Though a new list of the most toxic online gaming communities surfaces every year, League of Legends never fails to make the list. Considering its longer matches, team-dependent nature, and steep learning curve, this shouldn't come as a surprise to many. Over the years, the toxicity in League of Legends has increased to the point that Riot Games has had to implement several preventative measures to protect its player base, ranging from temporary bans to permanent bans.
Other Riot Game titles, like Valorant, also struggle with overly toxic player bases, resulting in enhanced anti-toxicity measures. Similarly, despite its popularity, status as Riot Games’ flagship title, and ongoing countermeasures, League of Legends continues to struggle with a notoriously toxic player base. As such, to improve its onboarding experience, Riot Games is experimenting with a fresh Public Beta Environment (PBE) feature that aims to help newcomers.
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League of Legends Testing Newcomer-Friendly Feature in PBE
Potential PBE Feature Could Be a Game Changer For Beginners
Though not all aspects of League of Legends’ PBE make it into the live game, the latest feature has received generally favorable responses from the community. On June 11, it was revealed that in the PBE, Riot Games will add beginner-friendly overviews during the Team Drafting process, specifically within the Picks and Bans phase. When hovering over a Champion, a small pop-up box will appear offering a breakdown of the character.
The PBE changes currently include the following, but are subject to change:
- The Champion's difficulty level, ranging from beginner-friendly to hard to play
- The Champion's Class
- The Champion's playstyle
- The option to view a Champion's abilities in Champion Select
Some Champions, such as Hecarim, don’t have an assigned difficulty level, which may suggest they are considered to be at a moderate level of difficulty.
Although this update isn't tied to the highly anticipated WASD movement control abilities that players are still hoping for, it will significantly improve the experiences of beginners within the game. Furthermore, while jokes have been made about the fact that some players may not read the information anyway, the tutorial-like system is a feature that League of Legends has been criticized as lacking in the past.
Interestingly, in an older version of the League of Legends client, before 2017, a similar feature was tested, which allowed players to view information about the Champion they had declared to play as. However, it appears the new system will be much more robust.
It's worth noting that in the PBE, the Champion select screen will remain the same. Therefore, if players find themselves the last to pick, they will only have about ten seconds to go through the details. Moreover, while concerns exist about whether the update, if it comes to pass, will cause performance issues or bugs in League of Legends, players are generally enthusiastic about the potential changes.
League of Legends Boasts a Massive Player Base, But Struggles with Retention
It's no secret that League of Legends is one of the most popular live-service games on the market, and has been since its debut in 2009. Unfortunately, League of Legends hasn't benefited much from the success of Arcane, nor its recurring status as Best Esports Games, as much as people might think. Over the years, it has become evident that while there have been influxes of new players, League of Legends struggles to retain them, primarily due to in-game toxicity and a lack of help for newcomers.
The beginner-friendly overview and viewable Champion abilities on the select screen mark a worthwhile step toward addressing this recurring issue. Not every player will have a need for it, nor will it necessarily benefit a player quickly trying to learn a Champion at short notice, but it should still be overall helpful, especially for players who primarily engage with League of Legends' ARAM mode.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 84 /100 Critics Rec: 90%
- Released
- October 27, 2009
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
- Developer(s)
- Riot Games
- Publisher(s)
- Riot Games
- Engine
- Proprietary
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- League of Legends
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- MOBA
