Brace yourselves, huge update(s) will hit soon, and all of that in the spirit of Harrowing. First, we have a new champion that will join the League, that is Elise, the Spider Queen. Then, a new and improved version of Twisted Treeline is coming out soon as well. And last but not least, a whole NEW MAP is coming out, some sinister place called Shadow Isles.

New skins will also soon be available, and a new addition to the League, skins for wards (That will go with the new art direction of the Shadow Isles and can be purchased with IP) and new summoner icons.

Be afraid.

@valrog: It probably isn't a new map. It could be a halloween skin for one of the maps or it may just be the new Twisted Treeline. Riot already complains about how it's impossible to balance the champions with the 3 maps they have and have heavily hinted that they have no intention of ever releasing a new map.

@Hunkulese: That's disappointing, a new map is the first interesting thing I've heard out of LoL in a long time.

@Hunkulese: Oh, right. It does look a lot like the new Twisted Treeline, but if that was the case, why give it a new name and act like it's a new thing entirely? Honestly, I wouldn't mind if it's just Summoner's Rift in different style (Also, if they just used the Summoner's Rift template, they could create a lot of maps without breaking the "balance").

I guess we'll see in time, but I hope that it won't be a holiday restricted like Harrowing Summoner's Rift and snowy Summoner's Rift.

I should start playing LoL again. I stopped due to the community, but I think the scars they gave me are beginning to heal. I really loved playing with friends, so this may be a great time to drop back in.

Dota player here, does LoL have different maps?

@Mr_Skeleton: There's a 3v3 map and a capture and hold map.

Dota player here, does LoL have different maps?

League has 4 maps.

Summoners Rift (5v5)

Twisted Treeline (3v3)

Crystal Scar (5v5 capture and hold)

And another 3v3 map which is just a straight bridge, but has different rules such as no item buying after you leave the nexus until you die, and the nexus won't heal you.

@Mr_Skeleton said:

Dota player here, does LoL have different maps?

League only has 4 different maps.

Summoners Rift: Basic 5v5s

Twisted Treeline: 3v3s

Crystal Scar: A circular capture point map for a gametype called Dominion

and Proving Grounds: 5v5 straight bridge map made for ARAM players.

But League generally has different variants of Summoners Rift depending on the seasons, which is what everyone is hoping this Shadow Isles thing is going to be. Hopefully that is exactly what it is.

Normally I would say, I have a 60MB connection and download it within seconds, but it's LoL, and we all know how shitty that downloader can be is.

If I still played League of Legends and still had friends who played League of Legends, I would be all up on this. Sadly, neither of those are true and playing out-of-practice, by myself, with teams consisting of the worst people imaginable does not tickle my fancy one bit.

1. @valrog: The Shadow Isles are a particular region within the world in League of Legends, much like Demacia, Noxus, and Ionia. It's the home of Yorick, Mordekaiser, Karthus, Evelynn, Hecarim, and now Elise.

2. Twisted Treeline is not just getting a new look, but it is being completely reworked. The overall changes should allow for more champs to be viable in 3s matches while also allowing it to be on the same competitive level as Summoner's Rift.

3. As Riot has confirmed through Reddit, this is the first in many massive updates coming for the game. They are also doing the following: reworking the entire rune system, reworking the mastery tree, new items and removing old outdated items, offering more item capabilities and build capabilities for support characters (as they've said they like the 0 CS metagame for supports), changing up the jungle in order to open up the possibilities of even more champs being able to jungle, and skins that go beyond just the champs themselves (as we're seeing with the ward skins in the Harrowing update).

@Sooty: Riot typically caps the downloads in order to make sure that it doesn't mess with their servers. Otherwise, trolls could be assholes and just uninstall/redownload constantly to fuck with the connection in games.

@ArbitraryWater: Things are actually getting better. With the introduction of the Honor system, I've had FAAAAAR less problems than before. Dare I say it - the community is actually using teamwork in the majority of my games...and then generally listen to pings...and don't troll as much. It's actually pretty nice. Don't get me wrong: there are still headstrong fuckstains in the game, but those are being weeded out pretty regularly now.

All I know...is Haunted Maokai, bitches!

@jakob187: throwin them mad sapling bombs yo!

@connerthekewlkid: I actually haven't played Maokai since the Christmas skins because I was so incredibly upset at how shitty that Festive Maokai was. I'm hoping they didn't fuck up Haunted Maokai. If so, then he's going to be staying on reserve. Honestly, I like playing Sejuani more. Too bad everything thinks she's so terribad for some damn reason. = /

@jakob187: Jungle and Mastery rework again? Also, just checked the LoLWiki and Twisted Treeline is now located in the Shadow Isles, hence the same art direction.

I hope this trend continues and I really hope that one day they'll have a map for every part of Valoran (Just imagine battling in Noxus or Ionia).

Hooray for going back and fixing the shitty jungle that everyone is used to now.

Hooray for a TTT that hopefully doesn't suck.

Hooray for new items and changes to crappy items.

Boo for changing masteries when they are awesome as is.

Hooray for runechanges? I seriously hope they don't touch my movement quints. I NEED THEM.

Update is cool, but I don't like that the ward skins aren't permanent and will (as of right now) be removed after the event ends. It's stupid, especially since some of them will only be available through RP, so after Harrowing ends, you won't have anything for your money.

Other than that, great new changes. Zombie Brand looks incredible (with Thriller dance) and I'm in desperate need of a good Maokai skin. Too bad it doesn't look like they bring back last year's skins, I need the Nidalee skin (because it's a new model and not the blocky default one) and Definitely Not Blitzcrank.

Also, as has been pointed out, the Shadow Isles are just a part of Runeterra and I seem to remember Riot wanting to push this region of their world a bit more. That's probably why they have that teaser site with champs from the Shadow Isles.

@BenderUnit22: From what I've read you can only buy the ward skins during the halloween event then when you activate them they only last a week, but you can stock up on enough to last a whole year by buying 50 odd in one go (which is their great hope) and then activating one each week.

Either way I'm not a fan. They should treat ward skins the same way they treat champion skins. Would people "rent" champion skins for a week?

i wish they would remove the rune system all together. sucks to spend all your gold on runes. then lvl up and have to buy better runes. i just want to buy heroes damnit.