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Hextech was ruined with the preseason 8 changes

Dethflash·10/1/2018, 8:19:38 PM·3 votes·1,124 views
Hextech Crafting Guide

Ever since the major changes to the game in preseason 8, it seems orange essence (OE) is very rare now. If you remember season 7 you could get a good amount of chests and key fragments every month, the chests usually contained a skin shard, and occasionally a champ shard, with maybe a tiny bit of OE or blue essence (BE). Then Riot changed the system, now you always get champion shards every level, for many people getting a key fragment or chest is very rare ( i get on average 1 to 2 key fragments a month and i play several games every week, Riot says you can earn 12 key frags a month ive never seen more than 3 key frags a month). I have had 10 chest or more for all of season 8. then after months of saving up your loot to open 1 chest, you get a useless champion shard; im fine with only getting champion shards in the level capsules, but i dont want useless champion shards from my chest i open. I already own every champion and have a massive stockpile of BE that is useless. Chest used to give more skin shards from champions, but 1 out of 3 chest i open has a skin (that rate would be even lower if it wasnt for their Bad Luck crafting policy ensuring a skin shard every 3 chests), and then it takes takes at least 3 to 4 months for me to earn enough orange essence to unlock the skin.

Possible solutions: get rid of chest giving champ shards, already get enough champion shards from the level capsules, and it sucks when i get to finally open a chest, after months of saving up this very pitiful amount of key fragments i get, and get another useless champion shard. This would allow players to finally start earning OE somewhat more frequent, so it wont take 5 months to get that cool skin shard you have be saving towards (it took me 5 months to get enough OE for my Project Vi skin shard, i was playing a few games every day at that time) Or fix the rewards system, this is straight from the Hextech Crafting Guide "Each player's key fragment drop rate is unique. You can earn up to 12 key fragments in a 4 week period, and the drops should feel evenly spread out through the month. After four weeks, the timer is reset." well some players "unique drop rate" is pitifully low, i know im not the only person who barely gets keys, i have even spoken to a Riot Support employee who said they have the exact same problem as i do, they barely earn any key fragments even though they dont have any bans or punishments. Riot you tell us we can earn 12 key fragments, so why are players who are playing league almost every day, arent getting any bans, are barely earning 2 or 3 key fragments a month? I have a friend who has 27 key fragments, but no chests, so this problem is vice versa, some players have trouble earning chests, and other players have trouble earning key frags. (though i have heard of more players having trouble earning keys frags, than chests). Or allow players to exchange their massive piles of useless BE to OE, like 1000 BE for 100 OE. Then at least our BE isnt completely useless, and you dont have to wait for several months to unlock that one champion skin shard (long as you have enough BE).

To end, the crafting system wasnt perfect season 7, but it certainly was a little bit better than season 8 hextech crafting, at least in season 7 i could open chests and unlock skin shards from champions and wards, but season 8 your very lucky if you get to craft something every month or every other month. Riot should be looking at ways to improve their crafting system. If you have any other solutions to improving the hextech crafting system, be sure to leave a comment.

2 Comments

Oleandervine10/1/2018, 8:32:43 PM3 votes

First of all - Riot specifically said they were reducing OE because you'd get more skin shards and boxes through events, and t his has proved true. Secondly, they stated that the sheer amount of OE you got before last preseason was too high, and it was cutting into their RP sales. This is a massive problem for a company that doesn't generate any other kind of revenue, so I do actually support this.

Second, Riot has changed Hextech chests so that I believe only 4800+ BE champ shards are in them, but they're not removing them because that's what Masterwork Chests are for. Plus, the S rank chests are free, so there's still got to be a little downside to them. Also, keys are now somewhat tied to the honor system, I've noticed the more honors I get, the quicker I get key frags. Maybe be friendlier in games to get honor and things will pick up.

As for the chest rate, there's honestly not a single change to this, so I don't know where you're getting this idea that you got more in season 7 when they're no different in terms of acquisition than in season 8. A possible factor of this is that when you rank up on champions, it gets more difficult to earn S ranks, so this could be why you're perceiving it to be slower.