There’s going to be some big culture shock when League Classic drops thanks to these changes.
League of Legends is over two decades old and whether you’re an OG or a fairly new player, League has definitely gone through some big shifts. So much so that you might not even recognize the game once League Classic releases.
It’s honestly difficult to condense more than 20 years of updates and changes. But we’ve narrowed it down to three major changes that separate modern League of Legends from the old.
The Map
Summoner’s Rift is the heart of League of Legends, its features iconic and familiar to all its players. It has its three lanes extending from both bases, separated by an impossible river and the spaces in between filled in by the jungle.
Of course the map didn’t always look like this. Back in its early years, Summoner’s Rift was a much more bizarre looking place. Blocky and jagged, with mismatching pastel tones that can be offensive to the eyes. We can chalk that up to the League’s art direction not being solidified until 2015, when their big map overhaul took place.
Today, we’ve played in the ‘modern’ Summoner’s Rift longer than we did in the old one. But even then the map is still getting updates. Jungle camps have been moved around, the sidelane alcoves were introduced, and now we have a distinct visual change happening on the map every new season. It’s going to be funny if League Classic makes us play on that old, chunky, Summoner’s Rift map once again.
The Champions
This one’s quite obvious as not only has the game included many new Champions over the years, it’s reworked many of them as well. And we’re not just talking about the big visual and gameplay altering reworks like they did Aatrox, Poppy, and Sion. All you need is to look at this list to see that League has been reworking and updating their Champions constantly since their launch in 2009.
Looking at it overall, these reworks have been to the benefit of the game. Problematic and unpopular Champion designs have been molded into something more appealing and engaging. However, broken and unfun some of the old designs may be, you can’t help but miss some of that early 2000’s jank. That’s why some of the older players are really looking forward to League Classic. They want to reexperience the wackiness of those older Champions, even if just for a little bit of time.
The Mechanics
Old League of Legends was a hard game. That’s something that anyone who’s played in the early years can attest to. Among other things, running out of mana was a constant problem for laners, Junglers were at risk of dying to the camp monsters during the early game, and Supports were little more than ward-bots running around the map trying to provide vision while instantly dying the moment the enemy looked at them funny.
Modern League has sanded off a lot of these edges so there’s definitely going to be some whiplash when players jump back into it in League Classic. And we still haven’t considered which era Riot Games has decided to bring back. Is it Season 4, when they introduced Trinkets and the Sightstone to help Support players? Maybe Season 5, where they first introduced the mechanic of Junglers using Smite against enemy Champions? It’ll be interesting to see how players adapt to how old League was played at the very least.
Images from the League of Legends Wiki.
Frequently Asked Questions
League Classic is an upcoming release that will let players revisit an earlier version of League of Legends, reintroducing older map designs, Champion kits, and gameplay mechanics from the game’s early seasons.
Summoner’s Rift received its major art and map overhaul in 2015, replacing the original blocky, mismatched pastel-toned map with the more refined visual style players recognize today.
Since launching in 2009, Riot Games has continuously reworked Champions, ranging from full visual and gameplay overhauls like Aatrox, Poppy, and Sion to smaller balance-driven updates across the game’s roster.
Early League of Legends required more mana management for laners, left Junglers vulnerable to camp monsters, and gave Supports minimal survivability while warding. Modern League has simplified many of these systems over time.
Junglers first gained the ability to use Smite against enemy Champions in Season 5, one of several possible eras League Classic could potentially revive.
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