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Let's talk champion availability

Teridax68·3/24/2017, 8:10:48 AM·1 votes·300 views

So, Riot just responded to the possibility of enabling all champions in ARAM, and it might be something they might enable to combat ARAM-only accounts. It would not only make ARAM closer to being truly random, but would also make the mode fairer and less prone to abuse. However, I feel this is also part of a larger question that I think Riot needs to answer as well: why not make all champions free?

Before you vote or respond, consider the following:

  • Picking and counterpicking are an officially recognized part of gameplay: Anyone who's seen a competitive League game knows the impact a single champion pick or ban can have on a team. Even though it's not as extreme as, say, Dota, picking the right champion for your team, or against the other team, plays a critical part in the strategy for each match.
  • No more wasted champion refunds: To this day, there are still threads where players ask for a refresh on their champion refunds, and with good reason: 3 refunds is too small in a game with dozens upon dozens of potentially interesting champions, and the system itself does a very poor job of conveying how limited and irreversible it is. It's also not fun to purchase a champion and end up having their kit changed beyond recognition, or while in the middle of mastering them: enabling all champions would lessen the sting.
  • This could profit Riot: This is where it gets significantly more speculative, but making all champions free could potentially be to Riot's significant benefit, primarily because there would be no obstacle to purchasing skins: Whereas in the current system players might want to wait until they obtain a specific champion for free, or put them on the backburner because they're too expensive, a game in which everybody could access every champion from the get-go could likely make them much more enthusiastic to buy them skins. On top of that, RP not spend on champions could likely turn very quickly into RP spent on skins, plus extra: it's likely that, in an environment with as few barriers to purchase as possible, players would be more likely to spend real-world money, simply because they'd feel less constrained and more free to do so.

Obviously, there are also potential drawbacks:

  • New players could get confused if given everything at once: While the new player experience has never been something Riot has particularly focused on, an advantage to the current system is that it at least guides newer players towards a smaller set of easier champions. Working up towards more picks over time, instead of getting them instantly, also gives players time to deepen their skill at an individual champion, and have a strong foothold in the game, rather than a wider set of shallower experiences.
  • What about IP?: While I don't think this is really the best argument, it's completely understandable that players who have worked hard to grind all the IP for every champion they own would not be happy about this change. This is perhaps more a matter of finding compensation than anything else, but making all champions free is going to require an overhaul to IP as an out-of-game resource, and likely Hextech crafting as well.
  • How financially dependent is Riot on champion sales?: This goes back to the above financial point, but I think this discussion is going to be made absolutely clear only with the knowledge of how Riot depends on champion sales. Ultimately, this boils down to literally weighing the costs against the benefits to this change, something that a player can't do, but that a financial analyst at Riot certainly could. If you're in Riot and reading this, you've probably considered this within the company, but if not please relay this if you can.

What do you think about this? While personally I'm in favor of making all champions freely available, this is also not a discussion I'm 100% sure of, as this isn't something that could just happen with no potential negatives. As players, how would you react to such a change? Is this something you'd have liked when you first started playing League? What about now?

2 Comments

BananaSlayerAMO3/24/2017, 9:49:32 AM2 votes

What I also think will happen with this change:

  • There'll be less incentive to specialise in each champion (even for experienced players). When a champ is something people have to pay for, they usually end up playing that champ for a significant amount of time.

  • I'm not actually sure if skin sales will increase. I mean, people usually get skins for champions that they're attached to, right? And, similar to my previous point, people will get less attached if all champs are free.

  • ARAM will be drastically different. I think you've read what people have said about opening up the entire champ pool in ARAM so I don't need to explain this.

  • People may actually stop playing League sooner. To play a game for an long period of time, people need to see development or changes. If every game of League of Legends was the exact same from levels 1-30, people would get bored very soon. I know League has runes, masteries, skins and the random gamemodes, but unlocking new champs probably plays a large role in keeping people interested.

  • And, adding on to your point about new players, I think it would be very daunting having over a hundred champions available at once. It's actually really important to direct newbies towards easy-to-use, fun champs that they will like and get them invested in the game.

That's my two cents about this. Hope it's been worth your time :^)