Yoab2504 | TwitterThe removal of free Hextech Chests and the drama surrounding it has taken the LoL community by storm, and the devs have responded by taking away even more free sources of loot.
LoL’s developers explained that, while Hextech Chests have been earnable in game for almost a decade, that they had to be removed in order to motivate players to buy skins instead of just grinding for them.
And, while this is entirely plausible considering the waves of layoffs at Riot Games over the past few years, players have been fervently rebelling against their removal and hitting all of LoL’s socials accounts hard to try and get their chests back.
Not a single League of Legends post has gone live since the news that hasn’t been heavily ratioed by outraged fans.
In patch 25.4, the devs responded by taking away all of the free Honor capsules and orbs players could get for sportsmanlike conduct in-game. Additionally, players have discovered that the Your Shop system was removed as well.
League of Legends guts Honor system and Your Shop
In-game toxicity has been a reputation that has stuck to League like nothing else. Most matches are pretty civil, but people’s negative experiences with the game have stuck with them to the point of the game becoming a bit of a punching bag in online communities.
However, Riot introduced a number of strict rules and positive incentives to reward players who keep things civil in their matches: Honor levels and rewards.
Being good to your teammates and staying cool under bad circumstances rewarded players, with them gradually raising their honor level and earning free skins as they worked their way up to Honor level 5.
Players could expect to be drip-fed a chance for free skins to craft or champions to earn through this loot, along with some skins for reaching the peaks of the Honor system. However, that’s been entirely gutted.
Veteran LoL pro Jankos chimed in, saying “Guys doubling down on the Chests/Capsules might not be the ideal decision.”
While it’s still possible for players to earn the Honor-bound skin rewards (with this making it so new players can earn those rewards much faster than before), no other rewards will be offered for being kind to your teammates. And, while it could be argued that you shouldn’t need a reward to be a good person, the fact that yet another mechanic to get skins has been removed has players fuming.
On top of this, Your Shop, a system that’d randomly give the player discounts on skins for Champions they play often, has been removed.
All of these changes have resulted in both a boycott of skins from players and them calling out CEO Dylan Jadeja directly, blaming him and Riot’s C-Suite for the game’s drastic and rapid changes away from a more free-to-play friendly model.
Players have taken to boycotting new skins by simply turning them into Hextech Chests, like this Mordekaiser skin that turns him into a walking amalgamation of loot boxes.
Though players are at odds with Riot, them doubling down and removing even more free loot and discounts means they’re not likely to rescind their decision on the topic any time soon.
