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Update to Summoner's Rift headed to PBE
BY RIOT AEON

It's nearly time to push a big update out to PBE and we want to provide context on what's around the bend. As some of you have guessed, we've been working on an update to Summoner's Rift for a while now. This effort is a big part of our commitment to continually improve League of Legends. We're focusing on preserving the spirit of Summoner's Rift and evolving how the map communicates gameplay.

Given the importance of Summoner's Rift to League of Legends, the fundamental structure of the map remains untouched. Flashable walls, turret ranges, lane sizes, brush interaction and ward placements are exactly as they are on the current map. The intention is to keep moment-to-moment League of Legends the same while improving gameplay through additional clarity.

What clarity translates to is the updated map doing a better job of drawing eyes to the most important information of the moment. When fights break out, the environment should be the background, allowing particle effects and champions to pop off the screen and feed players the crucial data they need to make the right play.

Beyond this, Summoner's Rift should help players and spectators stay oriented. The western half of the map looks damaged by the emergence of Baron Nashor, while the eastern half feels ancient and overgrown. This, alongside each quadrant's respective buff, gives every jungle section thoughtfully placed landmarks and subtle color cues. Speaking of the jungle, a cadre of new monsters made Summoner's Rift home, sporting designs that more accurately reflect their respective gameplay characteristics. For example, the Krugs' (double golem replacements) rocky exteriors look like the damage soaking mini-tanks they are--and they appear weaker than the hulking Blue Sentinel.

Once the update moves onto the PBE, we will begin sharing a series of features to give you insight into the development of the update. You can expect:

Dev blogs written by artists, designers and producers on the team
Live Q&A sessions with the developers
PBE patch notes with the latest developments

The dev blogs will kick off soon, providing insight into the art and design of the update. We're also creating a dedicated Community Beta environment for you to give us crucial feedback. On the technical side, new texture rendering tech requires a bit more RAM than the current map, but we're working on optimizations to mitigate the impact. This update absolutely shouldn't require you to upgrade your PC (or Mac) when it launches to live.

Even when this update ships to live we'll continue to make updates. There's always room for improvement and we'll be looking to you for ideas.

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FAQ

Is this replacing todays Summoners Rift?

How much is gameplay changing?

When's it hitting live?

How do I play the update?

Will you do a Team Builder-style beta on live?

Will I need to update my PC or Mac to play?

What's this mean for other maps?

[quote=Wayne3100][columns] [indent] [nextcol] [center][size=7][color=#ff8000]Update to Summoner's Rift headed to PBE[/color][/size] [color=#ffff00][size=5][url=http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/features/update-summoners-rift-headed-pbe]BY RIOT AEON[/url][/size][/color] [embed=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e_N4WpqH5o][/center] [img=http://i.imgur.com/VDv9cNh.png] It's nearly time to push a big update out to PBE and we want to provide context on what's around the bend. As some of you have guessed, we've been working on an update to Summoner's Rift for a while now. This effort is a big part of our commitment to continually improve League of Legends. We're focusing on preserving the spirit of Summoner's Rift and evolving how the map communicates gameplay. Given the importance of Summoner's Rift to League of Legends, the fundamental structure of the map remains untouched. Flashable walls, turret ranges, lane sizes, brush interaction and ward placements are exactly as they are on the current map. The intention is to keep moment-to-moment League of Legends the same while improving gameplay through additional clarity. What clarity translates to is the updated map doing a better job of drawing eyes to the most important information [i]of the moment[/i]. When fights break out, the environment should be the background, allowing particle effects and champions to pop off the screen and feed players the crucial data they need to make the right play. Beyond this, Summoner's Rift should help players and spectators stay oriented. The western half of the map looks damaged by the emergence of Baron Nashor, while the eastern half feels ancient and overgrown. This, alongside each quadrant's respective buff, gives every jungle section thoughtfully placed landmarks and subtle color cues. Speaking of the jungle, a cadre of new monsters made Summoner's Rift home, sporting designs that more accurately reflect their respective gameplay characteristics. For example, the Krugs' (double golem replacements) rocky exteriors look like the damage soaking mini-tanks they are--and they appear weaker than the hulking Blue Sentinel. Once the update moves onto the PBE, we will begin sharing a series of features to give you insight into the development of the update. You can expect: [list][*]Dev blogs written by artists, designers and producers on the team [*]Live Q&A sessions with the developers [*]PBE patch notes with the latest developments[/list] The dev blogs will kick off soon, providing insight into the art and design of the update. We're also creating a dedicated Community Beta environment for you to give us crucial feedback. On the technical side, new texture rendering tech requires a bit more RAM than the current map, but we're working on optimizations to mitigate the impact. This update absolutely shouldn't require you to upgrade your PC (or Mac) when it launches to live. Even when this update ships to live we'll continue to make updates. There's always room for improvement and we'll be looking to you for ideas. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [size=5][color=#ffffff]FAQ[/color][/size] [spoiler=Is this replacing today's Summoner's Rift?]Yes. We're still ironing out the full launch, but this update will eventually roll out to every queue that loads up Summoner's Rift. More details to come.[/spoiler] [spoiler=How much is gameplay changing?]We've made a number of quality-of-life changes around readability, but you won't be fail-flashing because of the new map. Flashable walls, turret ranges, lane sizes, brush interaction and ward placements are all exactly as they are on the current map. Dragon and Baron feature reworked design and art, driving them toward feeling more intimidating and powerful. From a purely gameplay perspective, we focused on clarity, eliminating randomness in their attack patterns so skilled players can predict and avoid the monsters' attacks.[/spoiler] [spoiler=When's it hitting live?]We don't have an exact date right now. We'll be squashing bugs, ensuring great performance and listening for player's feedback throughout the update's stay on the PBE. All the work ahead makes a firm date tough to pin down.[/spoiler] [spoiler=How do I play the update?]The update will soon patch out to our PBE environments and that'll be the only place to play until it goes live. We're working to get the map ship-shape and will keep you posted as launch plans take shape.[/spoiler] [spoiler=Will you do a Team Builder-style beta on live?]We'd love to open up such a great avenue for feedback and we're exploring the possibility, but technical hurdles like patch sizes and performance concerns make a live beta a tricky proposition for this update. We'll keep you posted.[/spoiler] [spoiler=Will I need to update my PC or Mac to play?]At this very moment, the new map is more memory (RAM) intensive than the current map, however we're optimizing like crazy and we're committed to performance parity with the current Summoner's Rift. You will not need to upgrade your PC or Mac.[/spoiler] [spoiler=What's this mean for other maps?]We're not quite sure yet. We're laser-focused on getting this update to players globally.[/spoiler] [img=http://i.imgur.com/VDv9cNh.png] [nextcol][indent][/columns][/quote]

Thanks to jhoijhoi for the signature!

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Looks amazing love the animations the jungle monsters do and they new looks of them too bad my laptop will explode trying to render these graphics

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Well knowing Riot this new map will be full of bugs and will likely crash your game, but I like how it looks.

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Am very, very, very impressed. An actual background ground, a baron to fear, and a dragon which looks badass. I'd almost feel bad about killing it, almost.