Riot explains the reasons and complexities that come with making Lol Arena a permanent game mode.
League of Legends currently has two permanent game modes. This categorization is done based on the map in which the game takes place. The first one is called Summoner’s Rift. The other is ARAM (All Random All Mid). Summoner’s Rift again has normal and ranked queues. Besides these two broad game modes, occasionally, Riot brings rotating game modes such as Nexus Blitz, URF, ARURF, etc.
Last year, Riot introduced another brand new game mode called Arena or 2v2v2v2. This is a permanent fighting game mode where you fight as a team of 2 against other teams. Recently, they have also announced that Arena is returning with more champion diversity and flexibility. This time it will be 2v2v2v2v2v2v2v2.
Despite its immense instant popularity, Arena has come and gone away two times already from the game. You may ask why it’s not a permanent game mode yet.
Well, in a recent AMA post on Reddit, Riot Cadmus explained the difficulties regarding the big decision to make Arena a permanent game mode. In this article, I will brief you on what the Rioter has said.
Read More: All The New Game Modes Coming In League of Legends
Challenges with Making Arena a Permanent Game Mode in Lol
So the main, broad challenge Riot is facing is the indecisiveness as to whether Arena, in its present state, has the traction to capture a population that would otherwise not play League of Legends.
Including a permanent mode requires a huge investment. Just putting it there is not enough. You need to constantly think about newer and newer content revolving around it. The balance cannot be compromised like it’s in most of the rotating game modes. Also, the scale of all these needs to match the quality of the other two permanent modes.
Riot has enough data to confirm that there is a demand for playing League of Legends differently. However, it’s not yet sure if Arena, in its present state, will be able to sustain itself for as long as SR or ARAM. That’s why they will be bringing many new changes when Arena returns soon, with 16 teams and more champion diversity and augments.
Riot calls Arena a 1st attempt at creating new and unique game modes. Depending on Arena’s overall success, Riot will continue to put more dedication into the mission.
I think Arena is a good enough game mode already. But there are some clear balance issues that prevent you from playing any champion you want. Some of the augments just straight-up break a few champions. And to account for so many champions’ interactions with those augments and item combinations is surely a big challenge. But still, I am optimistic that Arena will be a satisfying experience the next time it comes to the game.
