Let's hope this experiments ends in failure.
Riot Response to New Jhin Skin Outrage: "We Aren't Going to Change the Skin or Its Rollout Plan"
The fan outrage surrounding the announcement of the new Jhin skin, the Dark Cosmic Erasure Jhin, prompted Riot to quickly respond with the thought process that made them choose to release a skin in this way.
Unlike the failure that was the start of the season 13 cinematic, however, Riot are not sorry in the slightest. Instead, they are adamant that it was the correct call, based on a few of their parameters. Parameters that fans see as irrelevant.
Riot Respond to Jhin Skin Outrage
After the fans have gone up in arms over the new skin that is set to be released on the Rift, using what is a gacha system with an extremely small chance of obtaining it without spending 200 USD, Riot responded with their reasoning.
In his post, Riot Brightmoon explains that the Dark Cosmic Erasure Jhin skin is meant to fill the niche of hyper-premium content. Something that the Prestige skins were supposed to be but were scaled down in the end due to a lot of interest from all fans, and were made more accessible.
"Dark Cosmic Erasure Jhin is an exploration to fill this “rarity” ask, and how we act on the feedback we've been hearing will bear that in mind. This is why we're not changing anything before Jhin launches"
Fans picked this reasoning apart immediately, arguing that the decision of releasing Dark Erasure Jhin is a "kick in the stomach" for all Jhin mains. After all, it will likely always represent a 200USD hole in their main's collection.
Another Redditor, by the username Sareos, brings out a compelling argument:
"I'm not sure who in Riot needs to hear this, but gacha is not rarity, it is privilege. By locking something behind a randomized paywall that will grant 100% after a specific amount, you have made an item that, rather than being a rare cosmetic that was earned through dedicated playtime, is instead a wealth status, a symbol of someone having just thrown money at the system until they received what they wanted."
- If you're thinking of gifting this skin to someone, it's better to just get an LoL Gift Set for your money
They go on to say that the rarity in question is entirely artificial, being created by the means of predatory monetization tactics.
At the end of the post, Riot Brightmoon explains that League of Legends will never take the path of selling actual in-game advantages. But the release of Dark Cosmic Erasure Jhin is an experiment, that doesn't take away the resources from other projects.
On the contrary, Riot Brightmoon claims they help fund more gameplay work. Gameplay which is diminishing year after year, with fewer and fewer game modes and new elements added to the game.
Are Riot's arguments valid, seeing as there is no absolute need to buy the skin to play the game optimally, or are the fans justified in their outrage?