Would it hurt Riot to give all new players 5 free champions?

Hrd2H1t·Dec 21, 2016·55 votes·2,538 views

What I'm referring to is that every account would get for free so they always have an easy champion for every role. I doubt anyone spends RP on these champions, anyways.

68 Comments

JavelinJoeDec 21, 20165 votes

I actually think I did buy Garen with RP not knowing that RP was something you only could buy. I initially though you got some each level as a bonus of sorts so I assumed I would have more in the future for free. Mind you this was 3-4 years ago and I was not familiar with the game.

But yeah, good Idea and maybe not have Ryze as a "learning champion" since it is ridiculous for any new player to be expected to understand and memorize all of his combos. Maybe swap him out with someone like Karthus or Lissandra if you need an "easy to understand" mage.

intraDec 21, 20163 votes

Ryze is a bit easy to play, it's just hard to master him.

LightSwordDec 21, 20163 votes

Ryze was chosen because he had a lot of point-and-click abilities back in the day. Lissandra and Karthus I don't think fit what they're looking for in a beginner champion because they're all skillshots and can be frustrating to use when you don't know what you're doing. Annie would be a better choice for battle training, a point-and-click spell, two quite easy to land aoe skillshots, and a shield that blocks a % of incoming damage.

JavelinJoeDec 22, 20162 votes

I picked them because their ults were pretty hard to mess up, unless you ult right as you die as Karthus. And they have low cost skill shots which are very forgiving if missed. Annie is another good option.

LightSwordDec 22, 20162 votes

The issue I have with Karthus is that his kit outside his ult is somewhat hard to use if you're new to the game (especially since the q isn't what a new player will be used to from a skillshot). Lissandra's kit lends itself to a playstyle that requires some understanding of the game. Annie gives a lot of instant (and easy to use) damage to the player, something someone new might be looking for.

AeszarckDec 23, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=SNU ScarraCCouch,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=BEjNAl9W,comment-id=0000000100000000,timestamp=2016-12-22T03:03:00.329+0000)

The issue I have with Karthus is that his kit outside his ult is somewhat hard to use if you're new to the game (especially since the q isn't what a new player will be used to from a skillshot). Lissandra's kit lends itself to a playstyle that requires some understanding of the game. Annie gives a lot of instant (and easy to use) damage to the player, something someone new might be looking for.

Karthus's spells are all super straightforward though. The problems are being able to hit Lay Waste and remembering to turn off Defile.

RipReviveFkRitoDec 22, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I picked them because their ults were pretty hard to mess up, unless you ult right as you die as Karthus. And they have low cost skill shots which are very forgiving if missed. Annie is another good option.

yea and of course new players seem to know how to last hit properly, especially with someone like Karthus

JavelinJoeDec 22, 20163 votes

It is about just as easy as with Annie.

5000000000000000Dec 22, 20163 votes

tbh Annie is one of the easiest champions to last hit with. Karthus, not so much.

JavelinJoeDec 22, 20162 votes

Annie is likely one of if not the best "Mage" to last hit with, especially with her Q refunding so much for killing minions. The only reason I said Karthus is because of how forgiving he is to play. Even dying is not entirely bad with him because of his passive. And, while highly unlikely, you can fall behind on Annie and "struggle" somewhat, where Karthus, like Annie, scales pretty hard into late game but does not struggle quite as much getting their if behind because of the free assists and kills you can get with his ult. That was my main point, that Karthus (imo) is more forgiving for bad/new player's mistakes.

AeszarckDec 23, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I picked them because their ults were pretty hard to mess up, unless you ult right as you die as Karthus. And they have low cost skill shots which are very forgiving if missed. Annie is another good option.

I agree, I think they're both simple mages. Lissandra's passive is probably the hardest thing for a new player to manage, but otherwise she's quite simple. Karthus has extremely simple spells; the only problem is being able to hit Lay Waste. Newbies might also forget to turn off Defile.

JavelinJoeDec 23, 20161 votes

lol yeah they might forget that, but hey, more stacks for item 3070 . And if anything you can get a lot of the mana back from the defile passive. Also, most of these champions have very similar build paths so there is that too.

Titanium70Dec 22, 20165 votes

Nah - the free rotation is alot better than a fixed pool of Champions. It motivaates newbies to try out new things from time to time before buying a Champ instead of just spamming this one thing that works for them.

Nameless VoiceDec 22, 20164 votes

It doesn't take long to buy 450 IP champions. The only issue is that new players also need to buy runes.

I think a better solution is to rework the rune system and make them all free.

PopppyseedDec 22, 201610 votes

If it dosen't take that long to get 450 ip champs then i dont see the harm in just giving them for free.

RisenDarkKnightDec 23, 20163 votes

The harm is that it is satisfying to save up 450 IP and buy a champion since it only takes a few games (3 games if you just play one a day and win 3 in a row).

If new players don't have many 450 champs to buy and are left with 1350+ champs they might be turned off of having to play so long before unlocking the next new champ. I know I found the cost of 6300 champs extremely daunting when I was starting to play league.

I agree with the OP that new players should start with free champs, I'm just pointing out the downside to reducing the number of 450 champs for people to buy.

AeszarckDec 23, 20162 votes

{quoted}

The harm is that it is satisfying to save up 450 IP and buy a champion since it only takes a few games (3 games if you just play one a day and win 3 in a row).

If new players don't have many 450 champs to buy and are left with 1350+ champs they might be turned off of having to play so long before unlocking the next new champ. I know I found the cost of 6300 champs extremely daunting when I was starting to play league.

I agree with the OP that new players should start with free champs, I'm just pointing out the downside to reducing the number of 450 champs for people to buy.

Actually, that's a really good point. Never thought of it like that, but yeah, it is satisfying to buy a Champion, and it would be discouraging to see that all the Champions require a fair bit of playing to get them.

yay nibbersDec 22, 20164 votes

I personally don't mind that you have to pay IP for runes, but they're definitely a bit overpriced. They need to bring the cost way down.

Not that I'd mind if they were free. That'd be excellent.

RogueWillDec 22, 20163 votes

Older players woudl mind since we have no other place to spend IP, we have all champions your IP starts staking pretty fast

Nameless VoiceDec 22, 20165 votes

Why should we mind? I've got so much IP that I can't do anything with it anyway, no reason to be upset that I spent it on runes that I used for years and now they are free.

RogueWillDec 22, 20162 votes

because I have no way to sink my IP. Having the "collection is done" feeling will make lots of older player quit because they will feel lie the game has nothing more to offer

Nameless VoiceDec 22, 20163 votes

That makes no sense. If you've been playing for long enough, you'll have every single champion and every single useful rune, maximum rune/mastery pages, and tens of thousands of IP.

Making the runes free for other players won't make any difference there.

AnonagonDec 22, 20167 votes

that's bull

you play league for the game not for the grind

if completing the "collection" was the only reason to play then literally no one would play DOTA2 or Overwatch, and SMITE wouldn't offer an option to buy all their characters up front.

PaladinNODec 23, 20164 votes

They can already get Alistar, Tristana and Garen for free (with skins).

https://support.riotgames.com/hc/en-us/articles/202083184-Promotional-Content-Free-Swag-

Alistar and the Youtube subscription process got in a bit of a dung, but you can still get him for free by fulfilling the requirement and contacting Support.

Chromatic EagleDec 21, 20163 votes

You can already get 3 of them for free, and if Riot advertised their starter bundle more, it's pretty cheap to buy several.

Hrd2H1tDec 22, 20164 votes

To be fair the 3 free champions you have to know where to look for.

AwoofDec 22, 20163 votes

Garen Twitter Tristana Facebook Alistar Youtube

Probably couldn't hurt letting that new players straight up know either.

SasoriAkasunaDec 22, 20161 votes

The alistar one doesn't work anymore!

ParallelityDec 22, 20164 votes

Contact support, they'll get you a code

ModAttysu The PoroDec 23, 20161 votes

Just do the requirements and contact Riot Support: https://support.riotgames.com/hc/en-us

Same thing happened to me, it's kinda buggy.

Arsenic SulfurDec 22, 20164 votes

Free Alistar has been busted since like, season 4.

yoshi2790Dec 22, 20163 votes

I bought Soraka with RP.

Don't question me I was new.

I refunded it so I didn't actually buy her with RP.

warpenguin555Dec 21, 20162 votes

i think they should give out free champions as new players level up. All the 450 IP champions and a few of the 1350 IP champions would get removed from the shop (and given to those players who dont have them yet obviously). and every 3-5 levels you get a few of them.

Also runes would be made free

MelledoneusDec 22, 20165 votes

*New player gets Vayne Yasuo Riven LeeSin *

japan hate accDec 22, 20162 votes

And they wouldn't know what the hell to do with them. None of those champs are low skill caps. Dude, new players can barely play Garen.

ShaolinToiletDec 22, 20162 votes

Vayne just right clicks how is that hard.

5000000000000000Dec 22, 20163 votes

Using Q to reposition Knowing when to switch targets and knowing when to keep attacking the same target for the W proc Using E properly Using R at the right time

Sure, you could argue "every champion has 4 abilities," but Vayne isn't one of the easier marksmen.

ShaolinToiletDec 22, 20162 votes

But for new players is vayne really that hard? New players will think " q" gives me a damage shot w is a passive and e pushes them away from me then r gives me damage and invisibility. I think it's an easier kit to understand and play at a low level than lots of other marksmen.

Faceroll TacticsDec 22, 20162 votes

It's easier to understand than kalista or Jhin that's for sure.

XeruonDec 23, 20163 votes

Jhin is hard to understand in theory, while not being that difficult in practice. He plays more like an AD caster than an ADC.

ModAttysu The PoroDec 23, 20161 votes

Kalista is also broken asf in terms of balance, and I mean broken in the term of completely unviable right now.

XeruonDec 24, 20161 votes

Oh hey you exist outside of the "I got banned QQ" boards too.

But back on topic; Kalista is being kept in this absolutely garbage state because even if she has the tiniest bit of viability in SoloQ, she becomes an abuse case in pro play due to the amount of communication and coordination available to them.

I still don't know why Riot hasn't made separate balancing sets for SoloQ and Pro Play yet, but I guess making 20$ Lux skins is more important Kappa

ModAttysu The PoroDec 25, 20162 votes

That Lux skin was a gift from heaven damnit!

Trust me, I do get why Kalista is completely unviable right now, I was just saying how even if you know Kalista very well, she just isn't in a good spot to play reliably without being a borderline detriment to your team.

I want Kalista and Kindred fixed already because I fucking LOVE Kindred, but when they gutted her, they took everything I found fluid about her kit out, so now it feels super fucking clunky and I hate it.

XeruonDec 25, 20161 votes

I think a lot of frustration against Kalista ,regardless from which team she's on, stems from the fact that she is probably the most feast or famine ADC in bot lane. If an ADC like Jhin or even Lucian does bad early, they can still focus on farming and still have somewhat of an impact later on. Not for Kalista, though. Her AAs having a 90% AD ratio forces her to either do well early or just be a non-factor, while simultaneously forcing her to fall off late game. She definitely needs some sort of rework.

Kindred on the other hand is playable right now. Doesn't need more than a few QoLs to be honest.

japan hate accDec 23, 20161 votes

What? Play Vayne, but in every teamfight, just stand there. Don't tumble, don't e, don't ult. Just stand there and auto, and don't kite. See how fast you die.

ShaolinToiletDec 24, 20161 votes

We are talking about low level games not experienced players.

MelledoneusDec 22, 20162 votes

I know many mastery 7 Yasuo players who don't know what the hell they're doing.

When I ask them how they got mastery 7 they just laugh at me and I never get an answer.

5000000000000000Dec 22, 20162 votes

fun to play I guess :^

japan hate accDec 23, 20161 votes

Okay that's true.