Replace Free Week

MysterQ·May 15, 2017·1 votes·468 views

Free champion week feels outdated. It seems like something a cheap mobile game would do (although no mobile games do that). Replace free champion rotations with very cheap champion rentals. 10 IP = 10 games on champion of choice.

There are over 100 champions. How can players be expected to wait for the right rotation, especially when new champs come out (although they can do no rentals on 7800 whatever). 10IP rental isn't too expensive for players, it lets them play who they want to try for a good number of games. Still they can't play ranked or get chests so it is fair enough.

13 Comments

YokoNomiMay 15, 20173 votes

Yeah, it's not like there are new players who would like to get into the game, and don't have the thousands of rp to buy just one champion, and also don't have a proper grasp as to what kind of champion they'd like to play, so in their case would greatly benefit from free week.

That'd be dumb.

MysterQMay 15, 20171 votes

Or read what I said.

Should I wait 1month 2 months 3months just to try out [random champion here]. It would be much faster if Riot just let me pick who I wanted to try out, and 10 IP is not much. Unless you are trying out every champion 10x120 = 1200 (still less than most champions!), this is a much faster way to find what champions you like. It doesn't put you on a time schedule since it is just 10 games, and it doesn't rely on getting a random champion shard for a free trial either. And if the IP is that important, you can discount 10 IP from future purchases.

YokoNomiMay 15, 20172 votes

{quoted}

Or read what I said.

Should I wait 1month 2 months 3months just to try out [random champion here]. It would be much faster if Riot just let me pick who I wanted to try out, and 10 IP is not much. Unless you are trying out every champion 10x120 = 1200 (still less than most champions!), this is a much faster way to find what champions you like. It doesn't put you on a time schedule since it is just 10 games, and it doesn't rely on getting a random champion shard for a free trial either. And if the IP is that important, you can discount 10 IP from future purchases.

But the point is that it doesn't make sense as to why we need to trade in a feature that allows people to experiment out of their comfort zone, for a feature that'd tax players for trying to remain within it, or could ultimately wind up being the same experience. Not only that, but do new players even get permanent champions when joining the game? Its been years since I joined, but I don't recall being able to do anything outside of free rotation. To fix that would force Riot to permanently unlock specific starting champions for people, forcing them into specific lanes and potentially undesired circumstances.

MysterQMay 15, 20171 votes

What are you saying?

Yes it would "tax" people a measly 10 IP per champion. This actually does build up. But they could have IP refund (discounted price if you rented it), IP reduction reward (example: you got an S the price is reduced slightly). If the player chooses to play only their comfort zone, then that is what matters to them. Isn't it better to let them try out Xayah NOW instead of waiting weeks and weeks deciding if they should spend 6300 to buy.

New players do not get permanent champions. But new players don't get the free rotation weeks champions. They get the basic level 1-5 champions (Varus, Ashe, etc). So this wouldn't affect that anyways. After 5 they will lose their free champions ok, but they can try out any champion they want for a low price. ??? Lock them into specific lanes and undesired circumstances??? What do you mean by that. Riot should already give free starter champions. It should already be a thing, but it is fine that it isn't. But if they give me Annie I am locked into mid? Why is that a problem, it isn't.

If anything, I wonder if paying a 10IP rental would make new players more satisfied with purchases. Old players wouldn't care, but as a new player you can scroll through the whole champion lost and say THAT GUY looks cool, I want to rent him. And that instantly builds a better connection than oh these few champions are free. If you pick your champions yourself, you will probably have some sort of memory with it.

PsyrixMay 15, 20172 votes

I mean.... there is a reason why riot releases new champions at 7800 IP for the first week, to decrease the competition of those who want to play the champion. After a week they are reduced to 6300. The three week wait after champ release before being put on rotation is to further respect those that bought the champions.

Within 4-5 months every champion will be cycled even if it just once, however riot has to pander to the newer players as well as pay attention to the popularity of certain champs over others. League has approximately 140 champions, and each rotation is approximately 10 champions (sometimes more [e.g. when they tried to increase support popularity] but usually 10) therefore thats approximately 14 weeks, which is approximately 3 months, if you cycle each champion without repitition. Therefore if you account popularity, ease of play and new players then yh, it's understandable that it can be 5 months.

As for why it's not a "pick a champion out of 136" but rather "pick a champion out of 10" because psychology has proven that humans find it difficult to make decisions when a multitude of options are given, free rotation gives a safe zone for new players to experiment.......and sure u may counter with "then give some suggestions instead" but remember, riot is also a business, they know if you really want to try a champion then u'll do it with IP or RP, instead of waiting.

And Riot did explain why free week rotation was structured that way in several different posts and even a Dev/r. If you google it u should come across some (or just look through the history of dev/r or the boards. Here is one: http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=46045

MysterQMay 15, 20171 votes

Fair enough, but there are ways they can take new champs off of rentals and such. Still a ridiculous long time to wait. An increasingly long time as champs are released. And one instance of a champion being missed. Fair enough. And for early levels it works. But once you start learning the game, then you already have the focus in mind on what champions you want to play. You can say it is a good strategy to force them to wait for a specific free champion or buy it instead of waiting 3 months (do you realize how long that is).

But it is what it is. Thanks for the post.

DysnomiaMay 15, 20171 votes

Wait 3 months or spend 10$ and buy the champ you want.

MysterQMay 15, 20171 votes

Only to find out you don't like it. OK.

LostFr0stMay 15, 20172 votes

As others have stated, free champ rotation does many good things. Learning all the champ kits (over 100) takes time; breaking them into 10 champs per week allows them to learn them sequentially through games while having similar champs on both teams each game. (smurfs get matched with smurfs after a handful of games, they don't apply to new-player blind-pick unless that new player has a smurf duo).

MysterQMay 15, 20171 votes

So you listed maybe 2 "good" things this does vs just letting people pick who they want to try out. Champion rotation is just outdated especially as the pool grows larger. It is interesting in concept but for people who want to try out certain things it is a terrible system.

LostFr0stMay 15, 20173 votes

I mean, I can keep listing them but there isn't much point. The free champ rotation cycles every champ every 3 months; if it was longer than that maybe but 3 months isn't that long for content. In addition, the suggestion in the OP completely disregards the iP economy. Runes are also being reworked in the fall, so depending on what gets decided there maybe more iP will open up for new players. There is also the caveat of Draft Pick norms, and the removal of free-rotation giving people the "legitimate" excuse of "I have no supp champs lel I have to get mid - instalocks - ."

MysterQMay 15, 20171 votes

Thank you for your reply. I think it is ridiculous how many people don't like change, but in this case maybe my idea is just not good. So that is fine.

I will still say 3 months is too long. Especially if you have 6300 IP and want to test 5 different ADCs or something to see which one you like. I don't know what you mean about the IP economy. 10 IP is so cheap almost everyone can afford it. If there is more IP then that is even more reason to let people try out champs they want to try. That problem exists anyways. I hate to say that as a response, but if someone is going to do that then they are going to do that. That issue needs to be addressed in another manner. Just having the "free Soraka" isn't going to be like "oh no excuse gotta play her."

Either way, it was just a thought. Continue the mundane of useless free champ rotation. (Note I used to enjoy while I was learning, but now it is slow/trivial).

LostFr0stMay 15, 20171 votes

Well, you posted it anyways so I'm sure someone will read it and add it to the list of stuff that needs to be taken into account. They read discussions even if they don't comment.

What I meant by the ip economy is that a 10iP per champ rate would allow someone to rent 3-4 champs with the ip earned per game (nvm FWotD +150iP), and would make it so the most efficient way to start every day/game would be with a series of micro-transactions (boring). Thus it would make iP have little to no actual value.

They attempted to help fix this through hextech crafting champ shard rental, but in some cases it's a noob trap unless you desperately need 1-2 champs owned to start ranked (so you rent 'em to get 16 and earn the iP back faster that way).