New System, Not So Bad

Now I know how this is going to go. I can see the forums with my own eyes and the flood of "THIS NEW SYSTEM SUCKS GIVE US MORE BLUE ESSENCE REEEEEEEEE" so I'm sure that this is going to get mass downvoted because it's clear that not many people are on my side.

But I'm just going to put out some facts here.

The new Rune/Mastery System:

After having gone through the experience of a new player I can say it was horrible. Since a very low level I have been getting matched with players who not only had their keystones, which is a major advantage over players who don't, but they ALSO often times were level 30 with most likely, full rune pages.

Do you think it's fair for me as a jungler with barely any runes, hardly any masteries, and the runes I do have are just the second tier runes, while the enemy gets a Master Yi with a full 45% attack speed rune page? No, it's not fair at all and gives a huge advantage. LoL is the only MOBA I know of where your out of match level gave you advantages ingame. I don't know much about Dota so I'm not sure if it has anything like that, but I know for a fact that neither Smite nor HotS have any such advantages. So yeah, I'm just going to suggest that having access to full power masteries and runes is a huge step up and puts everyone on a level playing field.

However, I will say I agree that it sucks to have paid for all your runes and now get nothing in return. I feel like they screwed over players who bought their runes, and tried to cover it up by dropping the price of all runes down to 1 each for the few weeks leading up to the change.

Blue Essence Rates:

So now onto the complaints about Blue Essence. People are reporting very low numbers of blue essence gains. I saw one post where someone claimed to have played for 15 hours and opened enough of the loot capsules to get like 5 skin shards, and they complained about how they only added up to like 470 essence. I think you guys need to realize that when you open these capsules, the minimum amount of blue essence you can get is 720. Riot already decided to buff this to 810.

Now, I haven't quite noticed whether you only get blue essence from disenchanting shards in the capsules, or if you actually get blue essence from capsules as a drop itself. However, if you read the post here: https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/Jh3Mtzu6-board-post-title-blue-essence-earn-rates-learning-the-numbers-with-carl-and-henrietta Then you will see a lot of useful information. So one of a few things is happening: People who don't fully understand how the system works are lying to try and make their point further, claiming they got shards that don't actually drop from the capsules such as shards for champions who cost 450 essence. Or, people are simply not noticing that they are being given blue essence from the capsules, and believe that you only get it from disenchanting the shards. I can't be sure which it is, but I can tell you that the post I linked above clearly says that the minimum amount of essence you can get, is 810 from a capsule.

There are other things to look at however. You can't just look at how much IP you get versus how much BE you get. Because now you get many more champion shards. These champion shards make it easier to unlock higher cost champions. As the post above says, you can get a shard for a 6300 cost champion. If it's a champion you want or might want down the future, you have just basically gotten 2520 essence towards that champion, because that 6300 cost champion, with that shard, now only costs you 3780 essence. This isn't going to be the case with every capsule, but it is a possibility.

People are also trying to compare this system to Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm, because those Blizzard games also have a loot box system. People are complaining that the system can't work because matches in LoL last a lot longer.

Couple things here, first off stop comparing this system to Overwatch. I know Overwatch was the first big game to do this, but there is literally no relation. Overwatch is a buy to play game where their loot boxes can be bought with real money instead of only being earned from playing the game, and the loot boxes give purely cosmetic rewards that are entirely RNG based, while every single playable character in the game is unlocked as soon as you buy the game. So please, stop comparing the system to OW, there is no comparison.

On to Heroes of the Storm. Yes, games do generally go quicker in HotS. Average match length is about 15-20 minutes in that game, whereas matches in LoL as people have pointed out, often times can last 40+ minutes. That's not to say however that they can't also last only 15-20 minutes. You also need to keep in mind, and this is from the perspective of a HotS player, that in that game loot boxes drop more than playable characters. In HotS, loot boxes more often than not hold: Skins, voice announcers, emotes, sprays, voice lines for your characters to say ingame, mounts, flags... I think you get the idea here. If you don't get a hero from a loot crate in HotS, you aren't going to barely make any progress towards buying one with currency. Because loot boxes in HotS don't give gold, which is what you need to buy heroes. More over, HotS has far less characters, and most people who play it actively already have every single hero unlocked. Because unlocking a character in HotS isn't as big of a deal as it is in LoL. Especially when every character in HotS is pretty much a rip off of a character from LoL or Dota. I played HotS next to my cousin, an avid Dota 2 player, and she named off every character that was ripped off to create the kit of a HotS character.

And what's more, if you are just trying to save up for every single champion, just buy the mystery champion. 3950 blue essence and you will get a champion worth, minimum, 4800 essence.

I'm just saying, it's not nearly as bad as everyone is making it out to be. Go buy an xp boost if you think it's so bad. Riot has to make their money somehow.