How to Monetize (Even More) TFT

Imninsomniac·Jul 27, 2019·2 votes·837 views

It's quite simple. Let users set a skin they have unlocked to the champions available in TFT games.

The champ art would be based on ownership of the unit. Technically speaking this requires a stored list on game load for each player and the skin assigned to each champion they could possibly purchase. Then when they buy the unit it magically transforms into the appropriate look when added to the bench (or possibly game board in the case of a carousel round when your bench is full.) We don't necessarily need a UI element for this either. (Although I am certain most people would prefer to have one, it's not an MinimumViableProduct requirement.) Rather than letting us choose via a menu, you could just use the last skin used on that champion in another game mode. (i.e. If I just played with Tango Twisted Fate in SR and next play TFT, then buy a Twisted Fate and assign the Tango skin for Twisted Fate's I buy/play. ) Result: Non-SR or other game mode players now have a reason to invest $$ in skins! Profit to Riot.

Idea Credit - Anesta. *But I do have a forum account that I've rarely used. ;-)

10 Comments

Z3SIeeperJul 27, 20192 votes

No, champion classes and origins are directly tied to the skin they are wearing.

Graves and TF have their Cutthroat for a reason.

As Riot has stated, skins will be used to deliver new versions of each champion in future seasons.

ImninsomniacJul 27, 20191 votes

Hm. I didn't hear that, but it makes sense that they would tie to origin and class. Good callout. Did they elaborate on the implementation, or do you have a link I could peruse?

Z3SIeeperJul 27, 20191 votes

TFT Dev Vlog when they released TFT. Talks about future stuff for TFT.

Don't have a link rn.

Kei143Jul 27, 20191 votes

In short they are planning to introduce 1 new champ per (major) patch until 60 champs. Then at the end of the split (around 3 months from now) they will exchange the current sets of champions to new sets of champions, and the new skins lines will be introduced as different class/origins.

I think Maple said that in Travis' hot line league interview. This was before they launched it.

https://youtu.be/kTTdXjyi-Vw

Go to 50:15 when Maple arrives.

At the same time, you can check out the dev blogs on their websites and the boards.

That said, there still can be opportunities to use similar skins to be in the same class/origin. Things like war God garen (sp?) Can probably overlap with base garen.

ImninsomniacJul 27, 20191 votes

Thank you for the detailed explanation and link. Will review. :)

ToadwartJul 27, 20191 votes

Never going to work.

How will people have champion recognition when the same hero looks different on every team you play against?

How will an esport audience that may not be as familiar with the game as hard core players follow along when the same champion looks 3 different ways on 3 different teams?

It works in league because there is only 1 instance of a champion and it looks the same throughout the match. It isnt remotely possible in TFT.

Also, its been suggested 100x already...

ImninsomniacJul 27, 20191 votes

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Allow me to do so in kind.

The situation you describe already exists is other modes and hasn't created a large enough problem with champion recognition that Riot has made any attempt at restricting skin usage. Instead, they gave players new ways to obtain skins. (See loot boxes)
An audience is guided in their viewing habits by the commentator/caster/production and broadcast teams. They are further educated and informed by any good broadcast. See Jatt and others for examples of this in SR pro play.
Even in SR bots (what everyone starts the game playing, even those who just want to play TFT) there can be multiple copies of a champion. One on your team and one on the opposing team. Each can have different skins. I'm pretty sure all the bots are randomized skins (though I may be wrong on that).
It's not that hard to hover/click your mouse on a champion in TFT and see what it is from the tooltip. Skins don't change the basics, they just take something that many players spent money on and let them enjoy it in the new mode. And for those players that don't have any yet, maybe they will see one they like and decide to buy it. That's where the monetization comes into play.

ToadwartJul 27, 20191 votes

{quoted}

It will never, ever happen.

The matches change every minute (30s fight, 30s prep time)

You can have the same champ on both teams on the same board at the same time, but looking totally different. 1 minute later the same champ appears on another team and looks totally different again.

TFT is not "other modes" in the later stages you can have 16 champs on the board + elemental golems. Do you honestly think your average esport viewer can follow heros changing appearances up to every 60s and pick out whos who and whos doing what with that many champs on the screen when their appearance is never the same?

No, they cant and it will never happen.

ImninsomniacJul 27, 20191 votes

To solve this, leave the shop icons the default, non-skin version. Problem solved from a viewing standpoint. Once the unit is on the field you can again mouse over in-game. As a viewer you can watch the aa animation/skill animation (just like you do today) and have overlaid commentary and production pointers (think the drawing during replays they've started doing during pro games) to assist with clarity. The NFL, and other developed professionally viewed leagues have this. I don't agree with the premise that the audience playing the game can't accomplish these things, but we can agree to disagree and still have a constructive conversation. (I hope.)

ImninsomniacAug 7, 20191 votes

After reviewing more of the details shared publicly and considering carefully here are my thoughts:

One consideration to the number of total available units in the game (the concept of rotating champions).

There are currently 50 unique champions in TFT (Not including the upcoming Hextech origin release.) The champion selection process is dictated by 1) a single shared pool of units between 2-8 players, 2) the number of each unique remaining units, 3) Each player's level

Here is my proposal:

Provide a pregame draft/loading phase similar to other game modes. (5 second timer, assigned default/auto-pick in case of timer expiration - Load the game environment and players, but not the final champion roster yet)
Set the value of champions in each round to be equal until the same ratio of champion costs have been picked. Current Breakdown: 12 1 cost, 12 2 cost, 11 3 cost, 9 4 cost, and 6 5 cost.
Players rotate selecting one champion (Origin/Class combo based on skin/champion ownership) until 50 are selected. (Maximum time is just over 4 minutes, minimum time would be less than a minute assuming all default selections.) This sets the final roster and starts the first carousel round.

The timer allows every player an opportunity to review the champions, their ability/stats/picture, and load into the game. In addition, we are able to maintain the desired balance between number of champions in each game and players. I think 5 seconds may be too short, yet being able to setup your preferred pick order in advance could alleviate some of the time spent searching for someone specific during the draft phase itself.

Obviously this implementation wouldn't occur in just a few patch cycles as there are 961 total skins available in the game today. Still, I think this is a model could scale well as the total number of champions and skins continue to increase. Furthermore, it underlines the original intent of this thread which was to provide a way to monetize a Free-To-Play game that Riot intends to support as a permanent mode/game within the existing League Client. Currently the only method is the loot box experience of Little Legends. I can understand why they may want to keep the two games (SR/TFT) independent, but if recent broadcasts are any indication that seems to be anything but the trend.