Client Open Beta Update #1

Beginning with patch 6.23 we officially launched the open beta for the League client update. Man, it felt good.

But we're not done yet! Since then, we've been using surveys, bug reports, and public AmAs to listen to your concerns and hopes for future development on the client update. Today, we want to share some updates about what we're doing in response to your feedback.

(EXPLAINER FOR NOOBS: WHY WE'RE UPDATING LEAGUE'S CLIENT)

1. Fixing performance issues is our top priority.

Players have complained about laggy UI elements and CPU/RAM usage that's affecting in-game performance. Some have even had trouble launching the client. You should start to feel some significant performance improvements thanks to a number of fixes we’ve implemented with 6.24

• We've patched up our audio and UI components to make the entire client run quicker.

• Champ select has had hellacious problems, so we did some tuneup work on its data flow efficiency (translation: we made that ish run more smooth). We also fixed a few issues affecting the champ grid UI.

• We've improved responsiveness and stability for important transition moments like the jump from the play button to the lobby, the ready check pop-up, and the champ select load-in experience.

• Some nasty launch problems were being caused by the new desktop icon not pointing to the right place. This has now been fixed.

Beginning with patch 6.24, we've also added "Low-spec mode" This is a switch in your settings that lets you turn off the updated client's flashier visuals and effects if you're suffering from performance issues. Right now this mostly affects some minor aspects of the champ select experience, but we'll expand Low-spec mode to cover more features in upcoming patches.

Our goal is to continue shipping performance improvements so everyone can run our fancyschmancy animations and effects to get the full client experience, but this should help a few people out in the meantime.

2. There are still some weird bugs in the beta client (but we're squashing them).

Here are just a few of the most-called-out issues:

Problem: Champion voices are too damn loud in champ select.
Solution: In patch 6.23 we shipped vastly expanded sound control options. You can now adjust volume separately for sound effects and music, and there are even individual toggles for pick quotes, ban quotes, champ select music, and login screen music.

Problem: Players can't change their skin in champ select before everyone is done picking.
Solution: This was originally an intentional design decision to keep the focus on forming a team comp, but we've decided to change this after hearing player feedback. The fix will arrive within a couple of patches.

Problem: Selecting masteries while in champ select is slow af.
Solution: This was a two-part problem: design and laggy UI. Players were having to click five times (or shift-click) to assign five points to each mastery. That was slow as all hell and didn't match the design from the legacy client, so we reverted that change in 6.23—now you can click once to assign all five points or shift-click to assign one point at a time. You can also fine-tune point distribution by using your scroll wheel while hovering over masteries. The performance improvements arriving in 6.24 should significantly reduce the UI lag problems, but we'll keep an eye on it going forward.

Problem: Changes in audio/visual queues are causing some players to miss critical decision moments like pick/ban resulting in unintentional dodges.
Solution: We’ve improved audio queues for 'your pick' and 'your ban' moments along with countdown timers that are much more noticeable now. We’ve also fixed a number of issues that was causing the client to fail to grab focus during critical decision moments.

There are many more bugs, and during open beta we need players' help to squash the nasty buggers. If you're having technical issues with the beta client, be sure to report them using the cute little bug button in the bottom-right corner of your client. If bugs are preventing you from enjoying the game experience, know that you still have access to your legacy client. Just click "Launch legacy client" on your login screen.

3. Players have tons of cool ideas for new client features… but we can't pursue them just yet.

One of the great benefits of the client update is that it allows Rioters more freedom to efficiently develop and ship cool new features. But before we get there, we've got to complete the open beta by rebuilding all of the legacy client's existing features and make sure they run smoothly for everyone. That means that we can't yet commit to creating any of the cool client ideas players come up with.

That also doesn't mean that we won't look into these ideas—just that we have to finish the job at hand first. This applies to a whole list of commonly-requested features like: an in-client ping meter, the ability to choose the champ that appears on your profile page, putting champion grades in match history, a skins tab in the Collection, and on and on.

4. Some of the legacy client's features haven't been added yet, but they're coming.

We have to rebuild every existing client feature for the client update, so the big challenge for us is deciding what order to build things in. Here's the full list of missing legacy client features, with current estimates for when they'll arrive in the beta client. Note that these features can easily be delayed past the given patch (that's game development for ya).

THE ROTATING GAME MODE QUEUE - coming with 6.24
SPECTATE FRIENDS - coming with 6.24
GIFTING - coming with 6.24
ACCOUNT TRANSFERS - coming with 6.24
BOTS IN CUSTOM GAMES - planned for 7.1
BATTLE BOOSTS IN ARAM - coming before open beta ends
CAREER RANKED STATS ON THE PROFILE PAGE - likely to slip past open beta
PUBLIC CHAT ROOMS - likely to slip past open beta
ITEM SET CREATOR TOOL - likely to slip past open beta

We've heard a lot of questions about the final three features on this list (profile page career ranked stats, public chat rooms, and item set creator tool), and we agree that each of these features is important and valuable. To be fully transparent, we just haven't yet assigned a dev team to work on them, since the devs are all busy building other aspects of the client and making sure they run well. So, it's likely that these features will slip past the open beta before we rebuild them. We'll keep you updated when we can talk more confidently about these features—in the meantime, just know that we've heard players requests for them and are working on figuring it out.

We'll keep these sorts of updates coming throughout the open beta. Be sure to catch the patch notes for additional updates on the latest client changes. As always, please continue to share your feedback on the client discussion boards.