Riot Meddler and Riot Brightmoon drop in for a Mid-Year Lol Dev Update, announcing the return of the Blue Essence Emporium, the future of Arena, and a potential replacement for blind pick: Quick Play.
LoL Dev Update
In the Dev post, there is further confirmation from Brightmoon regarding the Arena gamemode lasting as long as the Soul Fighter event. Soul Fighter is a six-week event, meaning Arena will be off of live servers by August 28. Before Arena is made permanent (which is not confirmed yet, but likely) the team wants to add new features and measure the mode’s popularity.
Mainly, custom lobbies and queuing with more than 1 other party member are features intended for a permanent Arena mode. Mentioned in the Arena Reddit AMA, if these two features were to be shipped with Arena, the gamemode would have been delayed an estimated three months.
Over the course of Arena’s six week run, changes to champions numbers, how they interact with augments, and specific champion pairings will be looked at to balance.
Quick Play
Dubbed “a potential replacement for blind pick,” Quick Play is set to release by the end of the year. When you queue, you will choose your role and champion, bringing all ten players right into the game.
Originally intended for release in the mid-season patch in May, but pushed back due to work on the Soul Fighter event, Arena, and the ranked changes to Summoner’s Rift.
This would be a huge gamemode for new players, content creators to hop right into and take less serious, and any player who wants the ease of hopping right into game. Additionally, such a queue could be featured at a “for-fun” tournament like All-Stars and Kick-Off events.
Expect to see Quick Play released as one of the Preseason 2024 changes after Worlds 2024, so likely around the second week of November.
Blue Essence Emporium
The Blue Essence Emporium was previously available from June 28 – July 12, 2022. Riot Brightmoon confirms the Blue Essence Emporium will return when Patch 13.17 releases on August 30.
Mass disenchant will, at long last, be added with Patch 13.17’s release, allowing for one button to convert useless champion shards (useless if you have all of the champions) into Blue Essence to be spent at the Emporium.
Misc. LoL Dev Update Changes
Ability icons continue to be modernized, with champions like Graves, Orianna, Janna, Nami, Jarvan IV, and Varus all set for new ability icons in August.
A “number of other” champions will have their ability icons updated as the year progresses, expect changes to a ton of champion’s ability icons across the year.
In the next Dev update, further reflection on Arena, preseason changes, visual + audio update for Jax, as well as a more in-depth look into the newest League of Legends champion set to release, Briar.
