Yeah, the game is free, but the quality of the base game is also abysmal.
See, Rito makes profit in the billions (profit means, after all expenses / payrolls / everything). How much of that money do you think goes back into the game? They most certainly don't pay for quality programmers, since the quality and speed of work is terrible. They don't pay for quality animators / artists, since this game's art style is very easy to model in. They don't put any money into recoding the engine to get rid of spaghetti code. So what do they do with it?
Just the fact that the game is F2P shows how greedy they are though.
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In a traditional P2P game, you pay for access to the game, and the company needs to keep you entertained in order to earn money from you. So they make sure the game itself is as good as it can be, and constantly add new content and player experiences (MMOs, mostly).
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In a traditional B2P game, they make money by getting you hooked on the series, and buying several games in the series. This means they make the game the best it can be, release expansions (Not DLC, that's different), and release sequels.
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In an F2P cash grab, they make money regardless of how long you play. They make money by enticing you to buy extra things in the cash shop, be that cosmetic (League) or gameplay-altering (some MMOs and Smash Bros.). The quality of the game is irrelevant so long as you throw money at them, so they don't try to make it the best it can be.
So, looking at that, what does an F2P cash grab do? Well, they largely ignore the base game if they can, and instead pour all their resources into developing new crap shop items. You know NCsoft? They own ArenaNet, who runs Guild Wars 2. NCsoft mandates that each department produces so many items for the cash shop each month, or they could be fined / fired. So, the developers will literally drop whatever they're working on to fill that quota, and this often leads to real content being half-assed and rushed, since they're not allowed to put much time into it.
Specific to League, this means that things like balance, champ updates, the client updates, and all that, are put on a back burner while skins and new champs take up all the developer resources. As far as balance goes, there is no such thing; they work to create FOTM waves and promote popular champions so that they can boost skin / RP sales.
You know the champ updates they do? They take 6-7 months for Rito, right? Well, League, in a programming / art sense, is MICROSCOPIC compared to just about any other game. Any competent team could do a champ update in a few days to a week, but Rito developers aren't allowed to put time into them, so it takes them several months.
As for Hextech, it's not a way to give you things for free, it's a way to try and get you to pay for RP. Once you get a taste of skins, you're more likely to want more, and you'd be more willing to buy RP to get specific skins you want. You're also more likely to put money into the Hextech system itself, since it's kind of addicting for a lot of people. So, no, it's not trying to give you things for free, it's trying to goad you into paying money.
Riot is greedy because they make profits in the billions, but put none of that money back into the game. Instead, they pocket 99% of that, and half-ass the game as much as they can get away with. They don't care about their product, they just care about the money it can make. They don't care about their playerbase, they just care about how much they'll throw at them. They care for nothing but money, and that's why they're greedy.
