League of Legends

The League of Legends logo

*League of Legends (LoL)* is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed and published by Riot Games. Released in 2009, League of Legends has evolved to two main offerings, its traditional MOBA offering and a separate gamemode called Teamfight Tactics where 8 players compete against each other in a strategy gamemode. This Wiki is mainly concerned with the MOBA offering of the game, where players are able to select from a large cast of characters and compete against each other in a variety of gamemodes. Summoner’s Rift, the primary game mode of League of Legends, pits two teams of five players against each other in a war of attrition, with the victor being the team that can destroy the opponents base.

## In-Game Currency

League of Legends has two forms of main currency in it’s game:

* **RP :** Formerly known as Riot Points, RP can be obtained by players through purchasing it with real money, or other methods such as Twitch Prime rewards, or by redeeming prepaid RP cards.
	+ **Uses:** Champions, Cosmetics (Champion Skins, Chromas, Eternals, Emotes, Ward Skins, Summoner Icons), Experience Boosts, Rune Pages, Event Passes, Hextech Crafting.
* **Blue Essence (BE) :** Blue Essence is the free-to-play currency of the game earned through leveling up, missions, opening champion capsules, or by disenchanting champion shards.
	+ **Uses:** Champions, upgrading Champion Shards, upgrading Champion Mastery, buying additional Rune Pages, Starter Series Eternal Pass, Essence Emporium items.

### Currency Bundles

#### Purchasing RP

To purchase RP, a player has two ways of directly accessing the purchase page. The fastest way would be through the currency counter located near the player’s icon. The other method is by entering the store page and clicking on the “Purchase RP” button located near the top right.

There are six RP bundles that can be purchased, with five out of six bundles offering bonus RP as a better deal for buying a bigger bundle.

### Currency Exchange Rate

The currency exchange rate is an estimate calculated by accounting for all currency bundles available for purchase. You can find a detailed breakdown of this process here.

The currency exchange rate is the average rate of all 6 bundles: 1 CAD to 86.62 RP.

### Payment Methods

Current payment methods include the following:

* Mastercard
* Visa
* Amex
* Discover
* JCB
* Mobile Payment
* PaySafeCard
* PayPal
* Prepaid cards and codes

### Refund Policy

Riot Games provides 3 refund tokens to accounts by default, allowing the player to refund specific items no question asked within certain limits. If players have any refund tokens less than 3, they will regenerate back to 3 at a rate of 1 refund token per year. Refund tokens can be used to refund unused items between 14 to 90 days of purchase and used items within 90 days of purchase. Refund tokens can only be applied for Champions, Emotes, Individual Chromas, Skins, and Ward Skins. Other items such as Chroma packs, Rune pages, Summoner icons, and name changes can be refunded through sending a ticket to Riot Support. Any other items are non-refundable.

## In-Game Items

League of Legends offers a variety of obtainable items as part of its offering. Players are able to unlock characters, referred to as “Champions”, by earning enough Blue Essence or purchasing them through Riot Points (RP). Additionally, League of Legends offers a variety of cosmetics which can be unlocked through real life purchases of its in-game currency or through limited free-to-play methods. An important aspect to note is the gifting feature available in League of Legends. With this feature, users can gift, or be gifted, various in-game items.

### Champions

Champions are the playable characters of League of Legends, and are purchasable through the premium Riot Points (RP) or through Blue Essence (BE). They are priced based on how recently they were added into the game, with the newest Champions costing the most in both currencies.

### Cosmetics

#### Champion Skins

Champion skins offer different visual versions of playable characters based on different themes and concepts. They are priced based on rarity, which loosely determines how much of an overhaul that skin provides over the base model of the character. There are seven rarities of champion skins, with items of increasing rarity including everything from the previous rarity:

* **Timeworn (Classic)**
	+ Different textures and splash art.
	+ 390-520 RP
* **Budget (Deluxe)**
	+ Different models with unique textures and splash art. Sometimes includes new animations and visual effects.
	+ 750 RP
* **Standard (Superior)**
	+ New model, textures, and splash art. Sometimes includes new animations, visual effects, and sound effects.
	+ 975 RP
* **Epic**
	+ New model, textures, splash art, animations, visual effects, sounds. Sometimes includes new voice overs.
	+ 1350 RP
* **Legendary**
	+ Complete reworking of a character's design. New model, new textures, new splash art, new animations, new visuals, new voice over and sounds.
	+ 1820 RP
* **Mythic**
	+ Similar quality to Epic skins but within unique themes and are only purchasable for the Mythic Shop. May be dropped from loot boxes as well.
	+ 100 Mythic Essence or Mythical Skin Token.
	+ Prestige Editions of Mythic Skins can be obtained through events (getting a certain number of tokens to redeem them) or crafted through Mythic Essence.
* **Ultimate**
	+ The highest rarity in the game with skins that are able to change forms and push the boundary of cosmetics.
	+ Comes with all of the features of legendary skins in addition to bonus forms and extra content.
	+ 3250/2775 RP

**Note:** Timeworn, Budget, and Standard rarities only apply to past skins. New skins are only epic rarity or above.

##### Chromas

Chromas are one of the cheapest cosmetics available to purchase with RP in League of Legends, costing 290 RP. They are recolorings and alternative textures for existing models of all champions. During the Essence Emporium event, all Chromas can be purchased for 2000 BE or 195 RP.

#### Eternals

Eternals are paid stat trackers for individual champions that display a wide variety of statistics that are either common or unique to the champion. Eternals can be purchased as a set, with Common Sets being purchasable for 225 RP or 2500 BE for individual champions, or 1350 RP or 14750 BE for the Common Sets of all current and upcoming champions. Unique Eternal Sets are  purchasable for 600 RP for individual champions, or 5850 RP for the Unique Sets of all current and upcoming champions.

#### Emotes

Emotes in League of Legends are images that can be broadcasted to all players in the lobby, with the player being able to equip 4 onto an Emote Wheel. Emotes can be purchased from the Store for 350 RP each or found through features such as Hextech Crafting.

#### Ward Skins

Ward Skins are a type of cosmetic which alter the look towards all types of wards (an item illuminates parts of the map when placed) that are placed by a player during a match. Although there are many ward skins that can be obtained through events, promotions, etc. that may be limited, there are ward skins that are purchasable in the store for 640 RP each.

#### Summoner Icons

Summoner icons are representative of the player’s in-game avatar that is displayed on their profile page and shown to other players in lobbies or friend lists. There are a variety of summoner icons that can be obtained through events or features such as Hextech crafting. Otherwise, icons can be purchased in the store for 250 RP.

### Boosts

A boost is an item that is meant to temporarily increase a player’s experience points during matches. Although boosts are offered in this game, they are not considered to be a pay-to-win item, as boosts do not give any direct advantages in matches and player levels do not impact the game. Boosts are either bought directly in the store, or can be given as a compensation reward.

Boosts are split into two forms: Days and Wins. Day boosts grants exp and lasts for the duration specified on the boost, while win boosts grant exp for a specified amount of wins. The RP costs for each type of boost are dependent on the form of the boost and the type:

### Rune Pages

Runes provide customizable benefits to your Champion during matches and different configurations of runes can be saved in dedicated Rune Pages. Players have a limited number of pages to start but can purchase more using 590 RP or 6300 BE for individual pages, or 2600 RP for a set of seven rune pages.

### Item Costs

As of October 25 2023, the current lowest and highest cost items that are purchasable in League of Legends are the following (not including items that are given for free or have to be purchased as part of a bundle):

 **Most Expensive Item** | Ultimate Skin

## Battle Pass

League of Legends does not have a dedicated and refreshing battle pass. Although, individual events may have dedicated battle passes for the duration of that event with varying RP costs and different rewards.

## Subscriptions

League of Legends does not have any subscriptions in place for players to buy.

## Loot Boxes

### Hextech Chests

Hextech Chests and Masterwork Chests are League of Legends’ version of loot boxes that provide a variety of different cosmetics. Hextech Keys are used to open both Hextech Chests and Masterwork Chests. Hextech Chests and Keys, both individually costing 125 RP, are the cheapest microtransactions in the game. Masterwork Chests cost 165 RP. Hextech Chests and Masterwork Chests have the following probabilities:

**Hextech Chest:**

* 50% - Skin Shard
* 25% - Champion Shard
* 11.5% - Ward Skin Shard + 150 OE
* 10% - Emote
* 2.5% - Summoner Icon Shard + 150 OE
* Bonus Drop (may or may not happen):
	+ 3.6% - 10 Mythic Essence
	+ 0.04% - Mythic Skin
	+ 10% Hextech Set

**Masterwork Chest:**

* 70% - Skin Shard
* 10% - 525 OE
* 10% - Emote
* 10% - Ward Skin Shard + 150 OE
* Bonus Drop (may or may not happen):
	+ 4.2% - 5 Mythic Essence
	+ 0.04% - Mythic Skin
	+ 10% - Masterwork Set

## DLC

League of Legends does not have any DLC for purchase.

## Editions

League of Legends has no editions available.

## Pay-to-Win Systems

League of Legends does not have any pay-to-win systems as everything that can be bought within the game does not provide any competitive advantage.

## Limited Time Offers

### Event Passes

During events, players are able to purchase an event pass using RP, which will qualify them with a reward track dedicated to that event. Event Passes typically only reward the player with tokens that can be used to redeem rewards from an Event-specific store, but they may also include general rewards such as player icons, emotes, and boosts. Skins offered during events are exclusive only while the event is not running, as recurring events typically offer the skins from previous iterations of that event.

## Personal Review

**How does the video game’s culture impact microtransaction spending?**

League of Legends’ culture has a tremendous impact on microtransaction spending. The game releases skins regularly for special events in real life or in their esports circuit. Some skin sets come with their own events that allow players to earn unique rewards to add to their skins should they decide to purchase. Skins are a huge part of the branding of the game, with the game adding more options overtime for players to customize their skins and express themselves.

**Is it possible to free-to-play while having a good experience?**

It is possible to play without spending and still have a good experience since microtransactions are fully cosmetic and have no bearing on gameplay.

**What is the value proposition offered by the microtransaction systems and are they substantial improvements over not spending?**

Cosmetic microtransactions allow players to customize the appearance of their favorite characters and express them to other players. I would not say they are substantial improvements over not spending as many characters (especially new ones) look great even without a premium skin.

**Do microtransactions add “value” or simply add prices to features/items that other games include by default?**

Cosmetic microtransactions add value for players willing to spend money for increased customization capabilities but League of Legends also includes microtransactions for basic features such as region changes and name changes, which are default features in other online free-to-play games.

**Do you need to spend to have fun?**

You do not need to spend to have fun as all gameplay features are unlocked without paying and many of the newer characters look great without customization.

**Is it worth spending on microtransactions in the long run?**

Yes, not only do skins improve the gameplay experience through cosmetic customization, but there are many ways to get skins for cheaper through sales or Amazon Prime.

## Resources

1. ↑ League of Legends Wikipedia
2. ↑ League of Legends - How to Play
3. ↑ League of Legends FANDOM Wiki - RP
4. ↑ League of Legends FANDOM Wiki - Blue Essence
5. ↑ Riot Games Support - LoL Refund Policy
6. ↑ League of Legends FANDOM Wiki - Champion Skin
7. ↑ League of Legends FANDOM Wiki - Boost
8. ↑ League of Legends FANDOM Wiki - Hextech Crafting