Riot Games revealed the drop rates for League of Legends’ loot crates yesterday, offering transparency for a system that until now has been opaque. This comes during a time when loot boxes have triggered a great deal of outrage among players, pundits and even politicians.
League of Legends‘ loot crates, called Hextech Chests, allow players to pay real money (about a dollar per chest) for a random chance at getting materials and currency that can then be used to unlock champions and outfits. In a blog post yesterday, developer Riot Games disclosed the item drop rate for Hextech Chests and an upcoming, cosmetic-item-only chest called “Masterwork Chests”. The drop rates are as follows:
Hextech Chests
Skin Shard 50%
Champion Shard 25%
Emote Permanent 10%
Ward Skin Shard + 150 Bonus Orange Essence 11.5%
Summoner Icon Shard + 150 Bonus Orange Essence 3.5%
BONUS DROPS
Gemstone 3.6%
Bonus Chest + Key 10%
Masterwork Chests
Skin Shard 70%
525 Orange Essence 10%
Emote Permanent 10%
Ward Skin Shard + 150 Bonus Orange Essence 10%
BONUS DROPS
Gemstone 3.6%
Bonus Chest + Key 10%
Loot boxes are often designed to ensure that good rewards remain rare, encouraging players to keep spending more and more money. The allure of buying “just one more” is built into their very design, leading some players to spend thousands of dollars on boxes. The predatory nature of these boxes has led legislators around the world to voice concerns. Hawaii House of Representative member Chris Lee made a statement last November comparing the practice to gambling, calling loot boxes “casinos”. The state is now considering two bills that would regulate loot boxes. One prohibits selling games with randomised rewards to anyone under 21, while another requires publishers to disclose probabilities.
More recently, New Hampshire senator Maggie Hassan called on the ESRB to “develop best practices for developers, such as ethical design, tools for parents to disable these mechanisms, or making them less essential to core gameplay”. Apple recently said it will require publishers to share the odds for loot boxes. Riot’s decision to disclose Hextech probabilities will place them in compliance with any government or corporate requirements that arise in the future. It may also build goodwill toward players who are fed up with the shady practices surrounding loot boxes.
Last year, Star Wars Battlefront 2 included loot boxes that granted in-game advantages, a decision met with such negative response that Electronic Arts temporarily removed microtransactions from the game. Overwatch disclosed the drop rates of their loot crates last years as part of oversea regulations required in China.
Comments
4 responses to “Riot Discloses Loot Box Odds For League Of Legends”
Well I actively don’t play games with loot boxes so this is just another to the list. I hope the practice curls up and dies under legislation at some point. It mere existence inhibits game design.
Maybe it’s because I’m an old man now, but these loot boxes are not gaming. I’ll never buy any title that has this crap going on. You younger kids need to wake up and start seeing what you’re allowing.
I wish you could invade games with loot boxes as a black phantom and kill the hosts, then pose with a “play a REAL game, idiot” pose as they lose all their randomly generated and expensive “loot” and return to their bonf… um, loot purchase screen?
You also didn’t get games that 27 million people play in a day for free either
It’s a free to play game they need to get paid somehow. Lol and swbf2 are completely different situations