirdness. Not sure if collecting lanterns is all that useful compared to laning and nabbing the ones close by. His empowered autos do a suprising amount of damage and have a AOE effect behind the first unit hit so they are a decent harass tool even if the enemy ADC is hiding behind minions.