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[Suggestion] Bring back recolored skins - see inside

Awayuki·10/17/2013, 4:53:25 PM·32 votes·3,295 views

This is my first time posting after a long time of browsing around the GD and posts here. Since the recent new 1350rp skin on Zyra, there is a lot of controversies surrounding the release of skins, pricing of skins etc. I think a partial solution to this problem that has been suggested in various places would be releasing more recolored skins.

For the most part of season 3, riot has generally avoided recolors and gave us a handful of well-deserved 975rp skins. Although I think having high quality skins with particle changes is very nice, I feel customer should have the choice of having simpler skins. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that every champion should have a good range of skins from basic recolors to legendary skins (with the voice changes etc).

When I look at skins, I go for the feel of the skin rather than how many particle changes it has. Which brings me to my next point about recolors. I think SOMETIMES, recolor gives the champion a completely new feel (pink taric anyone?). Sometimes it almost feels like having discovered another side of the champion's personality! Let me illustrate that more with Ashe. With Sherwood Ashe and Freljord Ashe, the lonesome and icy feel of her personality was enhanced in addition to her classic skin. What am I trying to say? Some recolors are more than simply just recolors, they also add to the champion's character because they are more closely linked to the champion's classic skin.

What I would like to suggest for riot is this:

  • Have at least ONE recolored skin for each champion. Only make more than one recolored skin if it really fits the champion and brings additional insight! Even then, I would highly advise against having more than two recolored skins for one champion. Too many recolored skins will lead to general complaints of riot being lazy, the lack of quality for skins overall for a particular champion, or just being plain old boring.

Some good way for riot to do this:

  • Remember back in the day when riot released TWO skins for each champion that came out? One skin would essentially be a recolor. I think it would be a really cool thing if riot brought that back with the second skin being a simple recolor prices around 520rp or something like that. I -think- this would not add too much work load on riot when releasing the champion and at the same time giving players more skin options.

  • Another very creative way for this to work (not sure how possible, but it would be really amazing!) is for riot to host a poll on the website that will run for approximately 2-3 weeks following a new champion release that will allow players to vote for a recolor they would like to see for the champion. This way, the community will get a recolor that they like and don't have to wait too long to see another skin for the new champion.

This pretty much sums up my suggestion. Thanks for reading.

No TLDR version sorry :(

28 Comments

RiotIronStylus10/18/2013, 4:25:29 AM15 votes

I'll go check on this matter again. I think there was some internal discussion on it, but I'm not sure how it panned out.

To clarify, we're not going to do any "recolors", as in, same geometry of the model, just a texture or pallet swap on the existing geo. If "recolors" were done it'd probably happen similar to how we went about re-doing old skins for newly VU'd champions. Master Yi is a decent example of this I feel.

Again, no idea how the discussion turned out, but I'll poke my nose around. I'm in favor of a simple tier of skins, but I'm not 100% certain as to what the feelings of the team are.

Leafie10/18/2013, 5:50:23 AM7 votes

Why not make some fun, cheap skins that fit a champion's theme and don't take too much effort? I love the thought of Mecha Kha'Zix fully coated in armor and shooting rockets and all that fun stuff. But sometimes I want to buy a cheap 520/750 skin that satisfies me, as a player, visually.

Making Kha'Zix a green skin and calling it PREYing Mantis Kha'Zix would do just that. It's a simple recolor but fits the champion's theme and doesn't take effort. Something like turning Zac Blue and calling it Jell-O Zac also fits the theme and is an easy thing to do.

Us as players don't need the most astounding visual changes or the complete re-imagining of a champion to fit a different theme to be happy. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that you turned Zyra into a grave-yard theme with the plants and the seeds, with the ghouls and... It's very well done and visually pleasing and all those complementing adjectives. But I want something simple and cheap, and I'm sure many other players feel the same way.

Posle Ekho10/17/2013, 5:01:15 PM6 votes

I just made a post about this so I will just post it here:

I think that the skin making process has become more of making the best particle effects and the best new models and less about simple easy to make and most importantly CHEAP skins. I know that as league of legends is getting better riot is trying to produce the best they can with the resources they have, but I really miss simple recolors. To me skins aren't just about new particles and animations, but about changing the look of a champion and showing that you love to play it. Making recolors changes the look of the champion but doesn't change the model or particles. Personally I love some champion particles as they are, especially the newer prettier ones. Champions such as Vi, Quinn, Orianna, and Elise would look great with a simple recolor. Think about human Elise with a human look and a red spider form, Midnight Orianna with a black and white color scheme. These types of skins would not take as much time or resources as say arcade hecarim, but they would still be loved by many league players! also, introducing recolors at a 390 or 520 RP price-point would allow summoners to get 2 or 3 skins for there favorite champions off of one $10 RP card instead of only being able to buy one fancy particle and new voiced skin. I know recolors might not be up to some "standard" that riots design team has but they are completely up to my standards and im sure many people in the community feel the same way. I personally would love to see recolors back in the making, What do you think?

SmokingPuffin10/18/2013, 3:48:22 AM3 votes

I don't like pure recolors. I think there are some that are okayish, but nothing that's really good.

I want to see more skins from Riot that are one step more work than that. Things like Spellthief Lux and Caterpillar Kog'Maw feature model changes, but they don't change the animations or the particles.

I think that Riot's missing out on a lot of cool stuff that could be created quickly along these lines. New particles and animations are nice, and I'm not going to stop buying Bear Cavalry Sejuani and similar, but I would love to see more simple skins at a lower price point.

Eyrgos10/17/2013, 6:07:02 PM3 votes

All for this.

Wardancer10/18/2013, 5:25:31 PM2 votes

So, why wouldn't you just do recolors? Some champs like Zyra and Elise have cool models that if you just changed a few colors you could get some cool looks.

Linna Excel10/17/2013, 5:21:05 PM1 votes

IMO skin recolors should be done like GW2. Give the skin several zones and you can pick which color you want that zone to be.

lorewise10/18/2013, 11:35:19 AM1 votes

There seems to be at least some portion of the LoL community that feels like some skins should be available for IP. I don't know that I think all skins should be available for IP if any, but I think your idea may be a good middle ground solution.

Inexpensive recolored skins that can be purchased with a lot of IP.

How does that sound?

naotasan10/18/2013, 1:16:19 AM1 votes

I always thought that champions should come out with cheap recolored skins that cost 6300IP, or at the very least, still come out with them.

Amak12/28/2013, 5:04:43 AM1 votes

I wanna revive this old thread just because I've been saying this for a long time. I think each new champion should be released with two recolor options available. That would give Riot quick income for the cheap skins (I would always buy the color that I liked the most), and it would give them time to focus on making the next-tier skins for champions.

Some of my favorite skins are the old recolors like Sherwood Ashe and Count Vlad. I prefer the simplicity of those skins over the ridiculously-fancy skins like Infernal Nasus and Frostfire Ezreal.

MadLock10/18/2013, 1:25:26 AM1 votes

What if the recolor skin is purchasable for 75% of the champion's IP value with IP? So a black Xerath would be 3600 IP? Riot wanted a new IP source and this would be great for it.

Shosuko10/18/2013, 5:44:21 AM1 votes

I feel that Riot is always looking to increase the bar, but constantly forgets that variety, even just for the sake of variety, can be a good thing.

Take Elise for example - I really dislike her skin... So I don't own it... Yet I own skins for pretty much every champ I play. I'd really like to buy an Elise skin, just not that gray blur <_<

I would like to see Riot return to 2 skins per release, with 1 being basic, and the other being better. Fill out the lower price tier and ppl won't complain about higher tiers being over loaded.