LoL MMO: News, Classes, Champions, Price – What We Can Expect

The League of Legends MMO is in the works, but what do we know about this upcoming title? 

League of Legends has been growing massively over the years. Which also means that the game's lore and the world of Runeterra offer high potential for a whole LoL MMO, so it's no surprise Riot is already paving the way for a totally new League of Legends experience, similar to MMORPGs like World of Warcraft. Here's the latest news about the upcoming LoL MMO and what you can expect from it.

Seeing as the lore of League of Legends makes for excellent world building, and the Legends of Runeterra expanded upon its details, MMORPG is just what this franchise needed. And Riot Games have proven that they are very much capable of making a good story-driven game, with their success of Ruined King; A League of Legends Story.

League of Legends MMO: News, Classes, Heroes, Release Date – What We Can Expect

Confirmed: LoL MMO Is (Still) In Development

Riot Games MMORPG has been confirmed as in”in-development" in 2020, and since then we have seen very little information regarding when the actual release will take place.

This is due to the fact that it's still in its infancy stage of development, even two years later, with some even saying that the game may not even come to fruition if enough setbacks appear.

However, Riot Games have been recruiting various high-profile game developers, such as Greg Street, who has worked on the World of Warcraft franchise, the most famous MMORPG game in the world, as well as Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz, the lead quest designer of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077.

Some time ago, Greg Street himself tweeted something which caused quite a fright among League players that are also MMORPG aficionados, stating:

"There is no guarantee this game will ship. We are optimistic, but you just never know until it does. However assuming it does, this will be the fourth major franchise I have worked on (AoE, WoW, LoL), and likely the last. And I am very okay with that. It will be a good final act."

However, he has since then also stated that the statement was not meant to convey the feeling that the game development is not going well. On the contrary, it's going quite well, he has confirmed, with his previous statement being more of a safety net needed for every game this early into development, than actual fears over it not coming to completion.

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Unfortunate News

On March 20, Co-Founder of Riot Games Marc Merril has tweeted out some very unfortunate News about the future of the Riot MMO.

After a lot of internal discussion and reflection they have decided to take the development of the Riot MMO in another direction. They want to differentiate themselves from other MMOs that are on the market today and need to revisit their core ideas for that.

Merril has also stated that the reset of the development path goes hand in hand with “going dark”. This will mean radio silence from the team for multiple years.

This means that for the up-and-coming years we will know nothing or very little about the game. Do not worry though. The team is hard at work with the "No news is good news” mindset. 

Unfortunately, Greg Street has left Riot Games Studio. Instead of working on the Riot Games MMO he has now opened his own Studio “Fantastic Pixel Castle”. They are working on their own MMO with lots of veteran Developers.

Current Game Director for the Riot Games MMO are Mark Yetter (previous League of Legends Director). He is joined by Fabrice Condominas as the Executive Producer.

What The LoL MMO Could Look Like

There has only been one piece of media showing us what the future of Project F, which is the current name of the Riot Games MMORPG, looks like. In essence, it looks like a far better version of League of Legends, with top-down graphics instead of the usual third-person one found in most MMOs.

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What we've seen from the short trailer shows Blitzcrank and Ezreal fighting some mobs, using abilities that look relatively similar to their League of Legends ones, but also some abilities that these champions don't possess in League of Legends, such as Blitzcrank jumping up and smashing the ground, producing a knock-up effect.

Furthermore, the developers themselves explain that the MMORPG is meant to convey the feeling “one has when going to Disneyland after watching a Disney movie”. This way, the players get to self-insert themselves alongside their favorite characters, in well-known settings. Only this time, they get to experience those settings firsthand, instead of just hearing about them in the lore.

All in all, this MMORPG will likely end up looking like the main book of the franchise, relegating League of Legends to a fan-fiction someone wrote on their favorite characters.

Which Regions Will be in the LoL MMO?

MMORPG games are, of course, more than their graphics and gameplay. There is the world that needs exploring, and perhaps saving, to take into account. Luckily for us, we know that world rather well and know the quality of its making.

We will be stepping foot into Runeterra, a creation of Celestials, and the continents found therein. In those, we will find the following regions:

• Bandle City
• Bilgewater
• Demacia
• Ionia
• Ixtal
• Noxus
• Piltover
• Shadow Isles
• Shurima
• Targon
• The Freljord
• The Void
• Zaun

As you may have noticed, the Void is not on our list. This is due to a simple reason, the Void is not a place that can be accessed. It is the anathema of all existence, and the reason for its enmity of the League of Legends universe is the fact that it exists.

However, we will likely be visiting some Void-infested areas in our playthrough, or as the quests lead us. We know that Icathia is a pit of voidlings after they summoned the Void to fight off Shurima and that Bel'Veth is a city on one of the continents.

The Lore

At first, we had feared that Riot Games would set their game in an age far past, one of the eras described in the current League of Legends lore. perhaps even the Rune Wars themselves. However, upon looking at the trailer more closely, we believe that the Riot Games MMORPG will take place in the current Runeterra.

After all, if it does not, then the trailer of Blitzcrank and Ezreal is red herring, and it seems far too well made for that. Furthermore, the developers of the game have confirmed that the MMORPG lore will be canon, thus influencing the League of Legends lore itself.

Perhaps we will get to explore the continents where Nilah, Yasuo, and Viego come from. And expand the lore of champions such as Shaco and Rammus, who don't have any, to be honest.

Good Chances For Huge Dungeons And Raids

This will likely also be the end-game content of League of Legends, as Greg Street has also said: “Anyone that knows me from my World of Warcraft dev days would know that I love dungeons and raids as a player."

That means that the Void will most likely be presented as one of the end-game, unplayable, factions, that players must fight against as part of the end-game grind WoW is known for.

Classes

League of Legends is, these days, far more focused on roles and lanes rather than the classes its champions are supposed to embody. However, in an MMORPG, this is not the case, and we will likely the classes that are currently part of League of Legends, in project F.

• Controller
  • Enchanter
  • Catcher
• Fighter
  
  • Juggernaut
  • Diver
• Mage
  • Burst
  • Battlemage
  • Artillery
• Marksman
• Slayer
  • Assassin
  • Skirmisher
• Tank
  • Vanguard
  • Warden

It will, however, be interesting to see how they implement the different abilities that LoL is known for, into Riot's MMORPG. After all, it would not do for characters to be cookie-cutter versions of each other, but for them to exhibit the feeling of a truly open world, in their very design. We'll just have to wait and see.

Which Races Will be Present in the LoL MMO?

The short answer to this question is that all of the races found in the lore of League of Legends will also be present in Project F. That means that we may even get to see the reclusive Marai, in more ways aside from Nami, though whether we will get to play as them is a different story.

For those interested in the details, these are the races currently confirmed to inhabit Runeterra and the universe beyond:

• Humans
• Vastaya
• Specter
• Ascended
• Yordle
• Darkin
• Voidling
• Celestial

it is our personal hope that we get to experience the world of Runeterra as a yordle of immense magical might, that uses said power to lead people on by the nose. After all, there is no reason to take ourselves too seriously all the time, is there?

LoL MMO: All Potential Playable Species

LoL MMO Likely To Be Free-To-Play

Since their announcement, Riot Games have added three new games to their roster of successes, aside from League of Legends. These are, of course, Valorant, Wild Rift, and Ruined King; A League of Legends Story.

Out of all of these, only the Ruined King; A League of Legends Story was not a completely free-to-play game. And even then it was a one-time purchase. The others, which are all multiplayer online games, have been completely free-to-play ever since they've been released.

So, we can expect the Riot Games MMORPG to be free-to-play as well, once it's actually released.