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The old Rune System wasn't perfect, but it was better than this.

Bârd·11/30/2019, 7:44:25 AM·63 votes·14,415 views

It had issues, sure.

You should have been able to edit rune pages in champion select.
The IP sink that was "unlocking every rune" was absurd.
Tier 1 and 2 runes were just a trap, flat out.
The differences in power between runes were astonishing.

...but none of those made the system irreparable.

Issue 1 was a simple fix. Issues 2 and 3 were fixed, but you waited to do it until Runes were set to be phased out. Issue 4 is a simple matter of balancing out runes, something I don't recall happening since the removal of Dodge Chance.

Sure it wasn't super interesting, but it didn't have to be. Hell, I'd rather this kind of thing wasn't super interesting. Power along the lines of Electrocute, Conqueror, Lethal Tempo, Predator... none of this shit should be a part of the runes, it should be in the form of new items, summoner spells, and champions.

It's not like it was devoid of strategy, it just looked that way because you didn't let us strategize by editing runes.

Stacking armor as Amumu top to become immune to minion damage? Sure. Hybrid Pen Thresh for all in damage? Seems legit. XP runes on Talon for first blood? Sounds good to me.

Masteries are the only one that needed a rework. For those, I think something along the lines of the Odyssey customization (at a lower power level) would have been the way to go.

54 Comments

Rαy11/30/2019, 5:21:31 PM19 votes

I really miss them, man.

Fights were so fun when you actually had to do more than just throw out one spell rotation.

Beacon Academy11/30/2019, 4:44:24 PM14 votes

I remember filling out most of the runes with magic pen + cdr for Malzahar or doing full armor for malphite among other things

fun times

hhaavviikk11/30/2019, 11:50:19 AM13 votes

I'd say only tier 2 runes were a trap, tier 1 runes were so cheap that it barely hurt you to get a full tier 1 runepage

Chembaron Yamada11/30/2019, 9:42:14 AM12 votes

Honestly, I prefer the new rune system. I think it is more beginner friendly than the old version.

Tusutaki11/30/2019, 9:13:01 PM7 votes

Friendly reminder that they took out the Rune Pages because "it didnt offer enough diversity" even though they designed the new rune pages to "streamline choices" even though the intent directly contradicts the reason. T

Was there issues with the Old Runes? Of course however as OP already mentioned, it was practically fixed. With the removal of the old Rune Pages, Riot has been more and more hands on in manufacturing metas rather than the players defining it themselves. If something doesnt align with their intentions then they will double down and force the change. In worst case scenarios they would randomly do this on a whim with complete disregard to the playerbase.

The age of discovery and experimentation has been long gone. Over the past few years its becoming more apparent that we're in the age of manufactured. Reliance and investment into team composition and strategy has been tarnished in favor for quick flashy plays.

Power Cosmic12/1/2019, 1:01:26 PM4 votes

Runes Reforged took away a real early game.

Darkstar Annie12/1/2019, 6:23:41 PM4 votes

I miss being able to really customize what I wanted into each stat. I miss it so much.

SheikhEleazar11/30/2019, 8:46:00 PM4 votes

I like both

Old meant you could play the champion your way, filling in gaps like giving xerath mana regen runes, even if the pros didnt do this, it was viable

New has too many offensive and too few defensive options

Brayke11/30/2019, 9:19:46 PM3 votes

I have to agree. I hope Riot have the tenacity to admit they ruined the rune system. I feel like it took away player uniqueness. Now everybody is using the same set of runes. In my opinion it really limited the customisability of your gameplay. item 3151 Amumu [sg-soraka]

xelaker11/30/2019, 10:33:41 PM3 votes

They should drop all the super damage bs and just have the + adaptive damage, + armor, +magic resist, and low % utilities options.

Pàyback11/30/2019, 8:25:39 PM3 votes

good old times, 105+- ad with longsword as katarina with thunderlords lvl 1

MarcReady12/1/2019, 2:07:17 AM3 votes

Old runes were much funnier and diverse. You could have different ways to play a champion by switching the main stats.

I want my full armor rune page back to use it as a melee tank top laner

Verxint12/1/2019, 7:00:21 AM3 votes

I miss my full armor and HP regen "I'm just going to sit in lane and ignore you" Sion.

Revive12/1/2019, 1:01:41 PM2 votes

The new rune system seems healthier, the old one had one major problem it was somewhat Pay to win. If u had a lot of resources for runes and pages u could set up rune pages for every matchup separately which gave u kind of a big advantage in lane.

Makarakarn11/30/2019, 8:32:35 PM2 votes

"For those, I think something along the lines of the Odyssey customization (at a lower power level) would have been the way to go." This, a million times this. I actually made a thread suggesting something like this a while ago and was downvoted to hell because some people can't comprehend "at a lower power level". It's basically what Battlerite does and it feels really nice to experiment with character customization.

Lux Is Mai Waifu12/1/2019, 2:12:48 AM2 votes

old runes were even more p2w than the current system

GucciLordFeet12/1/2019, 4:17:03 AM2 votes

Totally agree, the community just needs to be vocal, let riot know that they're sh*t at balancing a game. The dev team doesn't play the game they balance and they just give us shit like new diana and go back to j-ing off. Kaisa is still a viable adc for the 9999 month running

Baron Von Bangin12/1/2019, 1:14:26 AM2 votes

The current designers will never admit the original crew at Riot crafted a much better game. Look no further than Ryze, Gallo, and Akali. They were going to be soooooo much better and healthy than those old shitty designs. What a joke.

Metal Janna12/2/2019, 1:18:39 AM1 votes

There are a LOT of downsides to new Runes but... Before Runes Reforged if you picked an enchanter and they picked a hook support, you might as well dodge. There was no chance you were going to win. Now the matchup is difficult as all hell but winnable.

Tin Obliterates11/30/2019, 9:34:49 PM1 votes

Tier 1 runes were good for when you were starting out though, super cheap and at least it was something until you could get all the tier 3 runes you need.

Zullar12/1/2019, 12:07:04 AM1 votes

The new rune system isn't fun. If Leona then pick Aftershock. There's no choice anymore.

kocikreka12/1/2019, 3:45:47 PM1 votes

I agree, and im pretty sure the game will be 5 times better.

LordVRAI12/1/2019, 8:59:57 PM1 votes

Honestly I wanted them to remove the issues you mentioned from the old system and just keep it. I mean imagine the old system, but with only tier 3 runes (or just regular runes in that case) and the ability to edit it in champ select like masteries (which was again, a way to drain IP since you needed more rune pages). The old runes allowed for WAY more customization without being absurdly over centralizing. The new runes require your game-play to revolve around them, while the old runes revolved around your game-play. I think that's based on the power level, where old runes gave you raw stats and very rarely any game breaking abilities (which were usually so under-powered no one used them like bonus energy/energy regen or bonus xp) while the new runes have almost no raw stats and adaptive force is honestly bullshit that doesn't allow you to customize it at all, I mean really? I have to build an ap item for adaptive to work for ap on taric? what if my full build has no ap items? I just have to use ad? The old rune system allowed me to run flat AP which fixed this super easy to fix issue that riot is too stubborn to fix since everything needs to be ADAPTIVE FORCE and not the type of damage I WANT. Also I miss 1% crit runes. They were complete RNG awfulness, but my god were they FUN. Something riot seems to hate these days.