As a relatively new player (started late Nov/early Dec of 2014... beginning of preseason) I can definitely see why this could be a concern. However, I think players need to explore their options a bit more. As for buying RP to get champs... to ME the best value comes from buying the 6300 champs at half price when each new on-sale rotation comes out. 5 matches, including the first win of the day bonus, is more than enough to buy you a 450 champ and then some. If ranked is a concern, you can easily hit your 16 champ minimum by buying all of the 450 champs and a few select ones that you wish to play more frequently... and yes, this can be accomplished by level 30. (bot games, while they hurt your skill development once you have the general idea of things, is a great way to get fast, easy IP too) The real issue are runes, but even those aren't a big deal. Buy the universal runes that work for all champs. All of these are 205 IP. (AD marks, AR seals, MR flat/scaling glyphs) With that set, you should find life in LoL a little easier. The thing to keep in mind is this is suppose to be a game you play for the long haul, if indeed it's the kind of game that meshes with your gaming style. ( Been looking for a competitive pvp game for a long time... wish I hadn't blown LoL off 3-4 years ago when my son mentioned it.) Look at the wait time as a way to improve your skill with the current set of champions you own, because we all know it takes time and effort to become better players. (Honestly... I pretty much only play Darius... I can't seem to stop)
With all that being said, I really like the idea of this being a permanent thing. Randomizing the bonus seems to be a fair way to keeping it under control. The grinders will most likely see the biggest impact from something like this but everyone benefits. (the no friends argument has to be trolling... lol, it's so easy to build up a huge friends list if that's something you're looking to do)
I read a complaint in this thread about newbies getting to ranked sooner being a bad thing... I feel like addressing that comment, troll or not. If the more experienced players continue to put out guides for everything under the sun, it'll make the learning curve low as hell. There are already some good guides about the basics. As a new player, I think it would be wise of Riot to have a message for players going into ranked for the first time suggesting they check out ranked game guides. Adding hyperlinks to these LoL guides would also be a smart move. (the guide I read helped me understand draft selection, the best way to go about it, (pick order means dick guys, just sayin!) what you should have before doing ranked so you aren't at a disadvantage and some strategy on counter picking, etc etc) I wish I had received a message like this when I first tried ranked... I don't think I'd be sitting at bronze 2 right now if I hadn't. My skill has improved so much since I started reading guides and learning more about early/mid/late game strategies it's not even funny.
TL;DR version: I'm new. There are several ways to earn/spend IP to maximize what you earn as well as how useful your spending is, which can help you avoid wasteful spending. Taking this into consideration, I think making this a permanent thing once it's tweaked properly would be 100% BA for the player base, especially for us grinders.
Important point to note: I read a complaint in this thread about newbies getting to ranked sooner being a bad thing... I feel like addressing that comment, troll or not. If the more experienced players continue to put out guides for everything under the sun, it'll make the learning curve low as hell. There are already some good guides about the basics. As a new player, I think it would be wise of Riot to have a message for players going into ranked for the first time suggesting they check out ranked game guides. Adding hyperlinks to these LoL guides would also be a smart move.
