It’s been over a decade since Riot Games changed the world by taking the Witchcraft III principle to its logical conclusion and releasing the truly legendary, League of Legends Multi-Player Online Battle Game.
Today, LOL is regarded as virtually the most popular esport in the history of gaming, boosting a whopping eight million concurrent players at one point. With the prize pool peaking at over an astonishing six million USD in 2018.
And even though the pool saw a stark decline due to the unwanted arrival of COVID-19, we have seen the LOL world championship cash prize rebound to well over two million Dollars during the most recent tournament held near the end of 2022.
The game has inspired everything from several grand spin-offs to tradeable cards and even a top-rated animated season called Arcane, which is a must-watch but is a discussion for another time.
League of Legends is far from the only masterpiece released by Riot Games. After over a decade of silence, the developer made ripples in the gaming world again in 2020 when it released the Counter-Strike-inspired, but hugely improved, team-based tactical First-Person Shooter (FPS) game called Valorant.
And even though Valorant’s following is nowhere near its elder brother’s the masterpiece is quickly gaining traction in the gaming community. Just one look at the game and you can easily realize why the developer took well over six years to launch it to the public.
The best thing about Riot Games is that unlike so many developers it does not follow the build-and-forget model. They constantly put in the effort to update and re-vamp their masterpieces so that players around the world can keep enjoying new features and a fresh gaming experience.
The developer has recently released patches for both League of Legends and Valorant adding a host of new features and fixing some bugs which had been bothering gamers for years now.
But before we jump into an in-depth discussion about what is new in the LOL and Valorant universes, I’d like you to pause and take a moment to reflect on your internet connection. The designers did not put hours and hours of work into these games so that you could play them using constantly lagging connections.
This is why we suggest getting a subscription to HughesNet since its decent speed allows you to play online video games even when you are in far flung areas. If this interests you, then you can visit HughesNet Internet plans to check out which one suits you the most.
Now, without further ado let’s jump in.
UPDATES TO LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
Merely a week ago Riot games released Patch 13.5, barely after a month after releasing patch 13.4, to enhance the LOL game-play experience. Some of the key changes included in the patch are as follows.
YUMMI HAS FINALLY BEEN RE-WORKED
Yummi, the most loyal cat in the world and not just LOL has seen a great deal of reduction in its abilities. The reason is simple enough, even though the character was released to make it easier for newer players to experience LOL its immense abilities had made it extremely difficult to counter, even for elite-level players.
Many have been calling for a fix for quite some time now, and the developers have finally delivered. Even though the protector of Norra’s book of Sentient Thresholds is still fairly formidable, it is no longer completely invincible and impervious.
AZIR’S CHARACTER HAS BEEN RE-DEFINED
Riot Games has been paying special attention to Azir for a while now and for good reason. The character was added to the payables list in the last patch (13.4) and has seen major re-works in this one. The current version of Azir has seen its health and base mana reduced while its attacks and mana re-growth speed have been enhanced. Making the champion less effective for pro players while enhancing its efficacy for noobs.
THE HOWLING ABYSS JUST GOT EASIER
I think we can all agree that this was a much-needed change. The Howling Abyss was already hard enough to cross before the designers decided to add falling debris to make movement almost impossible for newer players. Thankfully, the debris is now gone. Players will once again experience the ARAM without chunks of the ceiling falling on them.
UPDATES TO VALORANT
Much like LOL, Valorant’s sixth episode which was released on March seventh has also seen three major updates. Though one of these was already available to users since January 10th. And according to the developers, at least one of them had to be shelved and re-thought before it could be served to the global gaming community, hint: it’s the map.
THE INTRODUCTION OF A NEW AGENT: GEKKO
I think we can all agree that the special abilities and backstories of its characters are what sets Valorant apart from the hundreds of other multi-player FPS games out there. And the developers have looked to build on that with the recent release of the 22nd playable character, the Mexican American agent from Los Angeles called agent Gekko.
In addition to encompassing the immigrant experience the punk-themed Gekko, real name Mateo, comes with a formidable special move allowing it to summon fierce creatures that ravage its opponents.
ANOTHER MAP WITH THREE SPIKE SITES: LOTUS
After Haven, it felt like Riot Games had given up on the idea of a three-site map. Well, we were wrong. Lotus the Indian-themed map adorned with ancient Dravidian-styled buildings is out. In addition, to fresh style, the map introduces never before seen features like Rotating doors and Destructible Walls, which are bound to make surprise attacks way more feasible.
ONI 2.0 IS HERE FINALLY
Oni 2.0, Valorant’s latest foray into digital art includes five amazing weapons, including a fancy melee, and a killer look. As we all know that Valorant skins are premium features so Oni 2.0 will cost you about 7100 Valorant Points, you can try looking for it on the cheap in the night market though.
But again 7100 VP is a small price to pay for Oni’s priceless style.
WRAPPING UP
In the end, all I’d like to say is that this write-up includes almost every detail you’ll need for homework purposes. So, do not hop around the web looking for more text content.
Abandon the research, power up your machine, grab your console, or your keyboard, and enjoy these updates first-hand.
REFERENCES
https://www.statista.com/statistics/749024/league-of-legends-championships-prize-pool/
https://earlygame.com/lol/riot-aram-tower-rubble-enough-of-the-controversial-mechanics
https://notagamer.net/azir-adjustments-patch-13-5-make-him-even-worse/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikestubbs/2023/01/06/new-valorant-map-lotus-is-set-in-india-and-has-destructible-walls/?sh=4907955f714a
https://www.sportskeeda.com/valorant/how-much-valorant-s-oni-2-0-skin-collection-cost
https://esi.si.com/valorant/angeleno-valorant-agent
