It has been more than 15 years since League of Legends hit the market, fast becoming the number one MOBA and the world’s leading competitive game. It might seem bizarre to some, but after all this time, Riot Games is preparing to introduce a new WASD-based control scheme, after more than a decade and a half of using a point-and-click operating model.
This news was dropped in a recent update from Riot Games that included information about the future of the game. It was pointed out that this WASD control scheme will be introduced first in testing.
All These Years Later
In a recent 13-minute video shared to discuss the most imminent and important updates to League of Legends, Riot Games lifted the lid on a dramatic test that’ll allow players to use WASD to directly control their Champions for the first time.
The team said:
We’ve found that a lot of new or returning players struggling with League’s controls early on. Click to move just isn’t the sort of control scheme they’re used to and it puts a lot of people off, including many that we believe would otherwise really love the game.
So, we’re introducing WASD as an alternate control scheme to help get new players to the fun parts of League faster and with less friction.
It was revealed that WASD for League of Legends has been under development ‘for a while’. It’s all about allowing first-time players to have a more intuitive journey as they try to break into one of the more complex games on the market.
Riot Games endeavours to make both ‘point-and-click’ and WASD movement schemes fully functional across all game modes, including Ranked.
For ‘the next few patches’, WASD will be introduced to PBE (Public Beta Environment), and it will evolve based on player feedback before drifting to other game modes across the full version of the game.
Do you think you’ll prefer to use WASD in League of Legends? Let me know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming forum.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Resident Evil Requiem gameplay will be shown at Gamescom
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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