Do you keep in mind the great ol’ days of League of Legends seasonal rifts? I’ll allow you to in on a secret – sadly, I personally, don’t. As a relatively new LoL participant, I missed out on the MOBA’s Winter Rift and the Harrowing Rift, and yearly I cross my fingers and pray to Santa Claus that they’ll make a triumphant return.
And belief me after I say I’m not the one one. As quickly because the spooky or snowy season rolls round, gamers are fast to voice their discontent over the shortage of themed Rift. This yr, for instance, a Reddit submit lamenting the shortage of Harrowing Rift popped up simply in time for Halloween, with swathes of feedback begging Riot to offer these non permanent Rift skins a brand new lease on life.
Alas, whereas we’ve obtained some new Halloween and winter-themed skins this yr which have damaged away from the standard Bewitching and Winter Wonderland traces, it nonetheless appears like we received’t be seeing Summoner’s Rift bathed in ice and snow. As eyes flip to subsequent yr, right here’s why we’d like some seasonal Rifts in LoL.
League of Legends occasions suck
Sure, I stated it. Sue me. In the mean time, League of Legends occasions usually encompass a battle cross with unlockable goodies (in addition to a status pores and skin), and a brand new line of accompanying cosmetics. Positive, the completely different quest descriptions and icons inject some distinctive aptitude into issues, however does anybody truly care about these? Or do you simply click on by them to gather the XP, chest, or no matter different reward is on supply? Responsible, as charged.
Even the Spirit Blossom and Star Guardian format is getting a bit outdated – particularly given the problems with the latter earlier this yr. Whereas novel at first, Riot appears unwilling to interrupt away when it finds one thing that works, in flip making one thing as particular as Spirit Blossom really feel barely mundane in hindsight.
Against this, loads of different video games simply do extra. Overwatch, for instance, decks out the likes of King’s Row in boughs of holly, and World of Warcraft transforms Orgrimmar and Stormwind into snowy festive paradises. Whereas League isn’t an FPS sport or an MMORPG, Riot has been in a position so as to add some Christmas spirit to the Rift earlier than, and have chosen not to take action once more. It’s like taking sweet from a child, then leaving that sweet on the aspect of the cradle simply out of attain.
Overwatch and WoW’s occasions don’t change yearly. The skins do, positive, however the occasions stay largely the identical. Add a brand new mode right here and there, possibly a brand new beauty merchandise, however in any other case you just about know what to anticipate – that’s the fantastic thing about it. It’s that LTM that comes round yearly, injects some enjoyable into the sport, and leaves. It’s not an entire new ranked mode, and Riot treating it prefer it must be good and expansive is the place it’s stumbling.
A 2020 weblog submit proves this. When requested if it might ever deliver again winter on the Rift, Riot wrote “as a substitute of doing a handful of those smaller map reskins yearly, we’ve as a substitute been focusing our efforts on creating extra immersive environments that gamers get to expertise for an extended time frame. So… will we ever deliver again snow again to the Rift? The reply is possibly, however we don’t have any plans to in the meanwhile.”
The fantastic thing about the traditional seasonal Rifts was their simplicity. Shove a pink hat on the Baron and folks will adore it (I, for one, even get excited when he will get a helmet for Worlds). It’s the little issues that make gamers smile – not each occasion must be a grand event. A easy frosty rework will do. It’s nearly including some lightheartedness to the sport.
The second issue that seems to affect the shortage of Christmas Rift is the introduction of the Elemental Rift system. “Earlier than y’all ask, ‘Why can’t you reuse the Winter map you already made?,’ we’d wish to remind you that the Rift actually catches on hearth. (And grows flowers. And rocks. And… wind?),” product lead Jared ‘Karadwe’ Neuss writes.
“However in all seriousness, we’d must make snowy variations of all 4 [now six] Elemental Rifts in addition to snowy alcove areas. It’s not a technical problem however would take a while to make the artwork for, and it’s not one thing we’re planning on this yr [2020].”
Given we’re two years down the road and the system has been in place for a very good period of time, Riot has had loads of time to develop one thing new and modern. It doesn’t have to be particularly fancy, however there are loads of enjoyable issues you could possibly do with it in the event you actually wished to create one thing as “immersive” as Riot strives for. The Cloud Rift may kick up snow to create blizzards, the Ocean Rift may flip the river into ice – there’s a great deal of enjoyable mechanics that might be launched to make the system interactive. However equally, I genuinely imagine a fast reskin would in all probability work within the meantime.
In any case, it’s Christmas! It’s not that critical. In the mean time LoL occasions merely really feel like they lack a little bit of soul. Whereas this yr’s Fright Night time and Winterblessed skins have added some pleasure again into the sport’s seasonal content material, on the finish of the day they’re nonetheless simply skins. I would like one thing extra.
As somebody who has by no means skilled the seasonal rifts in all of their glory, I really feel like I’ve missed out on a genuinely thrilling LoL expertise. I assumed Spirit Blossom was particular, however given simply how strongly the group feels about these fun-filled festive forays I’d like to take them for a spin – I’m positive a great deal of different new gamers do, too.
Maybe Riot will hear us and implement them for subsequent yr, however sadly 2022 will finish with yet one more bout of disappointment – however I assume there’s Winterblessed Diana’s pentakill animation.
