League of Legends: Riot Games under heavy fire again after announcement of ‘Prestige Points’

Riot Games are experiencing some heavy backlash from the League of Legends community for the January 10 announcement of the Prestige Points program. The company intends for the program to be a streamlined way for players to earn some of the exclusive Prestige skins.

The initial Prestige releases were incredibly well received as the variants for the K/DA Akali and Kai’sa skins were both sought out and coveted by many players. However decisions around new entries completely killed the hype while turning a portion of the community against the developers.

The newly announced Prestige Points have been immediately added to 9.1, giving players a new way to earn future releases for the desirable designs.

The announcement made clear that there will still be a distinction between event-specific skins and yearly Prestige edition skins which will be craft-able with 100 Prestige Points.

Riot Games are looking for more ways to let players to acquire Prestige Points, but they are currently only available by purchasing Masterclock Chests or Blood Moon Capsules.

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However, the community saw salt applied to a wound inflicted by the apparent lack of creativity that these “yearly Prestige Edition” skins are taking thus far in the form of Blood Moon Aatrox and Firecracker Vayne.

“This has to be about the most tone deaf response/announcement in Riot history. I actually remember when the ethos of Riot was doing right by the players, and that player experience counted above all, listening to feedback,” longtime Riot Games community member Twinkie said.

The biggest crux for the community’s ire lies in the change of pace that acquiring Prestige Skins take, where as every skin before could be obtained by grinding League of Legends games while it might be impossible to do based on this program.

“There will be some opportunities to get Prestige Points without spending money over the course of the year, but not enough to get a full skin,” said Riot Games Senior Designer Stephen ‘Mortdog’ Mortimer.

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The new program is expected to expand through the year, but Riot would presumably want to address harsh community feedback with a follow-up in the near future.