Hey there!

We hope you’re all enjoying Legends of Quna and the amazing Outfits and items that have come along with it (like that Ruh Kaan one)! As mentioned in the Patch Notes, we promised you an update on the March Patch that includes leaderboards, the pre-game lobby, Season 1, and the new season rewards system.

On a side note – we’ve heard your feedback about the Lunar War Horse Event Quest, and how no end time was specified for the quest in game or in the patch notes. For this reason we will be bringing back the Lunar War Horse quest from March 6th to March 14th. The quests will appear as follows:

• Quest for Jade War Horse:
  • Active February 20 @ 8 UTC – February 27 @ 8 UTC
• Quest for Silver War Horse:
  • Active February 27 @ 8 UTC – March 14 @ 8 UTC
• Quest for Lunar War Horse (2):
  • Active March 6 @ 8 UTC – March 14 @ 8 UTC

Moving on, the next patch is scheduled for March 7th. That’s when the leaderboards and the pre-game lobby will be going into the game and Season 1 will begin. There is a slight possibility of the new season rewards system being delayed, but as things currently stand, everything is on track.

Leaderboards

First and foremost – the leaderboards. Our goal for the leaderboards is to motivate our top players in the world, as players will be able to compare and contrast their rankings.

For the March Patch we will include a Top 200 Leaderboard for Solo, Team 2v2, and Team 3v3, separated into five regions: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. A global leaderboard will not be supported, as it is highly unlikely that players and teams will play enough across regions for the ranking to be meaningful.

Regions will be determined by which servers the player or team has played on the most. For this reason servers have been grouped into regional categories. If, for whatever reason, you play ten matches on EU North, ten on EU West, and eleven on US East, you will still be counted as a player in Europe.

In the future, we may implement additional improvements to the leaderboard experience. For example, a “private dynamic leaderboard” that shows players their placement against others of a similar level and that only they can see. We want leaderboards to motivate all players to compete and improve, but we don’t know when we can go live with this additional feature just yet.

The Pre-Game Lobby

The idea behind the pre-game lobby is to enable players to create better, more strategic team compositions and allow for counter picking against the enemy team. When used as intended, the lobby will give players the ability to try new ways to combo and counter Champions and compositions. Because of this added element of strategy, the pre-game lobby will only be found in League solo and team.

There has been a lot of discussion about having a pre-game lobby, and we’ve heard concerns about having one exacerbating toxicity or forcing people into Champions that are part of the current meta. Ultimately there is a balance to be found, and we believe we have found it, but we will be closely monitoring reports and will make adjustments when needed. Players who report teammates for not choosing what they consider an “on meta” pick will be regarded as abusing the report system.

So – how it works.

First, there will be a system to ‘downvote’ unfavorable maps in the lobby settings before matchmaking, which means it will be much less likely – though not impossible – to play on those maps. This is a feature that will be supported in both Casual and League.

Just as the queue system works now, you will pre-select your Champion before matchmaking and enter the queue. If you are playing in Casual, you will then directly enter the game once matchmaking has found you a team – nothing has changed there. In League, once everyone is found, you will then be placed in the pre-game lobby.

The first couple things you’ll notice is that you will be able to see your team’s pre-selected picks and have an idea of what Champions they wanted to play initially. In order to enable better team strategy and give swapping an edge in drafting, you will be able to select your teammates pre-selected Champions. We have some concerns over how much this will be used for griefing, but we have ideas in mind to adjust how the lobby works if we find it being abused and will be monitoring feedback.

You’ll also notice that you will be unable to see the opponent’s pre-selected picks or their usernames. Usernames will remain hidden until you have loaded into the game.

There are many different ways in which we could implement a draft mode for League, and we ultimately decided on a simultaneous draft. The first two players in each team will pick at the same time, and then their picks are revealed to everyone in the lobby. The next two players will then pick their Champions. Since each team’s picks are revealed as the draft goes on, players will be able to create synergistic teams and avoid bad matchups. Once all players have picked, there will be a period of time where you can swap Champions and then everyone will load into the game.

While we are allowing players to react to earlier picks on both teams, there will be no champion bans in this format. Allowing players to always play their main champions in League outweighs any strategic advantage bans may bring. Additionally, bans require a considerable amount of time and compromise fairness – who would have the final say to allocate the ban on each team? In return, players will be able to “Thumbs Down” a few maps to create more favorable conditions instead.

As stated before, we will be closely following feedback and monitoring reports, and will be making adjustments and penalizing accounts when necessary. The pre-game lobby will be arriving on March 7th with the leaderboards and the start of Season 1.

Pre-Season

The Pre-Season will end on March 7, when Season 1 begins. Players who participated in the Pre-Season will be eligible to receive the following rewards depending on their highest League achieved throughout the Pre-Season:

• Bronze:
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Bronze)
  • 3 Silver Chests
• Silver:
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Silver)
  • 5 Silver Chests
  • 500 Tokens
• Gold:
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Gold)
  • 3 Gold Chests
  • 1,000 Tokens
• Platinum:
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Platinum)
  • 5 Gold Chests
  • 1,750 Tokens
• Diamond:
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Diamond)
  • 7 Gold Chests
  • 2,500 Tokens
• Champion:
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Champion)
  • 7 Gold Chests
  • 3,500 Tokens
  • 1 Legendary Outfit Chest
• Grand Champion:
  • Pre-Season Avatar (Grand Champion)
  • 7 Gold Chests
  • 5,000 Tokens
  • 1 Legendary Outfit Chest
  • Growlan the Champion’s Warlion (see more details below)

Season 1

Season 1 will begin on March 7 and will overlap slightly with Legends of Quna, which ends on March 14th. Rankings will be reset and the leaderboards will officially begin. Additionally, for this coming patch there will be some matchmaking adjustments. From here on out, new Seasons will be regularly scheduled every 2-3 months and average 10 weeks.

With Season 1 and onward comes a new reward system where players can view rewards available during a Season and pick and choose which ones they would like to pursue. Completing daily quests will progress you on the reward path that you choose. You will be able to have three of these reward paths open at a time, and will be able to switch between these paths whenever you like, but only one “active” path will receive progress for completed dailies. Some of these rewards will be unique to their season, others will help you unlock Champions or earn in-game currency. More specifics on this reward system will be revealed in the patch notes.

With this new system we will be moving away from the end-of-season, placement-based rewards and instead allow the reward system mentioned above to give players unique Seasonal rewards. We want players to feel motivated to compete and we want our top players to feel good about their achievements, but we don’t want players who aren’t at this level to feel like they’re missing out on cool rewards purely due to their rank.

For these reasons, from Season 1 onward there will no longer be rewards according to your highest League achieved at the end of the Season. Instead, we will have the following in place (alongside the reward system mentioned above):

• Growlan, the Champion’s Warlion, will become a permanent unlock via an achievement instead of a temporary reward. Once a player reaches, or has reached, Grand Champion in their account lifetime they will be able to claim this mount permanently.
• If you end the Season in a leaderboard position from 1 – 5, you will receive a unique Title to highlight your achievement.
• A new mini-feature hits! We will support League avatar frames throughout a Season. Your avatar frame will represent your current League and Division so that players can feel a better sense of progression. This frame can be disabled in the options menu if desired.

More specific details on this system will be explained in the Patch Notes this system will come with.

We hope this has gotten you all excited for what’s coming soon, and we can’t wait to kick off Season 1! Until then, enjoy Legend of Quna, let us know your feedback, and we’ll see you in the Arena!

/Liz