Read on to hear Riot's statement on the future of Hextech Chests, as well as the upcoming changes to Battle Pass Skins and Battle Pass Missions.
Riot has just released several blog posts and a lengthy video going into the many changes they have made since the beginning of the year. In their most recent Dev Update on YouTube, they talked about the controversial decision to remove free Hextech Chests from the game, as well as their intention to change and improve the Battle Pass, Battle Pass skins, and Battle Pass Missions.
Hextech Chests
To get the bad news out of the way first, in this Dev Update Riot has confirmed that the decision to remove the ability to obtain free Hextech Chests was not unintentional, and it will not be getting reversed. Riot Meddler and Riot Pabro explained that as skins were the most sought after reward in the game, it didn’t make sense for the company to give out a reliable way for players to obtain skins without spending any money.
Hextech Chests have been in the game since 2016 and have always been available as free rewards through various means. Up until the Champion Mastery rework, you could earn Hextech Chests by getting an S- or above rank on various champions. The amount of chests you could obtain in this way was capped, but it was still a consistent way to obtain them. Hextech Chests do not always yield a Skin Shard, but could also produce a Champion Shard, Emote, Icon, or Ward Skin.
After the initial Champion Mastery update, you could still earn Hextech Chests by advancing your Mastery reward track in your profile on individual champions. Then the Season 15 changes took effect, and Champion Mastery rewards became tied to the Battle Pass and now grant Battle Pass experience instead of any Loot rewards. While this initially seemed like an oversight perhaps, it was confirmed in the latest Dev Update that this was an intentional change.
Similarly, you can no longer earn Key Fragments, three of which were necessary to open a Hextech Chest when you had one, for free. Key Fragments were given away as rewards for Honourable Players, but this system was changed at the beginning of the year as well. Now, honourable players instead get accelerated Battle Pass XP progress and some other features, but no Loot rewards.
Battle Pass Rewards
Riot is still committed to giving away two free skins each Season as part of the free rewards track on Seasonal Battle Passes. In Act 1 of Season 1, this was Masque of the Black Rose Elise. While the splash art has been lauded on all sides, players have expressed a lot of criticism in regards to the models and effects of each of the Battle Pass skins.
Riot has acknowledged that the Masque of the Black Rose skins have missed the mark. Riot Pabro has said that they are committed to adding more distinct visual effects and more pronounced model changes in the future. It’s unclear whether or not Riot intends to improve on the Masque of the Black Rose skins that have already been released, or if these will sort of remain as the first batch of pancakes, so to speak.
Additionally, since they have noted that these sorts of changes and improvements take time, the more pronounced models and visual effects will also not be represented by the skins that are coming with Act 2’s batch of skins. However, players should expect a marked improvement in the Season 2 Battle Pass, with regards to the skins.
Finally, Riot intends to loosen their idea of the seasonal theme just a bit with future passes, as there is a concern that the skins all look too similar to one another and, in some places, too similar to the default theme of the champion. Riot also wants to avoid pushing any champions into themes that do not make sense for the character in the future.
Battle Pass Missions
Speaking of feedback taken to heart, there are some excellent quality-of-life changes coming to Battle Pass missions going forward. Certain types of missions have proven to be very unpopular, and those will be getting removed. Specifically, missions that require playing with a certain purchased skins or players who have those skins will be gone.
Missions that have proven to be a bit too difficult to achieve are also being reworked or removed. Notably, the mission to destroy 5 Turret Plates in a game, which, for example, was impossible to complete for ARAM-only players.
Finally, players who play a mixture of Teamfight Tactics and League of Legends, will be happy to know that TFT missions will now contribute doubly as much to the League Battle Pass.
