New Chroma Packs on PBE Next Update!

Introduction

In the latest iteration of the PBE, Riot is testing out some new ways for us to play dress up with our champions...and we love it.

Termed "Chroma Packs", Riot is planning on rolling out a variety of recolors for champions. Rather than paying full price for a cheap recolor, the basic skin changes will be available for a low discounted price! Check out the official details below:

Official Post

You’ve asked for more colors, and now League’s getting more colorful. Chroma packs will roll out with the next PBE update as our exploration into further expressions of your style and personality in League of Legends.

Where champion skins offer alternate fantasies from a champion’s base thematic, chromas serve up a way to further personalize specific champs or skins. As a re-imagining of the original champion or skin’s look, chromas allow you to make a champion or skin your own.

A chroma pack includes three chromas that modify either a champion’s base or one of their skins. Each of these initial packs will be 590 RP, and if you need the champion or skin, they’ll be included in the bundle price you see in the store. Once you’ve unlocked a chroma pack in the bundles tab of the store, the chromas appear during champion select under the skins tab linked to the base champion or skin.

We’re testing one champion base chroma pack (Lucian Prime) and one skin chroma pack (Dragonfist Lee Sin Duel) to start, and we’re listening for your feedback. If you still have questions, check out the chroma pack FAQ here! Let us know what you think of the new chromas on PBE, and we’ll see you on the battlefield wearing a slick new suit!

-Riot Roadmap

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F.A.Q.

Need more info? Heres a quick FAQ on Chroma packs as well:

Q: Why can't I earn chromas or buy them with IP?
A: All options are still open in the future, including earning additional chromas through champion mastery, but we’re sticking with RP-only at launch, in line with our historical approach to cosmetic content.

Q: Why do I have to buy three chromas in a pack instead of just one at a time?
A: Historically, our lowest tier of skins were priced at 390 RP. Over the years, we’ve improved skins to the point that the “recolor” tier no longer reflects the polish and quality of our newer offerings.

But despite the improvement in visuals and the deeper expression chroma packs allow (linking color choices to a theme that re-imagines the original scheme), a single chroma would slot into our pricing at that 390 RP level. If we offered them individually, three would run 1170 RP.

Instead, we’ve chosen to package three of them in a pack for 590 RP, which we feel offers higher value while not skimping on quality or consistency.

Q: Do you feel you’d be happy with the purchase if you could pick up a single chroma for 390 RP?
A:Let us know, and leave us your other feedback on chroma packs, too.

Q: Why are some chroma packs more expensive than others?
A: All chroma packs are actually the same price at launch: 590 RP. When you go to buy a chroma pack, though, the bundle tech actually recognizes whether or not you have the champion or skin and includes them in the price if you don’t. It’s meant to be a convenience, so that you don’t have go to two different parts of the store if you’re just trying to browse for chromas.

TLDR: Price includes champion or skin if you don’t own it.

Q: Can I buy chroma packs in champion select?
A: No. Unlike skins, you’ll have to unlock chroma packs in the store. They’re sold as sets of three chromas, so they can’t be picked up during champion select.

Q: How can I refund a chroma pack?
A: As with all of our bundled products, chroma packs can’t be refunded. However, we are reconsidering the restrictions on refunding bundles as a result of chroma packs. For the foreseeable future, however, they’ll be all sales final.

Q: Why not Zac (or [insert your favorite champion here])?
A: Zac is a tricky one, because he seems like such an obvious candidate for some slick-looking chromas. The short answer is that we aren’t ruling out a chroma pack for Zac, or any other champion or skin. We’re testing chroma packs first, to gauge interest and engagement. This answer continued in the next one.

Q: How do we choose future chroma packs?
A: Any champion or skin could get a chroma pack, and our criteria going forward will be guided by popularity, interest, and suitability but not mandated by any one of those things.

We strive to deliver quality products you can enjoy. We finally hit a quality bar that felt good internally and seems like a solid value, so we’re putting them out there for everyone to tell us what they think.

Q: Why are you making these as opposed to new skins?
A: It’s not either/or. We get to do both. Obviously we can’t just spoil a bunch of new skins here in an FAQ, but they’re still coming, and we plan on offering more, not fewer.

Q: Why should I ever buy a skin again?
A: Well, we’d say the best answer is probably “because you think it’s awesome,” but it’s up to you, really. It’s worth pointing out that you have to own the original skin before you can pick up a chroma for it.
A slightly longer answer is that skins provide an opportunity to experience a champion in a way that’s different from normal (Rumble and Super Galaxy Rumble, Blitzcrank and We Swear There’s a Difference Blitzcrank).

We continue to look for new ways for you to engage with your favorite champions. Skins are usually about alternate fantasies, where chromas are, at least at launch, working with a lot more than fifty shades of grey. Chromas are about expressing your style and personality, or to color-coordinate your team or rep your favorite sportsball unit or whatever you want them to be. We’re experimenting here, so it’s up to you to show us how you feel about chromas and how you’ll use them.

Q: Will particles be recolored as well?
A: We’re looking into this with some champions and skins as it makes sense. Particle recolors add an intensive, additional layer to the project and they often differentiate between what we’re trying to do with chroma packs and what we do with skins (especially in the murky realm of 750 RP skins and slick-looking chromas). However, if we just always leave particles as they are, we could miss out on tons of chroma packs that without particle changes wouldn’t hit our quality high-bar.

Q: Will they always be the same price?
A: If you’re actually asking, “will chromas ever go on sale,” the answer is still up in the air. If you mean, “are some chromas going to be more expensive?” Then, well, the answer is still as cloudy as a mountaintop in the Freljord.

The community has been asking for recolors for a long while, but despite testing and experimenting with a few internal ideas, we couldn’t find a way to build them that satisfied our high standards. The current price reflects the work we put into crafting them.

Yeah, it’s possible to do a quick and dirty overlay, or shift a slider left in an editing program, but we think you would call us on that bullshit real quick, and as players ourselves, we wouldn’t be satisfied with such a hacky solution.

Q: How did you pick the champion and skins for these first-run packs?
A: Artistic complexity, potential QA issues, champion and skin popularity and a veritable cornucopia of other factors went into what we considered a good candidate for chromas. Also, the community wanted Blucian.

Q: Will any existing skins be reclassified as chromas?
A: It’s obvious some of our previous skins share some of the characteristics of what we’re launching with chromas. Jokes about Nightmare Cho’gath and Rusty Blitzcrank aside, there’s something pretty cool about having vintage Deadly Kennen, Toxic Dr. Mundo and the like and we want to be careful about reclassifying them. For now, they’ll still be considered a separate tier of skins, but we’re interested to hear what you think.

Q: How can I see all the chromas currently available?
A: The magic of hexspheres. Or if you don’t have one of those, you can find chroma packs in the Bundles tab of the store.

Q: Why don’t chromas have new or recolored splashes?
A: Chroma packs are ways for you to deepen your experience with some of your favorite champions and skins, not change the core identity of that champ or skin.

Q: Can I gift chroma packs? What about mystery gifts?
A: Not at launch, but worth exploring in the future.

Q: There are other games where the community makes cheap recolors, why not have League fans and players do the same?
A: We don’t have plans to set this up right now, but we are looking for you to tell us what chroma packs you’d like to see.

For content creators with the skills to hurtle the quality bar for products like chroma packs, you can show us in contests like the Polycount art showdown, and take a shot at joining us here in the office--or working remote, that’s totally a thing, too--adding your unique flavor to League in the future.

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