League of Legends upcoming Team Builder queue moves into open beta this week

Throughout this week, Riot will be beta testing Team Builder mode for League of Legends. The new queueing system is designed to let players specify their preferential positions and champions ahead of a match, so that people can be distributed in a way that theoretically prevents arguments about the team dynamic. If it works, players will no longer be forced into vicious squabbles over who gets to be Teemo.

The test is taking place on live servers, and as such will be available in each region for 48-hours as part of a staggered rollout. First up are the RU and EUNE servers, starting later today. The tests will run until March 7th, and a basic beta schedule can be found over at the Team Builder official FAQ .

According to Riot, their long-term plan is for the system to take player experience into account. That could mean being matched up at different skill levels depending on whether you're taking on a role for the first time, or have previous experience with a particular champion. The system will also include a Captain mode, where players can build a specific team specification in mind. From there, the queue will look for other players wanting to try a specific configuration, encouraging experimentation that goes against the meta-game.

Thanks, Joystiq .

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.