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Back in 2021, there was a /dev post about State of Game Modes. It was about the current new game mode, Ultimate Spellbook, as well as some other older gamemodes and why they aren't coming back. But the ending of that post mentions this:
A unique gamemode where champions will be Amplified
Now nobody probably paid attention to that, I myself found out about it only about a year later, but it got me SO excited. I love TFT's augments, and a way to amplify a champion? Yes please!
It's very clear that Arena has started it's development in as early as October 2021, so it's been under wraps for almost 2 year before it came live. That's a lot.
When they finally revealed the Arena, I got BEYOND excited. Just seeing the footage I instantly knew this is gonna be a gamemode I will spam every chance I get to play League. And I do, it did not dissapoint me.
Sure Arena has problems, like the constant spam of champions who are arguably too broken for this gamemode like Shaco/Heimer spam or Annie/Ivern where you basically fight 2v4, but that didn't take the enjoyment out of the Arena for me. It even made it that much more exciting when you actually beat them using combos that work so well together like Samira using a very fitting augment, Blade Waltz.
Blade Waltz (more commonly known as Old Fiora Ultimate) is by far my favorite augment. There's just an infinite possibilities to combo it with and I explored tons of them before I inevitably started getting unlucky in getting it. But that's fine, there's a ton more options that are equally fun like using Castle, a Silver Augment, to switch yourself with a fully charged Nunu ult to obliterate both players instantly. The possibilities? Endless.
I rarely played League to finish the passes recently. It's just too much time spent on doing the 'thinking stuff' like freezing the wave or trading in lane before the real fun of 'shooting everything up' late game comes up and honestly, I'm very tired of doing that if I want to level up a pass. I barely finished the last 3-4 passes in time because it felt like a chore. But with arena? I finished the pass in like a week's time.
If the Arena became a permanent game mode, I would flip. Just imagine the constant updates a gamemode like that can get:
-> New Arenas:
- PROJECT Arena for a project-themed event, we even had a PROJECT gamemode 6 years ago, and the map could be simplified and reused for another Arena to play on
- Star Guardian Arena for SG-themed event, same deal, old maps could be reused for these skinline themed Arenas. Odyssey? You guessed it.
Star Guardian Invasion Game Mode
- Other Arenas based in regions like Void, Bilgewater, Zaun etc.
-> New Augments:
- We could get more pre-reworked champions' ultimates, like old Urgot, or some entirely newones that completely change how a champions is played like changing one of your abilities for arandom ability of another champion, that could be very goofy and fun, or 'gain 1% increasedChampion size everytime you use an ability'. MASSIVE ZERI.
Old Urgot Ultimate could work perfectly as an Augment
-> New Cameos:
- Instead of Soul Fighter champions, we could get monsters like SG Invasion mobs, maybe evensomething that changes how the fight is won, so whoever kills the boss wins the fight forexample.
SG Invasion mobs concept art, possible Cameos in Arena
The gamemode itself could feature a limited different versions of it instead of the actual Arena being a limited gamemode. We could get limited-time 1v1v1v1 or 3v3v3v3 options, there could be a Normal vs Ranked modes for less tryharding on normals. Also, since the game mode is often criticized due to the spam of champs like Heimer/Shaco, it could feature a Random Champion pick. Exil made a video about Arena, and he suggested to have an iteration where one champion is randomly selected, and the other person picks their champ. It would add an interesting variety to the game and how well two players can coordinate with what they've got.
Me and my friend have started doing the Random Champion strat: We select random in champ select, and lock in the first thing we got. We initially dread the champ choices because who even plays something like Cho'Gath Jayce? But then we get fun augments that fit the champs and we suddenly love it. It's a really fun way to play the Arena, we recommend it.
I'll end this by showing you an Emblem i made for the Arena. Currently it's using the RGM emblem, but it could use an actual one, shall the game mode become permanent.
It's inspired by the Lobby of the Arena, and I tried my best to make it look like the existing emblems in League:
Arena Lobby and Existing League Game Mode Emblems
Thanks for reading if you did! I trully and wholeheartedly hope Arena remains as the Permanent Game Mode. It's been a really really long time since I enjoyed League as consistently as I do now.
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