Riot Games is now looking at making sweeping changes to rerolls when Arena returns to League of Legends again, but one thing’s proving difficult: Any changes the developers want to make may actually “push the power level of the mode” too high.
While League Arena has long been praised as a breath of fresh air in the wider League fandom, there’s always things players want to see changed, including rerolls. As it stands, the two-vs-two-vs-two-vs-two gladiator mode offers some power over the Augments and anvils that come up in lobbies, but many players agree the way it works at the moment “feels bad to play around” in most cases.
Riot has heard the player complaints, League modes designer Mike Breese said today, but it’s not as simple as changing everything overnight. Said Breese, “Reroll changes are on the table, but [not] currently a priority.”
The biggest issue is overall power: More rerolls in every player’s pocket means more consistency, which in turn “pushes up the power level of the mode.”
That’s something Riot really wants to avoid wherever possible, with the League Arena balance team firm believers that the limited-time mode should revolve around adaptation and experimentation rather than a set-in-stone metagame. Should players have access to the strongest “best-in-slot” options every time through rerolls, certain powerful League champions would naturally float to the top very quickly.
One way they could find some middle ground for the feature, Breese explained to fans, is to keep the Arena’s reroll numbers the same but clear out any “bad choices” so the Augments on offer don’t ever feel bad to take in a lobby.
The two-vs-two-vs-two-vs-two mode’s developers will have their chance to test everything once Arena goes offline in September. As well as rerolls, the Riot team will be looking into how they can build the gladiator mode to last long into the future—and maybe even stick around permanently, if they can spare the resources.
This Arena run will last until Wednesday, Sept. 10 before it shuts again.
