League of Legends players will soon no longer have to search through the in-game shop at the beginning of the game for starter items—or have an excuse for forgetting to buy any.
Jordan Checkman, the senior experience designer on League’s gameplay, revealed today that starter item bundles will become available starting in Patch 11.5, which is expected to hit the live servers on March 3.
These packs, consisting of the typical starting Doran’s items, support items, or jungle items alongside potions, are intended to make it easier for players to quickly access the shop at the start of the game and immediately head into battle. All of these bundles will cost players the same amount of gold as if they bought the items separately, but they seem to not include wards.
Mark “Scruffy” Yetter, the gameplay design director for League, added that these bundles were created using data from high-level gameplay, “so the options presented should be high quality ones.”
Checkman also revealed that these bundles will be available to ARAM players. Since players start with more gold in this mode, the bundles will be more diverse and give players more options geared toward how they want to start the game.
Players can continue to purchase the starting items separately from these bundles but will be prompted to purchase these items on the homepage of the shop. Once the game proceeds, these starter item bundles will be replaced on the homepage with other suggested items to build throughout the game.
League Patch 11.5 is expected to hit live servers on March 3 alongside numerous balance adjustments to champions and items. All parts of the update are subject to change prior to the patch’s official release.
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