With this latest update we are adding some Summoner progression. Here’s what this means to you and me:

First you’ll advance levels and accumulate Influence Points at a balanced pace, by playing games. Before we gave you enough experience to gain a level every win because we needed to test if the game worked at every level. Now you’ll gain levels quickly early on, but more experience will be required at higher levels. Influence Points couldn’t be used for anything, but now we’ll balance how many you get with what’s available to unlock. For instance, instead of just getting random runes, you can now use Influence Points to buy the runes you actually want (Woot)! 

Throughout the beta players have had access to every Champion so we could ensure testing was as thorough as possible. Also, as you know if you’ve been playing, some Champions are harder to use than others, and having all the Champions to choose from can be overwhelming your first few games. New players will start with 10 free champions available for play at any given time. The free Champions will be rotated regularly giving everyone an opportunity to try the new ones that we release.

You can unlock Champions and buy Runes at the Store (which is right next to the “Play” button just after you log in). Runes can only be bought with Influence Points, but Champions can be unlocked with Influence Points or Riot Points (which we’re giving everyone an allocation of). Using Riot Points you can also activate “Boosts” which will allow you to double experience (which helps you gain levels) or double Influence Points for a limited time.

To properly test the new progression, we’ll have to reset everyone’s progress and stats. This isn’t a decision we take lightly, but we really need your help in testing out the new Influence Point and leveling. After this we won’t be resetting progress until open beta begins near the end of October. 
Here are the changes we will make to test the new progression properly:

• Reset Summoners to level 1
• Reset players to 0 Influence Points
• Clear Rune Books and Runes owned
• Clear Masteries
• Clear stats (wins, losses and leaves)
• Addition of the store, where you can buy runes and unlock Champions
• Matchmaking rating will not be impacted

Here’s what this update will bring to you:

Rune Choice: Instead of getting random runes from a grab-bag, you will be able to choose the runes that make the most sense for your style of play in the store. You’ll be able to make trade-offs on the type and power of runes you want.

Influence Points have meaning: Players will be less likely to leave games now that there is a use for Influence Points. You will get the most Influence Points for winning a game, the second most for losing and a game, and you won’t get Influence Points for leaving a game. These changes allow us to punish people who leave the game early more effectively. We can also rollout rewards to people who help build our community and make playing League of Legends fun for everyone. In the future, we will be making additions to this system to reward players who contribute positively to the League of Legends community.

True Summoner Progression: We’re finally allowing you to build up your Summoner the way it is supposed to be leveled. Instead of getting random runes and leveling up all the time, you’ll be custom tailoring your character and advancing the way we’ve always intended.

Finally we’d like to thank everyone who has helped us so far by joining the Beta and testing the game. We hope you’re enjoying the game as much as we are so far, and we welcome your feedback.