The current debate surrounding Blue Essence and champion unlocking procedures within League of Legends has sparked numerous queries from the gaming community. One team leader responsible for the new player experience, named Maddy Marquissee (developer), has provided some clarification on these issues.
It’s well-known that mastering League of Legends can be challenging, and even though Arcane has been a massive hit on Netflix in terms of viewership, it hasn’t been easy to attract new players due to the game’s complexity.
Riot Games has established a dedicated team focused on improving the initial player experience to attract more gamers and ensure they continue playing. Engaging new players is crucial for the longevity and success of League of Legends in the future. Maddy Marquissee, who heads growth for League of Legends, is part of this team and frequently discusses their strategies on her personal Twitter or X account.
Yet, the responses Marquissee provided when inquired about why freedom isn’t universal among all players did little to assuage their doubts. Instead, many players found themselves questioning the lack of an alternative solution besides investing significant time to advance by acquiring new characters.
LoL dev explains why champions aren’t free
Given that League of Legends has a total of 169 Champions, acquiring them all can prove to be quite costly. If you were to purchase every champion currently available (excluding Mel Medarda who’s joining soon), it would require approximately 119,265 RP. This amount equates to around $860 when buying the maximum RP available on the store twice.
As a passionate player, I’ve got to say, the game offers numerous methods for me to obtain new champions without spending a dime, and even earn some within the game itself! It’s not as though every character comes with an immediate price tag, but if Riot Games didn’t anticipate players buying them, they wouldn’t be priced at all.
An alternative option is subscribing to PC Game Pass at a monthly fee of $10, but remember it requires continuous subscription and there’s uncertainty about how long Riot will continue their collaboration with Microsoft. If this partnership ever dissolves, you would need to repurchase the champions again after having spent $10 per month for as long as you played, without any guarantee that your previous payments will result in permanent ownership of the champions.
While you can accumulate all these items within the game, it’s going to require quite a bit of time, even more so in the past. However, thanks to the League of Legends development team, they’ve boosted the Blue Essence earned by players considerably, which means it won’t take as long as it used to. Still, it’s a process that can sometimes stretch over several years.
Instead of rendering all champions free, which might seem like an easy solution, Riot Games’ developer Maddy Marquissee clarified the reasoning behind not doing so in League of Legends. However, players didn’t find her explanation particularly pleasing.
I concur with your point and I’m proposing some significant initiatives to enhance the situation! However, allowing all champions to be unlocked simultaneously can confuse newcomers – they lack direction towards easier-to-grasp champions, only seeing a daunting list of names during champ selection that feels overwhelming.
— Maddy Marquissee (@maddizzlee) January 13, 2025
She clarified that instantly having access to every champion could confuse novice players. Instead of being introduced to champions gradually with explanations, they’re given a daunting list of champion names during the selection process.”
“She pointed out that making all champions accessible right away may not benefit newcomers because it lacks guidance for easier-to-grasp champions. Instead, they are presented with an intimidating list of champions in champion select.
An unhappy player replied, “No. Unlocking all the champs would just hurt Riot’s monetization.”
As a gamer, I was called out for using a “weak justification” when suggesting that champions shouldn’t be free. To this, the developers responded with a playful, “Data wise, I’d have to respectfully disagree,” accompanied by a witty sticky-tongue-out emoji.
My data would disagree 🤪
— Maddy Marquissee (@maddizzlee) January 14, 2025
Dr. Jordan Tsai, a League of Legends team owner, proposed an idea where new champions could be provided in groups as players progress through levels, for instance, offering three to five champions from different categories at a time.
Multiple other players voiced their displeasure beneath her tweet series, stating that the significant barrier to acquiring new characters in Battlefront End (BE) was the primary cause for their decision to quit playing.
As a devoted fan, I must clarify that Marquissee emphasized her role within a team dedicated to enhancing the fresh player experience. It’s important to note that her responsibilities do not extend to the game’s monetization strategy. Furthermore, she delved deeper into the specific data she relies on to make informed decisions concerning this aspect of the game.
– I took care of a few parts, yet each game champion has unique player retention rates due to some being intrinsically complex to grasp. Consequently, players often quit the game as they fail to comprehend it. Unfortunately, I can’t display those charts (I’m not permitted to), but we do track these statistics.
— Maddy Marquissee (@maddizzlee) January 14, 2025
She argued that the success rate, or retention, of champions varies significantly based on their level of difficulty, with certain players abandoning the game altogether if the character they choose is too challenging. Additionally, Marquissee proposed that the team is developing a type of “personality assessment” to guide newcomers towards champions that might be more compatible with their individual style.
Alternatively, phased introductions of champion characters, coupled with regulating who can access them initially, could serve a similar purpose. This approach is more budget-friendly than spending over $800.
Alternative MOBAs such as DOTA 2, Marvel Rivals, and SMITE provide their game characters free of charge, albeit with different approaches. Unlike the former two which offer characters for free, SMITE adopts a one-time payment model of $30, granting players access to all characters, thus striking a balance between the two business strategies.
Even though Riot made emergency adjustments to the BE system ahead of Season 2025, they didn’t undo all the changes they had previously made. The biggest point of contention among players is that Hextech Chests can no longer be obtained for free as they were before the updates for Season 2025. This is causing a lot of frustration among the player base.
That method provided a simple, cost-effective approach to accumulate free skins and even have a chance to win a skin for your preferred character, without having to spend money. Notably, many players possess Hextech Keys that remain unused in their inventories.
Indeed, the updates made to the Battle Pass now provide players with a fresh skin for each new season (approximately every 8 weeks). Furthermore, these modifications result in a significantly greater value when purchasing the pass, as compared to previous times.
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2025-01-16 01:48