With Legends of Runeterra (LoR), the LoL creators Riot Games are working on a competitor to Hearthstone, aiming to eliminate randomness in acquiring new cards.
What is Legends of Runeterra? It is a new online card game set in the fantasy world of Runeterra, featuring the heroes and monsters of the now also announced for smartphones and console MOBA League of Legends.
The game starts with the Runeterra regions Demacia, Noxus, Ionia, Piltover & Zaun, Freljord, and the Shadow Isles, along with 24 champions.
The gameplay resembles Blizzard’s Hearthstone. You deploy your champions and their abilities in the form of cards, trying to tactically outsmart and defeat your opponent round after round.
Simply buy the cards you need
What is special about LoR? Not only will you experience the world of League of Legends with all its champions, characters, creatures, and regions in a new game, but LoR aims to give you control over how you obtain desired cards – without disrupting the balance.
This means you can acquire the cards you need either with earned or purchased currency.
How exactly do you obtain new cards? There are several ways to get new cards:
- You complete missions and automatically receive new cards.
- Once per week, you unlock chests from the vault. Depending on the vault level, you will find higher quality cards in the chests. At level 10, you are guaranteed a champion.
- You may occasionally find wildcards that you can exchange for cards of your choice.
- In the shop, you get the cards for the currency shards that you want. Shards can be earned or purchased.
There will be no random card packs to buy without knowing what’s inside.
Can you buy as many cards as you want? No. There is a limit. You should obtain most cards in the game and not through the shop. Therefore, there will be a cap on how many shards you can spend on cards.
E-sports are not a priority
What game modes are there? Planned are “limited” and draft-based modes as well as the ability to challenge friends to a duel. There are also missions you can play. Riot Games will provide more details about the game modes soon.
Will Riot enter the E-sports arena with Legends of Runeterra? There are no active plans in this regard yet. However, LoR is designed as a competitive game, and E-sports leagues are conceivable for the future.
How to participate
When does LoR start? From October 16 (4 AM CEST) to October 21 (4 AM CEST), you can preview a special “preview patch”. The closed beta is planned for early 2020 on PC. The release is also set for 2020.
On which platforms will LoR be released? The release is planned for PC, Android, iOS, and Mac.
How do you participate in the preview patch and the beta? You can register on the official LoR website and may be selected with some luck.
What do you think of Legends of Runeterra? Is it an interesting game for you? What do you think about being able to buy desired cards directly?
