Hippalus Justifies Temporary Ward Skins

In a move even less popular to the public eye than the $70 summoner icon, Riot's second part of their two pronged attack was the interesting, yet poorly executed release of special ward skins.

Official Post:

We’re excited to announce ward skins, a new customization option that allows you to change the appearance of your Sight and Vision Wards on the Fields of Justice. In keeping with the season, these ward skins are inspired by the haunting guise of the Shadow Isles. Activating a ward skin will transform your wards into ghosts, spooky trees, spiders, creepy stone statues, or pumpkin-headed bats with their own unique visual effects, sounds, and animations.

Here’s how they work. When you purchase a specific ward skin from the Wards tab of the League of Legends Store, it gets added to your inventory for one week. You can activate a specific ward skin to change the appearance of your wards in game. You can keep up to a year’s worth (52 weeks) of ward skins in your inventory at a time, so don’t hesitate to stock up if you have a favorite. Ward skins function the same as a regular Sight or Vision ward.

Here are the first five ward skins available to unlock:

• Deadfall Ward – 200 IP
• Haunting Ward – 800 IP
• Tomb Angel Ward – 25 RP
• Widow Ward – 75 RP
• Bat-O-Lantern Ward – 165 RP

These particular ward skins will be releasing with the Shadow Isles patch and will be available until November 13, so buy a few extra weeks if you want to frighten friends and foes alike all year round.

Temporary Skins?

...Really Riot? The concept is cool and all, and the wards itself are very interesting looking. However, the whole concept just begs for some complaining.

Meanwhile, Hippalus responds to the downvoting with this red post:

Hi, Hippalus here. For those looking to rage about ward skins being available for rental only, let's do it on this thread.  

The long term plan if the experiment is successful is to have ward skins available for permanent purchase at a reasonable price (similar to regular skins). But, the problem with selling a new type of permanent content without testing it first is that it doesn't work for some reason (lack of interest, interferes with gameplay), there is no good way to remove it because it has been permanently sold to players.  

My idea was to test ward skins as part of an event, in a way that would make it easier to end the experiment if it doesn't work, hence ward skins at a reasonable price for a week or two during the Harrowing/Shadow Isles. Is it a perfect experiment? No. Does it hurt players? I don't think so. Players who are against the concept of rentals should feel free not to participate, but I hope to still gather enough data and feedback to help us decide if ward skins should become a permanent or temporary part of the game going forward.

This official post was greeted by the boos of 495 downvotes. 

Oh sure..give the ward a skin...I'll just be here...in this corner...

What do you guys think about this new "ward skin" idea? Post below!