A leaked article from the official Riot China page has revealed that there could be some major changes and adjustments coming to ranked in the upcoming League of Legends season and preseason.
Riot China just revealed some interesting changes that are planned for the official League of Legends season in 2024 and later season as well. These changes will shake up how people approach ranked and the ranked split in general.
Until now League of Legends has either had one single split or, new in 2023, two ranked splits, but it seems like Riot is not happy with this and are planning another major overhaul in 2024. What do they have planned for the future of ranked?
LoL Ranked 2024: Major Changes Planned
New Ranked Splits
The leaked information comes from the official Chinese League of Legends website in which the Riot team reveals their plans for ranked in the future. According to the translated article, Riot is going to be splitting the ranked season into 3 splits.
Not only will players have to play through three ranked splits, they'll also earn three ranked skins. This has been done to try and keep players interested and motivated, since even with two splits, the Summoner's Rift team feels that players stop playing ranked, or at least stop taking it seriously once they've reached the milestone of the skin.
To prevent players from losing interest after reaching a certain level, thus giving up on ranked play or switching to alternate accounts [...] We believe that extending the season to December, and dividing the entire season into three periods lasting four months each, can more effectively boost player participation.
The first ranked split will start on January 9, while the second stage will kick off in May and the final stage in September.
LoL Preseason Changes
It was also revealed that the new preseason 2024 changes will go onto the Public Beta Environment (PBE) on November 20, 2023. The adjustments will be on the PBE until they go live, along with the new ranked season which is set to kick off on January 9, 2024.
Launching gameplay adjustments together with the ranked season at the beginning of the year ensures that the start of the season becomes the most anticipated moment for players, and also makes ranked play a fairer (though perhaps more chaotic) arena
So, this means that the preseason changes will not hit live servers before the official start of the ranked season. Riot says they're doing this to prevent players from gaining "advantages" over others if they grind and continuously play through the preseason.
Smaller Key Updates Throughout the Year
In the same article, it is also explained that Riot will be making more smaller updates throughout the year, akin to the mid-season item updates, as well as the 2022 durability update. With the second ranked split kicking off around May, it'll come just in time for the Mid-Season Invitational.
The second adjustments of the year would be around Worlds, with the third split kicking off in September 2024.
We will release a version update similar in scale to the "Mid-Season Invitational" at the beginning of the second phase to address the main issues arising from the early season adjustments and to make broader improvements to the game's health, like the endurance version in 2022.
Riot will not be releasing three huge preseason patches with the addition of new ranked resets. This year, when Riot added a second split, we also didn't get one huge preseason before, right? So, Riot will be adding smaller key updates.
Ranked Burnout To Be Moderated
With three continuous ranked seasons and no break, one key thing that Riot will have to monitor is burnout around ranked. The preseason usually gave players and fans a time to sit back and enjoy some 'fun' in League of Legends, while those who love the grind of ranked will be excited for these changes.
November and December will now be a part of the ranked season and will feature meaningful games for those who want to earn every single rewards in League of Legends.
We believe that more frequent and shorter stages can give players more opportunities to stop qualifying, recharge their batteries and come back strong. Still, we'll be watching the current extended stage closely, as well as next year's Stage 3, to see how it plays out in practice.
Ranked Changes Worldwide Or Only China?
As of writing this article, this blog post has only gone live on the official Chinese League of Legends website, which has some fans wondering whether these adjustments are China-Only. This has not been confirmed yet as we are still waiting for an official statement from Riot regarding the other servers.
These are some pretty interesting changes and it seems like Riot is going to get rid of the long preseason completely in coming years with these changes. Will this actually improve the future of League of Legends or are players going to be overwhelmed by all this ranked?