All about MMOs from Riot Games – Info, Regions, Raids…
Riot Games has now confirmed that a League of Legends MMO is finally in the works. Here’s everything we know so far about the LoL RPG title, including regions, classes and more.
The League of Legends universe has expanded significantly in recent years, with Riot Games adding auto-battlers, card games, the adventure game “The Fallen King” as well as the upcoming fighting game, thus rounding out their ever-growing Runeterra universe.
In late 2019, League of Legends founder Mark Merrill teased the MMORPG. Twelve months later, Riot Vice President Greg Street officially, and rather quietly, to be honest, confirmed that Riot was indeed developing the most anticipated League of Legends title ever.
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Here is a summary of the latest information available on the new League of Legends MMO created by Riot Games.
When will Riot’s MMO be released?
For starters, what could be the planned launch date for the League of Legends MMO? Unfortunately, it looks like the game still has a long way to go before release. While Street revealed that Riot is actively involved in the development of the project, it also issued a call for applications, indicating that the game is still in the early stages of development.
This means that LoL developers are still early in the process, with most of the game still in the “theoretical” stage.
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First, Greg Street was hard at work creating a Riot MMO long before he announced it. So this could push the timeline back a bit, and potentially establish a release date for the game in 2024. However, the release date of this new main LoL game is more likely to be fixed. 2025 Or even later.
Once Riot has a more concrete idea of when they might release an alpha for their game, we’ll likely hear about it.
While players have high expectations regarding MMOs, the lead developer has asked them to lower them a bit. He argued that “There are no guarantees” That a League of Legends MMO is actually seeing the light of day.
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“We are hopeful, but you never know until it happens”he added on Twitter.
There is no guarantee that this game will ship. We’re hopeful, but you never know until it happens. Assuming though, this will be the fourth major franchise I’ve worked on (AoE, WoW, LoL), and possibly the last. And I’m totally fine with that. It would be a good final act.
— Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) April 8, 2022
All regions of Runeterra
Another key element, after the launch of the game, is the universe in which the MMO will allow us to dive: Runeterra. Fortunately, Riot has put a lot of effort into making the League of Legends universe as rich as possible, providing it with many well-known regions.
In fact, there are thirteen named zones from which Riot selects champions for its flagship title. We’ll probably see these same regions used for MMOs.
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Core regions can be more “civilized” areas such as Demecia, Noxus or Piltover, while fantasy regions such as Bilgewater, Shurima and the fascinating city of Bandel can also be important for online play.
Here are the 13 regions of Runeterra:
- BENDAL TOWN
- Bilgewater
- Demecia
- Ionia
- exptl
- Noxus
- Piltover
- Dark Isles
- Shurima
- Targon
- Freljord
- anything
- Zaun
Riot Games may decide to start with some of these zones, they’ve only chosen eight for Legends of Runeterra so far, but we expect them to eventually add all of the iconic League of Runeterra Zone Legends to the MMO.
Riot MMO map
While there has been no official confirmation that the League of Legends MMO will faithfully copy Runeterra, it would be very surprising if that wasn’t the case.
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This means that players will be able to navigate a vast and exotic universe.
Here’s what the League of Legends MMO map might look like in-game:
A potential League of Legends class system
If Riot Games sticks to the same design as other popular MMORPG titles, we can expect to see a collection of “professions,” or classes, that define each player’s character.
This often boils down to standard fantasy tropes like the warrior, healer, and mage. Although LoL is a bit different, every champion takes on more or less similar roles like this.
Here are every LoL classes and subclasses at the moment:
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If Riot chooses six main classes, Fighters, Mages, Shooters, Killers, Tanks, and Controllers, that already looks like a great variety to start with!
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As with regions, however, it’s unclear what League of Legends developers could possibly decide on. Riot may choose to drop LoL classes altogether or pick a few of the most popular ones to start with. We will have to wait and see.
Will Riot’s MMO be raided?
The answer is simple: Yes !
Lead producer Greg Street has admitted that, at least in his eyes, endgame raids will be one of the most important factors included in Riot’s new MMO RPG League of Legends. He also added that he would be “disappointed” if the team failed to deliver on the promise of late-game combat.
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“Anyone who has known me since my early days in World of Warcraft knows that I love dungeons and raids as a player.” he added.
However, Riot has yet to reveal what LoL’s MMO raids will look like. For our part, we expect to see Summoner’s Rift’s iconic monster, Baron Nashor, as one of the first raid bosses.
Riot warns that the game “won’t appeal to everyone”.
Recently, Riot Games issued a warning about their new MMORPG “Not everyone will like it” A planned open-world Runeterra title.
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“One thing I can say about MMORPGs is that not all of you will like every feature”, warned the title’s executive producer, Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street. “We are going to make choices that you may not agree with. Different players want different things in their games.
“Some of you don’t like this game at all. That’s okay. We will also make a lot of mistakes. However, we are ready to pivot if the design does not meet the objectives.”
One thing I can say about “unannounced” MMORPGs is that you won’t like every feature in them. We are going to make some choices that you may not agree with. Players want different things in their games. That’s good. Some of you (shudder) might not like this game at all. Also fine.
— Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) May 20, 2021
The development team is expanding
After Ghostcrawler’s tweet confirming the MMO’s arrival last December he revealed: “My recent work at Riot has been helping to develop the League of Legends universe, which we will need. Because it’s finally time to reveal it. My new job is to release a big (some might say HUGE) game that many of you and many of the Naughties have asked us to make” Mark joins the development team:
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“I will be joining the team working on the MMO as Game Director! Excited to be a part of this next epic adventure with all of you.”
- Also Read – LoL Tier List | The best champion in the ranking
And so here’s everything we know so far about the League of Legends MMO, including its expected release date, potential regions, expected LoL classes, and what the Runeterra map will look like.
Anxious departure
On March 7, 2023, fans looking for any news on Riot Games’ MMO were able to find the alarming departure of a member of the development team, and not least!
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Indeed, it was the executive producer of the MMO project who took the plunge, explaining his decision “A combination of personal and professional considerations”.
Hey internet. Thanks for all the support over the past few months when I was afk
I’m back with some big news to share: I’ve decided to leave my role at Riot Games
— Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) March 7, 2023
If the departure of such an important member of the team while the game is only in pre-production stages may upset the massive upheaval, Greg Street was still optimistic about the future of the project that ‘he leaves:
“MMO is in good hands, and now is the right time to hand over the reins before the project enters its next phase.”
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As the game of riots shrinks, hope dwindles
On X (Twitter), Riot Games announced Dismissal of 530 of its employees This Tuesday, January 23, 2024. This is really very sad and worrying news considering the current situation of their MMO which is still very unclear. This mass dismissal of riots is unlikely to help matters.
Even if the leaders of Riot Games remained very optimistic in their public explanations about this decision, they only mentioned their current projects (LoL, Valorant, Arcane, TFT, Wild Rift).
So it remains to be seen if we will have news of an MMO in the future.
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This article will receive regular updates to keep you abreast of the latest news regarding Riot Games’ MMORPG.