Then new runes are the old masteries, just reworked.

DarkBlockStone·11/26/2017, 8:07:38 PM·18 votes·1,348 views

I was looking back at the old rune and mastery system, and I discovered something very interesting, the new rune system, it's just the old mastery system with a few reworks. If you don't believe me, go take a look at screenshots of the old mastery pages, and compare it to the current rune system. In essence, it means that riot didn't give us a new rune system, they just took the masteries, gave it a new coat of paint, and called it a "new" rune system, while taking the actual runes away. Though the real question is, why did they do that? Did they not think no one would actually notice it? Has anyone else besides me noticed it?

17 Comments

MysterQ11/26/2017, 8:10:26 PM14 votes

Many people have noticed.

Sadly, other people say "Riot gave us free runes!" No, I hate that Riot calls them 'runes' because when discussing them, oh they are free runes but they are not runes at all.

The only remnant of "runes" is the fact that you are limited to the number of Rune Pages you bought. Otherwise they are just masteries.

Woodakoodashooda11/26/2017, 8:14:55 PM7 votes

Yeah, but it's easier to call them runes. That way, when people talk about "masteries", they're talking about champion masteries (that amount to dick) and not runes.

Teridax6811/27/2017, 12:59:04 AM6 votes

This is true. Runes Reforged basically just deleted the old runes from the game, and made rune page limits apply to masteries, but otherwise just boils down to yet another mastery rework. While I think eliminating the old rune system was a good idea, and while I agree that the old masteries were also not the best, I feel it would've been better to get rid of both. I don't think the new rune system has that much longevity, and I'm not even sure if Riot thinks that either: there is no structural difference between Runes Reforged and the previous mastery system, and already we're starting to see many of the same issues pop up, namely balancing difficulties and a lack of real build diversity. In this respect, this year's Preseason feels more PR-oriented than truly conducive to significant improvement.

deadlychuck11/27/2017, 3:40:43 AM1 votes

By this you just mean the like season 7 masteries right? Even then, just the minor and major keystones right?

Because before those, you had the OLD masteries, which were just flat power boosts without mechanics attached to make them disproportionately powerful between champions.

ChargeItDownMid11/27/2017, 5:11:22 AM1 votes

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Hawkefire11/27/2017, 5:36:24 AM1 votes

I can tell you exactly why they did this. They did this so they would have some way of justifying them charging you for additional "rune" pages.

6Sfool11/27/2017, 12:17:20 PM1 votes

So? They didn't have to reinvent the wheel here. Their mastery system was just too convoluted, so they simplified it, gave us some more meaningful choices, and tied our stats to it. Now it's less about googling highest winrate pages and more about choice.

And if we're talking purely about nomenclature, runes is a better name than masteries.

strut11/27/2017, 12:36:12 PM1 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLpIMRowndg

Valderis Vandala11/26/2017, 8:23:09 PM1 votes

Lol what took you so long to notice? XD

It's better this way though. But it takes getting used to.

As for why they did it, there is a whole laundry list of reasons. It gets rid of the biggest pay-to-win aspect in League, it gets rid of useless knowledge baggage you needed to learn that didn't really offer any flexibility, it works better lore-wise, it decoupled account leveling from in-game stat power (mostly).

Dorans Pants11/27/2017, 1:18:05 AM1 votes

on forums i call them runes to avoid confusion, but when talking i call them new-masterys because that´s what they are.