It’s almost time for League of Legends Classic patch 2, and who better to walk us through it than Game Designer David ‘Phreak’ Turley, who’s been with Riot Games basically since day one of the MOBA, all the way back in 2009. The next League Classic update will not have any new champions in it, although Phreak promises that we can expect some in patch 3, and even teases how Riot’s mentality on champion drops has changed. For this update, however, we’ve got a list of balance tweaks, a big boost to progression speed and rune unlock rate, and the return of champ and role swapping.
With LoL Classic patch 1 adding Akali, Kennen, and Shen, you might have been wondering how fast the champion rollout is going to be. While there are none for patch 2, Phreak confirms “another multiple champion drop coming in the next one.” No clues as to who it’ll be, but he explains that the plan is “to generally drop champions in batches,” and to have each set fit into a theme rather than follow chronological release dates. “We had the ninjas in the previous patch, we’ll have another linked set of champions next.”
Phreak also notes that Riot considers adding more champions to League of Legends Classic a high priority. “We are putting a lot more of our resources into getting more champions out. That has been pretty strongly one of the biggest points of feedback is you guys want to see more champions.” He says that you can “expect to see a pretty good rate of champ releases” as the game develops – in fact, he reveals that this is actually a complete shift in mentality for the Classic team.
“There was some initial thought that ‘There’s some champs we don’t think should make the cut because they’re just not that interesting or not that different,'” Phreak explains. The team initially speculated that a smaller champion pool would be good for Classic, keeping it more approachable for people who don’t play as often. “All those plans have basically changed,” he says. “We are trying to build out the roster as fast as we can.”
Phreak also notes that Riot’s team “broadly speaking” has more game designers than artists, which makes champions who need more art adjustments take longer to implement. Another consideration is how close their Classic version is to the current one. “Champions who aren’t very different are basically much faster for us to make, and so in a world where we are trying to release more champions more quickly, you’re going to start seeing more champions who are pretty similar to their live state in some of these batches.”
Patch 2 will bring the first vote for The Council, League Classic’s community voting system unlocked from rank five. You can expect “around seven or eight questions.” At least one of them will be a check-in on how players feel about the inclusion of trinkets in Classic; do they make your experience better? Phreak also reiterates that you’ll earn additional voting weight the higher your Classic battle pass rank climbs, with additional votes at levels 15 and 25.
The new update will introduce champion and role swapping in champ select to improve drafting flexibility. It will also give you two more rune pages, boost IP gain by approximately 2.5x, double the Classic XP gain, and make roughly half of the runes cheaper to buy. “Every single minor rune has been made cheaper,” Phreak notes, and should now cost the same amount as primary runes.
“A very strong point of feedback basically worldwide was that the rate of rune unlocks was too slow,” Phreak comments, although he does mention with a smile that there were 10% of players who said it was too fast and didn’t resemble the old game enough. “No matter what we do, someone is going to be upset,” he laughs. Riot is also working on a recommendation feature to help players who find runes and masteries confusing, but that is unlikely to arrive in patch 2.
As for patch 2’s more specific balance changes, Phreak emphasizes that “every single buff and nerf here is pretty strongly supported by the data,” factoring in their win percentages along with pick and ban rates. “As always, people are going to be surprised by some stuff – there are like 63 champs in the game right now,” he comments, noting that some players are spot on about who’s strongest but some are “way off” in their estimations. “For anything that is an overt balance change, I actually firmly stand behind that these are the most important balance changes to make.”
On the item side, we have a heavy upgrade to Innervating Locket, making it cheaper and boosting the stats it provides, including its 10% cooldown reduction “from back in the day.” Feral Flare and Wriggle’s Lantern lose attack damage but gain more attack speed. The HP5 Quintessence runes were half what they should have been, so they’ve been doubled.
In terms of champion buffs, there’s good news for Annie, Ashe, Dr. Mundo, Garen, Jax, Kayle, Lux, Miss Fortune, and Sivir. On the other side of the coin facing nerfs are Ahri, Blitzcrank, Evelynn, Ezreal, Gragas, Heimerdinger, Tristana, Tryndamere, and Twitch. “These are all champs who deserve it.”
Last on the list, expect some art improvements. Phreak says we can look forward to a lighting update and “a sweeping set of changes to textures, decals, and some props across the map.” The result should feel “more period accurate” to that approximately Season 3-era League of Legends that Classic is initially aiming to emulate. Tooltips are also being given a pass as some were displaying outdated values; Phreak notes “about 65%” of the roster has already been fixed here, with the rest to come.
While Phreak doesn’t give a date, I’d expect League of Legends Classic patch 2 to release on Wednesday, August 26, following Riot’s usual update schedule. I’m already speculating which champions could be coming next time, and what their overarching theme will be.