Riot will release balance changes off-cycle for Legends of Runeterra patch 1.5

Since Legends of Runeterra launched in beta form last February, Riot has religiously stuck to an update schedule which included a bug fix patch and a larger balance patch once a month. These would alternate every two weeks like clockwork. Under normal circumstances, upcoming Patch 1.5 would be a bug fix patch since 1.4 contained a huge list of balance changes.

However, the game’s update cadence looks like it might be in for a change.

During a recent episode of “The TwinSunz Podcast,” (skip to the 29-minute mark) Andrew Yip, Game Director for Legends of Runeterra, stated that Patch 1.5 would break tradition and actually include some card changes to accompany the usual bug squashing.

“We’re making balance changes for one five, which is off-cycle for us,” Yipp declared. He went on to explain that the team regularly surveys players in order to get a feel for how fast or slow the rate of change for the game is. Yipp explained, “We asked that question and we actually believe that we can go even more rapid and players would be excited to see it, so we’re gonna try it. And of course some metagames will just expect that, will just need that right. If we ever had like an overly horrific metagame, we’re not gonna wait two weeks, we’re just gonna redeploy.”

Replying to a Reddit thread, Yipp added that while there will be changes with 1.5, players probably shouldn’t expect anything major.

“Please temper your expectations for the degree of change we make this patch 😛 Like I mentioned, we do believe folks will be excited about more frequent changes in general, but it’s an experiment and won’t be as big as a typical balance patch,” he wrote.

This is probably a welcome development for some players who have not been a fan of the current meta. This includes the likes of Miguel “MegaMogwai” Guerrero, who tweeted earlier this week that “this is the worst metagame we’ve had in Runeterra,” and “for the first time since February, I don’t really feel like playing that much.”

The Runeterra streamer added that the current metagame features aggro and control decks that “aren’t very synergistic at all,” and  “it’s all about individual value in cards right now.” Mogwai hasn’t streamed in almost a week.

Patch 1.5 for Legends of Runeterra is scheduled to go live on Wednesday, July 8.