Legends of Runeterra will shift focus to PvP, Path of Champions to receive less updates

Soon after Riot Games revealed the revamped Path of Champions 2.0 experience, a dense, immersive PvE experience for Legends of Runeterra players, the developers announced plans to slow updates on PoC to focus almost entirely on the PvP offerings of the game.

Path of Champions was introduced with patch 2.19 in November to coincide with the release of Netflix's Arcane series. It features a PvE rogue-like series of campaigns with intertwined storylines and incredible rewards to incentivize replayability. 

With the most recent patch 3.8, released on 25th May 2022, Path of Champions 2.0 introduced a complete system overhaul to the PvE mode. Additionally, it debuted new regions, Noxus and Demacia, new permanent progression systems, and more. Sadly, this might be the last PvE update Legends of Runeterra might get in a while.

Legends of Runeterra will focus on PvP, PvE to receive fewer updates

In a developer blog post shared on 3rd June, Executive Producer Dave Guskin revealed that development will shift to focus nearly entirely on their "core PvP player base."

"The LoR team has regularly explored new game-play options and settings, leading to a number of insights into what you, the players, enjoy most. One of the things we’ve learned is that while The Path of Champions mode currently provides a fun and solid experience, it’s going to require significant investment to expand it to fully become what we envisioned."

Instead of committing to such an arduous task, the team behind LoR will put their PvE and Path of Champions vision on the backburner. "This will include more consistent & well-tuned card updates, and exciting new expansions that we hope you all will enjoy."

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As for PoC, Guskin explained that Path of Champions would remain a playable mode within Legends of Runeterra's vast single-player offerings, but players should expect fewer updates in the future.

Instead of letting fans speculate why Riot made this decision, Guskin stated that certain members of the Legends of Runeterra development team would be pulled to help develop other projects within the company.

"Without any spoilers, I can say that we’re planning to share the love by redeploying a few of our game developers who have learned a lot from you to support some other projects around Riot, some of which are already live and playable, and some of which are in our R&D pipeline which I know you’re excited to get your hands on."

Some of the games that are yet to be released include Project L, a 2v2 fighting game, Project F, an action hack and slash title, and an unnamed MMO. 

It'll be interesting to see what the future holds for Legends of Runeterra and its player base, which had embraced Path of Champions as an incredible PvE mode, almost building an entirely exclusive player base on its own.

Don't forget to check out our dedicated Legends of Runeterra section for the latest news, guides, updates, esports coverage, and more.

Featured image courtesy of Riot Games.