Riot recently announced that League of Legends would finally be getting a replay system. Replays are a core component of strategic games because of how effective they are at revealing mistakes you don’t catch in the heat of the moment. According to Riot, they had everything they needed in place to build a replay system for a while now, except for backpatching support – which allows you to play replays from past patches. Backpatching is now in place, and we can expect a first taste at replays this pre-season.
How the Replay System Works
Here’s what Riot has told us about how the upcoming replay system will function:
- Download your replay from the End of Game Screen or Match History.
- Watch Replays from the current patch using our new Replay Mode, with the functionality you’re used to from Spectator Mode.
- Find cool moments using the new Annotated Timeline, which marks major events like kills, takedowns of towers and inhibitors, and dragon/baron kills.
- Capture video clips of your in-game moments (“Highlights”) using built-in recording functionality.
- These Highlights will be stored on your hard drive (C:\MyDocuments\LeagueofLegends\Highlights) as a .webm video file. These files can be viewed by opening them in any browser that supports HTML5, and shared to social media alongside your cat gifs.
With all of those pieces put together, you’ll be able to quickly capture, save, and share your favorite moments on video to share whenever you want. Via Riot Games blog.
Replays Raise the Skillcap of an Average Player
Replays, like the recently upgraded ping system, are tools dedicated players can utilize to improve rapidly. Replays have been crucial to improving in RTS games like StarCraft for a long time. By being able to watch exactly how your game unfolded as an observer with access to complete information, you can identify recurring mistakes in your play and judge decisions made in game more effectively.
The effect of providing this feature to the millions who play League of Legends will result in higher quality League of Legends being played across the board, even accounting for casual players who may not be interested in reviewing their games.
We’re also probably going to see a lot more montages, so there’s also that.
Check out our article on how to analyze your League of Legends replays for tips, tricks, and more.