The 2022 Asian Games are set to kick off soon, but it seems like the League of Legends tournament is turning into more of a joke than anything else with specific rules and formats.
The 2022 Asian Games are fast approaching. The even is scheduled to kick off on September 23 and go until October 8, 2023. This year, League of Legends esports will be a medal event and the stakes are higher than ever for some of the players.
This event could help solidify esports with the general public, but some of the decisions that have been made surrounding the League of Legends esports part have fans questioning whether this sport is even being taken serious by the organizers.
LoL Asian Games 2022: Issues With Patch
The 19th Asian Games Sport Technical Handbook has been released, in which fans can read through and familiarize themselves with the rules of the sports that will be taking place at the event.
It also gives players a chance to review if needed. In the handbooks it is also revealed which League of Legends patch the tournament will be played on. As with most leagues, a single patch, even if newer ones come out, will be used for one tournament.
For example, LoL Patch 12.18 was the Worlds patch in 2022 even if Patch 12.19 came out right at the start of the tournament. Well, the patch for the 2022 Asian Games is going to be LoL Patch 13.12.
According to the 19th Asian Games Sport Technical Handbook for ESPORTS, League of Legends matches will be played on patch 13.12.
— LPL Fanclub (@LPLfanclub) September 5, 2023
LPL was playing 13.12 for the last three weeks of the Summer Season Regular Split (Jun 26th-July 17th).#LPL #AsianGames pic.twitter.com/jjwFyX9vub
Wait... what? This was a patch which the LPL used for their final three weeks of the Summer Season, which means it's a patch from around June and July.
This has some fans pretty upset, since the meta has shifted drastically since then and many players played on a complete different patch throughout their playoffs and will have to perform on a completely different patch at Worlds 2023.
Problems With 2022 Asian Games Format
Another issue is the format. It has been revealed that the format during the knockout rounds is going to be best of three all the way to the finals. Many fans believe that this is not the right way to go about such an important event, with many wishing that at least quarterfinals, semifinals and grand finals would be best of five series.
Fans have been pretty vocal about their dislike for the format, but we will likely have to wait another three years to see whether the Asian Games committee makes any changes.