The long overdue visual update to League of Legends became publicly available last night as the new Summoner’s Rift hit open beta.
Players in all regions participating in the Team Builder and bot game modes will get to play on the new map and digest League’s new look.
Revealed in June, the visual update aims to make the game more readily understandable from the spectator perspective while also increasing the map’s usability. It also update League with a more modern and less comical look, dropping bright colors for more muted tones.
Riot Games is incentivizing players to test the map by providing two exclusive in-game icons to those who participate. Winning a game on red side will earn one icon, while taking a game on blue earns the other.
Not included in the beta is the new music that will accompany the official release of the update.
So far players seem to be enjoying the experience, though like any beta it’s full of its own quirks. Some players are zoning into maps with champions invisible, only appearing 10 or 15 seconds after the game clock starts ticking. Other players are experiencing performance issues, though many are also seeing significant increase in frame rate, something Riot Games hoped the better optimized map would provide many players.
The new map certainly looks good, but it’s going to be a shock to anyone with hundreds or thousands of hours on the tried and true older version. But that’s perhaps the theme of this offseason. This be the biggest change to League of Legends since the launch of the game, visuals and mechanics combined, and this open beta is just the start.
Image via Riot Games
