Riot Games made an unthinkable mistake in the latest League of Legends update. Since the introduction of patch 12.14, many players have reported a number of skins missing from their inventory. The skins they had permanently unlocked were simply no longer available to them due to a bug. This is an issue the developers have reported in the client. However, the warning was only active for a very short time and many players didn’t even see it.
A massive bug
The reasons for this bug are beyond the understanding of the community. Somehow it is known to be related to Your Shop functionality and only affects certain cosmetics. These include some of the rarest League of Legends skins that can only be obtained as a reward if you have purchased all of the other skins. One of the most disturbing examples is Sivir Pax, but others are also on the list of mysterious disappearances.
While many gamers have yet to see this issue resolved, Riot Games has informed those who messaged support that it is “aware of the issue” and “working on it”. However, given that so many players were affected, it doesn’t seem like this bug can be fixed manually. Riot Games will likely need to roll out a large-scale patch that will restore all cosmetics that have been temporarily lost and cannot be used in-game. All of this, as usual, with no compensation for any inconvenience caused.
Luckily, it’s only a matter of time before the skins are returned to the accounts of the players who got them. However, the fear does not go away. Furthermore, Riot Games’ lack of effort to educate the community about the issue has caused even more uncertainty. Currently, the game client only shows a warning about account transfers, and the official server status site says there are no active or recent issues with League of Legends.
Logic tells us that Riot Games should promote its skins and make them, as much as possible, easily accessible to all League of Legends players. However, the in-game store hides two very rare cosmetics that can only be obtained if you know how to get them.