Riot Disables Champions due to Major Bug
Riot has announced that they will be disabling Gragas, Lux, and Ziggs for the remaining games of the Worlds tournament. A bug has been discovered in one of their spells that prevents the second part of the spell from triggering. Rather than applying hotfixes that could cause more problems, Riot has decided to completely disable these champions.
Impact on Strategy and Pick-Bans
These changes will greatly impact the strategy and pick-bans of the remaining teams in the tournament. While Lux and Ziggs may not currently be considered meta picks, Gragas, Elise, and Rek’Sai have been influential in the jungle pick-ban meta. It is disappointing that these bugs were not discovered during testing for the Worlds patch.
Missed Testing Opportunities
This bug was initially reported in August, before the Worlds patch went live. A Rioter acknowledged the bug but stated that they were unable to reproduce it reliably. Having a sandbox mode would have made it easier to detect and reproduce bugs like this. Players have been asking for a sandbox mode to practice in a controlled environment, which could help in finding and fixing issues.
Letting Players Help with Bug Detection
Riot’s testing realm, the PBE, is not a sandbox mode and does not provide the controlled practice environment that players desire. By giving players a sandbox mode, Riot could inadvertently involve them in bug detection and improve the overall quality of the game.
The lack of testing and the difficulty in reproducing bugs like this has led to the need for champions to be disabled in the tournament. Allowing players to contribute to bug detection through a sandbox mode could help prevent similar incidents in the future.
Related Riot, Worlds tournament, bug, disabled champions, Gragas, Lux, Ziggs, strategy, pick-bans, meta picks, jungle pick-ban meta, testing, sandbox mode, practice, bug detection, PBE, quality of the game.