In this issue of Patch Notes we discuss the recent changes to League of Legends with its addition of jungle timers, the effects on the meta, and the common bugs that have sprung up as a result of this controversial implementation.
“We want League to be all about the smart decisions you make in the moment and how you make plays around those moments, rather than how well you can track certain timers. There’s definitely skill in memorizing information, but our philosophy on gameplay clarity is making sure that skillful decisions can be made with the right information and that players are fighting each other, not the system.
The information you get through clearing an objective is important stuff you’ve already earned, so we wanted to clarify that through jungle timers. It’s also worth mentioning that jungle timers aren’t adding new information that hasn’t been there before, as they follow the same rules as minimap icons.”
From the official patch notes page:
- Jungle timers currently track the next spawn time of: Enemy/team Elder Lizard, enemy/team Ancient Golem, Dragon, and Baron
- Timers will only start tracking a camp if you or a teammate directly witness a monster camp being fully cleared (similar to minimap icons)
- If you manage to snipe Baron or Dragon without vision, the timer will set itself off
- You can access jungle timers by pressing TAB (default key) through the scoreboard. They’ll be at the top of the screen.
- We’ve also updated monster minimap icons! Check them out!
So far the community seems to be generally accepting of this addition. Both lower MMR and higher MMR players benefit from this change as it streamlines the jungle position and allows teams to better coordinate more Baron/Dragon/buff reactions. Placing an increased value on the meta allows more control of buffs and river objectives.
Rumors are spreading in the community that this was an accommodation made for the tournament setting, as the chat restrictions seem to be much harsher than they are in casual play. Transparency is almost always a good thing when it comes to game companies. However this level of transparency can quickly become a slippery slope. What’s to stop players from crying out for Inhibitor timers, enemy player summoner spell, and enemy player ultimate timers?
It also appears that this implementation is not bug free, either. Dragon can become invisible randomly, and the Elder Lizard and Ancient Golem jungle objectives spawn between 1:53 and 1:54 instead of their 1:55 spawn timing. This inconsistency seems to have been attributed to pre-spawn animations.
This implementation from Riot harkens back to functions of the recently banned “Curse Voice” in-game overlay third party program, albeit concealed by the tab stats screen as a major difference. Is this a sign that we’ll see in-game voice anytime soon?
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