Updating the client using new technology actually requires us to rebuild all of the legacy client’s feature from scratch. We’ve rebuilt the lobby, the store, champ select, the friends list, clubs, your profile pages, all of it. We had to go through and remake these features one by one. Even this month we’ve still been working our way down the list, finally re-launching friend spectate, gifting notifications, and rotating game modes.

When we first began work on the client update, we had to decide what order to build things in. Some features naturally fell to the bottom of the list based on data we gather about which client features players actually use. The features at the bottom of this list were public chat and the item set creator tool.

Those features likely won’t make it into the client during the beta, but that doesn’t mean we’re ruling out working on the features at some point in the future. Some players really like public chat and the item set creator, so it would make sense to rebuild them (or some improved replacement for them) in the future. All we’re saying now is that we can’t let those two minor features hold us in the beta. Remember, the longer we stay in beta, the longer we have to continue supporting both clients, which means tons of other work at Riot would get slowed down.

So, here’s your update on item sets and public chat: We can’t yet officially commit to rebuilding them because we haven’t finished the client beta. It just wouldn’t be wise to promise those features without actually having developers assigned to the task of creating them. That said, item set users should know that you still have access to the feature: item sets you’ve already made still work when you use the updated client. You’re also free to edit them by launching the legacy client—although you have to then launch a custom game using the champion with your created item set in order to save the item set file. It’s sort of janky, but it works.

We’ve heard players’ demands on this, so we’ll have more to say about our plans for public chat and the item set creator tool in the January edition of The Client Open Beta Update.

We’ll hang out in the comments below to answer any other questions you have!