Word just came in from Riot games that the League of Legends Season One start date has been officially announced.  The date will be July 13th and I for one am very excited.  This will take League of Legends from a casual game to a hard core game, for those who choose that path.

Below is a brief outline of the upcoming Season One updates:

• Ranked Games – Once Season One begins, summoners of Level 20 or above will be able to play in the ranked game system. At launch, ranked players will be able to join one of three queues: 3v3 Premade, 5v5 Premade, or 5v5 Solo. Players will receive an individual rating for each of these queues.
• Ladders – Once Ranked Play begins, players who choose to participate will have their ELO ratings displayed publicly on the League of Legends Ladder. On the ladder, players will be able to see how they stack up against the rest of their friends, peers and competitors. The ladder will be available on the LeagueofLegends.com as well as on the PVP.net interface.
• Draft Mode – Champion selection during ranked play will take on the form of a live draft. In 5v5 premade and 3v3 premade, the first phase of this draft process will provide the inviter of each team, who is automatically the captain, with the opportunity to ban the use of two Champions. Banned Champions cannot be selected for use on either team.After bans have been dispensed by both sides, the teams will begin the draft process. During ranked play, draft picks will be exclusive, meaning that a drafted Champion will not be available for play by the opposing team. The team who received the second ban will begin the drafting process by drafting a single Champion. Following that, the game will follow a 1:2:2:2:2:1 draft format for the 5v5 brackets and a 1:2:2:1 format for the 3v3 bracket.Initially Draft Mode will be available both in Ranked Play and in practice games. Normal Games will continue to utilize blind pick during champion selection.

• Improved Visual Styles – Many elements of the League of Legends Web site as well as the PVP.net interface will be updated with new art, graphics and animation. These updates will be brighter, more visually appealing and easier to use.

Having seen the new visual styling and examples of the draft system from E3, I can say that this will be well worth the wait.  As soon as I finish the massive download that is the full press release for this announcement, I’ll try and post up some of the more compelling images for those that are interested.

If you haven’t played but have wanted to check it out, click here and sign up.  It’s awesome!