Hippalus, Riot's new eCommerce Director, has been talking extensively with summoners about what promotions they would like to see, what Riot can do to improve bundles and pricing, and a slew of other details. You can read my two previous posts here and here about it or you can just peep the post below where he puts a time frame on most of the things he's previously mentioned.
"Now that this thread has been somewhat derailed (my fault for raising a highly controversial topic), I will make one last post and will then restart the conversations and take more questions in new threads when the time is right.
Here is my current plan regarding the major topics discussed in this thread:
- Refunds – will be addressed next week
- Rune Pages– 2 for 1 promotion launched yesterday. Will revisit in 2013
- Rune Pricing and Design – Evaluate in 2013
- Champion Pricing– Proposed plan(s) will be presented to the community for feedback in the next few weeks
- Skin Pricing– likely will try a couple things in 2012, with a long term plan in 2013
- Bundles – Great feedback in the All About Bundles thread. Expect to see meaningful progress in 2012
- Summoner Name Changes – Possible sale in 2012 along with another cleansing of unused names
- Free Champion Rotation – Evaluate in 2013
- Gifting to Friends – Targeting partial capability in December 2012
- New Types of Content – Expect the first of many in late 2012
- Skins for IP – Evaluate in 2013 (I appreciate the helpful poll threads)
- Legacy Skins – Potential comeback for some legacy skins beginning December 2012
- Limited Edition Skins– No plans to change
Regarding the Limited Edition skin controversy, there were some great points made on both sides (and some not-so-great points, like trying to make it into a legal issue), but to me it boils down to this: some of our earliest supporters bought Limited Edition skins with the expectation that they would never be made available again, and value that exclusivity highly, while many of our biggest supporters today want nothing more than to get their hands on one of those skins. I would love to find a way to meet the needs of both groups (maybe an auction house where only existing skins could be sold?), but there is no easy solution that accomplishes that goal, and therefore nothing will change for the foreseeable future.
And to those who accuse me or Riot of being greedy or unethical for even considering how to meet the needs of players who tell me that obtaining a certain skin is the one thing they would value above all else, you are flat out wrong. Everything isn’t about money, and considering various ways to make players happy is not unethical. I acknowledge I could have searched old threads first, but raising the issue here is the most efficient way to understand the current range of views among the players.
At the end of the day I will only be successful at my job if I am able to find and implement solutions that, in the aggregate, a) further Riot’s mission to be the most player-focused gaming company in the world, and b) support Riot’s financial health. Most of the initiatives I implement will attempt to accomplish both, or will attempt to improve one without hurting the other. If I am unsure about the ultimate impact on players of a particular idea, I will ask players first (either in the forum or by survey, depending on what information I need). If I am unsure about the financial impact, I will try to test it out first. The topics I have chosen to focus on first from the list above are the ones where I think I can have the most positive impact with the lowest risk of unintended consequences. That view is always evolving and I will continue to read the forums, so please continue to share your thoughts on these topics and others, even though I will not generally respond.
And most importantly, thank you for the warm welcome on this thread and others! I will be MIA for the next few days but will be back on the 19th with more news.
-Hippalus"
New favorite Rioter.
ReplyDelete^ this is true
Delete"I concur!"
DeleteYeah...
DeleteI love that he's not making limited edition skins available again. I think that's great, even though some people will be upset about it.
ReplyDeleteI agree i main caitlyn and i went out of my way to make sure i got a working PC gamer arctic warfare skin, only to have it thrown in the store a couple months later, kinda annoying, kills the prestige. :(
DeleteYes. I agree as well. I got around 10 limited edition skins. You can say Im a collector xD. And I love that I dont see much of them around in games.
DeleteSorry but you are wrong about Caitlyn skin. It wasn't exclusive to PC Gamer, it was a bonus for American fanbase, they got it earlier. What about the others fanbases, don't they deserve the skin too? Europe only had the chance to buy it on store, but after all would be crap if Europeans could buy it with RP and Americans couldn't. So I'm happy with their decision with that Cait skin.
DeleteI totally disagree when they think about re-posting last X-mas limited skins this year and not the older X-mas skins. If they won't post pre-2011 skins they should make available 2011 skins either. Just doesn't make any sense why my 2011 limited skin is less valuable than 2010 limited skin.
I understand t
No you are wrong, im looking right at the issue (Released last nov i believe.) that has the EXCLUSIVE to PC gamer caitlyin skin.
DeleteTo be honest, the "seasonal" skins weren't said to be "Buy it now before it's gone forever". It felt more like "buy it during X time of the year or you'll have to wait until next year". That's actually why I am a little upset about that, to be honest. I didn't get Kitty Kat Katarina because I would have rather had food on my table than a skin for a champion at the time. Then next October rolls around and no Kitty Kat, I am a little disappointed and confused. Otherwise, I would have been fine with skins only being available one time.
DeleteEven tho i can understand the guys and gals that bought Limited Edition-skins for the promise of just that, limited edition, i'd want nothing more than to get my hands on Silent Night Sona and Definately Not Blitzcrank. Possibly Haunting Nocturne. I mean, i started playing after they were sealed away and i'd pay 5k RP to get my hands on that Sona skin. ):
ReplyDeleteMaybe they could re release the limited edition skin for only a short time. I could see this happening with the holiday skins especially. They would still be unique because you would only be able to buy them once ever year or 2.
DeleteI would change some Limited skins (those that were originally intended to commemorate certain events, for example Silent Night Sona and Haunting Nocturne) to legacy, but all in all, he's got a good solid head on his shoulders.
ReplyDeleteCertain RECURRING events, I should say. The holiday skins stand out for that.
Deleteyay finally refund system
ReplyDeleteThere is already a refund way... Request using support...
Deletebut for those who already got refunded can they do it again?
DeleteHe's not making limited edition skins available again. He's bringing back Legacy skins. Ex: Last years christmas skins are "legacy" NOT limited.
ReplyDelete"Everything isn’t about money"
ReplyDeleteWhile he does try to have morals, I would fire him on the spot for making such a retarded statement from a business standpoint.
Money is 80% of your problems when you don't have it and only 20 when you do.
80% =/= everything.
DeleteDang why so butthurt kid?
DeleteWhat the above poster said.
DeleteUh...you made no sense. Why would they fire him for trying to talk to the community in a manor which agrees to their standpoints, when really it's a matter of opinion, not fact? That said, 80% =/= everything. Thanks anon.
DeleteHow is he agreeing to what the community standpoint?
DeleteWhere exactly do you read that?
It's obvious they value their community. There's a lot of companies that don't encourage employees to actively post on forums and engage their playerbase. It's something they've been focused on since the start.
DeleteGoing along your argument, from a business standpoint, I would fire riot employees that say they care about the playerbase, because their care should be for the company and it's profits, not the playerbase. It's all business obviously.
Give up, your don't make sense.
your don't make sense lol, you*
DeletePlease tell me that Red Card Katarina is a Legacy skin. Holy Jesus I want that skin so bad.
ReplyDeleteLimited
DeleteFARK
DeleteYeah all the summer olympic beijing skins are so good
DeleteRiot is probably the dumbest organization ever with skins. It's such an easy way to solve the "limited edition skins" problem. Best way would be to just re-release them on their holidays, and tell the douche bags who say "No I have this skin and I don't want anyone else to have it cause im an asshole" to just shut up and deal with it and quit being selfish. Or add a skin trading system. Almost nobody has those skins, and it's not fair to people who didn't even hear about League until after the first batch of skins were already gone. Literally everyone would be happy if they just re-release the old skins. UNLESS you are a selfish asshole like that LITERALLY is the only reason.
ReplyDeleteYou are probably the dumbest person ever. It's really easy to brake a promise and throw the dedication they made away just because some douchebags LIKE YOU can't handle not having the fucking skin. THIS IS UNIQUENESS it separates old players from new ones. I don't have limited edition skins either, I DON'T WHINE ABOUT IT LIKE A LITTLE BITCH. NOBODY would be happy to see what they thought was a skin that makes other people say hay that's awesome you have been around, to "oh gg you got it on sale scrub", go ask your parents for 10 bucks and just get another skin new ones are more detailed anyway your kiddy face would shine on Full Metal Jayce or smth.
DeleteYou're pretty stupid. Riot already broke the promise with Riot Singed if you know anything about this game. So there's no reason they can't re-release the old skins like they did with Singed. It would make more than 50% of the community happy. Think before you talk.
DeleteLimited skins were sold under the pretense of being limited... To go back and reopen them makes the original selling point false advertisement... That's why most get upset by this issue.
DeleteThey already did that with Riot Singed...
DeleteRiot Singed wasnt limited, it was a skin u could get during a tournament, and it was said to come back at other events too -_-
DeleteRiot Singed was given away in 4 different events, one time after he was replaced by Riot Nasus he was up for RP... Once RP was involved the rules changed.
DeleteIf they want to change it they can, but limited sale was the hook, and desiding to sell a skin one time for those who cannot make the pilgrimage is one example of a special case.
Riot made a post about how it was a 1 time thing...
Deletedear anonymous:
DeleteI dont agree with you OP.
And I found your statement or analisys (or whatevr it is) very unfair to a company that provides you with an amazing free game.
The way skins work it´s correct form teh point of view of business and more so from the point of view of game content. You have to be able to renew your content constantly and one of the few capable of doing it so succesfully is riot.
now now....go play dota 2 if u dont like it
Legacy skins ohohoho yes
ReplyDeleteCrimson Akali will be mine
Most communicative Rioter I've seen so far. Glad to see someone get to work on issues the community has.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any of the limited skins myself, but for the sake of argument lets say I did have one. Riot didn't promise these to be a "ONE TIME ONLY," they normally say, "Get these while you still can!"
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't see the problem of them having something like the Jaximus thing happening where they open up a sale on a particular limited skin if some/most/a;; of the proceeds went to a charity. Those for keeping skins, ask yourself this: Would you mind seeing something like Silent Night Sona being reopened as a 3-day event for a cause?
Actually, they did say ONE TIME ONLY. Go back and find the original announcements. They specifically state they will never be sold again.
DeleteMan, I would love to see a skin trading/"selling" feature implemented. I added selling because if people want an older limited skin and they can only trade for other skins, would be impossible for certain users to trade for anything.
ReplyDeleteI'd "like" to have the King Rammus skin, of all of his skins I like that one the most (mainly for the reference), but I understand that it was only for Beta players, I wasn't a Beta player, so I shalt not dwell on the subject.
ReplyDelete(Although maybe we could get a Pikmin inspired skin for Maokai or Zyra :P)
King rammus and UFO corki are the 2 skins i can almost garuntee will never be released again. there would be such an uprising of players. Brazilian beta players got king rammus and everyone freaked about it
DeleteI know, that's why I don't dwell on it.
DeleteCuz then I get sad.
And then I go blow up a mountain in Minecraft.
I played lol since open beta, can i haz king ramuz? LOLNOPE u should have played on US servers.
DeleteProbably one of, if not the best Rioter.
ReplyDeleteDirect, to the point, doesn't go "oh we'll look into it -soon-". He tells you roughly when it'll be looked at, he addresses the hard-hitting questions and he doesn't fumble around the topic.
Not only that, but he's not arrogant like Phreak, Morello or Zileas.
ALL HAIL HIPPPALUS
Well, time to save RP for late 2012/early 2013, it sounds well worth it! (No cool skins for my champs anyway)
ReplyDeleteI think I'd be satisfied with all holiday and Riot event skins up to this point becoming legacy skins, released only during holidays and special events.
ReplyDeleteHoliday skins should always be offered during holidays, and Riot skins should be available during Riot events.
The other skins can stay limited edition.
I just want server transfer - i really want to go to EU servers and play with my friends and have low ping. 200 ping is okay since I'm used to it - but when droppping a Veig combo you need the lowest ping possible.
ReplyDeleteWhich ones are legacy skins?
ReplyDeleteThe ones who are removed from the store, but they can sometimes return.
DeleteSo if the price for runes go down will we get some kind of refund?
ReplyDeleteI hope they activate that refund thing soon since many people probably bought that insanely weak and useless Syndra.
ReplyDeleteIP for skins ohh yes please make it happen I got about 83k of IP I already got some skins from my RP but I dont spend alots of money on a game that I only play once a day maybe 3 hours also most of my money go to rent. light bills, payments and food and water also. I only got one part time job but if I do got the extra cash to buy RP cards I would if I had enough $$
ReplyDelete