Old Magma Chamber
Hey guys, and welcome to my discussion about the old Magma Chambers. I am Hissael and currently playing on NA server. I have played League since mid-s2 and although I am not an old-timer as some of the players out there, I have always been fascinated with the gameplay, lore and the new things coming to the game since I started. Today I would like to talk about a very old, but in my opinion probably the best, concept that I wanted discuss with you for a long time. The Magma Chambers.
As some of you may know, the Magma Chamber was a concept that was first featured in All-Star Showdown. It was introduced as a 1v1 or 2v2 dueling map and was planned to be released in future but was canceled later on. Although this map is mostly known for this concept, The Magma Chamber I would like to talk about is not this one. Today I would like to discuss the old and very first concept of the Magma Chamber. So let’s start our discussion!
What is Magma Chambers? Magma Chambers was a concept of new map that was way more bigger than** the Summoner’s Rift**. Riot announced the map on September 16, 2010. The Magma Chambers was a 5v5 man map which had a totally different game style than Summoner’s Rift. It was planned to have longer lanes, different jungle buffs and monsters, and teleportation pads on some important points inside the jungle that would make it easier for jungler to move around the map. The map was designed with the magma vs crystals concept in mind. This were the only concept that were revealed with some concept arts.
But, What Happened to It? What happened to the Magma Chambers is ironically comical in my opinion. The Magma Chambers had two cancelations. What I meant as ironic starts here. As I mentioned above, the map was designed to be a larger 5v5 map. However, Riot redesigned the map into Dominion, which is smaller than Summoner’s Rift. Although I think Riot missed a great chance, Dominion gave us a totally new gameplay and mechanics. With the release of the Dominion, the concept was put to the shelf for a couple of years. Second the Magma Chambers came to light was when it was featured on All-Star Showdown. I think many of us already knows the concept of the second time it was mentioned again. Riot redesigned the map into one lane 1v1 or 2v2 dueling map and featured it on All-Star Showdown Match, which is way more smaller than Summoner Rift. However, this map never made its way into the game and was cancelled by Riot, as far as I know. This is the ironic story of Magma Chamber, which started as a bigger map and ended up with two cancellation and smaller designs.
What is My Thoughts on Magma Chambers? So we got the info we need, let’s talk about the old Magma Chambers and the chance Riot missed with it. I think that Magma Chambers was a great concept at the beginning with longer lanes, bigger jungle and different game style. But there are some questions we need to ask. First of all, why making the old Magma Chamber would be better than the new one? There could many reasons that I could list, however the main one is that the new Magma Chamber, which was designed with only one lane, was planned to fulfill the need of a dueling map. Although a dueling map is what some players are still looking for, we already have a map that has a similar design. Yes, you guessed correctly; it is the Howling Abys. Even though the map is currently used for ARAM, which should be another topic of discussion, it holds the need for a one-lane map. In my opinion, adding another one-lane map would be unnecessary and would not add any new featured rather than dueling option. That is why I think Riot made a great choice with cancelling the new Magma Chambers. So second of all, why would we need a newer and bigger map? The question for the first one is simple. Players are still looking for new ways to play this game. The new mods that are released in special events tries to give us new things, but none of them are permanent and having another map would give what the players are looking for and would add new features and options for more mods. Okay, so let’s talk about the second part of the question. There is two reasons that comes to my mind. Some players still wants to play the game on a bigger map. The old design of the Magma Chambers would fulfill that need. Another important point is the opportunities a bigger map could bring.
Although it was planned as 5v5 map, I think that the old Magma Chambers is holding a great potential for 6v6 or 7v7 game play. Because of the big jungle that it would have, it could be sufficient for two junglers. Just imagine playing a 7v7 game where you would have 2 top, 1st jungler, 1 mid, 2nd jungler, 2 bot. Wouldn’t be an awesome game? Or 1 top, 1 jungle, 1 mid and 3 bots with a support and a tank to protect the ADC. There could be more and more interpretation on how to arrange teams with the size of the teams. Also, making the team size different than 5v5 would give us a new game play option. We already have a 5v5 map, and it is the main map of the game. So making another 5v5 game would be mundane, even with a bigger map. Another important point is that Magma Chamber holds a great potential of a very cool design. A battleground that is formed inside a sleeping volcano. Isn't that sounds awesome? There could be many different jungle monsters and many different objectives to take. There are many possibilities that designers can explore.
In conclusion, I think that Riot made a great mistake by canceling the old design. However, with some small changes, Riot could bring back one of the greatest ideas back to life. Just imagine, having a map that can hold more people, can provide longer game time, can totally have a different game play and strategies, AND WOULD LOOK BAD-ASS!!!
Thanks for reading. I hope you liked my discussion, even though I just gave some basic info and maybe some little thoughts on the topic. Please leave a comment if you want to add something or just want to discuss. Although I took most of the information from the league wikia, I would recommend you to check The Magma Chambers for the information that I didn't mention.
