‘League Of Legends’ Announces Champion Mastery System
League of Legends developer Riot Games has announced a new “Champion Mastery” system, whereby players will be rewarded for playing their favorites, per an Examiner report. League of Legends, the free-to-play Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) currently features 124 champions, and every player has their favorites, some playing one champion exclusively. The most recent LoL champion released was the Bard, made available on March 14.
When the Champion Mastery system first releases (it’s playable on the League of Legends public test realm right now), it will feature five ranks, and players reaching ranks four and five will be rewarded with special loading screen badges and a custom banner, emote, and announcement, as well as a unique crest for every rank achieved. Ranks will be awarded based on both personal and team performance. The system also grades the player’s performance against other players who are playing the same role.
According to Cinema Blend, Riot intends to eventually expand the system with higher mastery tiers and more rewards, and an accordingly-longer grind. In a Q&A session held with League of Legends players, Riot estimates that it will take some 15 to 30 matches to reach rank five with a given champion. They also noted that Champion Mastery ranks will not decay or be revoked for poor performance, but that it will take much longer to reach higher tiers. With the average League of Legends game running about 30 to 40 minutes, rank five is likely to take some eight to 16 hours of gameplay for an experienced player.
League of Legends developer Riot Games, recently recognized as one of Fortune’s top 100 companies to work for (as previously reported in the Inquisitr) has faced criticism over their lack of secondary features before. While League of Legends was still the most-played game in the world by a fairly large margin as of January 2015, their primary competitor, DOTA 2, is ranked third, and it has been pointed out before that developer Valve offers many secondary features to their players. The Champion Mastery system can be seen as a step toward adding similar features to League of Legends and ensuring that the game remains competitive and engaging for long-time players.
For a further sneak peek at the League of Legends Champion Mastery system, here’s a quick video, courtesy of LoLeaks:
The Champion Mastery system will be available to any player with a Summoner of level five and up, although it’s worth noting that no retroactive points will be awarded.
Hopefully, this is a step towards more secondary features for players of League of Legends.
[Image courtesy Tesla Effect/League of Legends Wiki]
