Riot Games' Phroxzon has said League of Legends is balanced right now but "might be a bit stale" for high-skill players.
Matt 'Phroxzon' Leung-Harrison, Lead Gameplay Designer for League of Legends at Riot Games, made the comments in a post on X (formerly Twitter). For years, Phroxzon has managed the game's champions, balance, preseason and modes teams.
He was replying to CNG Esports mid laner Mike 'Phantasm' Thiele. Phantasm had shared a detailed breakdown of his thoughts on the game's current state, covering both its strengths and his frustrations. In response, Phroxzon also discussed Riot's plans for ranked play in Europe and explained why Akshan's waveclear won't be changed.
Riot 'careful' about gameplay changes
Phroxzon agreed with Phantasm that gameplay is balanced. Even so, he said satisfaction among most players "seems very high" given how popular the game is at the moment. Riot is taking a careful approach as a result. According to Phroxzon, the developer has also heard feedback that gameplay is in a good place overall.
He added that the changes Riot could make before the end of the year are mostly balance changes. In his view, those wouldn't fix the problem. "The types of changes we could make through to the end of the year aren't the types of changes that would actually resolve the staleness adequately," Phroxzon said.
EU ranked fixes planned for next season
Phroxzon also agreed that the apex tiers in Europe need improving. These are the three highest ranks on the League of Legends ladder: Master, Grandmaster and Challenger. Riot is looking at "durable improvements" for next season but doesn't want to make changes mid-season. "We don't really want to mess with things as they are right now as it risks further instability," Phroxzon said.
According to Phroxzon, one issue is that Europe West (EUW) has the same number of Challenger and Grandmaster slots as many smaller regions. This worsens problems at the top of the ladder, such as the amount of League Points (LP) the best players are seeing. LP are the points players win or lose after each ranked game.
He also admitted that Aegis, a system Riot designed to reward players who can play more than one role, isn't working as intended. Phroxzon said it currently gives poor incentives and favours certain role combinations. "While we wanted to reward being able to play flexibly and be proficient in playing multiple roles, it's clear that changes are needed," he said.
Phantasm had said he likes negative LP gains at the top of the ladder. Phroxzon called the topic "a reasonable debate", noting that many other players see the system as unfair and believe it degrades the ladder. He also agreed that the length of the ladder can be demoralising and said Riot was "discussing potential approaches".
