Hey everyone, new player here (just hit 15, yay). It seems that acquiring new champions is VERY difficult unless they are 450 blue essence.. Is my only choice to pay Riot Points to get some of the characters I want to play / try?
I have a pretty limited budget, I am only E4 in the USAF and do not want to spend a lot of my salary on champions.
Does it get better?
Lippen272 votesI've played since season 2, and i still dont have enough IP to purchase all the champs (5 years = not enough "ip" "BLUE ESSENCE FOR NO REASON NOW" to purchase all champs.)
NocturnalSheild1 votesIve played since seasons one and ive owned every champion in the game since season 4.
MysterQ2 voteshttps://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/tLzqzFp6-375750-be-till-i-am-done
I have played for two years, I barely have 25%? of the champions. There is no reasonable rate. 7 years is not reasonable, and that is after I bought all of the cheap champs.
Hints. Do not buy the 450 IP champs. If you already did, then stop. I got like 8 free 450 champs. Riot has a "starter pack" with like 10 450 champs for one RP price. BUT last year they gave it away for free on Amazon. So maybe they will do that again and you can get some free champs. I mean 450 isn't a lot anyways. But free is much better so you can use that towards someone else.
NocturnalSheild1 votesYou dont need 100% of the champions.
Plus riot is a business thry need money.
MysterQ1 votesDoes Riot really need small players like you to constantly defend them?
I don't understand what you get from "protecting" them. You gain nothing. Sure it is a game we enjoy, otherwise we wouldn't play it at all. But Riot donated $2,000,000 to charity from the sale of ONE skin. That is only part of the money they made from one skin, and they release how many skins a year? Sure they are a business and need money, but you will likely never earn $2,000,000 in your lifetime and they made that from one skin. And they gave it to charity because they are not hurting right now.
I am just saying. If you call yourself a F2P game, I would hope you are more F2P friendly.
NocturnalSheild1 votesThey are plenty f2p freindly.
You can EASILY get the champions you need for a single role in a few months.
and by just mastering one champion at a time youll always have a new champion ready to purchase.
I remember saving up for my first champion lux. It was amazing.
Also 2 million isnt really that much.
My company purchases 25 million in drugs daily and we are a smaller middle tier pharmaceutical company.
The Last Ballad1 votesthey donated 25% to be precise, and it was split 50-25-25 between 3 charities.
Quepha1 votesThe RP price on the 450 tier champs is terrible and there’s no indication that riot will just give them away again now that new accounts just get a bunch if them in the leveling process.
Quepha2 votesTry champions on free week to determine whether or not you really want the champion.
Sort the champions you want into price tiers so you get a better idea of what the price tradeoffs are: Is Mordekaiser REALLY worth having over Jax + Nasus + Tryndamere for the same amount of essence?
If you’re happy with your current pool of champions, then consider just waiting and saving essence for a bit. Maybe you’ll find a shard for a discount on an expensive champuon you want, or maybe the next champ release is exactly your cup of tea.
DonnyPicklePants1 votesIt doesn't really get better, but you don't have to focus on getting all the champions, that should be secondary! Look on youtube for champs you like or would be good at, then save up for and play them, then you'll be having fun playing that champion you'll get a lot of essence because you won't want to play other champs.
Escheton1 votesYou don't. You just play a lot. Buy cheap ones that don't suck in RAM. If you are one to play that mode. And just slowly progress. Yes, draft is better than blind. But at low levels, the difference is negligible. Mostly new players and salty smurfs there anyways.
Shonjl1 votesSadly with the change to Blue Essence Rito basically screwed over both new players and old players alike.
Your only hope is getting a decent shard and making it permanent with your extra BE from the other stuff.
There is 0 reason anymore to buy champs since its not worth it. That 6300 BE could easily take you 7 levels to get that one champ.
Risk of Fate1 votes[deleted]
PBoydenJ1 votes[{quoted}](name=Fate Fire,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=g8gcNgVg,comment-id=0005,timestamp=2017-11-19T21:42:34.236+0000)
Firstly, how does an enlisted have enough time to play this game?
Secondly, if you're trying to be careful, I really suggest waiting for sales on ones you really want then play for the rest. The game is a grind and a half and you'd be better off just getting the bundles.
...if only they had a deal of "Every champ now and forever" for probably $50 (< $2 per champ instead of their asking price of 5-7)
Because I have weekends off generally and only work 9 or 12 hours a day unless I am on deployment. I'm basically the same as a civilian but I have a government job.
I'll look into waiting for sales and continue playing when I feel like it or have play time!
Thanks for all the information everyone.
Balderdash10001 votesThe general idea is that the 450 champs are good enough to get you into the game while the more expensive champs more of a luxury. If you want to own every champ then I suggest spending money. If you want to own a few specific champs then I don't think saving up for them is that big an issue.
I own every champ that I want and have never spent money for one, but then I've never felt it was much of a grind to play a game that you like to get more stuff in it. There's less of a sense of immediate satisfaction now that blue essence is tied to leveling up instead of per game now, but as long as you look at the more expensive champs as a nice bonus instead of a must have you'll find that you'll own them soon enough.
Valderis Vandala1 votesIt's a free to play game, so the only real answer is; you don't. You can of course spent real money, just as riots intents it, but why support such scummy tactics right?
You just gotta grind out those levels, it sucks.
The Last Ballad1 votesIt would be a scummy tactic for them to have this business model in addition to having to pay for league.
Having a fast track that doesn't actually give any combat advantages over others is actually one of the least offensive ways of doing this particular business model.
I mean, they could have League as a subscription based game with everything unlocked, that's another way of doing it. Only this way its free if you want it to be.
Valderis Vandala1 votesNo, you are just plain wrong. On both points.
Designing a game around grinding down players patience so that they start spending money to not have to endure this process is never not a scummy practice, no matter what form this may take. It does not matter if you have to pay for a game first or not, its always a scummy tactic. Having to pay for the game first just makes it even worse.
LoL does still offer combat advantages, not as much as before, but it still does. Both by locking away a players ability to select their own runes before a certain level and by having to unlock champions before you can play them. It doesn't matter how minor of a advantage this is, lets not pretend that its not.
They could also just unlock everything at the start and make their money just on cosmetics, if lesser games can do this then why not LoL?
MysterQ1 votesSAVE YOUR BE.
Right now, Riot is selling Mysteru Champions for 3950BE, you are guaranteed a 4800 or 6300 champion. That is a 800+BE saving if you don't mind random champs. They said this random champ deal will come back in the future I think.
Rebonack1 votesMost people have a pool of anywhere between ten and twenty champions that they play regularly. You don't need to own all the champs to have fun with League. I've been around since Season Zero. I've got everything unlocked. But typically I'm content to just play my fiveish favorite champions and call it good.
Try champions on their free week to see if you really like them. If you do, save up for them! If you don't? Then keep pooling your Blue Essence and wait for someone more interesting to pop up.
The Last Ballad1 votesI have a ton of champs(through playing the game) but all you need is 21 champs(for the worst case, and rather improbable, senerio where you are last pick and all of your champs have been picked or banned) to access the full game(including ranked).
I play support, and despite having ~1/2 - 3/4 of the roster(playing regulary for nearly 3 years), I only play 
regularly(a sprinkle of 
when they would be good) in SR. Gamemodes I do whoever I feel like because its for fun.
Also, Garen, Tristana, and Alistar are free(with a skin!) for following the YouTube, twitter, and Facebook LOL pages(YouTube you need to subscribe then submit a support ticket to get Alistar) so that's 3 down for free.
MysterQ1 votes[{quoted}](name=The Last Ballad,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=g8gcNgVg,comment-id=000b,timestamp=2017-11-21T05:04:16.646+0000)
I have a ton of champs(through playing the game) but all you need is 21 champs(for the worst case, and rather improbable, senerio where you are last pick and all of your champs have been picked or banned) to access the full game(including ranked).
I play support, and despite having ~1/2 - 3/4 of the roster(playing regulary for nearly 3 years), I only play
Also, Garen, Tristana, and Alistar are free(with a skin!) for following the YouTube, twitter, and Facebook LOL pages(YouTube you need to subscribe then submit a support ticket to get Alistar) so that's 3 down for free.
Those should be better advertised.
But you want more champs, just to collect. And also to trade. Or if you get an offrole, but idc about that.
RobotOverlord1 votesHey, so I just started playing the game, to unlock a new champion I need to play draft pick, but I can't play draft pick because I don't have 20 champions. I don't have any blue essence to get any champions, what do I do? I'm like level 12 or 13 or something. Really not interested in paying real money either. I know this is an old topic, but it's literally impossible to find out what is going on with this game because it changes so much (apparently). Am I SOL, do I just quit or is there a way to earn blue essence to get those 20 champions? I got 3 champions