Teamfight Tactics Season 3: Infinite Cosmos has officially landed on the PBE servers. Alongside its undeniable allure: unique traits and origins, innovative gameplay mechanics, and a plethora of new features, there are still some rough edges that have left the gaming community dissatisfied.
One of the most prominent issues is Riot’s sudden replacement of the splash art in the champion identification area with in-game 3D models. This change, according to gamers, has significantly impacted the game’s aesthetics and has become one of the most heavily criticized alterations from the community.
Perhaps due to the intense backlash from players, recently, Xhanghai – a member of the Teamfight Tactics interface design team posted an announcement about the return of splash art – the background images of champions, to replace the current 3D models.
A Riot representative also explained why this “backward evolution” occurred. The replacement of splash art with 3D models was seen as a minor improvement to differentiate the traits and origins of the champions.
A simple example is Graves. Graves fits well with the Cosmic Pirate theme, but the original League of Legends version has no skins that match this theme. Riot chose the Prison Break Graves skin, but his splash art did not blend well with the other members of the origin.
Therefore, the idea of using 3D champion models was selected, and instead of a beautifully crafted background in the splash art, the champion display area will now feature their traits and origins icons.
However, what Riot did not anticipate (or deliberately overlooked) was that the 3D models of champions in League of Legends were too… ugly. So when displayed in the champion selection area, they suddenly became an aesthetic disaster. If they were skins that were newly designed and more polished like the Ultimate or Legendary skins, it would be more acceptable; but mentioning Prison Break Graves or the default skins is…
Nevertheless, these changes have only appeared on the PBE server for now, so the gaming community can rest assured that when Teamfight Tactics Season 3: Infinite Cosmos launches on the official servers, players will still experience the most perfect version.