League of Legends will stop making new champions, and that’s okay
In a podcast, Matt “Riot Phroxzon”, Lead Designer, hinted that the development team would stop adding champions to League of Legends to prevent new players from drowning in a confusing, unintuitive, and endless pool of characters. While this news of a champion cap is shocking to some, it’s a reasonable, necessary decision that will preserve the long-lasting thrill that League of Legends has.
Riot Phroxzon is asked by the hosts of the Broken by Concept League podcast if there will be a limit on how many champs are allowed to play the game. Riot Phroxzon replies with a huge nod and says, “It has definitely been a conversation, but we still have plenty of flexibility to go.”
Riot Phroxzon adds that making new champions for their League of Legends team is a problem because it exponentially increases the amount of information a new player needs to understand in order to enjoy the game. The League champions are currently 161, which is a lot of information for the average player to absorb.
This is why they make certain mechanics similar to hooks and magic skill shots so that new League of Legends champions feel intuitive to players. He goes on to give an example of Gwen, highlighting her W and the confusion surrounding her invulnerability.
Riot Phroxzon says, “It’s when we completely subvert the meaning of a spell, missile, or VFX that we run into problems.” “Let’s just say I run into Thresh. He throws a hook and although it looks like it’s a hook it just passes over someone. It would be like, “What the hell is this?”
It is great to hear that Riot’s League of Legends group is actively planning for the future of this massive MOBA and providing easy access routes for new players. In the early years of high school, League dropped a few champions per year. Now it seems like every month there is a new champion or reveal. This is a lot for someone who has been playing for many years. Although it’s difficult to envision a world in which the League roster was capped and finite, this will make things easier for everyone and reduce the headaches for the balancing teams. Who could be the League of Legends champion?
