URF sails off with Party IP in its wake

It’s been an intense fortnight, and we’re still finding new ways to break--we mean expertly min-max--Bard’s insane cooldowns, not to mention the terrorcopter of a war horse that still managed to trample through our nightmares despite his hobbled heels.

We’re grateful for everyone who participated in URF mode, from the oldest League vets to the newest players just getting started during these wild two weekends. As another thank you for playing along with our joke and cannon-balling back into the ultra-rapid waters, we’re hosting a Party IP Weekend from April 17th at 12:01 AM PDT to April 19th at 11:59 PM PDT. Team up with your friends and earn guaranteed bonus IP when you play matchmade games. The more friends you queue with, the more bonus IP you earn. Here’s the chart:

# of players in pre-made	Bonus IP earned
2	100%
3	150%
4	200%
5	300%

But that does mean this is the end of URF for now; the manatee is swimming home to the Featured Game Mode team’s lab, and we’ll dive into all of the feedback you’ve given us over the last fourteen days.

We know, we know. It’s too soon. It just came back. But the ultra-rapid awesomeness is best savored in small servings. The original run of URF taught us a fantastic lesson about the novelty of game modes over time and the cost of ongoing maintenance. Featured Gameplay Modes taper off in popularity sharply after a short period of time.

Despite breaking our golden rule of not touching Featured Gameplay Modes post-launch, our on-the-run tweaks to keep URF treading water balance-wise the first time around still saw the same declining engagement and burnout. That doesn’t mean players don’t have a blast before they fade away. However, being designed as a can of whoop-ass in the first place ultimately means that the flame burns twice as bright and half as long.

Thanks again for sharing this years’ April Fools event with us, and we’ll see you on the battlefield!

-Riot Games