After Rising Tides’ initial release, Riot produced a video detailing what would be coming in Legends of Runeterra’s future. Since then, Gauntlets and Labs were released successfully, Call of the Mountain’s first expansion dropped, and an improved deck-builder UI was added.
Outside of promised Tournament mode and spectator support, there are a few unnamed features that LoR could use. Here are some of the most important features and quality-of-life changes that would help improve the game.
6) Non-Standard friend challenges
Ever since Riot introduced improvements to the deck-builder UI, it brought the ability to construct different decks based on varying Gauntlet rules. While the ability to craft multiple decks based on format is exciting, the fact that you can only challenge your friends to the original game mode is disappointing. Once more deck-building rules are introduced for the Gauntlet mode, it would be nice to have the ability to challenge friends in these unique modes.
Additionally, it would allow future casual tournament scenes the chance to try out varying formats outside of standard.
5) Gifting
As more and more cosmetics drop every patch, the ability to grant other players gifts in-client would go great lengths for friends and tournament organizers alike. Plus whenever Riot adds more content like the recent event pass to LoR, knowing that you could surprise your friends (or your friends could surprise you!) the day it drops is always a delight.
4) Gauntlet mode outside of weekends
When Gauntlet mode was initially launched, its availability was bound to only weekends and Monday. While this restriction was stated to be in place for more easy swapping of the two different formats, Labs came out as a permanent mode to queue up with no time gate. While Gauntlet formats change in the middle of the week after two weeks pass (which is different from the change each patch that lab goes through), it would be nice for Riot to figure out the tech behind letting Gauntlets remain permanently.
Since Gauntlet is more competitive by nature and has more experience yield for strong play, it would allow players more opportunities to play the mode if they are busy on the weekends.
3) Testing mode
With the amount of card releases increasing as new sets are divided up into three expansions, the number of card and mechanic interactions to learn will also rise. The ability to set up a quick testing mode to put whichever card interactions on the board at any point would help speed up figuring out intricate interactions.
While the main initial appeal of this custom testing mode would be helpful for single players, the usefulness of the feature could increase slightly if another friend could join in and help with the testing.
2) Finding the amount of cards in-hand with a hover
Compared to the other features listed, this one is a softer implementation that will help in slower mirror matchups. While LoR has a lot of good going for it with ease of accessible information, there are still a few blindspots that are glaring when they pop up.
When your opponent’s hand size increases, it becomes more of a chore to count the amount of cards in-hand. Needing to recount this information whenever the opponent’s hand size changes becomes an arduous task and the information is vital. This aspect of the game is also vital to know since once the hand size reaches 10, it provides opportunities to force your opponent to play cards unless they risk milling a card from their deck.
1) Friend lobbies
This feature would be the most ambitious to implement on the list. A friend lobby would allow multiple players to queue up against one another and spectate the ongoing matches. With more social features like these, it would allow players to form additional meaningful friendships and communities that give the game more life.
In these theoretical lobbies, players would be able to set up different formats to queue and skirmish in. After and during games, players would be able to chat and discuss what went on with the games to find optimal plays and understand everyone’s line of thinking better. This could help improve players and create opportunities for mentors and tutors in the LoR community.
