The open beta version of Legends of Runeterra, the new digital card game from Riot Games, has finally arrived with a bunch of upgrades, nerfs, changes, and tweaks.
Riot launched LoR today for players who had early access and it’s open to the public starting tomorrow. From this point forward, there are no more resets. But there have been a bunch of changes and updates made to the CCG since the two preview betas.
From a revised economic system and ranked play to over 20 updated cards and visual upgrades, the LoR open beta essentially has a fresh new look.
LoR monetization system
Leading up to the release of the LoR open beta, there’s been confusion regarding how the monetization system works and if the game is truly free-to-play. To resolve this, Riot has included updates to XP earned, increases in shard value, earned expedition tokens, and the prices of coins within the LoR store.
XP
Riot has reduced the FTP grind for players seeking XP and rewards by increasing the amount of XP earned with the first three wins and overall losses. For players who plan on grinding for extended periods of gameplay, XP will decrease once 11 plus wins are achieved.
- The first win of the day earns 400 XP, 200 XP for the second, and 100 XP for the third win.
- Wins after the first three earn a player 200 XP.
- Losses accrue 100 XP.
- Daily Quests offer between 1,000 to 1,500 XP.
- Possible reduction of XP for extended daily gameplay.
Wins per day
- 11 to 15 wins: 150 XP per win
- 16 to 20 wins: 100 XP per win
- 21 to 30 wins: 50 XP per win
- 31 and more wins: No XP earned
Losses per day
- Five to 10 losses: 75 XP per day
- 11 to 20 losses: 50 XP per day
- 21 or more losses: Zero XP earned
Expeditions
- Expedition wins: 100 XP
- Expedition loss: 50 XP
- Bonus burst upon completing trial: zero to 2,000 XP, depending on wins
LoR coin prices
Purchasing anything in the LoR store requires coins, not Riot Points. Several adjustments to coins have been made to coincide with price point standards on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
The amount of coins has decreased per dollar amount but so have the prices. Previously, $10 purchased 1,380 coins and a champion card was 400 coins. After today’s update, $10 gets a player 1,000 coins but a champion card is now priced at 300 coins.
Players who participated and purchased coins during the preview beta are expected to receive a number of updated coins equal to the previous amount purchased.
Daily and weekly rewards
With the increase of coin value, shards are also receiving an upgrade “to preserve the 10:1 ratio between shard and coin costs for content,” according to Riot. The Weekly Vault will include an expedition token at level 10.
- Rare and Epic fourth copies are worth more in shards while a Common fourth copy is worth earns less.
- Common wildcards are cheaper with shards and coins while Epic wildcards have increased in price.
- Increase in the number of shards earned from expeditions.
- Addition of expedition token to level 10, and above, in Weekly Vault rewards.
New additions to LoR open beta
As promised by Riot, the LoR open beta contains several new cosmetic additions, such as guardians, game boards, ranked gameplay, friends list, chat, and challenges.
Ranked LoR gameplay
The first ranked season in LoR will last from the open beta launch to its official release later this year. Players who progress up to the next ranked tier can’t drop back down with losses and each tier is split up into divisions.
Friends list, chat, and challenges
The open beta version will include a friends list from three current LoR shards: Americas, Asia, and Europe. Players can chat with friends via any of these three shards, but can only challenge a friend within the same shard.
- Matchmaking and challenges are only on the same shard.
- Chat with any friend across all three shards.
- The social panel and features are still under construction.
With the social panel still needing some work, there are several known issues that are occurring during the LoR open beta launch, according to the developers.
- Players may see delays when adding or removing names from the block list.
- Players won’t receive unread notifications for messages received while offline.
- New message notifications aren’t correctly dismissed at first for active conversations but will be after a short delay.
- The client may occasionally become unresponsive when receiving or accepting a challenge invite while performing other in-client actions (opening rewards, entering Expeditions, etc.). Relog to fix.
Cosmetics
Three new guardians and six additional regional game boards are launching with the LoR open beta.
Game boards
- Hall of Valor (Demacia)
- Clifftop Monastery (Ionia)
- Cursed Ruins (Shadow Isles)
- Reckoners Arena (Noxus)
- Hextech Lab (Piltover)
- Iceborn Peak (Freljord)
Guardians
- T-Hex
- Gromp Jr.
- Scaled Snapper
Card updates and nerfs
As expected, over 20 LoR cards in total either received upgrades or have been nerfed.
Anivia (Level one)
- Cost: Six → seven
- Power: Four → two
- Health: Three → four
- Old text: Can’t Block. Attack: Deal one to all enemies. [Last Breath]: Revive me transformed into [Eggnivia].
- New text: Attack: Deal one to all enemies. [Last Breath]: Revive me transformed into [Eggnivia]. Level Up: You’re Enlightened.
Anivia (Level two)
- Cost: Six → seven
- Power: Five → three
- Health: Four → five
- Old text: Can’t Block. Attack: Deal two to all enemies.
- [Last Breath]: Revive me transformed into [Eggnivia]
- New text: Attack: Deal two to all enemies. [Last Breath]: Revive me transformed into [Eggnivia].
Eggnivia
- Health: One → two
- Old text: Can’t Block. Level Up: Start of Round: Transform me back into Anivia and Level Up.
- New text: Level Up: Start of Round: If you’re Enlightened, transform me back into Anivia and Level Up.
Ezreal (Level two)
- Old text: Nexus Strike: Create a zero cost [Fleeting] [Mystic Shot]. When you cast a spell, deal two to the enemy Nexus.
- New text: Nexus Strike: Create a [Fleeting] [Mystic Shot]. When you cast a spell, deal two to the enemy Nexus.
Vladimir (Level one)
- Old text: Level Up: You’ve had six+ other allies survive damage.
- New text: Level Up: You’ve had six+ allies survive damage.
Tryndamere (Level two)
- Old text: [Overwhelm] [Fearsome] [Tough]
- New text: [Overwhelm] [Fearsome]
Battlesmith
- Rarity: Common → Rare
Fleetfeather Tracker
- Old text: [Challenger]
- New text: When you summon another ally, grant me [Challenger]
Avarosan Hearthguard
- Health: Six → five
Catalyst of Aeons
- Cost: Four → five
Wyrding Stones
- Health: Four → three
Cloud Drinker
- Health: Seven → five
- Old text: Your [Burst} spells cost one less. [Enlightened]: They cost two less instead.
- New text: [Burst] spells cost one less.
Flame Chompers
- Health: One → two
Back Alley Barkeep
- Power: Two → three
Boomcrew Rookie
- Power: Zero → one
Chempunk Pickpocket
- Power: Two → three
Chempunk Shredder
- Power: Four → five
Parade Electrorig
- Power: Three → two
- Health: Three → four
Plaza Guardian
- Power: Five → six
- Health: Five → six
Sumpsnipe Scavenger
- Health: Two → three
Used Cask Salesman
- Power: Two → three
The Rekindler
- Power: Five → four
- Health: Five → four
Wraithcaller
- Health: Two → three
- Old text: [Allegiance]: Summon a [Mistwraith].
- New text: Fearsome. [Allegiance]: Summon a [Mistwraith].
Visual updates
Several visual improvements have been made since the preview patch, including bug fixes, the attack icon, and champion visibility.
Attack and defend icons
Riot has adjusted the attack and defending icons following complaints of confusion during the LoR preview beta.
- Initiative icons (swapping sword and shield) removed from the board and replaced with a new indicator under the attack token.
- Attack token (near mana dial & the button) has received updated visuals and now also indicates round initiative.
Pre-match champion visuals
- Players can view champions in their banner while queued, and their opponent’s champions during a match.
- Prior to a mulligan, players can view champions and regions for within an opponent’s deck and their own.
- The “deck inspect” lets players click on a champion’s portrait to view its card text and associated cards.
Deck pop-ups for level-up progress
- Champions who level up, have a “pop up” that reveals when progress is being made towards a champions level-up.
- To avoid revealing info, these pop-ups occur regardless of the number of copies remaining in your deck.
Miscellaneous upgrades
- RAM improvements.
- Keyboard shortcuts: Spacebar for the button, A for attack all/retreat all, and Esc for the open settings menu.
- Time zones: Expeditions update during reasonable local times, along with vaults, quests, and rerolls.
- Expeditions: Trade pic logic has improved and archetypes have been slightly adjusted.
- Tutorial: Thanks to Day9, tutorials have been reordered.
Known issues and watchlist items
- Deny and Elusive are on the LoR developers’ watchlist as potential problems. No changes were made during the open beta update.
- Obtaining cards with wildcards and shards doesn’t update the visual total. A patch in two weeks is expected to fix the issue. Changing pages will refresh the total.
Bug fixes
- Problems claiming Vault rewards have been resolved.
- Claim Vault rewards immediately if you’re playing when the timer expires, rather than requiring a re-log.
- Fixed an issue where Expedition trials occasionally couldn’t be completed after seven wins.
- Fixed a rare issue where players could lose their decklist after a match.
- Tutorial cards with flavor text.
- Tutorial Heimerdinger’s level up increments when spiders are killed.
- Fixed post-game delays on optional tutorials.
- Optional tutorials should now correctly grant XP.
- Shady Character’s VFX should now play properly when played.
- Balesight’s Obliterate VFX should now correctly display on cards in hand.
