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League of Legends Dev Reveals Why Jungle Pets Were Added to the Game
During the 2023 preseason, Riot made some major changes to their game. We got new items, a new (old) drake made a return to the rift and most of all, Riot decided to update the jungle to make the role more intuitive and easier for beginners.
Now, Lead Designer of the League of Legends balance team Matt "Phroxzon" Leung-Harrison explained the thought process behind the jungle pets and their inclusion on Summoner's Rift.
League of Legends Jungle Pets are More Than Just Emotional Support on the Rift
Jungle pets are the newest inclusion on Summoner's Rift after the League of Legends preseason went live back in December. Since then, junglers have had to get used to their new friends in the jungle, but a lot of players questioned, whether these little critters were necessary and asking Riot exactly why they included them in the game.
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In-swoops Riot Phroxzon with some insights on the jungle pets and what the Summoner's Rift team was thinking when they created them. Yes, a part of it was to have some emotional support on the rift, since we all know junglers get heckled the most, but there is more to it than just that.
One of the main reasons was to make jungle more accessible to new players. Jungle is probably the most complex role with the most impact all over the map, so it can be daunting for players. Therefore, the jungle pets, which replace the old jungle items, are there to make things a little simpler and easier to understand.
Pet gives an understandable metaphor for why camps are getting damaged, why you get healed, why jgl gets bonuses from clearing camps and an understandable metaphor for why the unlocks happen when they do (evolution), catchup mechanics (pet is starving) rather than some arbitrary rules. For newer players, this is far easier to understand.
With the pets also coming in different colours, it gives players a visual representation of what they're picking. Red represents damage, green durability and blue utility, which means players who didn't read through all the descriptions can still pick what they need just by looking at the pet.
A lot of players do agree with Phroxzon on these changes, but many also believe that to make jungle more beginner-friendly, Riot should fix their tutorial, since most players never learn about the specific roles when they play through it.