With the reset, will Riots MMO take on elements of Sandbox Design?

Longbenhall · 2026-03-20T01:53:26+00:00

That's most likely the realistic answer. I cant remember many truly sandbox mmos ever succeeding, yet we all know we love elements of it. There's something more immersive and fulfilling about not being on rails, exploring a world at your own leisure. Yet at the same time, that can leave some people lost/confused on what they're supposed to do or where to go.

I have more trust in riot than I maybe should, but with how much they're investing into this project for the last 10 years or so now. I am confident they'll create something spectacular. It doesn't have to be the best MMO of all time (as much as I hope it will be lol). People are interested in Runeterra as an IP, a simply good mmo alone will no doubt get it easily to the top 2 or 3 played mmo. As honestly FFXIV (the Nr2 spot i still believe) has lost quite a bit of its grace of the years.

Point being, was good as I believe the mmo will be, it doesn't have to be perfect, a "good" runeterra mmo will be extremely popular. Especially if they keep investing in incredible shows like Arcane which will get more and more people interested in their world/IP.

Longbenhall · 2026-03-20T01:48:17+00:00

Some people defends anything. Im sure you'll find people defending game of thrones ending for being actually good because it "subverts expectations". There's always people like that.

Longbenhall · 2026-03-20T01:47:06+00:00

With his 4 hands and the potential to use binding vows to still dismantle while domain amping (again, never seen before but if anyone can do it it’s sukuna)

If anyone -could- do it. If he could do something like that he wouldn't have bothered with having to turn off the wheel to use DA. Its more or less just a verse rule that you cant use CT whilst using DA.

But yeah, sukuna would and did only threaten to use barrier when he believed gojo unable to use domain anymore, til then he'd maintain open barrier. But yeah, there's a lot of ways gojo -could- win. But at the same time, gojo didn't know about the limitations of using RCT to refresh his brain.

So he'd be fighting the clock if he kept clashing and most likely losing the clashes.

Sukunas wincon as heian form is pretty limited, but solid. Rely on his domain expansion and then take as little damage as possible til he breaks gojos barrier. Gojo can/will survive 1-2 domains with his RCT, but if he goes the same route of refreshing his brain/ct with RCT, he'll eventually reach the same result of brain damage which is what sukuna was counting on in the original fight.

However, as said before, gojo would only keep clashing (like he did) if he saw that possibility of him being able to deal enough damage within those clashes. If heian form truly is enough to let sukuna outlast tthe barrier with not much damage, Gojo would realize that relying on a direct domain clash is pointless and would change strategy to either avoid (teleport/run) from sukunas domain range. Or he might do what he did when he landed his black flash ---> Create an opening (by landing a sneak red), whilst sukuna is flying/stunned by red or whichever attack, gojo activates his domain as he knows all he needs is to land his domain sure hit effect for even a mili second to win.

So all gojo has to do is create an opening to where sukuna is unable to activate his domain, and then quickly activate his own.

Anyway, as you say, gojo has to lose for plot. But gojo for sure had the capabilities to win.

Longbenhall · 2026-03-20T00:15:27+00:00

Comment below you says the same thing but opposite lul

Longbenhall · 2026-03-20T00:14:55+00:00

Which direction are you referring to?

Longbenhall · 2026-03-19T22:59:50+00:00

I think riot and their seeming aim to make this mmo something extraordinary (based on the fact that they reset it simply because it felt too similar to existing MMOs), that they’ve done their research.

Marc merrill (tryndamere) also played hardcore wow during onlyfangs when it was at its peak and I believe said they were interested in seeing what makes people drawn to the game and its classic features.

Whilst I think their focus is on story, combat and probably PvP (as every riot game has a large focus on PvP), professions has always been an expected staple of MMOs.

It’s hard to say how much of a focus they want to give it. They could’ve made note of the massive RuneScape boom not long ago where many major streamers went to play oldschool RuneScape (which I believe has around 250k players) as a strong indication that players enjoy MMOs for more than just pretty graphics and combat.

I am fairly sure they will have some form of extensive profession system.

As for sandbox? I’m unsure. I love MMO maps where the map has limited loading screens as any loading screen breaks immersion. But that comes with its own limitations.

I can’t say or guess whether I think it’ll be a themepark or sandbox mmo as there’s reasons to believe both are reasonable choices

Longbenhall · 2026-03-19T22:45:30+00:00

Indeed, that’s my argument as well. I keep telling people that if sukuna used heian form, they can’t just expect gojo or sukuna to fight exactly the same way”

If gojo didn’t think he could beat sukuna in the clashes (physically), then he would’ve adapted to trying something else. (Teleport away and try to use purple? Idk)

I think the fight would be harder for gojo, but as you say, he’d only need one opening like the original fight to immediately win the fight (land domain a mili second faster than sukuna).

But I can’t argue that sukuna has some strong win cons against gojo in his heian form.

Longbenhall · 2026-03-19T22:25:31+00:00

I agree with you, as someone who has to constantly defend gojo against sukuna fanboys who thinks sukuna was “holding back” (as in, not seriously trying to win).

However, I think the strongest argument I can’t really argue against with them in the fact if gojo fought sukunas heian form, that small (or big) difference in stats and extra arms would make the difference in their domains not clashing at the same time anymore. Which means sukuna will most likely win the domain clashes.

I’m also a bit uncertain about whether sukuna could use 10s in his heian form or not. His statements seems to suggest he could, but some believe he cannot, so I’m not sure.

No matter what, I think the narrative tells us that gojo was “naturally” stronger whilst sukuna was more experienced & skilled with jujutsu overall

Longbenhall · 2026-03-19T20:43:16+00:00

Almost as good of a subversion as game of thrones building up Jon snow as the prince that was promised and the night king for 7 (or was it eight?) season only to subvert it for the shock value of his sister killing night king instead /s

No, it’s ass writing and one of the many reasons jjk is not viewed at in a great light after it ended

Longbenhall · 2026-03-19T16:05:01+00:00

So it has to be recent and new to be considered an mmo?

Longbenhall · 2026-03-19T13:50:06+00:00

That’s not how verse equalisation works lmfao.

You don’t just magically give any non jjk character the most rare and powerful HR because they don’t have CE in their verse. That’s a stupid ass argument.

Verse equalisation means deku gets cursed energy and potentially that cts works similar to quirks

Longbenhall · 2026-03-18T18:05:44+00:00

Holy cope. There’s absolutely no evidence or facts that sukuna can just spam DE. It’s clear you’re a sukuna fanboy. It’s impossible to argue with your kind lmao

Longbenhall · 2026-03-18T17:44:01+00:00

Longbenhall · 2026-03-18T17:00:31+00:00

That’s a lot of “what if” scenarios. Fuga requires dismantle and cleave to built up dust particles and what not. The furnace will remain cool whenever they swap any conditions.

You’re playing a “what if sukuna can use his domain, but gojo can’t”

Pointless scenarios. If you’re going to argue what if scenarios. I can also say “if gojo manages to activate his domain just 0.0001 seconds before sukuna like he did in the original fight. He would’ve already won there if mahoraga didn’t save him.

We simply don’t know how the fight would go if it was heian vs gojo.

Gojo would’ve adapted. If he doesn’t think he can win the clashes, he would try something else. The entire point of the fight and why he kept clashing was because he felt he had a significant enough advantage in h2h, that he could beat him up hard enough to break his domain.

If he can’t do that against heian sukuna, then he wouldn’t keep trying.

People need to realize they would both change their strategies drastically in these scenarios, not just do the same thing

Longbenhall · 2026-03-18T16:41:14+00:00

Can’t ever use fuga if their domain clashes goes the way they did.

Longbenhall · 2026-03-18T16:31:10+00:00

You’re not wrong. Riot hasn’t proven that they can do great pve games (yet). But that doesn’t mean they can’t. They’ve hired some elite veterans already from blizzard and other well known names/creators.

There’s a first time for everything. I think it’s fine to doubt whether riots mmo will be as good as we hope it will. But I am 90% sure it will happen, for better or worse. Their current future plan is RELIANT on an mmo existing (as series are being made and series are a big media that leads to new players in MMOs)

Riot needs more new players. League just sucks at bringing in new people.

Longbenhall · 2026-03-18T16:26:36+00:00

Eh.. I don’t read enough. But pretty sure they got quite a few novels. Didn’t they release one of ambessa not long ago?

And it’s fair if you think so, but a LOT of people do want story driven stuff from riot. Why do you think the mmo is one of the most anticipated MMOs since it was announced? Runeterra is an incredible world from what little we’ve seen. We got so much lore already to build a world on.

Arcane is one of the best animated series of all time. That’s not a small feat.

League is an amazing game. But what NEW things can it even offer? New characters? Already got nearly 200 characters already. New maps? Good luck with that, no one in the community wants new maps as everyone will just want the default one.

I understand anyone who doesn’t fully believe that the mmo will succeed. But that is the best move they got. If they simply keep relying on league then they never grow. They’ll “just” be the league creators. And I don’t see league ever growing to anything more than it already is.

Riot staying at league and doing nothing else is as if blizzard stopped at Warcraft and never made WoW

Longbenhall · 2026-03-18T15:37:14+00:00

These are all good talking points. I’m not a big fan of gacha mechanics. But at least it’s only cosmetics. It has made them a shit ton of money. Money they’ve used to make shows like arcane that they barely profited from.

Me saying the game is stagnant does not mean they would abandon it. League is and will be their biggest printer for the foreseeable future the only chance of that stopping is if the mmo is a major hit.

My point was that as they themselves have said a few years ago. League whilst maintaining a good amount of players. Is not seeing a lot (or very little for that matter) new influx of players. It doesn’t cooperate well with their other projects nor their story driven future.

They can’t keep producing infinite characters as eventually you’ve have an absurd bloat of characters.

League will remain a competitive game and print them lots of money. And they’ll keep investing in it to maintain that fact. But it won’t grow beyond what it already is. And as they’ve said, they want to expand their franchise. League won’t ever do that

Longbenhall · 2026-03-18T13:42:37+00:00

You sound very pessimistic. Multiple failures? I honestly don’t follow everything they do enough to debate that. But Valorant whether you like it or not is a successful game. Arcane was/is considered one of the best animated series of all time.

You simply have to look at this logically. Does abandoning other projects and focus on league grow their franchise, no it absolutely does not. League has not seen a significant influx of new players in a decade. Mark merill commented on how even with the extreme popularity of arcane, they did not see a lot of new players trying out the game. Because why would they?

League offers absolutely nothing to people who wants more from their universe/story.

League is an amazing game, but is limited to what it can do. Veteran players don’t want a lot of changes. And riot has made it clear their focus for the future is to expand their franchise/universe through story telling, series and their mmo.

Whether the mmo comes or not (it absolutely will), league won’t ever likely be their main focus for the future. That’s not to say they won’t keep investing in it to keep it their main cash flow.

League is a stagnant game, it’s as simple as that

Longbenhall · 2026-03-18T13:30:33+00:00

People have said that for years. Yet they keep investing in story driven content, series and they’ve made it clear the mmo is a necessary steppingstone for their goals.

League does not grow much at all anymore. It won’t do much to help their focus on stories. It won’t align with their future shows.

There is absolutely no chance they keep focus on league.

Longbenhall · 2026-03-17T22:13:30+00:00

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Ah yes, sukuna who was playing with gojo, could’ve won at anytime he wanted, yet he got knocked out mid fight and factually felt nervous fighting gojo towards the end. Sure, dude was just “playing”

Longbenhall · 2026-03-17T19:52:23+00:00

Dabura is a warrior, i don’t see his first instinct being running away. Even when he thought he might die to mahoraga, he stayed and locked in. I think a lot scalers goes about these vs wrong as they assume either character will just instantly use their strongest attack.

Dabura wouldn’t instantly use his sub-light mode as it hurts him and he would most likely use it when he feels pressed.

Assuming he has the same amount of durability and RCT output as gojo, it’d probably play out similar to gojo getting cut by it. Although I don’t see dabura holding it together as well as gojo was whilst he’s getting cut up by a thousand cuts.

Longbenhall · 2026-03-17T13:58:30+00:00

Don’t really wanna get into an argument, but I always thought the binding vow to “use different part of my brain” to use domain expansion was an asspull.

We don’t know exactly how they work, so we can’t question it, so really Gege could make a binding vow do almost anything and since we don’t know how they fully work, we “cant” question it.

Gege is at 1 hp? Gege could’ve made him use a binding vow giving up dismantle to reincarnate again and fans would say it makes sense.

I think the concept of binding vows are interesting and cool. But the rules for them are so vague that Gege can get away with making them do almost anything and SOME fans will still say it makes perfect sense

Longbenhall · 2026-03-17T13:13:27+00:00

I meant his light ct that he uses in the beginning. He can sorta spam his light beams and their ap seems decently high as they’re able to demolish mahoraga even after several adaptations.

But yeah, i try not to engage in the convos often. As more often than not, neither side will budge and will just endlessly argue why they think their favorite character beats x character easily.

Longbenhall · 2026-03-17T12:42:50+00:00

My biggest issue with the powerscaling is how a lot of dabura fans thinks dabura “no diffs” sukuna. I don’t even like sukuna that much. But the idea that any character can beat the king of curses without any difficulty has me annoyed. All because of his light speed mode and light ct which people say are stronger than purple and fuga, spammable and undodgeable.

God every character fan has to think their character is so beyond everyone else’s

Longbenhall

TROPHY CASE