Riot Unhappy With Mythic Items - Changes Rolling Out With Midseason

Back in preseason 11, the release of Mythic items broke the game for quite some time. Today, however, they are a staple of League of Legends. However, is it time for an overhaul?

As the developers say, Mythic items have served their purpose and then some, especially with the shop changes and recommendations found therein. However, new times bring forth new challenges and objectives.

Mythics and Item Recommendation Face New Challenges

 As Riot explain it, a great item system should be satisfying, add game-to-game variance and optimization, augment different playstyles, and be intuitive for players. And that is precisely what they've tried to accomplish with Mythic items.

This was done by streamlining the shop by adding the recommended purchases, to help players ease into the new system, and for those still learning to be capable of navigating the plethora of items easily.

The addition of Mythic items fulfilled its intended purpose, to become the first item built by champions, while allowing for versatility, by ensuring no Mythic got purchased above 75% on any one champion.

However, with season 13 having a midseason that will reset MMR, unlike anything we've had before, it's the perfect place to implement some changes that the game is in desperate need of.

Mythic Items - What Will Stay the Same

Riot Games are not above accepting their mistakes, but they also know which parts are not meant to be fixed. So, in their own words, there is quite a bit of the current Mythic Item system that works, and does not need to be changed, explain Riot Games:

• Flexibility - Champions have more flexibility in their first Legendary+ item purchase than before. It is in fact more common to see champions deviate in their first item today than it was before Mythics shipped, and they state that they have reason to believe that champions have more flexibility when mastered than can currently be seen due to the Recommended Items system.
  However, for some champion/item pairings, this is not the case. Kraken Slayer, Luden’s Tempest, Divine Sunderer & Immortal Shieldbow are the 4 most bound items with the highest number of users that purchase them over 85% of the time.
• Coolness - There are a lot of cool, high-affinity items that have resonated with players that Riot created. Items like Eclipse, Heartsteel, Jak’Sho, Galeforce, and the updated Rod of Ages have found clear audiences and add a lot to the system.
  This is a major consideration because, at its heart, League is built around an RPG-like progression loop, they explain, and enjoying the power-ups you access is an important part of keeping that loop enjoyable.
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• Approachability - Mythic items provide a definition to the system in a way that helps make it more approachable. Decisions in the item system are a bit more digestible. It’s easy to understand that you need 1 Mythic item, 1 pair of boots, and then whatever Legendaries suit your needs. And as long as you get to your Mythic, you hit a baseline of power that can be easily understood.
• Balanceability - Mythic items create an understandable method of creating mutually exclusive items that would otherwise be too powerful or too hard to balance when purchased together.

However, as they say, some things still require updates, as the meta changes.

Mythic Items - Upcoming Changes

In their recent dev talk, Riot have expressly stated: "We aren’t happy with the current state of Mythic items, we were wrong about some of our initial goals and our philosophies around items have evolved as a result."

To reassure players, they've compiled the biggest issues player have reported regarding Mythic Items into a few groups, which will be addressed with the coming midseason.

• Satisfaction - The meta can be too constraining, with champions having to resort to buying items that are not as fun to play, due to just how much better optimized they are for their champion during said meta.
• Generalist content - Some items, due to having to serve a variety of different champions, under the same class, some items have overperformed in a single category, while also providing adequately in others.
• Complexity - Some items have far too much complexity, leading to unforeseen issues that break the game. Or at the very least, a lot of player nerves.
• Content Creation - Adding new Mythic Items, when they are all independent of each other, is unsustainable with the current system.

So, following MSI, Riot will be rolling out some significant changes in three main areas. The largest overall change will be to ADC itemization, as this was the Mythic system that was the closest to the structure above.

Instead of the current system, which is constrained to Galeforce/Kraken Slayer, they will be moving to a new model where ADC Mythics are Infinity Edge, Quickblades, Rageblade, and Galeforce. Kraken Slayer and Shieldbow will be redesigned to fit into the Legendary items and will be reworking other items as needed.

Besides ADCs, Riot also say they are looking at enchanter items and Lethality items for Midseason. Prowler’s Claw will be reworked into a Legendary with a new effect, and no dash, Duskblade will be reworked, and Youmuu’s Ghostblade will be promoted to a Mythic item with upgraded outputs.