Despite a lot of hype for the upcoming release of Arcane season 2, the new ARAM map has been heavily criticized by the LoL community. Let’s see why.
Image Credit: Riot Games
The new Arcane ARAM Map struggles with clarity
Released on November 6, 2024 with the debut of patch 14.22, the new ARAM map, Bridge of Progress, has been revamped with a series of Arcane-themed. Several features have been added, including Piltover and Zaun-themed buffs, new shopkeepers, new bushes, an extra side lane on the bottom side of the map, and much more.
That being said, several players have been complaining about the new map, raising a series of issues they have been encountering while playing the map.
Most of them have struggled with the visual clarity, sharing that there are too many things going on that are not clear. On top of that, the game balance has been shifted heavily with the implementation of speed shrines, making certain champions much more powerful than others.
With the additional lane, players will now have also to watch for flanks which defeats the whole purpose of having ARAM in the first place. The sizing has also been changed, causing major consequences to the whole dynamic of the game.
Poke team compositions seems to be favored given the snowball effect and the terrain which is restricted once the first turret is taken down. Paired with the buffs and rewards, the comeback potential for teams playing from behind is basically non-existent.
Riot addresses the new map
While the discontent continues, Product Lead on League of Legends game modes Eduardo “Riot Cadmus” Cortejoso has given an update on the issues: “We’re aware of the concerns you’ve noted on both gameplay clarity, performance and some balance concerns for each side of the map,” he said.
According to him, Riot will be addressing some of the major outliers in the next patch, sharing an exact changelist at the start of next week.
“You may see some changes we’ll be testing to address clarity concerns in the near future on PBE. Just to set expectations – these will be tests are VERY subject to change – we’ll share out the final update once we’re ready with tests,” he added.
Arcane season 2 is going live on Netflix in three acts on Nov. 9, 16, and 23 at 9 am CET time.