What?
Riot Reveals Why SG Akali Chromas Were Removed From PBE
Recently, the new Star Guardian skins were revealed on PBE for fans to give feedback. Riot also added chromas for all the new upcoming skins and well they did something special and unique with Akali, the champion getting a legendary skin in Patch 12.14.
They gave her various chromas, which isn't anything new, but they spiced it up a little only to disappoint fans and revoke the new chroma changes for Akali. It's like Riot is teasing us and dangling the goods in front of our eyes only to rip it away... let's get into the details.
Unique Chroma Animations
For the Akali chromas, Riot added unique animations and effects to her abilities. This means, depending on the chroma you choose, the visuals will differ slightly from the base skin, as well as the other chromas.
This is something brand-new and has only been done with the new mythic chromas, but it seems like this is possible to do even for regular 290 RP chromas, but Riot just hasn't brought out any of these chromas for... reasons?
Akali Chromas Removed Unique VFX
So, Riot has since removed these unique special VFX chromas for Star Guardian Akali from the PBE, basically showing off what they could do with chromas and how they could revitalize skins and make them more unique. This really does seem like a cash grab, but we will have to wait to find out more with the release of the skins.
Having unique VFX looks for each chroma could make them much more attractive to casual players as well who already own skins, wouldn't you say?Even Riot were to charge more than the usual 290 RP for these chromas it could still be a great initiative.
Why Did Riot Remove Unique Chroma For Akali?
Fans were outraged by the removal of the unique chroma textures and animations for Star Guardian Akali, which has prompted Riot to release a statement on the official League of Legends PBE Subreddit. In the post DW_Platypus explained that while having recolors on everything would be unsustainable for the dev team.
They went on to explain that in the past, chromas for legendary skins were thought of the same as epic skin chromas, but Riot wants to change that in the future. Mythic skins were also mentioned in that aspect. So, to try and end the confusion of what is considered VFX and what Riot will deliver regarding skins and chromas in the future, a few guidelines were revealed.
All New Star Guardian Skins
What Are the New Chroma Guidelines by Riot?
Epic Skin Chromas (1350 RP)
- All new textures, including any props during emotes/recalls or 3D elements for abilities (examples: sunbed for Pool Party Caitlyn’s Recall or Gangplank’s Barrels for his W, Illaoi’s tentacles)
- Idle glows will be adjusted if default ones are heavily mismatching chroma color scheme (determined on a case by case)
- No VFX adjustment for emotes, recall, abilities etc.
Legendary Skin Chromas (1820 RP)
- All new textures as for Epic skins- Idle glows adjusted to match chroma as for Epic skins
- Changes to emote VFX (joke, taunt, laugh, dance) and recall
Mythic Chromas
- All new textures- All new VFX (idle glows, emotes, recall, abilities)
How Has the Community Reacted to the News on Chromas?
Many of the comments on the Reddit thread were quite unhappy with this explanation, feeling like Riot is just trying to extort more and more money from the community rather than listen to it. It seems like most would have been fine with Riot merely leaving the special VFX chroma's in Akali's kit rather than deleting them and saying that this was an exception.
As Riot is experimenting with new Chroma's and new ways of spicing up champions, they could have stated that this scope of a chroma isn't possible for all skins and that would have been it, but this explanation seems to have fanned the flames rather than appeased the fans.
What do you guys think of this chroma situation and are you going to be checking out the upcoming Star Guardian skins and the Star Guardian event? What other skins will Riot release this year that you are interested in?