League of Legends is a time-consuming game and MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes has been playing it regularly for over 10 years. But since 2025, the thrill is gone, and that is due to 3 aspects.
I have been playing League of Legends since 2014 and have spent approximately 6000 hours in it. Except for a few short breaks in between, I played the game almost regularly for 10 years. Sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. I also engaged with it outside the game. I played the spin-offs like Song of Nunu or watched videos on the topic.
However, since the start of the new season in 2025, League of Legends has completely lost its appeal for me. Be it normal play, ranked, or modes like ARAM or Arena. None of that is fun for me at the moment. But what is the reason? I have tried to identify my problem based on 3 aspects.
1. It has become too competitive for me
That sounds strange at first, especially since I used to enjoy playing ranked. But now I feel that the player base is playing much more specifically for pure victory than just a few years ago. This is understandable; over time, the average player base gets better.
My problem is that this goal exists not only in ranked but also in modes like Normal or ARAM. At least based on my experience. If you want to learn a new champion, have played enough bot games, and then want to play a bit in normal, you are often confronted with a lobby that wants to play everything efficiently. Trying out new champions? Not a chance.
You can also notice this in ARAM. I’m not even saying I want to play anti-meta. But if you don’t feel like giving 100%, you quickly become discouraged. Nowadays, I just want to casually play a bit in the evening after work.
There is also a certain pressure. LoL is a team game, and if you play poorly or lose, then not only do you have a bad time yourself, but you may also cause the entire team to lose. Even the best players occasionally lose their lane.
This leads to people giving up quite quickly based on my experience. No matter which mode. Many just want to jump into the next match as fast as possible.
2. The Time
MOBAs in general are very time-consuming games. It can easily take 40 to 60 minutes to start and finish a game in ranked or draft mode. Even modes like ARAM are close to 30 minutes.
If you have a good match, those are some of the best gaming hours you can spend. But when matches go poorly, then the time doesn’t feel valuable to me. In games like Street Fighter or Tekken, I have no problem with this because matches don’t last that long and it’s a 1-on-1 game.
Also, learning new champions and mechanics takes a lot of time. When I started playing LoL, I was a student, so I had a lot of time for the game. Nowadays, time is limited, and you have to weigh how you use your free time.
3. League of Legends offers too little nonsense
As mentioned in point 1, League of Legends is a very competitive game. Many play it to climb the ranks. While there are still fun modes
like Arena or URF, there needs to be more. This is silly gameplay that doesn’t need to be balanced as long as there is variation.
Many players wish for the return of Doombots of Doom because it was designed for absurd situations. Personally, I have always been a big fan of Dark Star: Singularity, and in the history of LoL, there are countless modes that have not returned.
The modes were not always perfect, but that doesn’t matter. In Arena and URF, unfortunately, a meta quickly develops that is hard to break without significant resources. In modes like Doombots, that was not an issue. A larger pool of fun modes
would ensure that I would return more often to casually play with friends just for fun in the evenings.
Recently, Riot demonstrated with Swarm that they can release a new mode and players can receive it positively. I hope Riot will do this more often in the future, as experiments don’t hurt in such a framework.
Will I turn my back on League of Legends forever? No. I still love the surrounding world and series like Arcane, but not the gameplay anymore. Maybe that will change again in a few months, but I have never had so little interest in entering the Summoner’s Rift again in the 10 years since I started playing the game. However, if Dark Star: Singularity returns, I will be the first to start the game again.
What about you? Do you still play LoL and for how long? Feel free to share your current status regarding the game in the comments. In another article, I asked the question of whether a LoL: Classic
would be possible: LoL: Players wish for a game mode that WoW already successfully introduced 5 years ago – but can that work?
