More than 2 years since taking over League of Legends, Riot has led the community through many emotional highs and lows
From the package containing all League of Legends champions up to 2022
At the beginning of 2022, Riot officially transitioned all accounts using the Garena server to Riot’s server. And all accounts that were successfully converted on time would receive a “reward”, which was to own all champions that have appeared in League of Legends up to that point. Of course, for players who did not have a full roster of champions, this was an exciting privilege that added to their enthusiasm for moving to a “new home”.
At that time, this move by Riot was truly a highlight. Although there were many difficulties during the transition, many players expressed their satisfaction. However, the joy was short-lived, and soon after, issues arose that Riot brought to Vietnamese players.
Vanguard and the continuous apologies when League of Legends players couldn’t log in
Since Riot officially implemented the Vanguard system to prevent players from using tools, hacks, or other forms of cheating in League of Legends, players found themselves in a “laugh or cry” situation. Not only did it cause conflicts with unrelated software, but Vanguard sometimes prevented players from logging into the game or allowed them to enter but not play. Worse still, many players were even kicked out during matches and faced point deductions.
However, Riot simply issued apology posts and addressed the issues afterward. As for compensating players? That was merely a concept in the players’ expectations. In reality, nothing happened following these incidents from Riot to satisfy its customers.
Handling the “32 players” drama
One of the incidents where Riot showed a firm hand was the negative case of the “32 players”. At that time, this negative incident was ranked 3rd in the top 5 largest scandals in League of Legends history by the international community. However, in terms of damage, the incident was no less severe, if not one of the most serious.
But one must acknowledge this: these were actions that Riot had to take for professional League of Legends and did not bring any benefits to regular players. Nevertheless, this has contributed to a complete transformation of VCS as well as Vietnamese Esports.
Elimination of promotional events and recently a series of important mechanisms in League of Legends
One of the most noticeable changes in League of Legends when it was still under Garena and after transitioning to Riot was the almost complete disappearance of top-up promotional events. However, players initially could overlook this. But the “last straw” came when Riot recently announced the removal of the Hextech Chest and Blue Essence systems.
Of course, not only Vietnamese players but the entire League of Legends community would receive this update. However, for Vietnamese players who were used to Garena’s promotions, it was unavoidable that they were frustrated when their basic rights were stripped away shortly after switching to Riot.
Furthermore, according to some players, spending money on Riot is not an issue as long as their rights are adequately guaranteed. The problem is, Riot seems to be doing the opposite, forcing players to “dig deep into their pockets” by any means. However, the approach that Riot is taking may be counterproductive to the expectations of this publisher.