Are Prestige edition skins becoming overglorified/overpriced gold chromas?

Forhonor321··57 votes·17,626 views

Yeah, a lot of people have posted about this but I might as well too since this is mainly what I do on the boards most of the time.

With the reveal of the latest skins hitting the PBE, we get our next batch of skins: BM Sivir, Pyke, and Aatrox. However, Aatrox will also be getting a prestige edition of his BM skin. This, however, just leaves me repeatedly asking "why?"

When Riot first announced Prestige Kai'Sa, I'd figure this was going to be a new direction they would take to try and get more money every now and again. So, after the worlds event to get the skin (and going through a good chunk of my credit card), they then come out with Prestige Akali. This I feel is mainly due to how Akali became so fucking popular in the K/DA event, because let's be honest Kai'Sa is pretty bland in terms of base story, as well as the video and IMO appearance. Makes sense that Riot wants to cater to popular champs (how do you explain Pyke getting his next skin already?)

For this, again, I was kind of OK with, since I could see the differences between both of these skin for both champs. Little unnerving that they're being released so close to one another but I guess Riot wants to keep on the K/DA popularity.

...AND THEN COMES AATROX! I mean, he gets a new skin and it's decent for the most part ( I know I'll get it) but to release another fucking Prestige version of it along side is ridiculous! I thought Prestige skins were suppose to be rare and special, coming out every now and again? Kai'Sa and Akali I can tolerate but adding in Aatrox is too much. It doesn't even look like a lot is changed from his base appearance, outside of his hand in the splash art from what I can guess. Really? This isn't prestige, this is an overglorified gold chroma for him. I don't even think it looks that good if that was the case! And that's not even going into how you obtain these skins. Kai'Sa was ridiculous to get, Akali I think is a bit easier but still and I can only imagine how you get Aatrox. It's dumb.

To briefly recap:

  • Prestige skins are coming out way too close to one another, making them feel less special
  • Latest look at Prestige BM Aatrox feels like it's an overglorified gold chroma
  • Ways to obtain these skins in such a short time frame, if done like Kai'Sa, can basically boil down to a cash grab

I'm honestly disappointed that Riot is doing this. Actually, no I'm not because I've already been disappointed in them for a long time. I'm pissed at them right now. Nothing about Aatrox feels that special or unique as Akali or Kai'Sa, it's just a gold chroma, and the fact that this is the 3rd Prestige skin we're getting in the span of, what 4 months (?), makes them less special and unique to get. Some serious overhauling needs to happen to Aatrox's skin if it wants to meet the standard of these prestige conditions, Either that or scrap it (unlikely) and then they need to hold off on Prestige skins for a while.

31 Comments

disregardable17 votes

ok I know this is a crazy concept but hear me out

the whole point of all of the cosmetics is to get you to spend money.

Penta Penguin3 votes

ok whale

ModAcademy Kayn1 votes

Okay whale what? If you're gonna object, at least finish your sentence >u>

Maisanai1 votes

that was a complete insult, no more to be said lol

ModAcademy Kayn1 votes

r/woosh

Gravesinger16 votes

Are prestige skins becoming glorified gold chromas?

That would seem to imply that they weren't exactly that since their inception.

ModCaptainMårvelous5 votes

Basically this. If you already got the worlds pass, it wasn't too big of a deal tbh. 1650 for a chroma, maybe an orb or two, some other stuff, etc.

It reminds me a lot of the Battle Pass stuff in Fortnite and (to an extent) DOTA where you buy the pass and can unlock a neat thing or two after putting time into it.

TBF though, I don't really mind or care about Prestige skins. Get'em if you like'em. But for me, I'd much rather have League dip into other cosmetic trees that Riot still has yet to explore. Including:

  • Announcers
  • Map Skins
  • UI Skins.
  • Turret Skins.
  • Client Skins.

etc. (And yes, these would be for normals only so as not to have a disaster in ranked)

Tormentula1 votes

{quoted}

TBF though, I don't really mind or care about Prestige skins. Get'em if you like'em. But for me, I'd much rather have League dip into other cosmetic trees that Riot still has yet to explore. Including:

  • UI Skins.

UI skins would be pretty cool.

Idk what they could really do for client skins though. Dont get me wrong, if i could revert the client to league's old spellbook aesthetic, i'd do it in a heart beat, but i can't imagine what they'd change really in the new client's restrictive window.

Map skins and Announcers should've been a thing years ago though. I'd imagine turret skins would match the map skin and minion skins would be something separate.

ModCaptainMårvelous2 votes

Idk what they could really do for client skins though. Dont get me wrong, if i could revert the client to league's old spellbook aesthetic, i'd do it in a heart beat, but i can't imagine what they'd change really in the new client's restrictive window.

Mostly city-state skins. Imagine having a white-and-gold Demacian client with lots of pristine edges and engraved text. Maybe a Piltover client with a lot of steampunk and cogs going on, etc. Essentially customizing the client as you wish. Plus just another way to make your client look better for when you stream.

Map skins and Announcers should've been a thing years ago though. I'd imagine turret skins would match the map skin and minion skins would be something separate.

Depends. Arcade/Star Guardian/etc. mostly had minions and some turret changes whereas the map changes like Butcher's Bridge are a whole different category.

jurrrr1 votes

it would be cool if there was a vote to choose the map skin before the game starts

Dark Ruger1 votes

Map skins sound like money

One Quacky Boi1 votes

The worlds pass actually came with 4 orbs, an icon and a bunch of tokens as far as I remember, so it was nearly worth all the 1650rp on purchase

Tomoe Gozen1 votes

Aren't skins just made to earn Riot money anyway? "Gold chromas" is an understatement since chromas don't come with VFX and colored particles. These skins do. But i think that Akali and Aatrox came a bit too late since the coins have expired, i believe? If we had more skins to choose from the next time, the pass might be worth to more people instead of just Kai'Sa mains.

AIQ2 votes

Well since the skin/chroma can only be obtained through tokens. (IDK about Aatrox) Depends on how you value the tokens you get from the pass.

Personally if I get 1 epic skin from any of the boxes and anything else my pass is paid for. Anything beyond that is "technically free." Yes you need to grind games, but I'm playing them any way.

However, a counter argument to my point is that with the value of 1800 tokens you could get multiple boxes instead. It's up to you whats more valuable. 4-5 skin shards or a one time skin that may never be released again. Ultimately that's up to the person who has the tokens. I preferred getting all the golden chromas over getting Kai'sa. Which I thought was great value. (Unless they re-release all of it... :( )

As far as Frequency, I concur. It felt so special to see KDA Kai'sa everyone got excited. We all kind of knew Akali/Eve/Ahri would get one too, so I don't think if it was Prestige EVE being announced instead of Aatrox next; no one would care since they will probably to do all 4 for the sake of doing it. The Prestige Aatrox feels out of place though.

Pyke? Yeah favoritism. Riot will never confirm it because telling fans that certain champions get priority based on popularity/revenue is bad business, nor deny it because lying to your customers is bad business.

Lazy Grandpa2 votes

no but the 100 threads talking about it are definitly getting annoying. Riot can just make them mission grinds. who gives a fuck if there is one every so often if you still have to put actual effort into it to get it. the only issue would be if they'd actually let you pay a price to buy it from the shop. i wish people could just shut up and let riot do their thing because there are infinitely more people happy that they have something to work towards than people immediatly complaining about it. atleast put it all in one fucking thread man is it so hard? is it so hard to upvote one and downvote the rest?

Jaegaer1 votes

I'll donate some money to autism research. Hope they find a cure.

Penta Penguin2 votes

Chromas were a mistake

Hexs Fortune2 votes

If you think about it the gemstone skins are pretty much prestige. They are all epic tier and have extra value based on exclusivity

ModAcademy Kayn1 votes

Well, not exactly. You can get a Gemstone skin any time, as long as you got the Gems. Prestige, from what it seems as of the moment, is limited to only the release of said skins time-frame, while not excluding the basic level skin's concept from players who'd rather just have that than the prestige.

A more apt comparison would be if Gemstone skins were purchasable with RP, but spending some Gemstones would give you special effects or alterations during this brief window of availability.

Madjack011 votes

Deleted for being misinformed -by author

The Trent1 votes

I personally don't know why they're all golden... A prestiege skin is just a skin but with like all the abilities changed in color too, so a little different from chroms. I don't understand why we can't have red ones, white ones and purples ones... Why they all golden?

DeusVult1 votes

The whole prestige chroma was a neat idea when Riot originally announced it to come along with the worlds patch. A unique limited time chroma that looked good and rewarded players who spent the time to get it.

The only thing is that the reward was pretty much locked behind a loot system that you had to buy into in order to get. Fine. I'm somewhat ok with that.

Then Riot started selling ways to get the tokens that would allow players to buy the chroma. Except that in order to get it this way you would have to spend about 60+ USD. So now it went from players being rewarded from their efforts to a cash grab.

Now we have had 3 "prestige" chromas released or announced in the past 3 months. Its no longer a unique reward and is now entirely about bringing in large amounts of money from limited investment. (its just a chroma, not even a new skins or animations)

PaffWasTaken1 votes

Eeach single months, Riot release a new kind of way to do easy money grabs

Even1 votes

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GET THEM

EdgeLady1 votes

[{quoted}](name=I NEED YOU,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=lOsgFUu7,comment-id=000a,timestamp=2018-12-06T05:45:25.427+0000)

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GET THEM

No, we don't, but Riot could easily be putting their time and effort into making something more unique, interesting, or even plain cool.

Now yes, I would like to see Ahri and Evelynn get Prestige K/DA editions just to complete the "JhinFOUR!" and because the Kai'Sa and Akali skins were different enough to work. But Aatrox's one here...is just his base Blood Moon skin but gold. That's it.

YuGiHo1 votes

No we dont, but if riot is going to spend time and resources to put out content it should be content that people want. riot should cater to their consumers instead of pushing to see how far they can go before people complain or more importantly, before people stop buying their product.

Infernape1 votes

Not becoming. Are.

It started with borders and certain chroma colours becoming locked to exclusive bundles/partner programs (when borders used to be obtained either through the event or by buying the skin before a certain date). Then we have prestige skins.

Wahre Gesicht1 votes

Prestige Edition is not chroma, but i hate exclusive content. They say they want the game to last generations but are releasing content that new players will not have access to. Incoherence.

One Quacky Boi1 votes

"in such a short time frame, if done like Kai'sa" are you saying the 2 months we had to farm tokens for Kai'sa were a "short time frame", or that the snowdown event probably won't last as long which would make it harder to get the prestige Akali?

PowerSlave9931 votes

Nobody is telling you to buy skins tho...

If you haven't noticed ,every patch contains more skins than actual nerfs to champs lol.

Wolfeur1 votes

Prestige edition skins are made to reward two types of players:

  • Those who keep the game financially successful
  • Those who dedicate their lives to it

They're technically not chromas, as they're entirely separate skins.

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