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Hextech exclusive loot: what's the reasoning?

DeathBurst··2 votes·530 views

There are many "Hextech openings" videos on youtube, and they consistently show a ~3% drop-rate for Gems. That's roughly 30 Chests for a Gem, or $50 in average with the current price. As a reminder, you can get roughly 50 Chests per year, but that requires active farming. You won't get 50 Chests just by playing like usual.

Soooo, with all the facts out of the way... Hextech exclusive Skins at 10 Gems represent $500 or 6 years of farming, if you actively try to get the skin. So I guess you're not supposed to actively hunt them? What's the goal of these bloody skins? Showing that you are lucky and/or wealthy? Because without being miraculously lucky or spending a LOT of money, no one should ever get these Skins before 2020...

I don't understand. I'd like to believe it's not a money grab, because $500 is a HUGE sum of money for a cosmetic in a video game. But I can't really see any other reason.

11 Comments

Flaherty1 votes

It's just to add something that is exclusive and exciting to get. A lot of people complained when a ton of legacy skins were made available again And at least the Hextech skins are easier/cheaper to get than like Championship Riven or UFO Corki or the PAX skins...

Twitch Chat1 votes

Probably because they're trying to have some way of having skins be rare without resorting to the old limited edition thing. It wouldn't be rare if you could earn it in a few months or buy it with a little RP.

Niyumi1 votes

Money. They're shiny and new, and not many people will have them. So, some people will blow hundreds on them.

Gotta love F2P.

Sukishoo1 votes

Actually with the 11 chest bundles it's more or less $150 to get most of the gems. I own Hextech Annie so I know.

Plus they will be releasing limited amounts of gems that you can buy as well, so there will be other ways to get there.

The Exclusive content though is meant to be something more like a collectible. Skins have always been just a cosmetic, they do nothing for you in game, so if you want them you get them, if you don't you don't.

DeathBurst1 votes

Hmmm, ok maybe my numbers are wrong. I'm far away from my gaming computer with LoL right now, could you detail how you get to $150? I'm pretty sure all the videos on Youtube used the same bundle you're talking about.

Sukishoo1 votes

Cause like I said, I own Hextech Annie, I know how much I spent to get it.

DeathBurst1 votes

Ok, I'm back home, and I checked the number. You got the Skin with a Shard for the Skin directly, or with 10 Gemstones that you forged into the skin?

If you got it with Gemstones, you got a roughly 8% drop-rate. So either you got incredibly lucky, or Riot changed the drop rates since all those youtube videos.

Anyway, that's still a lot of money for a skin. Even Ultimate Skins are only $20 or so. Are you really expected to pay $150 for a Skin, and is it through Hextech Crafting only so that people don't realize it? Because paying $150 for a Skin sounds ridiculous to me....

Sukishoo1 votes

10 Gems. It's a bit crazy, but I have spent $3000 on league so?

DeathBurst1 votes

Well sure, your mileage may vary, but when the second most expansive item is at $20, it looks pretty strange to me to have an item that is "virtually" at $150. I say virtually because 1/ you probably got plenty of other stuff on the side, even if that wasn't what you were hunting for; and 2/ it's not officially tagged with the price.

Sukishoo1 votes

Well I actually was after it, though since it is all random the costing can vary still I guess. The shard for the skin itself is priced at 2450 Essence, if that were RP it'd be near $25 or so (still expensive league-wise for nothing truly amazing; like her old legendary skin).

DeathBurst1 votes

No I mean, if you buy plenty of chests to get 10 gemstones, you get plenty of OTHER stuff inside the chests, on top of the gemstones. So even if you spent $150 on chests to get the Hextech Skins, you still get more than just the Hextech skin, even if you were not after these other stuff to begin with. So you can't say that the price of the Hextech skin is actually $150. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Is it clearer?

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