League of Legends fans' fury grows as Riot nerfs another way to get free skins, this time as a reward for good behavior

League of Legends
(Image credit: Riot Games)

After deciding to get rid of Hexchests, Riot is also reportedly removing Honor Orbs and Capsules from League of Legends and the decision has not gone down well.

Earlier this month, Riot devs explained their controversial decision to scrap Hextech chests that could reward you with free skins. The reasoning was simple: too many people were getting skins from these chests and not enough were buying them with cash instead, so Riot was worried about its long-term financials.

Removing Honor Orbs and Capsules is just another nail in the free skin coffin. These reward you with Champion Shards, Ward Skins, and Blue Essence, and the higher your Honor level is, the better the rewards.

I always liked the idea of League's honor system. It's widely known as one of the most toxic games around, so anything that encourages better behavior is worthwhile, but now all it'll get you is some battle pass XP. And the warm fuzzy feeling you get from being a good person, I guess.

Fans are, understandably, furious, and so are League content creators. In the replies to a picture of the supposed changes, some shared an image of the alleged United Healthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione. Another player simply replied, "Shut it down brother."

One Twitter account posted a picture of Riot CEO Dylan Jadeja alongside a list of their achievements: "500+ employees laid off, Riot Forge killed, limited time only skins for FOMO, end of prime gaming capsules, end of level up capsules, decent mythic essence acquisition, hextech chests, introduction of predatory gacha, degradation of skin quality, nerfed battle pass, removal of honor orbs and capsules, degredation of clash events, removal of Your Shop. Makes you wonder why he has no social media, unlike the previous CEO’s before him."

YouTuber and streamer NickyBoi tweets, "I'm done making League of Legends videos, or anything content at all for a little while at least. I don't think it will be too long, hopefully no more than a few weeks or a month, but I need time away from all this."

YouTuber SkinSpotlights also tweets a picture of their subscribers steadily dropping since the Hextech Chests and this more recent news, showing a lot of people are done with the grind for skins entirely.

You should check out our list of the best online games if you want to hop off the League train and try something else out.

CATEGORIES
Issy van der Velde
Contributor

I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.

Read more
League of Legends
Riot walks back controversial League of Legends changes: Hextech Chests, Exalted skins, and Blue Essence costs are all being reworked
Supervive
As League of Legends fans reel over loot controversy, fans of ex-Riot devs' hot new MOBA seize the chance to promote their game instead
A screenshot shows Sahn-Uzal Mordekaiser absorbing red flame into his hands.
Doubling-down on League of Legends' worst PR disaster in years, developer Riot locks hotly anticipated cosmetic behind $240 gacha wall
Arcane season 2
"We screwed up on this one," Riot admits, promising League of Legends updates for Blue Essence and Account XP amid player backlash
League of Legends
As League of Legends players blast 800-hour grinds, Riot says this "wasn't meant to get harder" and "we messed up" on the whole First Blood thing too
Overwatch 2 support hero Lucio
Blizzard hands out refunds for a $28 Overwatch 2 skin after making it a free Twitch drop just 24 hours post-release
Latest in MOBA
Arcane
Arcane Season 2 gets one last dance as the League of Legends spin-off animators return to bring Jinx and Ekko back to the series' most iconic song
The Demon's Hand
League of Legends shadow-drops a Balatro-style roguelike, but the catch is that to complete it you'll have to actually play League of Legends
League of Legends
Riot walks back controversial League of Legends changes: Hextech Chests, Exalted skins, and Blue Essence costs are all being reworked
League of Legends
League of Legends fans' fury grows as Riot nerfs another way to get free skins, this time as a reward for good behavior
Arcane
4 years later, the League of Legends MMO remains a major project for Riot Games' co-founder who says it's "exactly the type of company" that should be making MMOs
A screenshot shows Sahn-Uzal Mordekaiser absorbing red flame into his hands.
Doubling-down on League of Legends' worst PR disaster in years, developer Riot locks hotly anticipated cosmetic behind $240 gacha wall
Latest in News
Silent Hill 2
Famed Silent Hill artist Masahiro Ito, creator of Pyramid Head, says scrapped concepts of freaky creatures "still exist in my mind" and "their children may be" used in future titles
The two characters in Split Fiction holding their hands up in surrender in a futuristic city
The actors behind Split Fiction's main characters nearly botched their first auditions because they didn't know the script had two sides: "We were just stood there, sweating"
Wreckfest 2
Devs behind beloved destruction-focused racing game Wreckfest launch the sequel in early access with a trailer full of physics glitches and fatal error messages
Crash Bandicoot PS1
Former Sony exec Shuhei Yoshida says the PlayStation marketing team had to completely redesign Crash Bandicoot in PS1 commercials because he was too ugly for the Japanese market
Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom
The Russo Brothers say Robert Downey Jr. "tried to talk us into" doing another Avengers movie but they "said no" until they heard the pitch for Doomsday: "That story has to be told"
American Truck Simulator
3,348 days later, American Truck Simulator is finally delivering the DLC I've been waiting for longer than Hollow Knight fans have been anticipating Silksong