TFT: Dragonlands Learnings

In anticipation of the next TFT set, Riot has posted a dev blog where they analyze the previous set and talk about what worked and what didn't to see how they can improve the game going forward.

Variance and Novelty

The Dragonlands seed succeeded with unit design by having fewer reprints but failed in terms of variance, which will be fixed going forward by traits and more twists to existing systems.

Item Systems Pain Points

The new Treasure Dragon that was introduced solved some issues but it was temporarily related to the Dragonlands set. Going forward, Item Anvils are introduced which will let you choose from a number of full item or component options.

Spatulas and Emblems

The current set had too many crazy compositions and so these will be tuned down to stop situations that can completely change the flow of the game from happening.

Augments

Since Augments are here to stay for a long time, Riot is committed to increasing the focus and resources to keep them fun and better balanced.

Next set plans

Moving forward, systems, traits, or champion mechanics won’t limit your ability to consider combinations in the team-building part of the game. Riot is also taking a long break from 2-slot champions in TFT since they hindered the ability to build compositions.

The devs also gave a comment regarding the reward of economic traits in Dragonlands, saying that they realized that they warped the general flow of the early game and that they’re going to focus more on designing economic traits around the cashout philosophy (one big burst of econ power).

Set 8 will arrive with Patch 12.23 in a couple of weeks on December 7.