GoKawiilWhen League of Legends launched, Barack Obama was in his first year as president, the Black Eyed Peas dominated the airwaves and the iPhone 3GS was cementing Apple's status as a smartphone leader. Through all the years since, the game went without team-wide voice chat. Now, after 17 years, Riot Games is finally adding it.
League of Legends is a game where split-second coordination can make all the difference. But up to this point, its built-in voice chat was limited to premade groups: those that queued up together before a match. Starting with Patch 26.20, players in North America and Oceania can talk with everyone matched onto their team. The company says other regions, including Korea, Latin America and Brazil, may follow if the early rollout goes well. (Brazil and Latin America are separate regions on LoL's servers.)
How well it goes will largely depend on how Riot handles moderation. Will this truly lead to better planning, or just more venom? The company's first safeguard against the latter is an Honor requirement. Players will need to be Honor level 3 or higher to speak; everyone else is limited to listening. For those unfamiliar, Honor is League's behavior rating for players: it changes based on conduct and post-match voting. The company says it will keep refining the system to "better reflect in-game behavior."
Also on the way are "voice skins," which let you modify how you sound in chat. The company claims the voice effects will remain understandable during chaotic fights. Riot hasn't specified which skins will be available, but the game's cast of characters would be a logical assumption. Riot says the patch also brings better noise cancellation, faster connections and improved stability.
And how did the announcement go over with League of Legends' famously critical community? Let's say cautiously optimistic. "I'm glad they are giving voice chat a try," one user posted in the LoL subeddit. "It might not work out, but at least there was an attempt." Another added, "I'm optimistic voice chat will remind people your teammates are human and lighten the mood."
Elsewhere, Riot says LoL's next act will lean into music. The first music-related reveal is set to arrive tomorrow. Hardcore players can catch up on all the updates in the video below.