Reign of Gaming

"Novelty is a transient good. Novelty for the sake of Novelty is not worth it. Proper execution of superior gameplay is always better than seeking novelty for the sake of novelty."

What a crappy excuse for not doing more maps. A more direct and honest answer would have been much appreciated, like:  "we won't do more maps because it takes a lot of work, and we wouldn't see a coin out of it. We can't think on a succesful way of selling new maps, because it would mean that players who own certain maps can't play with players that don't own them and therefore ruining all our current matchmaking system."

That's the answer they don't wanna give. And by the way, I'm seeing a lot of confusion about what a new map means. A new maps doesn't mean a new gameplay. As l3rowncow said, we could have 5vs5 map but with a different theme and different structure. Bushes in other spots, impassable terrain aka walls or tree lines situated differently, etc. 5vs5 but not on summoner rift. You can play 5vs5 on a icy tundra map, on a volcano and lava themed map. But now you know why they won't do it. How would they sell them without creating a big issue with the matchmaking? Queues would take more time. If they create a map as succesful as SR, then queue time would be doubled. Plain simple as that.

I like Summoner's Rift. I hate Twisted Treeline, and Dominion. I like the ARAM map for fun but when you wanna actually PLAY League of Legends, its Summoner's Rift all the way.

I like what they do for seasons, and maybe giving Summoner's Rift a visual makeover more often would be cool, but other than that, other maps would just be for fun.

Just because there aren't really any maps besides SR which are currently very competitive doesn't mean that Riot couldn't make a good, competitive map in the future.

Incorrect. By the very nature of competitive gameplay, Riot would only be able to maintain one competitive map.

while i see what you are saying and it makes sense, what if they made it so that the new maps where practically the same, and the same strategies could apply on ALL of them, but the basic layout was different? like what if all they did was move the ramps and maybe move the wraith and wolf camps a bit, while changing the look of the map obviously. that would allow for a new map without too much change in actual strategy, but also stlil give the feel of a new map. for example, starcraft has hundreds of maps, but at their heart, all maps can have the same general strategies applied (yeah i know island maps are dumb, and every map has their quarks, but ultimately the same stuff works) i would call starcraft a fairly (read EXTREMELY) competitive game. just spitballin here.

SC2 and LoL gameplay should not be directly compared like that. They are fundamentally very different games.

This is what riot is saying they won't do. If nothing important changes, what does the new map bring other than the transient novelty? I don't play dominion much but it is a meaningfully different experience to SR; same goes for ARAM. The 3v3 map is less different, but the different number of players is significant. I wouldn't mind seeing a 4v4 map, or a 6v6... but a 'new look' summoner's rift with minor quirks is something I can live without out.

(That said, it's hard to argue that skins are anything but a novelty either, but they're the money makers)

then we will never see another competitive map that could be maintained. o well :(

I second FinalValkyire. 

I should note I'm a bit of an elitist jerk. I would be happier if Twisted Treeline and Dominion were completely removed from the game. I think they breed bad habits, among other things. Summoner's Rift is the map, and there is nothing that will compete with it. This will never happen of course because people like these maps. Go enjoy them, but I personally do not care for them at all. 

I used to really want other maps. I played a lot of Dominion when it first came out. I competed on a team in the NESL Dominion tournaments even. I thought it was the future. And I very quickly realized that Dominion was fast and fun. That was it. It lacked depth. It was and still is a very imbalanced map. It's a bruiser circle jerk and that's not my cup of tea. It teaches horrible habits in regard to summoner's rift. 

I was super happy about the Proving Grounds. I love ARAM! It's fun. I still like Proving Grounds every once in a while, but Xypherous said what I couldn't put my finger on, and I agree 100%: Novelty is a transient good. 

If any map changes are done (and I think some should be), it should be essentially new "skins" for Summoner's Rift, but on a far more epic level than has been done with the Winter or Halloween themes. The map should be reskinned for each major city state. Summoner's Rift: Frel'jord should be winter like, but have different monsters (with identical stats and buffs). Viking themed, with bloodied battlegrounds, icy craggy mountains and part of Gragas' huge ass brewing factory instead of trees in various places. Make one for Zuan with buildings and chemicals everywhere, etc. We need this kind of lore immersion. In fact. . . . <heads to the Leagueoflegends.com general discussion forum>