League of Legends will be pay-to-win? Riot admits its mistakes and responds

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League of Legends will be pay-to-win? Riot admits its mistakes and responds

Admits, League, Legends, mistakes, PayToWin, responds, Riot

League of Legends has been updated and is controversial. The game would have become a pay-to-win game in everyone's eyes, and that's not happening. Riot has finally spoken out, it's a blast!

On January 9th, League of Legends kicked off its new 2025 ranked season with a pretty incredible movie that also followed season twoArcane. The famous MOBA is also using this new year to rethink its entire season format, introducing new game mechanics and big changes to many things, from the structure of the season system to rewards and of course gameplay. Lots of pretty brutal changes, but generally well received apart from a few details.

Some new elements do not please at all and have even turned League of Legends into what it has always fought for: a format that many call Pay to win (Pay to Win). Or definitely Pay to Fast (Paying to be faster), but really fast… After players' anger, Riot Games spoke up and admitted its mistakes.

The latest League of Legends update is causing controversy

Whether you're a fan or not, you have to face the facts, The latest League of Legends update didn't just bring good things. So yes, the themes and the new Battle Pass are more readable, clearer and more fun. Only on the condition that we still pay, because the players who don't reach into their wallets this season are more likely to end up on the sidelines.

When the reward system changes Riot has implemented a classic battle pass with levels to collect cosmetic items or even an in-game currency with which you can get your hands on other cosmetics but also champions. And that's the problem.

League of Legends Mel
Evil also comes into the gap and causes a lot of excitement

League of Legends has become “pay-to-win,” or at least “pay-to-fast.”

In League of Legends, To unlock champions, you must either purchase them with real money or collect fragments or blue essencesan in-game currency that can only be obtained as a reward, for example by completing challenges. In rare cases, characters can be unlocked during ranked seasons or with special missions.
Until now, the easiest and most importantly free way to get these items was simply by playing, completing some regular challenges or leveling up, since with each new level you received a capsule or a chest as a reward.

The problem is this this system simple disappeared to make way for the clearer combat pass. Daily, Weekly and Seasonal Missions now offer Battle Pass experience to level up faster. A good idea on paper, except that the number of blue essences and capsules you can collect in this famous pass is ridiculous.

In total there are just over 4700 essences that you can collect, a little more if you exceed level 50 after several dozen hours of play, and a few capsules at most. According to several fans' calculations, with this new operation it would take several years to purchase the 170 champions currently available on the game.

Therefore, a controversy arose Because a player who wants to invest and be competitive will inevitably have to pay real money to quickly unlock the various heroes. League of Legends has therefore become a pay-to-fast game, and for some even a pay-to-win game.

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One of the new skins available with the new season

Riot Games apologizes, big changes are coming, including for First Blood

Riot Games finally spoke out on the matter, claiming they had made a huge mistake. According to Andrei van Roon, director of the game, the fact is “Unlocking champions with blue essence shouldn’t have been harder” Normally that wasn't the goal. He says developers need to do this “Look at the problem”.

It is therefore more than likely that Corrections will be provided shortly and will hopefully allow players to enjoy their champions without having to sweat too much. Anyway, Changes are planned in future patches. Riot also made its mea culpa regarding another addition to this new season, the famous Feats of Force. For this 2025 season, it is now possible to partially complete three sub-goals to receive a permanent bonus: “First Blood,” “First Turret,” or “First Team to Eliminate Three Monsters.”

The problem is that the race for first blood has literally polluted games, especially at lower levels. The mental strain is enormous and often becomes nonsense right from the start of the game. While Riot believed it only added tension, it turned out to be a bit toxic, not to mention the snowball effect that came with it, at least mentally. So on this point: Riot apologizes againbut believes thata real snowball game (the snowball effect) is not the case “not really stronger” that before the update, “or not at all”. On the other hand, the studio claims that it is the perception that is different. In other words, making these goals visible would impact teams' mentality and impair balance, even if the immediate rewards had not changed.

Necessary changes and it's coming soon

As an avid gamer since the early days of League of Legends, I can confirm that this is indeed the case, especially at low levels where the mind plays a large role, especially in decision making. Riot confirms that changes will be made in upcoming patches of the season. “Honestly, we made a mistake here and it should have been changed before publication.” explains Andrei van Roon, before concluding that this would be the case “Recognize this mistake” and “learn from it to do better next time.”

As is often the case, Riot reacts relatively quickly; it remains to be seen when the fixes will be made available and, above all, what they will bring.

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