League of Legends, as a top-tier Esports title, requires Riot Games to consider the impact of updates on both the professional arena and solo queue. Thus, it’s only natural that the largest updates for League of Legends occur at the end of the season, after Worlds concludes. In contrast, during tournament phases or just before MSI/Worlds, Riot’s updates tend to be simpler and do not significantly alter the meta.
Perhaps the vivid lesson from the Juggernaut update and Worlds 2015 still lingers, prompting Riot to be more careful. Even the minor change regarding the number of cannon minions before the 15-minute mark that was announced yesterday has been retracted and pushed to after Worlds 2020. Riot’s Mark Yetter – Lead Gameplay Designer for League of Legends – has confirmed this.
Riot Mark Yetter: “Thank you all for the feedback we intended to implement for the mid lane. Our update plans have changed, and we will apply them after this year’s Worlds ends.”
“With this additional time, we will have the opportunity to accurately assess how changes affect gank potential and the mid lane’s impact. Furthermore, the entire team will have a chance to build a long-term system for more accurate adjustments, such as in preseason when we only wanted to buff the top lane but ended up buffing the mid lane as well.”
“The most important reason is that we want to avoid negative impacts on the professional scene, especially in the late season. Moreover, reducing resources while not increasing gank potential is a complex process that cannot be completed with a simple change.”
Yesterday, Riot Games announced they were experimenting with reducing the number of mid lane minions and the movement speed of minions. These updates may seem small, but for professional players, especially in high-level matches, they will have a significant impact on wave control and, more broadly, map control.
Due to the potential negative impacts, Riot Games has decided to retract the aforementioned changes and postpone them until after Worlds, possibly even until preseason. In upcoming patches, we are likely to only see minor updates such as champion stat adjustments, item tweaks, or at most, rune changes.