Legends of Runeterra, the LoL card game, has been in open beta since the end of January. However, interest is already declining. What is Riot Games planning to do about it?
How is LoR doing right now? Legends of Runeterra launched on January 24 in open beta and many fans were excited about the new card game. On the release day, over 52,000 people tuned in simultaneously on Twitch.
However, interest in LoR is noticeably declining just 10 days after the launch. This applies to both the streaming platform and Google Trends and our website MeinMMO.
What is Riot doing about it? Riot Games has big plans for Legends of Runeterra. Some of these were revealed by Executive Producer Jeff Jew in an interview with PCGamer.
He talks about regular updates, new card sets, and the same support that League of Legends receives.
LoR is to receive the same support as LoL
What is planned for LoR? In the interview, Jeff Jew discussed how the card game Legends of Runeterra is to be further developed in the future:
- Monthly updates are planned, which will initially consist mainly of balancing and bug fixes.
- Work is already underway on several new card sets, some of which are already playable and being tested internally.
- New game modes are planned.
- Riot Games is working on a roadmap for several years that will also be communicated to the players.
The focus right now is still on the global release, which is to take place soon and will also include a mobile version. After that, larger updates are to follow.
What is the priority of the game? Legends of Runeterra apparently is not just to be a small side project, but to play a larger role at Riot Games.
Jew draws a comparison to League of Legends and states that LoR is to receive the same support:
We hope that something resonates with everyone, namely that we will treat Legends of Runeterra with the same level of service and dedication as League of Legends itself.
Jeff Jew
That Riot Games can actually deliver on this is demonstrated by Teamfight Tactics. The game already received a completely new set of champions after 5 months and another one is due in March. Furthermore, there are updates and balance adjustments every two weeks.
Set rotations should keep the meta fresh
What does LoR do differently? With a different monetization model and the elimination of random card packs, the developers have less fear of rotating their sets and heavily nerfing cards. This is intended to create a fresh meta regularly:
The reason why other card games do not balance well, in my opinion, is that players spend a fortune to create their decks.
If you have spent 50 or 100 dollars to collect the cards, then we would hesitate to make changes because you would feel bad.
Jeff Jew
How do the developers envision the meta? There should be 10 playable decks in each card set, all maintaining a good win/loss ratio with each other. The developers are aware that this is a very ambitious goal, as in many card games usually 3 to 5 decks dominate. The player who reaches the highest master rank first has mainly relied on one deck.
Additionally, sets should avoid classic “fillers,” meaning cards that are not used but only serve to increase the number of available cards.
