Despite having gone through 5 seasons with countless different Traits and Classes introduced, one reality remains: Teamfight Tactics (TFT) is fundamentally still a game mode within the League of Legends client. All champions that have appeared throughout the 5 seasons are familiar characters from League of Legends, along with their associated skins.
This has allowed TFT to amass a huge fanbase, many of whom are League of Legends players. However, in the eyes of game developers, they have always harbored the aspiration to transform TFT into an independent game separate from League of Legends. The “auto-chess” version of League of Legends now boasts a robust reputation, even having its own World Championship, thus separating from the League of Legends client to become a standalone product seems like a reasonable step.
Besides the prospect of separating from the League of Legends client, one of the goals set by Riot’s developers is that TFT must have its own “identities” distinct from its sibling. A different gameplay style is necessary, but it also requires different materials. The most unique feature of TFT currently is the system of Little Legends and Arenas, but these are only considered decorative products and do not significantly impact the game’s core.
Matthew “Wittrock” Wittrock, a representative from Riot’s TFT development team, recently shared on Reddit that the team is nurturing the idea of creating “exclusive” champions for TFT. These will be names that have never appeared in League of Legends or any other products from Riot Games.
However, he also emphasized that this idea requires a significant amount of time to implement, at least several more seasons. This is understandable, as currently, TFT is utilizing all game data from League of Legends, with champions developed based on the original database, with perhaps only a few adjustments to their abilities to fit the auto-battle gameplay.
The launch of exclusive champions will demand more brainpower and effort, as the design team will have to handle every step from character design, skill sets, to character stats. Not to mention a significant drawback, as each season of TFT only lasts a few months, meaning that when the season ends, the champions they painstakingly designed will also need to be completely adjusted for the new season, or else they might even be left behind.
The most feasible direction right now is to utilize old champion designs or those that were discarded during the development of League of Legends. If TFT succeeds in creating a distinct ecosystem, it will surely bring many exciting experiences to the gaming community.