Riot makes dramatic changes to League of Legends Classic after community backlash

Riot Games has agreed to make significant changes to League of Legends Classic after backlash to the game mode’s current form on the Public Beta Environment (PBE). While LoL Classic is still weeks away from its official release, early impressions have criticised money-gouging antics as seemingly the ‘spirit’ of a classic release was undermined.

Chief among those criticisms and money-grubbing tactics was the controversial decision to have all “Classic” skins locked behind paywalls, and not on by default. The resultant gameplay, in effect, was arguably indistinguishable from the game’s modern form by default, as players who didn’t shell out the currency for classic versions (the majority) just used modern skins.

Similarly, with modern voice overs (VOs), a host of contemporary effects and animations, and a map that’s a recreation, rather than the original version of LoL’s Summoner’s Rift have left players uninfused with the current state of League Classic.

League Classic will default to Classic Champion skins, reversing bizarre decision

In response, Riot Games released an update on the evening of July 16 that announced that Classic skins would now be the default in League Classic. Beyond this, the VOs would be re-introduced, some immediately, and some in upcoming patches.

The video went on to explain the nebulous setting of League Classic. Rather than a single patch or season, LoL Classic aims to recreate a ‘vibe.’ The video explained this in greater detail, and why they didn’t pick a specific point in time or patch.

However, this decision has also drawn criticism from the community who point to the increased sight (wards and trinkets), post season-3 items (like Zz’rot Portal), and champions from well beyond 2014, as anachronisms in the “classic” mode.

Overall, in its current form, League Classic doesn’t seem to be ticking the boxes for players. Rather than a nostalgia trip, the mode is highlighting the exact practices that have turned players off from Riot Games’ products in recent years: high skin costs, exploitative business practices, and a perceived lack of effort.

Will League Classic be a hit on general release? It’s hard to tell. If it’s a true recreation people want, they’ll have to look elsewhere. Instead, League Classic will seemingly remain a rose-tinted imagination of what old-school LoL used to be.