Riot has made some changes to League of Legends with patch 25.17. However, it has now been found that the game has become too easy as a result. Therefore, they want to adjust the changes, but not completely revert them.
What is this change? Riot has introduced native jungle timers into the game with patch 25.17 to provide players with information on the respawn times of jungle camps directly in the game. Previously, players used external tools to display the times, as many consider these times necessary to be competitive.
Riot wanted to curb this and therefore offer the timers themselves in-game. But now Riot has had to realize that they might have gone too far and has announced they want to change the timers. This is reported by the English magazine PCGamesN.com.
What is the problem with the update? The issue with the current implementation is that the timers are too generous: players receive exact cooldown times even for enemy camps that they have not seen before. At least not without additional tools.
The new timers now allow for very easy and precise tracking of the enemy jungler, which diminishes tactical depth because a crucial information barrier is removed: players can calculate counter-movements or ganks much better and more safely without having had to gather real information.
Riot plans to significantly reduce the timers but not make them irrelevant
This is Riot’s response: Riot’s balancing head Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison has now stated that they want to significantly restrict the display of information for killed camps in patch 25.18 again. Riot’s stated goal: less accurate timers than currently, but more than before, to keep tracking relevant but not too simplistic.
Because if they make the timers too inaccurate, players will revert to using third-party software, and then they will have achieved nothing. Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison explains on X.com:
In 25.18, we will drastically reduce the information you get from tracking dead camps. It is possible that we will release a hotfix for this, but the technical resources of the team are currently very strained, and the number of players exploiting this information is quite small (we will discuss this with the team at least).
We are still considering how much information we should display about this. Before 25.17, many overlays were shown up to a minute before the spawn, while our native overlay displayed it for up to ten seconds. We will probably settle on something in the middle.
What else will change? At the same time, Riot has also explained in the patch notes for 25.17 that it will update its guidelines for third-party apps to restrict external tools. It states among other things: “The disclosure of information that was intentionally concealed” already violates the terms of use. This is clearly aimed at corresponding tools.
But not only have the timers changed significantly: the new controls for League of Legends have also gone live on the test servers. Various nerfs are being implemented to balance them. However, along with it come several issues that make a champion already prone to bugs unplayable: You can now test the new controls for LoL, which nerfs one of the most important values and makes a champion unplayable
