League of Legends players have had it with Riot’s underwhelming Event Passes.

We are sick. We are fed up. We need change. At least, that’s what the players in League of Legends are voicing out to Riot Games. The battle pass system in the MOBA has more or less stayed the same since its release in 2018. But that’s not to say that the community is happy with it. Despite the emergence of this new campaign system, players are stating that the passes aren’t worth the time and effort. Some of the League of Legends account owners are suggesting to Riot that they ought to look at Fortnite for inspiration.

The Problem With the Faerie Court Event

The Faerie Court event recently went live in the League of Legends client. It offers the same old grind you must do to get enough tokens to afford the prestige Faerie Court Katarina skins. While we think the skin is gorgeous, it’s not enough of an incentive to justify the grind players will do for it. Moreover, the event is identical to our last major events.

As a result, some of the MOBA’s fans have had enough of how Riot Games handles the events in League of Legends. Players with LoL accounts have banded together and posted on LoL’s subreddit on March 26. They’ve outlined the events now; to sum it up, they consider these events to be on the low-effort side and are ridden with bugs. These bugs vary from not getting the necessary orbs from the events to not giving you the correct amount of experience points.

A Possible Solution

Players are proposing that Riot should take some inspiration from Epic Games’ Battle Passes for Fortnite. Fortnite’s Battle Passes are touted to be some of the best, offering players rewards worth the money.

Despite being free-to-play, Fortnite makes an ungodly amount of profit. In an analysis, Techcrunch revealed that Epic made $3 billion in 2018, which is attributed to the game’s Battle Pass. Instead of relying on loot boxes or selling the battle royale for a price, Fortnite offers players a seasonal Battle Pass for $10. Win or lose, Fortnite players can level up their Battle Pass to earn rewards, including skins, visual effects, accessories, and more.

The Psychology Behind the Success of Fortnite’s Battle Pass

Battle Passes are a dime a dozen these days, but the method of how Fortnite implements them is what makes players want to spend money. There are some subtle yet effective tricks behind how it’s structured and presented. Fortnite gives specific, motivating, and helpful feedback about progressing toward goals. You can constantly see how close you are to unlock a Battle Pass tier and what rewards you can get for closing that gap. You also get notifications whenever you complete these goals.

Fortnite’s secret is that it lets players feel like they’re always progressing, whether they win or lose a match. This psychological phenomenon is called the endowed progress effect. Humans want to complete goals that they feel they’ve made progress towards. Companies can immediately capitalize on this effect by giving us “free” progress. For example, it’s not unusual to progress on a challenge you didn’t know existed in Fortnite. It makes players think, “well, i’m already 40% done on this; I might as well keep playing until I’m done.”

League of Legends’ Event Passes Are Underwhelming

In Fortnite, you can receive more than you’ve paid for, but it’s a different story in League of Legends. Fortnite offers more skins than you could count in a seasonal Battle Pass. In comparison, the League Battle Passes only offer random Event Orbs, essentially loot boxes. These orbs pull any skin from the plethora of 1,500 RP cosmetics in the game, so it’s improbable that you’ll get the skin you want from just a couple of pulls from the orbs or crates.

Players have also complained that the mission XP has been continually nerfed for every succeeding Event Pass. In the 2022 League of Legends World Championship event, the missions gave 1,000 XP. Then, that number dropped to 700 XP for the current Faerie Court event, making it take fans longer to reach the number of tokens they need for Katarina’s prestige skin.

Is there Hope for Change?

We’re not optimistic that we’ll like a Battle Pass similar to Fortnite in League of Legends soon. LoL is a game that doesn’t have much competition within the MOBA market aside from DOTA 2. Who knows? Maybe Riot will learn from their mistakes and give players what they deserve. But as long as gamers with PBE accounts continue to buy these Event Passes, it’s hard to see Riot making the necessary changes.

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Ruby has been a writer and author for a while, and her content appears all across the tech world, from within ReadWrite, BusinessMagazine, ThriveGlobal, etc.

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