Shouldnt Riot make champions free?

[Tietoso]

since Valve released Dota 2 i mean, u can use all the champions from the get go, shouldn't Riot games respond and make their champions free? i mean, its valve we are talking about, they can just plaster Dota 2 in front of their Steam store and it will pick up more customers than riot can. shouldn't they be doing something to keep players playing LoL?

[Ace192]

since Valve released Dota 2 i mean, u can use all the champions from the get go, shouldn't Riot games respond and make their champions free? i mean, its valve we are talking about, they can just plaster Dota 2 in front of their Steam store and it will pick up more customers than riot can. shouldn't they be doing something to keep players playing LoL?

Having to grind out massive amounts of IP keeps players playing. I do hate sometimes grinding out 6300 for that awesome new champ, but without it, I feel like players would probably play even less. Having to pay for champs keeps it sorta like progression. Also, Riot makes massive bank on selling champs/skins. Without this income, they wouldn't stay afloat. I know some people that legit have just bought every single champ they own with RP.

[Skorpionss]

I think the gating used by riot is good it gives new players time to adjust to the game and try a few heroes at a time without being overwhelmed by the sheer number of them.

[blackhammer99]

Yes, they should be free, but then they wouldn't make half the amount the money they do. Its a very self-centered model, but it won't be changing.
Huge reason I play a lot less LoL now-a-days. At least they aren't coming out with a new champion every week like they were a few months back.

[Thallidomaniac]

Having to grind out massive amounts of IP keeps players playing. I do hate sometimes grinding out 6300 for that awesome new champ, but without it, I feel like players would probably play even less. Having to pay for champs keeps it sorta like progression. Also, Riot makes massive bank on selling champs/skins. Without this income, they wouldn't stay afloat. I know some people that legit have just bought every single champ they own with RP.

Note also that unlike Valve, who has other products to fall back on for profit (i.e. TF2, LFD2, HL), League is Riot's only product, meaning that they don't have the potential capital that Valve has.

[Nikkaszal]

Unlocking a new champion with IP is probably the best part of levelling because it gives you exactly what most people want in a game: something to work towards.

Unlocking things in games is awesome. It's a reward for your time spent. Especially for a new player, it gives them an incentive to keep playing so they can save up for that champion that they have no idea about but by the gods he/she looks fucking cool. Otherwise, it's "Here's over a hundred champions. Try not to be overwhelmed when picking a very first one. By the way, you'll get nothing new until you grind out to level 30".

[Hraklea]

Unlocking things in games is awesome. It's a reward for your time spent.

You shouldn't require a reward for having fun.

[Deleted]

They should. But the backlash it would receive from the community would be waaaaay too large.

The damage is done now, they can't reverse it.

[Deleted]

Well, they could do so, but it's likely there would be a need to heavily redesign their freemium (or whatever, monetization?) model if they wish to keep staying away from Pay to Win. Increasing the prices of some skins was enough to cause a massive backlash, gods forbid Riot attempts to do it again to actually stay afloat.

[Deleted]

I think if they were to create a new game now then probably they would; but it's too late. Other games have changed their price structure/champion structure to compete with an existing giant. Riot on the other hand can not now go back on their pricing structure even if they think it would increase their current playerbase. What could they possibly say to people who have potentially either spent hundreds of hours unlocking champions - or worse - have spent real money unlocking champions with RP. Sorry you spent $100 on these champions, we're just going to give them away for free now?

I don't think the current system is that damaging in all honesty; it's worked well and it does technically allow you to unlock everything for free should you put the time in. It would be far worse for them to change it at this stage. Playerbase retention is just as important, if not more important, than attracting new players and it's definitely argueable that the system of working for something, unlocking things, and then feeling like your account has a value (even if that's only a time value), keeps players in the game.

[Deleted]

since Valve released Dota 2 i mean, u can use all the champions from the get go, shouldn't Riot games respond and make their champions free? i mean, its valve we are talking about, they can just plaster Dota 2 in front of their Steam store and it will pick up more customers than riot can. shouldn't they be doing something to keep players playing LoL?

to be honest i am really thankful that they dont, i see so many people being bad at champs they play a lot...i dont wanna know what the fuck was up if all champs would be free...it would be a fucking mess dude.

[Darksoldierr]

Its the carrot on a stick.

[Axethor]

First, it's a little late for that considering the amount of people that play the game as is and have spent all their IP and/or RP on champions. Second, It's already bad on free weeks when people play champions they are unfamiliar with, imagine being able to play any champion in the game. Not only would new players be overwhelmed, but you would constantly see people perform terribly in ranked games because they wanted to try something new. They disabled free week champs in ranked if you don't own them for this very reason.

[Deleted]

I like it this way, so you can learn how to use champions one after one.

[StNimrod]

It helps to not be overwhelmed with over 100 champions when you start the game

Making them free would make IP useless... (yeah runes I know, but still)

It's fine as it is. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

[Nikkaszal]

You shouldn't require a reward for having fun.

Really?

Go play an RPG where you get everything at the start of the game - you get nothing when you level up, or you don't unlock cool new skills, or bosses don't drop any loot at all, or there are no powerups or whatever in the world. You end the game exactly the way you started without any variation whatsoever.

Now tell me that'd be more fun than being rewarded for your ingame efforts.

[Rucati]

Pretty much the reason I don't play League, well, one of the few reasons.

I'd rather not be forced to play thousands and thousands of games just to get all the characters unlocked, since they should be unlocked from the start. I can play DotA and play anything I want right away, and have fun with it, instead of only having like ten choices, and then like two of each role. Oh, you want to jungle? Better wait until next week since there are no jungle heroes this week in the pool. Just stupid.

[Deleted]

Really?

Go play an RPG where you get everything at the start of the game - you get nothing when you level up, or you don't unlock cool new skills, or bosses don't drop any loot at all, or there are no powerups or whatever in the world. You end the game exactly the way you started without any variation whatsoever.

Now tell me that'd be more fun than being rewarded for your ingame efforts.

If we're comparing ARTS to MMOs now, how about Sonic the Hedgehog games, where you don't gain levels, you don't get additional runspeed or any of that, you finish the game exactly the same power as you started. Now go ask people if they thought all the Sonic games were boring.

EDIT: Also, the "Working towards something" model is good, but it's problematic if some things you can buy/earn are more powerful than others and your rank/MMR relies on that fact as you feel forced into buying things to make sure you don't suffer. Unfortunately I know some champs are a lot more powerful than others. If you could only play with people with the unlocks you both have that would make it less of an issue, but Riot's pockets would suffer.

While DotA2 is intimidating as hell to learn initially I prefer to be able to play anything I want right away without purchasing it. If I want to support Valve I can just buy a courier/compendium/item set which is purely cosmetic. Somebody who threw £10000 at Valve's cosmetics has the same chance to win as the guy who hasn't bought anything. That's the way to do it, if you can still make money (And by gum, Valve are raking it in)

[Edge-]

They're still making a ton of money, so why change? I'm sure the second they see their champion sales drop enough they'll make a change, but why change when their profits from champ sales are still steady >.>

[Duilliath]

Pretty much the reason I don't play League, well, one of the few reasons.

I'd rather not be forced to play thousands and thousands of games just to get all the characters unlocked, since they should be unlocked from the start. I can play DotA and play anything I want right away, and have fun with it, instead of only having like ten choices, and then like two of each role. Oh, you want to jungle? Better wait until next week since there are no jungle heroes this week in the pool. Just stupid.

Every week has a specific split of champions, including support, AD carry, Mage and Jungler.

Running a jungler without being able to afford anything (ie. no masteries/runes) is a very bad idea regardless of whether the champions were free or not.