Riot keeping an eye on League preseason changes, including Chemtech Rift and Soul

The 2022 season of League of Legends began last week and included a multitude of changes to the game, many of which were implemented in the preseason, such as the new elemental drakes and objective bounties. Many of these new features have been accepted by players, though others have stood out as problematic and too overpowered.

In a new Quick Gameplay Thoughts developer post, Riot Phroxzon, the new Summoner’s Rift design lead, provided insight into how Riot feels about many of these new features and detailed that the game’s many teams are open to changing them further in the near future. Though this preseason included fewer new features compared to previous seasons, many aspects of the game were altered in various capacities, some a bit too much for healthy game balance.

Phroxzon aimed to assure players that the design team is well aware of the criticism regarding both the Chemtech Rift and Soul, acknowledging that both the stealth zones and buffs associated with the Soul are very powerful and often not fun to play against. “If we find that the high moments still don’t manifest after both of these changes, yet they continue to frustrate players, we’re very open to higher scope changes, including reworks,” Phroxzon said.

A similar sentiment was expressed about the power of objective bounties, though the design team believes that, with time, the feature will come to be welcomed by the community. They believe that objective bounties are not yet at the level of balance that enables the winning team to maintain their lead but that maintaining and working on the feature will open up better strategies for both sides of the Rift.

Regarding runes, items, and summoner spells, the changes to all three of these categories have the design team currently content but looking at improving each of them further. Phroxzon acknowledged Lethal Tempo’s strength, especially on melee champions, reminding players that nerfs are on the way. The design team is happy with the state of the new Inspiration keystone, First Strike, though its fellow keystone in that tab, Glacial Augment, hasn’t seen as much use as the team hoped it would, pointing out their hope that enchanters will use this rune more often over Aery. Changes to Teleport and various Mythic and Legendary items have also landed well, though the design team will be keeping a close eye on them in the coming weeks.

The 2022 season of League is underway, with players able to partake in the new ranked season until the end of the year.