It’s no secret that the recent series of League of Legends events have largely failed to whet the playerbase’s metaphorical whistle, but Riot has doubled down on recent claims that the dev team is looking to give the MOBA‘s community something new and exciting.
In the wake of a disappointing Season 13 cinematic and an official apology video promising big changes to the iconic MOBA in 2023, Riot has doubled down on its promise to rework in-game events and give them some of the flair that made Bilgewater’s Butcher’s Bridge and Spirit Blossom’s in-game novella so special.
In response to a Reddit thread entitled “League of Legends events are soo [sic] bland,” senior design lead on competitive gameplay Jordan ‘BarackProbama’ Checkman has doubled down on the developers’ claims to level up its events.
“We hear you,” they write. “Aware that some events do not contain the level of novelty/excitement that they could at the moment. We are working on some short and long term investments to improve the quality of them going forward. This will involve more immersive experiences, changes to our event structures, and yes even modes.
“I am not directly on the Moments team (they produce our events) or the Modes team (they make… the modes), but I’ve seen and played some of what they have planned and I’m pretty excited as a player.
“Best I can do is let you know that we’re going to continue to fight with all of our souls to make the coolest stuff we can for y’all,” they conclude, noting “it’s going to be actions, not words that earn your trust back. You can and should continue to respectfully let us know where we have and have not hit the mark.”
To follow this up, senior manager on the Moments team Daniel ‘Rovient’ Leaver confirms “we’re working on something special for one of our summer events this year. It’s not a visual novel.”
This is music to my ears. Given that I’ve already had a full scale rant about why League of Legends needs to bring back seasonal Rifts, the fact that Riot is seriously looking at its event system is exactly what I believe the game needs. Maybe we’ll see a Pool Party Rift, or maybe it’ll be something completely new; either way, knowing something exciting is in the pipeline has certainly piqued my interest. Call it hopium, sure, but if events improve, maybe I’ll feel like playing League again – my ‘short hiatus’ has rapidly become a lengthy one.
If you too are excited at the prospect of not having to worry about how much you’ve spent on League of Legends because events hopefully won’t have new skins as their sole focus, it’s worth giving our League of Legends tier list a glance to make sure you can still main your favourite champions.