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IP to Blue Essence: Have Riot Gone Too Far?

x X Andy X x··5 votes·638 views

Hey All!

I'm sure many of you are aware by now (especially given EA's recent money-grubbing, loot-box riddled, pay-to-win progression system fuckery for SWBF2) that micro-transactions are, while not a new concept by any means, the new hotness among game publishers. Gone are the days when you could play a game, enjoy, discover and experience all of the content a game had to offer by just playing it and earning rewards at a sensible pace. I can't seem to be able to play any game without having content gated behind day-one dlc, pre-order bonuses or having a virtual storefront unceremoniously shoved into my face tempting me into buying into this idea of RNG loot-box nonsense to lessen the grind for inflated, overpriced and otherwise essential game features. Now here comes the integration of IP and Blue Essence. I can't say I'm at all surprised. Riot's had the infrastructure for this eventuality set up for a while now. Sounded like a good idea to me; at least at first. But did we lose something in the process? So, the old system you would be able to earn IP after every game and the amount you earned depended directly on the outcome of the game. Makes sense to me: you perform well, you earn more. Perform poorly, earn less. I don't think it was a perfect system, but the progression was reliable, tangible and functioned well as an integral mechanic in the way you progress as a player i.e unlock champs. With the integration of BE however, I feel like Riot have put all their eggs in the loot-box basket. Not only do you not earn any rewards by playing individual games anymore (other than XP) the rewards are shoe-horned into their micro-transaction driven "crafting" system bullshit. Much of the progression experience is now forcing you to familiarize yourself with the process of opening loot-boxes and dis-enchanting champ shards. I feel that all of this is designed so that the inconvenience of having to grind to the next level to see any tangible reward is tempting enough to just make you buy the champs outright. Granted, I've spent a decent amount of money over the years on skins, and I own most of the champs so BE isn't super relevant to my progression anymore, but this forced interaction with the loot-box system is tearing my heart out, Riot. I wanted to think (perhaps naively) that you guys could rise above this nonsense. And for the time being it looks like I was wrong. RIP Rito.

Sincerely,

A Long-time Fan

[zombie-nunu-bummed]

8 Comments

Quepha3 votes

Champ unlock rate is faster now under the BE system for a number of reasons, not least of which being that you get more BE now than you earned in IP before.

x X Andy X x2 votes

{quoted}

Champ unlock rate is faster now under the BE system for a number of reasons, not least of which being that you get more BE now than you earned in IP before.

Would you happen to have any data on that? You bring up an interesting point if substantiated. If you're referring to the champ shards as a means of acquiring champions at a faster I'm inclined to disagree. You still have to spend BE to unlock, or otherwise disenchant champs to be able to unlock other champs. For new players maybe it's faster? I'd have to see some numbers on that. Regardless, even if it is faster, I don't like being forced into the loot-box/micro-transaction arena. Just my two cents though. : )

Quepha2 votes

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/Jh3Mtzu6-blue-essence-earn-rates-learning-the-numbers-with-carl-and-henrietta https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/hAaYMrEs-leveling-and-rewards-early-impressions-and-adjustments

Faster pre-30, faster post-30, faster when they implemented it, even faster after this buff next patch, faster if you ignore champ shard discounts, even faster with those discounts, faster if buying runes was still a thing, even faster when you remember runes are gone.

Yet we see dozens of posts just like your’s every day asserting misinformation.

Śhunpo1 votes

{quoted}

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/Jh3Mtzu6-blue-essence-earn-rates-learning-the-numbers-with-carl-and-henrietta https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/hAaYMrEs-leveling-and-rewards-early-impressions-and-adjustments

Faster pre-30, faster post-30, faster when they implemented it, even faster after this buff next patch, faster if you ignore champ shard discounts, even faster with those discounts, faster if buying runes was still a thing, even faster when you remember runes are gone.

Yet we see dozens of posts just like your’s every day asserting misinformation.

It's not entirely misinformation since the crates unlocked through leveling to level 30 are inconsistent in terms of what they contain. As such, if you have bad luck you give into the temptation to spend money to make the process quicker. It's a sneaky tactic used by companies right now, and it's because of the community's lack of continued feedback that they are allowed to continue doing this.

azrolator1 votes

Sub 30 capsules are more likely to contain easier to play champs for the new players. I think the poll is misguided, because most new players won't be responding to it. And they are the prime beneficiaries of the new system. I remember leveling up to 30, wanting to play jungle but I couldn't because I didn't have the runes for it, saving saving saving so you could buy the runes to play a certain position. It sucked. I'm not saying I am 100 percent in love with the new system or anything. But it was geared to make the game better for new players coming in , and it does that. I've already got at least 8 champs from the new capsules and it hasn't been long.

PrometheS3 votes

people are really blowing this out of proportion imo

Śhunpo2 votes

{quoted}

people are really blowing this out of proportion imo

No, people are just starting to realise that Riot is being sneaky in the way they market their game. More people are catching onto their greedy business practices since they're seeing their other beloved games ruined by the monstrosity that is the lootbox system.

Essembie1 votes

I have no idea why you are getting downvoted.

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