In the most recent League of Legends patch (5.14), a new HUD was introduced that was fairly significantly different than the old one we’ve become accustomed to. It’s had its fair share of criticisms, and there has been strong sentiment expressed by players who like it, and those who don’t. Before really diving into my main point, in the interest of fairness, I would like to say that I do like the new HUD. It can be improved, and Riot Games is working on some fixes for it, but overall, I like the design. With that said, there’s no question in my mind that the following point is true:

The new HUD should absolutely NOT be used at the Season 5 World Championships.

The aforementioned issues, while not the main point of this article, were significant enough that the new HUD was disabled in ranked play. This means that Riot felt there was enough going on that when something as simple as ranked League Points are on the line, the old style needed to be in place to ensure fairness.

This kid is better than most of the player base

Now, I’m not going to make the obvious point about Worlds being more important than some solo queue games, as Riot intends to have those issues ironed out well before the international competition begins. Of course, it can be said that when a company believes all of the issues are gone, and when the player base agrees with that assessment, can be at two different points in time. Even so, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that the shiny new HUD will be ready to go for Worlds.

The real problem here is that since this new layout is quite different from the old one, it will certainly take some time to get used to. This isn’t simply a balance change where teams can coordinate and strategize; this is literally seeing the game (and information presented therein) in a whole new way. For some individuals, the transition can be very quick and seamless. However, for some, it will take a lot longer than that, and simply being unable to access vital information quickly can have an impact in game.

To make matters worse, as I mentioned earlier, the new HUD is disabled in ranked play. For most professional players, they keep their mechanics sharp by playing in ranked solo queue, the most competitive environment outside of 5v5’s. While it’s true that they’ll be able to use the new layout in scrims (since those are in custom games), their normal solo practice will now have to be in normal games, rather than ranked, if they’re attempting to get used to the new visuals. As anyone who has played both can attest, things are very different in normal games when compared to ranked play.

Let's not mess this up, what do you say?

I’ve seen the argument that since all pro players will have the same amount of time to get used to this, it makes it a fair playing field. This viewpoint is, to put it nicely, quite misguided. As I’ve already stated, different players will have varying lengths of time needed to become accustomed to the new HUD. Some might be completely comfortable by the time Worlds rolls around, while some might not feel that comfort level, and that can affect gameplay.

If you’re still not convinced, consider this: Despite the fact that the new Summoner’s Rift visual update went live before the Season 4 World Championships, Riot decided not to use it for the tournament. Although it was really just a visual change, it was enough that they were concerned it could affect gameplay, and therefore competitive integrity. This is the same issue, only now, the opposite stance is being taken. This is simply the wrong way to go about things. Given how often the phrase “competitive integrity” has been thrown around recently, it seems absurd that the new HUD will be in use during the Season 5 World Championships. I can only hope Riot Games realizes this, and does the right thing.