In this special League of Legends two-part feature, we talk with Riot Games about the new Twisted Treeline map and more in today's Q&A. Tomorrow, we offer a hands-on preview of Twisted Treeline's gameplay.

ZAM: That's great news! One more question about the map; how does Twisted Treeline allow—or encourage—players to change their play style and strategy, as opposed to the original 5v5 map? Do the layout and narrower lanes call for things like more crowd-control and coordination, for example?

Hough: Most definitely. The tighter pathways and fewer entrances into the forest definitely encourage a more "gank and run" type strategy than what is present on Summoner's Rift, and Champions with strong escapes become incredibly valuable. Interestingly, high HP Champions also generally perform much better on Twisted Treeline simply because it's more difficult to focus-fire them down. Given the proximity of the two lanes, map awareness also becomes even more valued, as you may only have a few precious seconds before a missing team descends upon you full of wrath and fury. Generally we have found that baiting-style tactics are also particularly popular in Twisted Treeline when compared to Summoner's Rift, likely due to the increased focus on planned ambushes.

ZAM: In a recent forum event, players were asked to list their "Top 5 Priority List" for the Riot development team. Many community members are frustrated because Riot hasn't released more than two maps since launch, and others ask why the developers are producing more new Champions and Skins instead of new maps…

Hough: As a player of our game I can empathize with our community. It's enticing to imagine all the different map layouts or game modes that could be added to enrich League of Legends. As an employee of Riot I can say that, since it's a priority of our community, it's also a priority for us. The issue is unfortunately not as simple as diverting people from making Champions and skins to making maps as frequently; the skills called for are drastically different. However, our community will be happy to know that we are indeed actively working on additional maps and game modes that are substantially different from what exists in League of Legends today. Additionally, League of Legends has evolved tremendously since launch—even beyond just adding new Champions. We have added numerous items, made numerous substantial balance tweaks, revised summoner spells and abilities, and made significant improvements in how our technology performs from a scalability perspective. League of Legends is a very popular game that continues to grow rapidly and it's important for us to stay ahead of the growth.

On that note, we have recently been doing a lot of hiring across multiple departments, so one can imagine that as we gather more artists, programmers, and designers you'll see much faster movement on issues that are of high priority to our community. We have a huge number of updates, changes and enhancements on the League of Legends roadmap. We are really excited to share more news on this with our community as we continue to make progress.

ZAM: Can you give us any news about Riot's plans for future maps? Any 1v1, 2v2, 4x4 or other maps currently in-the-works?

Hough: I'm not cleared to give any sort of specifics on future maps. I will say that, just like with Twisted Treeline, any new maps we create will likely focus on creating a unique experience that differs from the other maps currently released.

ZAM: Can you offer any details about some of the other commonly-addressed player concerns, like UI enhancement, improving the match-making system, offering new game modes like "Draft" or any others, and extra rune and mastery pages?

Hough: We've recently increased the size of the team here at Riot, and made changes to the team assignments to help insulate our feature team from the day to day work on supporting a live product. We have a "good" problem in that we need to support our growth, and by adding additional staff we hope to iterate on a number of the issues you've mentioned much more rapidly.

That being said, due to our continual focus on innovation, League of Legends has many unique features that do require multiple passes. We'd much rather be innovating and pushing the envelope than being stagnant and just focusing on what has been done before. And while I can't speak on this directly, I will say that many of the points you raised here are now on the fast-track to getting completed in the same innovative and high quality fashion that we apply to everything we develop.

ZAM: Finally, what's the one question about League of Legends that no one has asked you yet, but you wish they would have?

Hough:  "Since your community team has teased the appearance of Gentlemen Cho'Gath, is it now every man and woman's duty to demand that it become Cho'Gath's default skin?"

ZAM: And of course, what's your answer?

Hough: Why yes, I think it is.

ZAM: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk about League of Legends and the new Twisted Treeline map. We're looking forward to seeing what's next!

[Note: remember to check back tomorrow for the second part of our Twisted Treeline feature series, in which we offer a hands-on preview of the new gameplay and talk about one of Riot Games' latest free promotions.]