I, in agreement with at least a few other people who I've seen posting on /r/leagueoflegends, worry a little bit that LoL might get to the point of having too many champions. Not too many champions for current players to keep track of, but too many for new players to be able to keep track of as they try out the game for the first time.

I joined only in August of 2011, not very long ago, yes, but many characters have been released since then (26 if you count Zed). Even with the much smaller pool of champs then I was almost completely overwhelmed by how much there was to the game, especially how many champions there were.

The only reason I didn't drown in information was that I had a friend tutoring me closely on the game pretty much completely from lvl 1 to lvl 30.

Had I not had his close help I probably wouldn't have stuck with LoL. And that was then.

LoL's accessibility is part of what has made is such an overnight and huge international success. If the game gets too much more complex then the game will begin to stagnate in drawing in new players, especially if they try the game without help from someone who seriously knows what they're doing.

Besides, once the game begins to get to that point of having too many champions, whenever that is, I think the idea of having retired champions could be really cool. Players retire from sports and it's sad to see them go, but it also helps in building their legacy.

Plus it could open things up for like bringing retired characters out of retirement for a tournament or something. Have a legacy tournament once a year where only retired champs are played. It could add more feeling of tradition and heritage in the game while managing the total champion pool for the "real" tournaments like season championships.

I grew up following Lakers basketball, and sports tastes aside, the feeling of watching a new generation of players while my parents watched in the legendary Magic Johnson vs Larry Bird era added its own charm and wonder to the games that I was watching.

Hearing older players reminisce "Oh man, remember when Ryze was around and would steamroll games after 35 minutes?" or "Dude, my Jax was unstoppable" would only add a mystique for new players as the game they would be beginning to play would have a much greater feeling of history to it.

TL;DR: I think LoL might eventually have too many characters for new players to be able to try the game without being overwhelmed. Retiring champions at some point could keep the game accessible to new players while adding a feeling of legacy to the game. Also could add possibility for "Retired Champions Only" tournaments for that extra nostalgia.