In League of Legends, the champion mastery system is one of the most exciting features and is widely supported by gamers. However, after nearly 10 years since its launch, this system has shown several shortcomings, particularly the limitation of mastery levels capped at 7. Therefore, it needs an upgrade and expansion to keep up with the new demands of League of Legends players.
Right from the start of the 2024 season, Riot Games announced its intention to revamp the champion mastery system. Specifically, mastery levels will now be expanded infinitely rather than stopping at level 7, as long as players have enough time to “grind”. Moreover, the old design of the mastery icon will be removed and redesigned in the future.
Initially, Riot’s changes were expected to be supported by players, but they received a lot of mixed opinions. The reason stems from the fact that the new design of the mastery icon is considered too poor and unsuitable for the world of League of Legends. In fact, many players bluntly stated that this new icon looks like it was designed for “cheap mobile games”.
Essentially, the current mastery icon has been associated with League of Legends for nearly 10 years and has become an extremely familiar element to players. It has even gradually become a well-known symbol in the gaming community and would take a long time to rebuild. While Riot’s decision to expand this system is a step in the right direction, completely removing the old design carries too much risk.
At the moment, the new mastery icon is still in the testing phase. Given the heavy criticism, Riot will need to reconsider its decision to completely overhaul the mastery icon. Hopefully, Riot will listen to the community and come up with designs that are more fitting for League of Legends in the near future.