It’s been a few days since Wild Rift was released on mobile devices in Europe and early impressions are good.
The game is entertaining. You can play anywhere, the matches are short and frantic, and the gameplay is well adapted to touchscreen devices. But there are some features that are missing, especially if we think about the competitive potential of the game for the next few months or even years.
Here are the features that we’d like to see in the upcoming updates of this portable version of League of Legends and other important needs for the game to become a top-tier esport.
Queue by position
This is probably the function that we miss the most and one of the most necessary to forge a decent competitive system. Unlike in League, right now in Wild Rift, there’s only one type of qualifying queue similar to what we know as blind pick from the PC version. This causes a lot of problems during the champion select process. Several people usually end up going to the same lane, which obviously causes weird situations in-game.
If Riot is truly interested in making Wild Rift a competitive game and a top-tier esport, the ability to queue by position is one of the most urgent features that should be added to this mobile title.
Solo queue and flex queue
In addition to queues per position, Riot should allow players to play solo queue (two-player max queue in premade) or flex queue (five-player max queue in premade).
These two queues (especially solo queue) are important for League pros. That means it’d likely be a feature that those interested in becoming Wild Rift pros would appreciate.
Spectator mode
A spectator mode is another necessary feature that should be added to Wild Rift. It’s essential when it comes to conducting professional tournaments or just being able to have freedom with the in-game camera and a more global view of the games to make VOD reviews, for example. This would help teams improve their scrims and lead to more productive practice.
More champions, runes, and items
It’s true that Wild Rift has a lot of content considering that it’s just been released. But it’s not enough yet to have the necessary variety to create and maintain a fresh and renewed competitive environment.
Right now, there are 47 items, more than 40 champions, and nine keystone runes in Wild Rift. If Riot wants Wild Rift to be a successful esport, it will need to significantly increase the number of items and champions available in the game over time.
Differentiate from League
Wild Rift also needs to have its own identity, something that will make people want to watch Wild Rift instead of League. Right now, the general perception of the community is that Wild Rift is just a portable version of League.
Riot has to change this idea if it wants to create a competitive environment around its new mobile game. A good idea would be to introduce exclusive content to Wild Rift, giving League fans something that they can only get from the mobile title.
Wild Rift definitely has the potential to become a title with a powerful competitive facet. But for this to happen, Riot will have to strive to offer the community some tools that can facilitate the development of this competitive side of the game.
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