Boards›Gameplay

Everyone Should Have Unlimited Runepages and FREE Runes

DubWubWubWub··76 votes·6,537 views

Runes are a big part of making league of legends unique; they allow us to fine tune our characters stats according to how we want to play that particular game. I believe that unlimited runes, and rune pages should be made available for everyone to use how they want for a number of reasons which i shall list below to make this post easier to read.

  1. It would allow players a greater flexibility in how they build their characters from game to game.

  2. It would make characters more universally balanced because there would be no dependency between players who had good runes or bad runes; and players who had only a few runes to match a few of the champs they love to play, and players who have loads of rune pages with good runes on all, each tailored to a specific game play style specific to the champion they are playing.

  3. Unlimited Rune pages and Runes for all would allow us all to easily spend time customizing our game play even more so than we already can. We would be able to put more energy into thinking out our game plans which can be very fun and rewarding, rather than playing games for the sake of earning IP to spend on Runes.

  4. We would have more IP to spend on Champions we would like to buy, thus creating a greater feel of progression in your league of legends account.

  5. New, and experienced players alike can be greatly discouraged to continue playing the game because they see just how much of a grind it is to create a decent rune page, and then also the fact that its a whole other grind to get more rune pages

Those are all the relevant things i can think of for now.

League of legends is suppose to be all based around balanced game play, and no pay to win. As league players yourself, wouldn't you like to have a good ability to endlessly customize without having to pay to get it?...and i'm not just talking about paying with money, i'm talking about paying with your time.

135 Comments

Drunk Rummate26 votes

Sure, on one condition - I demand a refund for every rune and page I've already bought.

Except Riot won't do this because I sunk a LOT of IP and some cash into it.

So no. Sorry OP, isn't going to happen.

VG SlyTroopah6 votes

That is an invalid reason. Everyone should have the best game-play they can.

OxBaker10 votes

That's not an invalid reason. Riot knows they would lose money if they tick off their paying customers. If I was made to pay money for an in game feature and then RIOT turns around and gives it to everyone else for free but keeps my money, there's no chance I'd buy anything from them in the future.

JAGMAG17 votes

No

MohawkBird2 votes

[deleted]

JAGMAG7 votes

It forces you to either prioritize champion pool or runes for what champions you do have also LOL is free to play but they got to make money some how so if you want more rune pages or runes buy some rp support riot that's why

VG SlyTroopah2 votes

So you think they care about money more than making their own game better?

EndlessSorcerer10 votes

Riot Games is, above all, a business; they're pretty much obligated to make money for their employees and owners.

EffectFX22 votes

How dare a business try to make money!

DubWubWubWub2 votes

they make loads of money on skins, that should be enough

JAGMAG4 votes

why should it be enough? why not make money on other games literally everything in the game besides skins and extra rune pages is unlockable with in game money your just being greedy

DubWubWubWub1 votes

i am not being greedy...i have 8 rune pages and 9 of almost every rune. not to mention every champ...ive played well over 2k games and dumped a lot of money into the game. that doesn't mean it shouldn't be changed

JAGMAG3 votes

i have a hard enough time in low elo the last thing i need is low elo players who actually have runes lol

Zorsus1 votes

umm, you can buy runes with RP?!

A Miss Fortune1 votes

Wait, aren't Runes themselves only purchasable with IP? So there isn't even a point in having them cost money.

I'm okay with Rune Pages costing money, but their IP cost needs to be lowered a bit.

You can carry most games without Runes but they also give you more of an edge.

Nahara2 votes

Only Rune Pages cost RP, and even then there's an IP cost for them as well. Runes themselves only cost IP.

Migrañaboy8 votes

Won't happen soon, reasons:

  1. Business model: The runes and rune pages system is an IP drain, which motivates players to buy champions with RP or IP boosts. It isn't strange from Rito that they release something good (e.g. limited-time set of skins) and they suddenly put a 2x1 rune page sale or 50% rune discount before that.

  2. Old players who grinded IP for rune collection will complain.

  3. Collecting stuff (a.k.a. putting your effort and time) like champions and runes increases attachment to the game/account. (Can also be the opposite, but I'm sure that their hidden data shows that it has more pro's than con's, reason that it hasn't changed).

Deep Terror Nami6 votes

The Rune system exists solely to pressure new players into spending RP for IP boosts or on champions so they can use IP on the Runes that are needed to not be at a disadvantage. I don't see them giving up this system any time soon, as much as I abhor it.

VG SlyTroopah1 votes

The only reason this system exist, is for the money. (That is the only reason that makes any sense)

EffectFX7 votes

Exactly and I don't see why that's a bad thing. A free2play game needs a consistent source of income. t

DubWubWubWub2 votes

they have a very consistent source of money with skins. they don't need others to be well off

only zhule3 votes

{quoted}

they have a very consistent source of money with skins. they don't need others to be well off

First off how do you know what the ratio of their income is from skins vs other features that take real world money to get?

Secondly, why shouldn't the company be making money because you can't be bothered to save up from a few games to by that 8th rune page. Or feel you "Need" to buy an IP boost so you can get a whole new set of runes for that new champion that you just decided to buy.

You are paying for convenience. This isn't some pay to win bullshit, nothing that directly effects game play is locked behind a pay wall. Some stuff just requires you to decided between dropping 5 bucks or playing 6-8 more games to save up that IP you needed. And the game doesn't drop you into the deep end without warning. You see how each level up makes your character a tiny bit stronger. You likely see how the tiers of runes work. Worst case you might be surprised why at a certain level champions tend to start off a bit stronger then they were before... Usually by this point though you have the IP to get all the runes you need... so long as you aren't trying to play all roles with multiple champions for each (which you could have choosen to skip a few of and have more IP saved up)

EffectFX1 votes

That's your opinion. You're also wrong.

DubWubWubWub1 votes

Actually its not wrong. In 2014 Riot made $3,851,868,086.19 on selling RP, the vast majority of that was for skins

EffectFX1 votes

#Source

ChaoticPinecone4 votes

the same argument can be applied to having all the champions for free as well. its a F2P game, and the only thing stopping you from having runes is grinding. You cant even buy runes with RP, so grinding is very important to getting runes.

plus, runes only give a small advantage to the player. my go-to example being Faker's smurf who is rank 3 in KR at the moment http://www.op.gg/summoner/rune/userName=Hide%20on%20bush which only has 2 rune pages - one for AD and one for AP

DubWubWubWub1 votes

And I do think that all champions should be free.

As far as the relevance of a good rune page, i think we all know that runes are actually very important....As well as masteries.

RIOT dosen't need to create clever schemes to get people to play the game and spend money. the game is good enough as it stands to be the most played thing in the world, and as far as money goes...they make BIG BUCKS on skins by themselves. I wish they would act with the Players best interest in mind because that will only make the game more popular and high quality.

Z Statistic2 votes

so...what should IP be dumped into...?

Even if you don't own all the champions, it is ridiculously easy to spend enough IP not to have to buy any new champions with RP. Quite frankly, the reason people tend to suggest this at all is because:

  1. Tier 1 and Tier 2 are shit.
  2. Champions are too expensive and it's impossible for new players to do well or like the really cheap champions and they should be able to play however they want.
  3. IP gains are too slow.

My response:

  1. Yes. Riot needs a rune upgrade system where you are ENCOURAGED to buy tier 1 and Tier 2 runes even at lvl 30 because you will upgrade them to Tier 3 eventually.
  2. This is a matter of debate. I fell in love with Lulu! the moment I say her, and I still love her. I never would have tried Pantheon if my friend hadn't suggested him, and now I play him religiously. Oh, and I still love Soraka. The IP system serves an audience who wants to invest their time and effort to progress. My roommate said, "fuck it" when I said you had to purchase Ekko either with IP or RP. That can be a barrier, but quite frankly the 450 IP champions are so awesome that they are arguable better than some 6300 ones both aesthetically AND mechanically. It's a mixed bag. You can't please everyone with any system.
  3. You can grab 7800 IP in 6 weeks by playing 1 coop game a day for FWotD. If you play significantly more on average, you will get a lot more IP much more quickly.
DubWubWubWub1 votes

I don;t think there should be IP at all.

I believe that all champions should be free as well as all the runes and rune pages and all that

people dont play this game to get satisfaction out of building up your character or account...they get satisfaction out of beating an opponent. The way the game is right now, its not exactly the most balanced format to say the least. and that is by no means to say that balanced perfection cannot be achieved with a few couple tweaks...im not just speaking about the runes and masteries system in the game

Z Statistic2 votes

I get satisfaction out of building up my character, customizing them, and carving out my own playstyle and strategy. I enjoy saving up IP to buy that next thing because it gives me something to look forward to.

I admit not everyone shares my view of progression, but there are PLENTY of people like me who actually enjoy the sense of progression.

There are people who don't give a shit about progression and just want to press a button and start a game of LoL like CoD TF2 HotS or DotA. That's perfectly fine, and I encourage them to play how they enjoy to play the game. That said, do not take IP away from me. Riot has free week rotations for those people who just want to start up a game. For the people who want some solidarity in their game experience, the cheap champions are very fun and very affordable. With a rune upgrade system and rune pages that start cheap but increase in cost (e.g. start at 500 and increase by 1500 per additional up to 6300), you could easily come up with a roster of 10-20 really cool and fun to play characters that you chose with 5-6 FULL rune pages to customize your champion to how YOU want to play. Runes are not set in stone as much as people think. While Armor yellows are ridiculously powerful, there are options instead depending on the champion, role, and playstyle.

Tweeking the system to help out these guys is a great way to help make the game more accessible to a larger audience. Removing IP altogether just alienates part of the playerbase like me.

DubWubWubWub1 votes

you may get satisfaction out of that sense of progression and building up your account and stats and whatnot...but can you honestly say that its the reason you enjoy playing league of legends? I'm fairly sure you don't look forward to buying runes when you think about playing league, even if you do enjoy it while you're doing it.

only zhule4 votes

{quoted}

you may get satisfaction out of that sense of progression and building up your account and stats and whatnot...but can you honestly say that its the reason you enjoy playing league of legends? I'm fairly sure you don't look forward to buying runes when you think about playing league, even if you do enjoy it while you're doing it.

You are right i don't look forward to buying runes, much like i don't look forward to a hard match up in game. But i sure as hell feel good when i win that match up or have saved up enough IP to buy the runes i need for a character i've become interested in. I honestly don't think it's even that hard to get the IP, so long as you aren't dropping it all on new champion after new champion, it's pretty easy to save up a little bit here and there and just pick up 1-3 runes a week while still having left over IP build up.

ChaoticPinecone5 votes

i disagree with the 'very important' comment. As i had shown, the top midlaner (in arguably the world) has gotten to the top of the Korean soloqueue ladder with only 2 runepages - one for AD champions, one for AP champions.

mechanical skill and game sense are 'very important'. Riot only giving 2 free rune pages might be a slight hindrance, but can be overcome with skill.

ArkenStorm1 votes

Ironically, I have the same rune pages..... Coincidence? Nobody will ever know

Teh Only Poke1 votes

I do too, but it's mostly because it's the most basic stats in the game.

iainB852 votes

Your arguments make sense if this was a game we all bought.

However, it's F2P, and all F2P games need to put in gates like this to try to entice people to dump money into the game. It's a sad but unavoidable fact of the F2P games we play today.

ArkenStorm1 votes

It's the only way it will stay free to play. Nobody would continue to work on it if they aren't getting anything out of it.

grumpyfrogy2 votes

absoultey not, i actally want to spend my ip on somthing and not have it pile up

Also, in reason 4 you mention "Creating a greater feel of progression in your league account" i actally find grinding out rune pages to have much more progression than just mindlessly buying champs, once you finally filled out a full rune page its an amazing feeling that you worked hard for and alot more satisfying than buying a champ, sorry but i dont want masteries in circle form

pro crastinat0r2 votes

No thank you. I've spent years grinding IP to fill up my rune pages and grow my champion pool. If I had to do that so should everyone else.

ComannderShepard2 votes

Please no, what am I going to do with my reimbursed 50k+ IP?

However, I think Riot should overhaul runes and rework the ones that offer pitiful bonuses and maybe come up with some other ones like giving wards a larger vision radius or having them affect summoner spell CD's.

Silent Pace1 votes

[deleted]

DubWubWubWub1 votes

what is an IP sink?

FooDang1 votes

Runes give the new players something to grind for. I had to grind for my runes and so can you.

MohawkBird4 votes

[deleted]

only zhule1 votes

{quoted}

What new players should be grinding for is new champions. Not having to waste their IP for just to compete contemplatively.

How much IP does the average new player end up with from level 1 to level 30? My guess is that it's quite a bit so long as they didn't chain play for 2-10 days.

How many champions do you expect a new player to need to buy to be competitive? How many of those champions do you expect to be on the high side of the pricing grid?

MVDuneCats1 votes

[{quoted}](name=only zhule,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=sox7OmGz,comment-id=000500010000,timestamp=2015-06-09T07:23:27.136+0000)

How much IP does the average new player end up with from level 1 to level 30? My guess is that it's quite a bit so long as they didn't chain play for 2-10 days.

I'm level 26 right now. I play between 4 and 5 games a day. I'm on target to have collected close to 41k IP by the time I hit 30.

only zhule1 votes

{quoted}

I'm level 26 right now. I play between 4 and 5 games a day. I'm on target to have collected close to 41k IP by the time I hit 30.

Thank you very much for giving me a rough idea of what to expect. Let me ask you this then, do you feel that 41K is going to be enough to get the champions you want and build a couple rune pages? If not could you explain why. Again thank you for giving a base to work off of.

MVDuneCats1 votes

I may not be representative of the typical new player. I did a lot of research when I started playing to plan out what I would want, and how to spend my IP. I also treated LoL like a non-F2P game I might purchase, and sunk $20 into RP to pick up a few champs on sale. If I hadn't purchased those champs, I might have felt a bit more pressed into spending IP on champs. But then, I also spent a small amount of my IP on 7 x 450 IP champs. So I might have simply focused my play time on those champs instead (and on the 3 completely free ones).

At this point, I've spent 4,500 IP on champs and 26,445 IP on runes. If you just look at those numbers and nothing else, it seems like quite a disparity. However, the numbers don't tell the whole tale, since that 4.5k IP gives me access to 8 champs plus the 3 free ones for 11 total, which is a good amount of variety for a newer player.

Meanwhile, those runes will cover me for a lot of the champs I unlock in the future. Armor seals and MR glyphs are sufficient so far for a champ in any role. AD Quints + AD Marks covers a ton of melee champs for top, mid and jungle. Add AS Quints, and you can cover most ADC champs. Pick up AP Quints and Magic Pen Marks, and you can cover most AP based champs.

FormationX1 votes

BUT then they would need to increase the IP cost of champions.

More from Gameplay

3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay764 comments
7,167
votes
3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay156 comments
3,510
votes
UPVOTE FOR URF
Gameplay606 comments
2,440
votes
Yes plz.
Gameplay456 comments
1,721
votes
3 Refunds per season, up vote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay114 comments
1,716
votes
When is ANYONE at riot going to address the awful new player experience?
Gameplay634 comments
1,383
votes

More by DubWubWubWub

New Game Mode Every Week
Maps & Modes2 comments
3
votes
New Game Mode Every Month
Maps & Modes1 comments
3
votes
There SHOULD be a PTT system in LOL
Gameplay3 comments
1
votes
No More Level Advantages, No More Item Advantages.
Gameplay12 comments
1
votes
PTT benefits to the game
Gameplay3 comments
1
votes
End Game Ultra Rapid Fire Feature-----Very Fun Idea :P
Maps & Modes1 comments
1
votes