The League of Legends community has long accused Riot Games of buffing certain champions who are about to receive a skin. According to gamer theory, this is the oldest trick used by developers to manipulate us. However, while it is true that the company encourages us to spend more money through somewhat dubious techniques, it has never compromised the balance of the game to do so.. In any case, this is not the case with the cosmetic elements, an accusation which they have disavowed in the past and which we wanted to verify independently.
League of Legends doesn’t manipulate us like everyone thinks
The test was a bit tedious, but quite simple. Knowing that the community theory is that champions receive buffs in the immediately preceding patch or in the launch patch of a new cosmetic, we went over what happened to all champions who received a skin since the start of Season 12. We skipped the latest patches (12.10 to 12.13) to avoid any bias due to the durability update. However, the data collected is striking. Riot Games doesn’t tend to favor characters that get a new cosmetic.
After analyzing the 57 League of Legends Season 12 skins that met our criteria, here are the results we got:
As expected, the majority of champions (70.1%) who receive skins either don’t get buffs at all or only receive buffs that aren’t intended to increase their power. Also, the number of times a character receives a buff (17.5%) is almost identical to the number of champions who receive a nerf along with their skin (12.2%). A difference that is easily explained by looking at the patches. In the updates we studied, 57.8% of the changes were improvements. So, expect a bit more buffs than nerfs for heroes with new skins.
A problem that only exists in the minds of players
If the reality is that the League of Legends players who nurtured this myth are wrong, it’s not like we have to think of any grand conspiracy to harm Riot Games. The truth is that the effect suffered by the League of Legends community is quite common and there are several causes. The most obvious is exposure. If Ryze receives a skin right after a nerf, we’re unlikely to talk or focus on the skin in question. The same is true when a champion receives no changes. There is simply no controversy and it goes unnoticed.
It’s easier to remember big controversies than unimportant ones, so the idea that such and such a character received a buff before a skin settles in our minds. Once enough time has passed, we have more than ten examples in mind and we think we have a more than relevant sample to express our idea. This is a common misconception, as humans are much less good at remembering things and estimating probabilities than most people think.
In this sense, League of Legends is doomed to keep players thinking the same way until the end of time. In fact, while Riot Games has defended itself against this accusation a few times, it’s something they don’t often pay attention to. The developer knows this is a losing battle and that belief isn’t their fault, it’s dictated by how people’s minds work… and you can’t fight against this.
Summary of the study
Although Riot Games has already reduced the healing power on numerous occasions, the developer is still considering adjusting this mechanic to the requests of the League of Legends community and has announced that more changes will come in future patches.