Riot is reviving old League of Legends even as it prepares the game's biggest overhaul ever

[Daniel Sims]

Something to look forward to: League of Legends has joined the popular trend of long-running live service games that introduce classic modes to emulate their early years. However, instead of reverting to a specific moment in the game's evolution, Riot Games will combine elements of how LoL felt between 2009 and 2013.

The League of Legends Classic game client is now available to download. The new mode, set to open at the end of this month, will focus on characters and gameplay elements from the game's first three seasons.

Rather than simply relaunching League of Legends 1.0, Riot decided to start with Season 3 as a base and add features from the prior two seasons with a few modern touches. For example, while it revives the early Summoner's Rift map, the company decided to improve readability by enhancing lighting, shadows, and textures.

Classic mode will include Summoner's Rift, the original 40 playable characters from League of Legends' 2009 debut and an additional 20 characters hand-selected from the game's first four years. Items, runes, builds, masteries, skins, and other mechanics from this era will also return, including Atmogs, the Metagolem setup, and Zz'Rot Portal.

Playing rounds in Classic mode will unlock characters through a new progression system called Classic Level, which runs alongside progression in the main game – though players can immediately select characters they have already purchased. Another new progression system, called Summoner's Journey, begins at Classic Level 10 and allows players to earn items without the pressure of ranked play.

League of Legends Classic will debut with a player-versus-player draft queue, co-op, and custom game modes. Runes and Masteries must be pre-selected before starting a Classic match. Both are unlocked only via gameplay and cannot be upgraded, as they are all set to the old Tier 3 baseline.

Although Classic mode aims to remind players how League of Legends felt before more than a decade of additions and balance changes, it will not remain static. Riot plans to release patches and balance updates according to player feedback, favoring users with higher Classic levels.

Meanwhile, fans are still awaiting League Next, which Riot teased late last year. The update, expected in 2027, will be the largest ever, bringing significant changes to the graphics, gameplay, and technology underpinning League of Legends. With a new onboarding experience, optional WASD controls, and changes to Summoner's Rift, Riot aims to reverse declining player numbers by making the influential MOBA more accessible to newcomers.

Permalink to story:

Riot is reviving old League of Legends even as it prepares the game's biggest overhaul ever

 

[Nobodysfool]

Meh, it's a playerbase retention strategy. A next-gen graphics update for League next year means they're gonna lose half of their playerbase who still play on their potato PCs, so Riot pretends they can still bring the OG League experience for those who are now on their 40s with Classic. Very clever.

 

[Jarenien]

Classic sounds like it will be much more popular than the current (and Next) versions for new people, because it isn't the core gameplay that is rough for newbies, it's the fact that you have to figure out how to play against 172 other champions that makes most (myself included) go 'eff no, not worth it' and play something else. They would be best to pick the 40 most played champs in the last two years, and then cut the rest and start with just that, and then slowly add new ones every few months to allow new players a chance to grow with the game instead of just being trampled.