Riot Games has succumbed to one of the most requested features to be removed from its League of Legends. For the upcoming rank season, the MOBA players will enjoy the removal of the inter-division promotion series. Promo games in between tier ranks will remain, however.
This change will mean that players can skip the traditional five-game series in ranking up the division within their tier. Many players have expressed their disapproval of this system as the promo series are laborious in climbing the ladder.
Dive into the state of competitive gameplay with end of season info and preseason 2021 plans.
Are you on track to earn this year's Victorious skin? https://t.co/CK1lOcI2gi pic.twitter.com/GiFy4ON5We
— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) September 17, 2020
In a blog post, the developers expressed that they are revisiting the original design and hope to remove unnecessary frustration to its players. The team also acknowledges that the inter-division promo series were either an annoyance, mostly if you’ve been bounced back multiple times, or relief for ranking up. The post states, “As such, at the start of preseason, we’ll be removing the inter-division promotion series in both queues.”
Riot clarifies, though, that tier promotions will remain in the game. This means that series will still be played for ranking from Silver to Gold, to Platinum, and so on. They note that the inter-tier series is “an important part of keeping the progression between tiers a meaningful and challenging endeavor.”
Because of this upcoming 2021 preseason change, League won’t have any inter-division demotion protection anymore upon reaching zero LP. Should this happen, players will drop to the division lower than their ranking. Luckily, leftover LPs from ranking up a division will be carried over.
In addition to the inter-division promotion series removal, the developers look into more improvements for its ranking system. Some of the planned changes are a more informed rank matchmaking of the same rank, removing duo queue option for Master players and higher, and end-of-season reward. As for the latter, the upcoming season will reward chroma for every tier higher than Gold.
Recently, Riot has also teased its Victorious skin reward, which players are anticipating for Lucian. As always, the end of season Victorious skin is still a controversial one for the developers. With 150 champions and counting, players want skins for their mains or different heroes. Players are also pointing out on Twitter that a Support champion is overdue for a Victorious skin.
With the prestigious World Championship approaching, VALORANT attracting attention, and more announced games in development, Riot has never been this busy. Though there are numerous requests the community is asking for, the inter-division promo series change is a step forward.