Riot has released a statement regarding the unpopular tower rubble ARAM changes in League of Legends, and has given further insight on frostgates and the balancing of the casual-friendly mode.
Whilst Riot’s flagship competitive game mode continues to undergo various changes in the form of balancing updates, new releases, and skins, League of Legends’ more casual All Random All Mid has received updates that players were not too happy with. As such, Riot has come forward to discuss further details on the latest changes, and revealed plans for the future of the Howling Abyss.
All Random All Mid (ARAM) is League’s other permanent game mode. The game mode consists of a 5v5, with players receiving a random champion from an available pool to duke out their enemy with. Due to the randomness of the mode, League of Legends players consider ARAM to be a more casual-friendly game. The mode doesn’t have a ranked system and doesn’t receive the attention that its flagship mode does.
Riot recently made some major sweeping changes to ARAM, introducing frostgates and tower rubble, innovating upon the format. Frostgates allowed players to teleport from their nexus to the nearest available turret, allowing for faster returns to combat, as well as opportunities for flanks.
Tower Rubble was easily the more divisive of the two changes. The feature saw towers crumbling and blocking off certain areas of the map once destroyed, creating choke points and vision blockers. However, instead of creating more interesting and dynamic strategies around the new, it pulled away from the team fighting which the game mode is known for. Because of this, Riot is planning to make drastic changes to Tower Rubble, as well as look to further improve the mode as a whole.
In a recent dev blog, Riot stated that they’ll be “strongly scaling back the tower rubble mechanic or outright reverting it in a future patch.” They went on further to explain their goals going forward with the mode.
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“We want to maintain ARAM as a fun mode for the people who play it and address issues that affect the core experience rather than continuously try and reinvent it.”
Riot also announced that whilst satisfied with both the frostgates, they’ll also be looking to address the teleporters in the future if they prove to be problematic to the game mode’s flow and tempo.
Alongside these changes, Riot also implemented new ways to balance the mode, shifting away from the previous system. The older iteration of balance called for certain champions to have their damage reduced or have them take more damage and vice versa.
Riot has reported that whilst their happy with these changes, certain champions have proven to be a challenge for them. Riot is planning on searching for more creative ways to balance the game mode, and will continue to do so in the future.