League of Legends has held up pretty well over the years, but it's getting a little long in the tooth. So with the Summoner's Rift update working its way through the Public Beta Environment, Riot has decided that it's time to slap a fresh coat of paint on its older champions and skins.
It's a big job, obviously, and so it's not going to happen all at once, but eventually the update will cover just about every champion and skin released prior to 2013. The updated textures will stick with a "visual hierarchy" that's part of the overall Summoner's Rift update, which aims to focus attention on key areas like characters' heads and weapons. "At the highest level, we want to ensure that everything looks consistent," the studio wrote, "and that the art always adds to, rather than detracts, from gameplay."
Skins will also be updated, although in some cases the changes will only affect a character's default appearance. "An example of this is a metal shader that we’re adding to Orianna's base texture, which will not be applied to the skins at this time," Riot wrote. "This is being done opportunely where we see a chance to do justice to the character's core identity."
Riot also noted that the texture updates won't have any impact on the releases of the Champions Updates. The first batch is expected to roll out on the PBE at 10 PDT tomorrow, and the job is planned to be complete by the time the Summoner's Rift update goes live.
