League’s new loading screen is finally on its way

League of Legends’ loading screen has been the same for a very long time. In fact, it’s basically looked the way it currently does since the game’s launch. Thankfully, the cold, static loading screen is soon to be a thing of the past as Riot is preparing to put the game’s new and improved loading screen onto the Public Beta Environment, now that the preseason is out the door.

As Riot has discussed in the past, this new loading screen is going to have quite a few improvements over the old version. It will still include the familiar visuals players know, like splash arts and summoner names, but it will also include a new sidebar with quite a bit of new information on it.

The sidebar will include a small information panel about jungle monsters and things like that as well as a reminder of the map/game mode you’re playing. More importantly, it will include the lobby chat which will carry over from champion select and allow you to continue talking to your teammates and planning your upcoming game. Also new to the lobby will be the inclusion of in-game voice chat, but don’t worry, it’s still exclusive pre-made parties, so you won’t have to talk to random strangers.

All of these loading screen changes are just preliminary for now, since they’re on the PBE, but they should be finalized and on their way to the live game sometime in the next few weeks.