It looks like Leona is going to blow past the mid-week release point, despite Riot’s plan to release her early this week. The European servers are scheduled to get Friday’s balance changes tomorrow morning. The patch will not include Leona, similar to the NA patch, due to stability concerns. Once Riot believes the servers are stable they’ll set Leona live on both realms.

It’s really been a bummer to see Leona delayed for so long. The game hasn’t changed in a significant way in quite some time, so champion releases are really what drive my interest in the game. Leona’s delay has definitely been a bit of a letdown.

I understand that stability has to be the number one concern, I just wish Riot could give us a little more detail. Leona doesn’t seem to have any new tech, so what about her impacts stability? Does she not interact well with other features that are being slowly patched in? Is this patch a preparation for something much bigger from Riot headquarters? Communication is key, especially now that we’re between seasons. I think Riot would do well to build hype for new features and communicate as much about any delays or problems as is possible. With several other MOBAs on the horizon, now is not the time to let the game and the player base go stagnant.