Fifteen years ago. I was in my early 20s, fresh-faced. I told my friends.
"Let's go play some LoL"

Ten years ago. Still young. I told my coworkers.
"Shall we play some LoL"

Five years ago. Now a married man. I told my old friends.
"Summoner's Rift is a bit much, let's just play ARAM"

And now. On the verge of turning 40. I tell my friends, who can't even use their mics for fear of waking their kids.
"Arena, anyone?"

Though it's still active, it is, in fact, an old game. Who would have thought that League of Legends—which I first saw on an Air Force intranet while sneaking a peek during night duty—would last this long? It’s becoming a second 'national pastime' after StarCraft, but it’s still fun. Why? Because of 'Arena,' often called 'Jeung-baram' (Arena Wind).

My judgment isn't as sharp as it used to be, and my hands don't move as freely, but I can still win in Arena. All you need is game knowledge and a bit of luck. When you piece together random Augments like a puzzle and hit that 'singularity' moment, the omnipotence I felt in my early 20s sweeping through the Rift returns. Bring it on—I'm Hecarim with the 'God-Hand' build, you hear?

Honestly, the first 'Great Cataclysm' was just okay. While there were many interesting Augments, the introduction of the Set system created 'meta builds' even in a chaotic game mode like Arena. I honestly lost motivation when facing games where people just rolled snowballs the whole time, or where a single auto-attack meant missiles would fly at you until you died.

Then came the second Great Cataclysm: the removal of the Set system and the introduction of Skill-enhancing Augments. Even before the update went live, countless testimonials on YouTube filled the feed. Blitzcrank firing five hooks at once, knock-ups that keep you airborne until you die. My expectations were through the roof. A veteran gamer can only hope for victory when things go from 'a bit much' to 'completely absurd.

What, it's less absurd than I thought?

I logged in as soon as the patch dropped on the 10th. My heart was pounding—what kind of absurdity would greet me? Sure enough, as soon as the game started, Skill-enhancing Augments were there. Augments that increase damage or reduce cooldowns upon completing quests, Augments that heal you every time you crowd-control an enemy, and the long-awaited Multi-shot.

My character was Xin Zhao, the 'Vietnam Hello' who recently became a zombie warrior thanks to the rise of the Statikk AP build. My first Augment was 'Haste Pursuit' for my E skill. What does it do? It drastically reduces the skill's cooldown every time you hit it. Since Xin Zhao needs to stick to targets to do anything, it was a reasonable choice.

But alas, a bug. For some reason, the quest wasn't counting. Whether I hit with W and dashed in, or just landed the hit, the quest counter wouldn't budge. And so, I started the game having effectively wasted my first Augment. I managed to win somehow, but the Skill Augments didn't have as much impact as I'd expected.

The next game, the Malphite on my team was weighing his options. He had the classic AP Malphite staples: 'Eureka' and 'Ultimate Awakening.' The third option was 'Fleet Footwork,' which lets you dash forward when using your E. Torn between the classics and the fun of the unknown, Malphite chose the fun—and less than a minute later, he shouted, "This is trash!"

There are more traps than I thought. After playing nearly twenty games, it hit me: the 'singularity' moments don't happen as often as I expected. Compared to before, it's become quite mild.

The Skill Augments themselves have fun and powerful effects, but they aren't necessarily stronger than the existing Augments. Malphite would have been much stronger with Eureka or Ultimate Awakening than with Fleet Footwork. My Xin Zhao might have been more effective with a different Augment, too.

Of course, there are cases where they are incredibly effective. A Syndra who is already easy to stun with, taking 'Hungry Binding' to heal every time she lands a stun, made trading damage impossible. But that's about it. The Blitzcrank who chose Multi-shot for his hook was annoying, but I could just tell myself he was a friend who was good at landing hooks. Without super-powerful Augments and with the Set system gone, the game feels quite flat compared to the first Great Cataclysm.

Because of this, it's not easy to see the 'absurd singularities' you see in YouTube Shorts. Since most of the previous Set systems were moved to separate Augments, they aren't gone entirely, but the number of selectable Augments has decreased, capping the potential for power. Compared to the first cataclysm, there's less unfairness, but it's also harder to become insanely strong. It's possible if the Augments align perfectly, but with more options, the number of variables has increased, making that even harder.

Singularities are rarer and slower to arrive, and the tempo has slowed down

Because of these changes, the game tempo has slowed significantly. Previously, it wasn't rare for a singularity to occur before you even had two items. It's not that the old playstyles are impossible—the 'slow and steady' Jayce is still viable. But with more Augment options, the chance of 'slow and steady' appearing has dropped, and without the Set system, the 'rolling snowball' of pinball-like combos isn't what it used to be.

You could do it if you tried, but there are more hurdles now, and even if you do, it's not as strong as before. This change has led to a shift in the overall game tempo. As those who have played Arena know, there used to be situations where you couldn't turn the game around no matter what—like an enemy who got the perfect 'Gambler' roll and became infinitely strong, or a 'Steel Heart' tank-engine Mundo who died in one hit.

These types of monsters appear very rarely now. In other words, it's not easy for me to become that strong either. As I mentioned, it's become very difficult to get that picture-perfect Augment combination, and since the Set system is gone, you have to sacrifice an Augment slot just to get the old Set effects.

As a result, the average game time has increased quite a bit. It feels like it's about 2–3 minutes longer on average. Since it's rare for the enemy to be overwhelmingly strong, people rarely lose heart and surrender before level 15, and conversely, since it's hard for our team to get that strong, the enemy rarely gives up either.

One other change is that more players are picking 'Tanks.' Even before, tanks with good Augments were nearly immortal, and if the enemy damage dealer hit a singularity, their presence would vanish just the same—but at least it's more fun now. Tanks that relied on skills now have the potential to drastically reduce cooldowns with 'Haste Pursuit,' and with more ways to close the gap using 'Fleet Footwork' or 'Coup de Grace,' playing a tank has become more enjoyable. Do you know a Mundo who has maxed out his pressure cooker? He's incredibly strong.

Anyway, while the overall power level has dropped and the game flow has become looser, the balance is better than before. There are fewer cases where one thing becomes too strong and breaks the game, and fewer one-sided matches where one team surrenders before the mid-game. It might be different once all the 'Arena Set 2' features are unlocked, but that's the current state of things.

But it's still fun. That's what Arena is.

If the first Arena was fresh and the first update added variations, the second update brought stability. I thought it would be chaos with so many new things, but because the Set effects were moved to separate Augments, the ceiling for power was lowered, preventing one-sided games.

If you were to ask, "So, has it become less fun?" the answer is no. The game mode is still fun. While the "fun of winning" by single-handedly taking down all five opponents might not be what it once was, the increased number of variables has led to a greater variety of fun, situational moments within the game. Nidalee, who used to lose her presence once the mid-game hit and everyone's movement speed increased, now has more utility as she can scatter spears like a bombardment. Similarly, supporters, whose impact often waned in the mid-to-late game, have also seen their utility increase thanks to augments like "Encourage" or "Spirit Bomb."

Q-max Vayne or Uppercut Blitz, which used to require forced setups to be usable, have gained viability with the arrival of 'Bonk!', and immobile champions who gained ways to reduce the cooldown of their dash skills have found the momentum to counterattack instead of just being beaten one-sidedly.

It's been only a day since the patch. I still have a lot of research to do. That's how Arena is. I've long since passed 1k games, but I still occasionally see builds that are unfamiliar or unexpected. It's not rare to press the Tab key, think, "Why is that so strong?" and have a realization.

Right now, it looks like a more stable and moderate change compared to before, but who knows what will happen in a few weeks? Who knows if some unexpected, broken builds will be discovered, leading to another festival of absurdity? Even so, what hasn't changed is that it's still fun.

Teens find it fun, people in their 20s find it fun, I find it fun in my late 30s, and even my coworker couple in their 40s play Arena every night. Our unconventional national pastime that everyone enjoys.

Steel Heart tank-engine dropkick, let's go