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Confessions of a League Whale: A Blue Essence Rant

ModUlanopo·11/18/2017, 3:11:10 AM·124 votes·5,724 views

WARNING: There will be absolutely no math in this post.

https://i.imgur.com/SpOaEKN.jpg[/img]

I just hit level 35, which is enough for me to feel comfortable discussing my feelings on the replacement for IP. As you can see, I have been around for a while (mid season 1) and I'm one of those people who puts money into games they enjoy. I feel I have been a pretty good customer and advocate for League.

Simply put, Blue Essence is a miserable, disappointing experience. I get how you're trying to blend intermittent reinforcement into progression because grinding out IP can be more than a little, well, grindy. Opening that capsule is supposed to give a little jolt of excitement and suspense.

I don't know about other people, but I've seen exactly none of that.

Now, to be fair, it's possible my situation makes that impossible. I own all but 13 of the champions and I have a ton of skins because I wait for them to come on sale. On the other hand, I only got Champion of the Rift (the 1500-hour Summoner Icon) and I had a respectable number of runes, but not enough that I wanted to blow my rewards on "Hey, I had a lot of Blue Essence!" swag of dubious value.

None of my capsules have had one of the 13, so basically I'm reduced to smashing my rewards into an unreliable amount of "new IP." Congratulations, you've made leveling up a chore. I didn't think that was possible. I do not play League to be made into a disenchant-bot.

At the end of the day, I have to play the sociopath card and ask what's in it for me, because I'm just not seeing it.

EDIT: On a related note, none of the three skins I got from my rune pages are ones I will ever use, so that also felt hollow and meaningless.

90 Comments

BunionRings11/18/2017, 3:54:12 AM45 votes

It's ridiculous that us people level 30 and above basically make less. That's ridiculous, basically punishing people's ingame income just because you reached what used to be max level. I thought the patch was really good, till I realized how bad Blue Essence actually is. It almost offsets how fun the new runes actually are, having to level up or get chests just to get Blue Essence.

Recuro11/18/2017, 7:12:34 AM22 votes

I'm sitting on a decent chunk of essence right now so I haven't really been affected by the new system yet. However I do think the loss of BE per game was a weird decision. I get the thought process of wanting BE to come in bursts, but I feel like when games last 20 - 40 minutes on average you should really get something after each one.

I feel the system would be better if the first win was pure BE and no XP. XP should generally be gained from playing more (I mean isn't that why it's called experience?). First win though should be immediate gratification, not just a step towards the next level. BE is about short term goals, XP is for long term.

EkyonKun11/18/2017, 12:31:13 PM12 votes

BUt tHe cHaRT sAys....

Jhins Girlfriend11/18/2017, 10:21:26 AM11 votes

I've leveled up 4 times and still haven't made enough blue essence to get a Lulu mastery token. You get a gamble of how much BE you're gonna get at the end of each level up. If I can't get a bit of BE at the end of a match this is a pretty ludicrous grind.

Jezbo11/18/2017, 7:18:30 AM10 votes

The thing about IP was you saw the progression of currency more clearly and you had a better idea of how long until the next purchase.

BE feels slow and the shards feel like a stupid reward system and takes away from the uniqueness of hextech chests.

Slythrin Umbreon11/18/2017, 5:06:24 AM8 votes

WARNING: There will be absolutely no math in this post.

God bless you, based whale

alfrednox11/18/2017, 10:16:30 AM8 votes

I just made it to level 31... I nearly stopped Playing when I realized that I wan not gaining blue essence per game.

I got a chest with 4 shards Master Yi, Warwick, Malphite, and Jax

I Played 12 games with 2 first wins of the Day. In the ip system I would have gained a minimum of 1400 Ip. In the new system I got 900 BE.

If I was able to choose the champion shards that I received (even for the same tier of champion) I would be on board with this system, but as it stands I feel ripped off.

This is a terrible change. I dont want to be rewarded with random stuff, I want to be able to choose the characters that I like.

Hexs Fortune11/18/2017, 3:41:00 PM8 votes

The worst part of it all was them reducing the Orange essence gains. It makes the skin shards and their loot boxes way less appealing.

So much so, that i'm questioning if buying the next event pass will be worth the time and the money.

GettemClone11/18/2017, 4:15:21 PM7 votes

the whole idea of opening a " box " and having your luck decide your rewards is SO FUKIN DUMB

Alimentateur11/18/2017, 12:53:33 PM5 votes

you know its a pain playing when you have 4 champs unlocked @ lv 5 and cant get another one until lv 16ish

Żügżwäng11/18/2017, 4:46:41 PM5 votes

Completely agree. I've stated many times how much I hate this new system.

I don't care that it's quicker for new players to level up... What good does that do for veteran players already far past that point. Why does it take longer and longer to level up.

It was a horrible idea.

The rune change was big, but it's something in game that you can learn and adapt to. This new IP system however feels awful, and it'll just get worse.

Oh great, I have a tiny chance at getting a champ shard that I need to get a small discount? Awesome! I mean, I could have unlocked it directly x games ago, but now I get that Vegas thrill of opening random goodies. So exciting!

Teddy Pïcker11/18/2017, 9:54:45 PM4 votes

Previously if I wanted to buy Caitlyn (Which im working on now) I'd play all day for like 3 days to get 4800 IP, Now i've been playing NONSTOP for almost a week and I have only a mere 2400 BE. This system is horrid lul

deadlychuck11/18/2017, 4:11:22 PM4 votes

Turns out not everyone is addicted to gambling, no matter how much companies would love to exploit addictive behaviors like that.

Sraeg201311/18/2017, 1:26:22 PM4 votes

inb4 OP is no longer an Arbiter.

FlyingFreak00011/18/2017, 2:45:26 PM4 votes

We must revolt against Riot, come on :(

FSP P1 R8tsuck11/18/2017, 11:53:04 PM3 votes

Hey guys I just lvled up and got a box, was so excited, and guess what I got ?!? Soraka champion shard, and that makes my fortune a big slap of self loathing and a big chunk of be that adds up to 90 facking be.....after 6 hours of gaming and playing and all I get is facking 90 be.....thanks a lot riot, im so rich now I dont even need to play anymore.....[zombie-brand-facepalm] [sg-janna]

KanYii West11/18/2017, 6:39:54 AM3 votes

https://prnt.sc/hbzg5u

I feel ya Nasus

Lauchmelder11/18/2017, 8:04:11 AM3 votes

Spent a solid 2k on league..... (It's time to stop)

I got lucky with my capsules. Got a decent amount of BE out of them. My "decent" might be different from other people though. I don't need a lot of BE, I could get Urfwick a second time so I don't really care for BE gains.

I can see how it's horrible for people who don't have all champs though.

ZyniX11/18/2017, 7:28:43 PM3 votes

I also have spent a lot of money on league but I only play ARAM. I own all of the champions but since getting chest in ARAM is quite difficult I am sitting on 20 keys and no chests. I have skin rewards I've gotten weeks ago that I still can't unlock which feels impossible now for how little orange essence we get. Champions I enjoy get nerfed because of jungle items I can't even buy or items I used a lot get removed entirely like talisman of ascension with no replacements. Sona and other champs sit on an ungodly winrate for years with no balance changes. I never get anything useful from leveling up or chests and when I do I won't be able to use it for months. So yeah I can rarely bring myself to play LoL because even as a paying customer Riot cares little about me since I don't play summoners rift.

Quepha11/18/2017, 3:28:24 AM2 votes

{quoted}

At the end of the day, I have to play the sociopath card and ask what's in it for me

Unlocking the remaining champions in a shorter period of time. Getting more BE for the current and future Essence Emporiums, more BE and shards to upgrade mastery levels with, and future swag associated with having a higher level account compared to other players from both milestone rewards and your level value.

ADC5LUT11/18/2017, 8:58:34 AM1 votes

Yo where do you find this account detail page?