We need to acknowledge the fact that some champions will never get another skin until LoL dies

AquariusGine·9/10/2018, 10:00:33 AM·4 votes·1,752 views

Example of champions may include Skarner VolibearCassiopeia

Why?

Because

  1. Riot wants to minimize allocating resources to these particular champions are much as possible.

  2. You can't use the 'they haven't got a skin in XXXX days' card.

  3. LoL isn't going to last very long at the rate Riot is going.

I realized this as soon as I saw the Jinx teaser (yup, she's getting a new skin while Camille still has only one). If you are a main of an unpopular champion, you should get comfortable with the skins your champion got, because that's all you're ever gonna get, for a long long time.

LoL is a product that has reached maturity, it's seen its peak and probably won't grow anymore.

https://marketing-insider.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Characteristics-of-the-Product-Life-Cycle-Stages-and-their-Marketing-Implications-1024x613.png

Once it starts its decline Riot will have to start cutting costs and market the more popular champions even harder (Ahri Lux Lulu Yasuo) to make up for lower revenues.

5 Comments

Umbral Regent9/10/2018, 10:29:32 AM7 votes

I think a fairly large factor in certain Champions not getting tons of skins is something to do with their overall design, and how it can limit what Riot can do with that Champion.

Using Skarner as an example, he does have a fair few skins already - Sandscourge, which presents him as more of an actual, overgrown scorpion, Earthrune, which turns him into more of a wild, fae sentinel of moss and stone, Battlecast Alpha, which turns him into a mechanized siege machine in Viktor's robotic army, and Guardian of the Sands, which makes him a Shuriman tomb sentinel.

And, sure, there could be other unique ways to spin how the Crystal Vanguard looks - perhaps giving him a Bilgewater thematic and turning him into something more like a lobster, or making him a life-seeking abberation of the Void...But compelling thematics have to be carefully considered with Champions like Skarner, especially if they wind up ultimately putting more work on Riot's plate when they inevitably look to him for any measure of Gameplay update.

Likewise, Volibear has been stated to be on the table for a future, small-scale Gameplay Update, whenever they may find the need and direction to work on him, so making new skins for him would be a risk due to there being the potential of adding more work onto future updates.

Cassiopeia is somewhat of a unique case, though, as her gameplay seems to have been cemented since the Mage Update two years ago, but she also very recently got her Eternum Skin. Between that and her thematic (being a medusa/serpentine creature) being relatively difficult to work with in terms of good, interesting thematics, it's fair to assume Cass may be waiting a fair enough while to get a new skin.

The same rule as before (difficult thematic/design) can apply to Camille - she's humanoid, but her blade legs kind of make it pretty difficult to some cohesive concepts.

Jinx, on the other hand...She's a crazy, wiry girl with long braids and hugeass guns, with very specific functions. The amount of shit they can do with her is immense given...Well, she's fuckin' crazy. Anything can work on her if it's not super serious.

And just look at her skins - Mafia, Firecracker, (zombie) Slayer, Star Guardian, Ambitious Elf. They're all vibrant, wild, and varied. It'd take a fair bit more effort to turn some of those more light-hearted skin thematics (Firecracker/Lunar Revel, Christmas, Star Guardian) into an actual skin for someone as austere as Camille.

If we're going to acknowledge the fact that some Champions aren't going to get skins for a long while, we have to at least try to understand why they aren't - and good god are there a number of reasons for a fair few Champions.

Besides - Riot typically has some of their skins planned well in advance, so who knows? Maybe Camille is gonna get her second skin in a few patches, and perhaps Skarner might see gameplay changes and a skin immediately following them, like Swain did.

GreenLore9/10/2018, 1:31:59 PM4 votes

You know that 2 of the champs you mentioned are high on the VGU list,so Riot avoids giving them skins on purpose(just like they did with Urgot or Yorick in the past)?

Also while Cassiopeia is definitely an unpopular pick for a new skin,she did receive one a year ago and looking at the huge number of champs I'd say that its pretty much standard for a champ to go without a skin for a year.

AnAggravatedPimp9/10/2018, 10:43:28 AM2 votes

It's much easier to make a skin for a champ that's humanoid because Riot can just hav them cosplay with very few major changes. Riven, Shen and Twisted Fate are far from super popular picks but they got pulsefire skins because Riot had a concept in mind and can just slap a future tech theme onto them with ease.

Champs you mentioned are all less human so it takes more effort to model them/apply a basic concept to them that's not just a pallet swap.