League of Legends’ Pre-Season 2023 patch is here, and with it came a slew of changes to Riot's blockbuster MOBA. The Chemtech Drake has returned along with a new Chemtech Rift, all-new and all-adorable Jungle Companions, and a newly expanded ping wheel to make communications with your teammates easier.
But that only works if your teammates are actually present. To that end, patch 12.22 also updates League of Legends' AFK timers. Players will now receive warnings after 45 and 70 seconds of inactivity at the fountain. After 90 continuous seconds, the inactive player's team is able to initiate a game remake. Additionally, players that are inactive anywhere for 60 seconds receive an AFK warning.
While these warnings and timers might come as a relief to LoL players looking for consistent games, some are arguing that the timers are too short. A thread on the League of Legends subreddit (via DualShockers) notes how 60 seconds isn't quite long enough to avoid an AFK warning when playing Teemo and trying to stay invisible before the first wave of minions arrive. Some also griped about the AFK timer's presence in practice mode, where players are likely to take their time reading tooltips and item descriptions. A few even noted that the placement of the AFK warning could get a player killed if it were to pop up at the worst possible moment.
But if you're a hater of the new AFK timer, it doesn't sound like Riot is on your side. LoL producer Chris "Auberaun" Roberts responded in the thread, saying that it's "reasonable" to expect players to do something every 60 seconds.
"The pop-up is at around 60 seconds since your last input and it takes 90 seconds of no input to trigger a remake option, and we think it's a reasonable ask for folks to click something in a 60/90 second window," wrote Roberts. He admitted that Riot "could potentially move back the popup," but also that "thirty seconds for water should be fine."
In addition to the new AFK timer, LoL's automatic offensive chat system has received an upgrade. Riot is expecting as much as 20 times the number of penalties being issued, so be careful with what your words in the pre-season.