Riot Games has announced several significant reversals to recent changes made to League of Legends following widespread player criticism. This is a huge reversal of major unpopular decisions.
Senior Vice President Andrei “Meddler” Van Roon and League of Legends Executive Producer Paul “Pabro” Bellezza outlined these rollbacks in a video announcement. The pair acknowledged that the recent decisions had damaged player trust, which is good, but the rollback on the decisions is even better.
The first major change addresses the removal of Hextech Chests, which many players consider an important part of the game’s reward system. Starting in Act 2 (the upcoming patch), players will once again earn up to ten Hextech Chests and Keys per Act. Eight of these chests will be distributed throughout the free Pass, replacing the previously offered Seasonal skin and 1350-or-Lower Skin rewards.
Riot explained that this change moves chest acquisition from the Champion Mastery system to the Pass to guarantee accessibility regardless of playstyle. This will be true whether players choose random champion selection or specific champions.
The remaining two chests per Act will be earnable through the Honor system, reflecting Riot’s belief that League of Legends is improved by players who enhance the experience through good sportsmanship. In the short term, these Honor Chests will be delivered through missions while the company continues to develop the Honor system. Riot has stressed that these chests, whether earned through the Pass or Honor, will be identical to the ones previously available through Champion Mastery.
Champion acquisition was another area addressed in the announcement. Riot acknowledged that building a champion roster presents a significant challenge, particularly for newer players. To make the game more accessible, Riot will reduce the Blue Essence cost of all champions by 50% in the next patch. The company noted that while this change alone won’t solve all accessibility issues, it is a step forward based on player feedback on Blue Essence and champion shards.
The third major change concerns the Exalted skin line. Specifically, Riot is delaying the release of Exalted Mordekaiser. The official reasoning is that more time is needed to better deliver on the skin line’s core fantasy. This decision follows criticism of previous Exalted skins, including Radiant Serpent Sett and Fractured Arcane Jinx.
The company also announced that development time for all future Exalted skins will be extended, meaning players likely won’t see one in every Act this year as originally planned. For paid Seasonal Pass skins, Riot will replace one of the non-Prestige skins with 25 Mythic Essence, responding to feedback about insufficient Mythic Essence in the paid Pass and concerns about too many champions being developed for each seasonal theme. For Act 2, the skins on the paid Battle Pass will be Darius, Sion, and Talon.
Clash, the tournament-style competitive mode, will also see changes. Despite previously announcing reduced frequency for Clash events, Riot has reversed course after player feedback highlighted the mode’s importance. Clash will return to a monthly schedule, with March featuring an All Random URF Clash event followed by a regular Summoner’s Rift Clash in April. The company is seeking player input on what mixture of regular Summoner’s Rift, ARAM, and rotating game modes players would prefer for Clash throughout the year.
Finally, Riot confirmed the return of two popular features. Your Shop is targeted to return in patch 25.6, while the Blue Essence Emporium is scheduled for patch 25.7, marking their first appearances this year. These changes are pretty significant and likely cost a lot of money to reverse. There probably won’t be any more announcements about other features coming back, but this announcement has enough information for players to feel like their opinions are being acknowledged.
Source: Riot Games
