The major shop overhaul in League of Legends (LoL) is approaching. Soon, the way you shop for items will change. It is already clear how the new shop should work.
Where does the information come from? Riot Games has already spoken with players in a blog post about the preseason 2021 and what changes will come to the game. Gameplay-wise, the preseason 2021 will revolve around the complete overhaul of the shop interface and the item system of LoL.
They have already shared some plans that aim to visually and technically improve the shop.
What will the new LoL shop look like?
This is what Riot explains: In the blog post, RiotScruffy, the lead gameplay designer:
There are basically two types of shop visitors. For this reason, we want to create different versions of the interface to give players what they want.
Recommended Items
With one of the player types, Riot targets users who like to be supported by the shop in choosing items. They purchase through the “Recommended Items” tab. With the new interface for this, the developers want to show players the best decision-making options while not overwhelming them with the choices.
This selection should also remain dynamic and keep itself updated. Thus, the recommendations are supposed to change at different points in the game to match the game situations.
– Better recommendations: We want to replace our current handcrafted pages with the recommended items (which can quickly lose their relevance) with a system that integrates our data directly so that the recommendations are always up to date.
– Selected decision options: Not every item is equally good at every point in the game, and the shop makes it difficult for players to make a decision due to the countless options. We want to ensure that the recommended items dynamically show players the best options for the respective moment in the game.
– The strategic aspect must not be lost: Even though this is a kind of supervised experience, players should still have decision options and should not be prescribed a linear crafting path. Players should still have to decide whether to build Thornmail or Randuin’s Omen.
– Contextual analysis: One of our key goals is to teach less experienced players reactive item decisions. For this reason, we are implementing some new systems that analyze allies and enemies in each game and then display which items would have made good counters or complements.
RiotScruffy on the change of the “Recommended Items” tab
All Items
Players who are already well-versed in the items and the shop will find their tab for “All Items” as usual. But this will also be overhauled.
The main goal of the overhaul is for players to be able to decide quickly and easily. As few clicks as possible should lead to the purchase of the desired item.
– All important items on one display: This is (literally) the one shop where experienced players can find and buy items with as few clicks as possible.
– Consistent arrangement: Since this shop is aimed at experienced players, the items should be logically arranged, and this arrangement should hardly change. Players can train their motor memory and learn over time where each item is located in the shop.
– Improved data: We want to integrate our new data collection capabilities into the interface of the “All Items” shop so that all useful items for the respective champion are highlighted. Finding and quickly purchasing items will be easier than ever.
RiotScruffy on the change of the “All Items” tab
What does Riot want to achieve with this?
For the preseason 2021, the LoL developers have set important goals that they want to achieve with the changes.
These are the goals: Riot explains that every player must be able to buy their items quickly and intuitively.
Furthermore, the selection of an item should also serve as a strategic decision.
Through item combinations, exciting possibilities should be created for mastering the champions. Items should still feel very powerful.
Will you have to learn everything anew? No. Riot explains that about 34% of the shop will remain the same. 33% of the shop will be improved, and the remaining nearly 33% will then be “new.” But no worries, iconic items will be retained. You should not have to relearn everything in the shop.
