Riot opens first League Classic Council poll through September 2

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Riot has opened the first Council poll for League Classic, giving players a direct say in a few early decisions for the nostalgia-focused mode. The poll runs in the League client from August 26 through September 2, and players can change their answers before voting closes.

Riot says it will share the results later in patch notes. Not every question is binding, though. Some are meant to measure how players feel about the mode, while others will feed into actual changes.

The big theme is the tension League Classic was always going to run into: how old-school should it really be? Some players want the mode to stick as close as possible to older League, warts and all. Others like the slower pace and older systems, but don’t necessarily want to lose every modern quality-of-life feature.

  • Riot is asking whether Classic matches feel too short, too long, or about right.
  • Players can weigh in on when a game starts feeling too long, with options such as 30, 40, 50, or 60 minutes.
  • The poll asks whether old items like Zz’Rot Portal, Cloak and Dagger, and Moonflair Spellblade should return.
  • Any of those items that gets more than 50 percent support will be added.
  • Riot is also asking about modern touches like jungle timers, base gates, ward trinkets, and even which river critters should appear.

The item vote is probably the most concrete part of the poll. Zz’Rot Portal, in particular, would bring back a very specific kind of side-lane pressure that some players remember fondly and others may be happy to leave behind.

The quality-of-life questions are more complicated. Jungle timers and trinkets make the game easier to read and less punishing for newer or returning players, but they also move Classic further away from the older version it’s trying to evoke.

For now, the Council looks like Riot’s way of testing where the player base actually lands, rather than relying only on social media and streamer feedback. League Classic doesn’t seem like it’s being treated as a museum piece, but Riot also isn’t throwing the doors open to every modern feature by default.

Further reading: Official League Classic Council post