League of Legends fans are up in arms following patch 13.21 for the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA). This recent update has proved controversial to say the least and has seen developers, Riot Games, facing somewhat of a backlash from fans. So much so that fans have taken to social media en masse.
At the time of writing, there is currently a hashtag trending on X (formerly Twitter), with fans of the game voicing their anger and disappointment at the developers for making changes to a much-loved character. But have Riot Games gone too far with this latest patch and what does it mean for the future?
What Has Upset League of Legends Fans?
According to a report on PCGamesN it was confirmed that Riot Games have decided to rework the League of Legends character of Seraphine into a support champion. To say this decision by the developers has not gone down well with fans may be something of an understatement.
First released in 2009, League of Legends is still much loved to this day, and its success has seen the title branch out into other mediums such as comic books, and more recently, an Anime series called Arcane: League of Legends. The success of this series on Netflix has seen the series being commissioned for a second season. However, it is the game which is currently courting controversy with fans.
The character of Seraphine is viewed by many fans as one of the more powerful enchanter supports, alongside characters like Janna or Soraka. Riot have, for reasons only known to themselves, decided to take this one step further and re-work the character’s abilities to align to that of the support role.
With patch 13.21, the rework of Seraphine sees her no longer being able to be played in the games mid and ADC roles, with her role being entirely that of support. Fans have been so incensed by this decision, on Social Media site X, the hashtag #RevertSeraphine is subsequently trending on the platform.
“You almost don’t release mages and the ones you do take away from us? It sounds like a bad joke #RevertSeraphine” – @banidopelomusk
“Give us back the Seraphine Q speed buff #RevertSeraphine she will be unplayable mid if these changes go live” – @ZOEP4DDLESTAR
“can you just one time listen to your playerbase #RevertSeraphine” – @sleepless
Following the decision by Riot Games, fans were quick to question whether these changes would be final. Some pointing out that they enjoyed the Q missile speed buff and that having the W mana and the base mana both nerfed was ‘rough’. Others questioned whether there would be further changes to the character if she ended up ‘bad’.
Gameplay developer Matt Leung-Harrison claims that players have been opting for Seraphine in a support role and this what led to the decision and highlighted that;
“this doesn’t mean that we’re making mid/bot Seraphine dead, …trying to narrow the gap between them.”
Game designer David Turley followed up with this comment for fans in response to criticism;
“I think Q speed is a good change for Mid/Support but the internal feedback was that these changes were too much power so we had to start cutting somewhere.”
Turley went on to discuss the changes with APC/mid and how the changes will benefit support before concluding with;
“If she’s weak everywhere, Q missile speed is the first buff I’m putting in. If she’s OP, we have to find something else to cut.”
Unsurprisingly Turley’s comments were not well received by fans. Despite the response from the designers at Riot Games, it is clear that this issue has angered fans intensely and it may be that this will have to be addressed in the very near future to get them back onside. How long will it be before further patches are introduced though remains to be seen.
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