The glorious URF game mode has finally returned to League of Legends, but only for a limited time. Normally, this would be cause for celebration, but not this time. Now, players are pissed off at the once-beloved rapid-fire game mode.
If you’ve been to the official game forums or the League Reddit community for more than a few seconds since Snow Battle ARURF launched yesterday, you’d already know just how upset the game’s community is over this iteration of URF. On the first page of the subreddit alone, there are at least three posts complaining about it at any given time. On the forums, the number is even higher.
So what is the problem, exactly? What happened to turn these players away from the most popular event game mode in League’s history?
There are a number of reasons, but they all boil down to the same thing—too many changes. When URF was initially released on April Fool’s Day in 2014, it was a simple concept. It was held on Summoner’s Rift, and players could play any champion they chose with no mana restrictions, more damage, and almost non-existent cooldowns. It was simple, goofy, and one big mess.
Over time, it’s gone through several makeovers, though. The first time it was re-released was April Fool’s of 2015, and it had only been tweaked then. A few numbers here, some rules about specific champions there, but at its core, it was the same game mode. And then came ARURF.
ARURF stands for All Random Ultra Rapid Fire, and much like the AR in ARAM, that means your champions are randomized when playing. This version of the game mode made its debut in September 2016, and although there was some negative feedback, most players were still happy to URF it up for the first time in a long time.
And then came Snow Battle ARURF. This Snowdown’s version of URF is again All Random, which is enough alone to make some people angry, but it also limits your champion pool to only those with winter or holiday skins. Some champions, like Sona with her Silent Night skin, didn’t make the cut, further limiting the champion pool. It’s the combination of the extremely small champion list and the fact that it’s still randomized that has players up in arms.
This time, the Mark/Dash Summoner Spell was also added to this version of ARURF, and although that alone didn’t make too many folks upset, it still added something else to the pot to be complained about.
So, if you’re one of the players that gets red-hot just thinking about playing a randomized, limited version of the URF you love, it’s probably best for you to just stay away from Snow Battle ARURF until it goes away this January.
