PROJECT: Hunters was the only example of Loading Borders done right.

Seeing as 8.17 is right around the corner, I wanna talk about something that has always been a topic of controversy in the community - Loading Screen Borders. Originally, these borders were meant to show that you purchased a skin within a short period of time after the skin's release. These were given to you for free, and you kept them forever.

However, as time has gone by, and greed has seemingly risen more and more, borders have started having RP costs attached to them. It first started with the Star Guardian New Horizon event. The 5 new skins were each given a border, but the borders were locked behind bundles that cost an extra 425 RP than what the skin would cost. And as time has moved on, the greed and costs of these borders has just risen more and more.

In this year's Lunar Revel event, 3 new skins were released that all had Loading Screen borders. While this event did have tokens that allowed you to craft borders, these borders cost 64 tokens, and each player was only allowed 96 tokens total from missions. But there was also bundles that included the borders (only other way to get them) and again, 425 RP for these borders.

And then, if we look at the absolute worst example of Border overpricing, look no further than the recent Samsung Galaxy skin collection. 6 new skins were released, each with a matching icon and border. HOWEVER, borders and this time icons as well were locked behind, you guessed it, bundles. These bundles were extra special though, because they cost 890 RP MORE than the skin's pricing - just 35 RP off of Gun Goddess Miss Fortune - an Ultimate skin for crying out loud. This means that these borders alone cost 640 RP. That's fucking insane! And to top it all off, these borders didn't work unless you have the matching Icon equipped.

Now, let's get to the main question - why am I typing all of this? Well the answer is simple. In 8.17, 5 new skins are releasing. High Noon Urgot, Thresh, and Lucian, and Divine Sword Irelia and Enduring Blade Talon. And all of these skins have Loading Screen borders, (Not even different ones, mind you) as pictured below.

https://preview.ibb.co/nxhFYU/Borders.png

So because of A. The lack of missions or an event this patch, and B. The lack of explanation on how to get these borders, we can only assume that these borders will be exactly like the SSG borders. Before the SSG skins actually dropped, there wasn't any word given on how to get their Borders or how much they would cost. Kind of explains why most were angered at the 640 price spike, huh? We don't know how much these will cost, how we can get theme, or even why they all look exactly the same for each series of skins.

Now, to tie in with the title's post. Back in November of last year, the PROJECT: Hunters event dropped. 3 new skins, all with borders. But you know what made these borders different than all the others? You could get all 3 of them FOR FREE. Missions allowed players to get up to 96 PROJECT Tokens, and the 3 borders were included into 1 crafting bundle that only cost 80 Tokens. And this event happened between Star Guardians and Lunar Revel! How could you go from a massive paywall to give people borders, to making them all obtainable to all players for free, and then go back to the shitty paywall system? Were people upset that they could get them for free? Are we Fortnite where players compare skill with how much rare and expensive shit they own?

The PROJECT method of getting borders was hands down the best and most player friendly way of obtaining them. Borders shouldn't have a cost attached to them, especially when they're still only obtainable for a limited time. Before, it was simply "buy the skin before a set date". Now, it's been "Buy the skin before a set date in a bundle with an increased price".

Seriously hoping that from this point forward, the next set of borders - or hell, these borders releasing in 2 days, are gotten the same way that the PROJECT borders were gotten - FOR FREE, as they should be. Even if players have to work for the borders, it's a hell of a lot better than having to shell out more cash and more than likely buying shit we don't want as well. Hope this is taken into consideration for the next event.

TL;DR: PROJECT: Hunters gave skin borders for free to all players, but every event after has had paywalls to obtain them, with prices steadily increasing over time.