League of Legends is Removing the Level Cap, Reveals Plans for Rune Refunds

League of Legends made a series of massive announcements on Friday that detailed plans to reimburse players for past rune purchases, remove the level cap, and merge IP with Blue Essence.

In a 2-part post, the first being a video and the second being a Riot Pls post that explained more in-depth changes involving IP and loot boxes. Players have been waiting to see how the rune reimbursement would be handled after an announcement from Riot Games was planned for September, and to kick off the month, we have our first look at their plans for transitioning into the new Runes Reforged format.

IP is Merging With Blue Essence

In order to understand many of the other changes, it’s important to first know that IP will be a thing of the past soon. Come November, IP will be merged with Blue Essence and will go by the name of the latter, the new in-game currency that’s used to buy things in the store.

Champions and other items in the store that cost IP currently will be kept at the same price, but their costs will simply be converted to a Blue Essence value instead to reflect the change in currency. Likewise, champion mastery upgrades that previously cost Blue Essence will continue to do so, so all of players’ non-RP purchases will all come from Blue Essence.

“So, what about the blue essence currently in your inventory?” the announcement asks. “When preseason hits, we’ll scale it up proportionally (multiplying it by about 6.5 times) when calculating your new BE account balance. So if you already have 975 BE in loot, we’ll convert it into 6300 BE when preseason hits.”

The Level Cap is Being Removed

The second of the huge changes coming soon to League of Legends is the uncapping of players’ levels, meaning that players will no longer stop their leveling journey at level 30.

“Remember the level 30 cap?” the Riot Pls post read. “It’s gone, and it’s being replaced with a revamped rewards system that levels up with you. Instead of getting IP after every game, you’ll receive an unlocked chest—called a capsule—every time you level up. These capsules contain champ shards and blue essence, and if you hit special milestone levels, you’ll earn special rewards like gemstones or hella rare emotes.”

The removal of the level cap will allow players to continue their progression while shooting for promising new rewards on the way that’ll become more exclusive the higher that players climb. Ranked play will still be unlocked at level 30, however, so not everyone will be jumping right into competitive matches.

Plans for Rune and Rune Pages Reimbursement

While the other changes were largely unexpected for the preseason period, the plans for how players will be reimbursed for rune pages has been at the forefront of League discussions since the Runes Reforged system was announced. The refund plans have been revealed, and Blue Essence and rare skins are on the way for players who invested in the old runes system.

For players that spent IP on runes before the start of this season – that date being Dec. 7 of last year – each Tier 3 Mark, Glyph, and Seal that was purchased will net players 100 Blue Essence each. Each Quintessence that was purchased will give back 300 Blue Essence as well.

If you invested IP and RP into rune pages, there are plans for you as well. Pages purchased with IP will grant you 1500 Blue Essence each, and for every four rune pages purchased with RP, you’ll receive one Epic mystery skin for a champion that you own.

All Tier 3 runes will be reduced in price starting on Friday, but they won’t be refunded, so spend your soon-to-be Blue Essence wisely. But with all that Blue Essence being given back, players will need something to spend it on, and Riot has a plan for that as well.

Players Can Spend Blue Essence in a Limited Time Store

After converting the IP into Blue Essence, a special store will be open for a limited time where players can spend their new currency on a selection of items that include champion chromas, ward skins, and even some rare skins.

Currently called the Blue Essence Store, the store seems to offer quite a few different chromas from the brief preview that was shown above. The store is work-in-progress at the moment, so some of the items listed inside may change.

Some of the more interesting additions are the Gemstones that’ll also be available during the store for purchases, though the preview cuts off before their price is revealed. The rare Urfwick skin is also one of the special products that players can look forward to, but it’s unclear what other skins will be included.

The Full Video

For more clarification on the massive changes to runes and levels coming during the preseason, you can check out the full video from League of Legends lead producer New001. The producer has been keeping players updated on the changes with the Runes Reforged system throughout the transition, and the almost 8-minute video goes into great detail about the upcoming changes. 

Later in the month, the new runes will begin their testing phase on the PBE to bring tons of new powers and trade-offs with powerful Keystone Runes and other customizable options. New001 says that this next season might even feel “a lot like Season 1,” and that both players and the League team will all be learning together.

What Are Your Thoughts on the Changes?