League of Legends Arena mode is getting a major overhaul when Patch 14.12 launches on June 12. The number of bans players can receive will be doubled.
how did RIOT GAMES not realize this 😳
Arena is a rotating League mode, but it has quickly become a clear favorite among players across the community, with many clamoring for Riot to make it permanent. While Riot has yet to decide, the developers are working to make Dueling the mode as good as it can be. Today, that means more blind bans are being added to the mode, with the number of bans available in each lobby increasing from eight to 16 in the upcoming update in June.
The devs originally tested 16 blind bans ahead of Arena 2.0's release, but settled on eight, League balance boss Matt "Phroxzon" Leung-Harrison admitted today. However, after carefully "reviewing live behavior" and listening to community feedback, the team decided that 16 blind bans should be okay.
The biggest concern with the increased bans is that more popular champions are getting banned almost constantly. While this can be a good thing (we will see more variety in each game), it does mean that these popular champions are likely to be permanently banned in Arena. Some players are already worried that this will force people (especially one tricks) to "stop playing".