One of the most attractive aspects of the Autobattler genre in general and Teamfight Tactics in particular is the element of chance. Every time you refresh the shop, you are betting on luck; buying a champion and upgrading it is an investment in hopes of victory. And as is often the case, everything has its price, and in Teamfight Tactics, that price is losing money when selling a 2-star champion (from 2-cost and above).
However, in the upcoming mid-season update, Riot Games announced that they have removed the penalty for selling champions, allowing players to receive 100% of their money back when selling champions (regardless of level or cost). What was thought to make the game more accessible has faced significant backlash from players, as the ease of re-rolling has made decision-making less important—a key factor that distinguishes player skill levels.
Just a few days after implementing patch 10.12 on the PBE server, Riot Games had to announce a return of the penalty for selling champions. However, you would only lose 1 gold, which further dissatisfied players as it felt like a mere token gesture from Riot.
Riot Mortdog, the lead designer for Teamfight Tactics: “With tomorrow’s update on the PBE server, we will retract the current selling rule and make a slight change. 1-cost and 1-star champions will still not incur a penalty for selling, but everything else will incur a 1-gold penalty when sold (for example, selling a 2-star 4-cost champion will only yield 11 gold instead of 12 gold)”
I don’t think losing 1 gold is enough for ranked matches, especially at high ranks. It allows a player to use 3 different compositions at the start, middle, and end of the match. It even makes leveling up 3-star expensive champions easier.
Hey, do you think a 1-gold penalty is a good enough change?
This change is too small, just a 1 gold penalty. I find the penalty for a champion’s cost quite fair; for example, a 3-cost 2-star champion sells for 6 gold, a 4-cost sells for 8 gold… I think that would make more sense.
I still don’t like this change; now players can hold onto expensive champions even when they don’t need them, crippling other players while still building up a sufficient amount of gold and health.
Thanks, Mort, but it’s not enough. We appreciate you, but this change is too minor.
The penalty system for selling high-level champions in Teamfight Tactics was directly lifted from DOTA Auto Chess; it has even been applied to many other games of the same genre. This shows that it is the most balanced and suitable system for the Autobattler game type. In Teamfight Tactics, it has been in place since season 1, and nobody had any objections.
There’s a saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and the penalty for selling champions is no exception. Riot Games may be trying to create a new change, but sometimes changes to what has become the essence of the game can have unintended consequences.