Blue essence is an awful system
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc6ZKKdzboY (Good video lel)
First off I'd like to state that lootboxes in any form, free or not, are awful for many reasons. However, the primary reason they fail to function properly as a sustainable system is because they're purely RNG based, running off of luck instead of consistent numbers. With that out of the way I can now discuss the issues which have arose due to this system being turned into our primary form of in-game currency.
RNG So, to earn BE you need to disenchant champion shards....and how do you do that? Well....you can either level up or you can spend actual money. So, let's just say that you want to do it purely by leveling up. The issue with this is that the rewards you get every time you level up are inconsistent due to the aforementioned RNG based system. What I mean is that I might open a chest containing a champ shard worth 920 BE, or...I might get unlucky and open a chest with 3 champ shards worth 90 BE and usually 120 BE as compensation. You can clearly see the problem here, the rewards are inconsistent in terms of value. Adding onto this Riot disabled the ability to reroll champ shards into a random permanent champion, which I can confirm they did because players were able to get new release champions for cheaper than their store price if they already owned all the champs. So, we've now learnt that this system also punishes players who put in the hours to own every champ, good to know.
But, with all that said, how does this affect newer players? Well, to start with the inconsistencies in the value of rewards essentially boils down to two outcomes: -Outcome A, you get a champ shard worth a lot which allows you to progress into your desired champion faster -Outcome B, you get multiple champ shards which are basically worth nothing and you cannot progress to your desired champion faster
That goes against allowing newer players to get to their rewards fast enough to feel pride and accomplishment, unless they get lucky. Hmmm, this sounds strikingly similar to another game....Ah yes, Starwars Battlefront 2, a game which is entirely based upon lootboxes in order to progress. You can argue that League's BE is nowhere near as volatile for the player's experience, however, it's still unfair for newer players since it does not reward them consistently for the amount of effort they put in for their own pride and accomplishment. I'm mentioning pride and accomplishment a lot because that's essentially what Riot has told us, and that is literally what a DICE PR guy said regarding their decisions to make Starwars Battlefront 2 entirely based around lootboxes. There is nothing that will make you feel proud or accomplished out of a lootbox-based system.
Champion Mastery with the new system But, with all that said, what are some other issues we run into regarding the BE update? Well, for starters, champion masteries for level 6 and level 7 have increased drastically in cost. 500 BE pre-update was a lot less than the combined IP+BE system with have now. 3250 and 3900 respectively are more than tier 3 champions.....where's the fairness in that? So if you're a new player you cannot unlock a level 6 or 7 mastery for the champion you love simply because you'd be preventing yourself from unlocking and trying more champions. I'm sorry, but that is simply ridiculous. I understand that champ masteries should be considered special, however they SHOULD NOT get in the way of unlocking essential game content for newer players. In a dream scenario champ masteries should only require 2 level 6 tokens or 3 level 7 tokens, however that will never happen given Riot's inherent greed. I imagine Riot doesn't even want to change the values to unlock champ masteries since by that logic they'd say that champ masteries should feel special or that they'd lose money.
Post 30 Blue essence Sooo...each time you level up you need more EXP. Ok, so maybe I'll get more rewards? WRONG, you get the same rewards you would from every other level up and an emote for each milestone. So....by leveling up you're getting the same rewards less and less, thus not allowing you to use your blue essence for champion mastery, blue essence limited content and new champions that come out?
In all honesty, this just sounds like Riot not rewarding veteran players who choose to play the game and level up constantly as a result. Additionally this is the same fucking system as Overwatch's. Only...instead of eventually unlocking all the content you only get champ shards which CANNOT be used to unlock skins. Ah, I see now, so you didn't actually copy Overwatch's system, you found a way to make it even worse. Yet again Riot is impressing us with their business strategies.
Lootbox system as a whole (the reasoning) Let's not beat around the bush, Riot added lootbo-..I mean hextech chests into the game in order to ride the lootbox hypetrain that other games have set up and abused. We never had this system before Overwatch and games of that sort, so why else would they put it in? Riot is a greedy company who no longer fully listens to what its playerbase has to say, y'know the people who make their game flourish?
Concluding statement This new BE system is atrocious for the reasons (stated above) and the IP system was just flat out better for the game and the players. Bring back the old system and abolish this newer system.
