Riot Games has decided to break down their decision to remove the recolored VFX for the chromas on the new Star Guardian Akali skin, as well as create new restrictions for chromas going forward, after receiving several complaints from League of Legends players.
When the new skin was launched on the game’s PBE testing server, fans noticed that each chroma’s graphics had been recolored to reflect its own theme.
It was a lovely skin that many players wanted to buy, however, Riot suddenly removed these unique special VFX chromas, causing fans to be disappointed and eventually accusing the company for pulling such lies.
Riot explains the removal of Star Guardian Akali VFX chromas
According to a member of the League skins QA team, VFX recolors are not within the scope of normal Chromas, but they were looking into the idea of a higher-tier chroma. They have experimented with Star Guardian Akali, despite the fact that they were never meant to be released on the PBE.
Riot also issued a post on the League PBE subreddit, explaining that it was unsustainable for the devs to create so many distinct visual effects with each patch.
This did, however, create some inconsistencies among the audience, prompting them to clarify exactly how the chromas would function for different skin types.
Although the reasoning did create a standard for future chromas, fans were nevertheless unhappy that Star Guardian Akali’s chromas were removed, despite the fact that they had already been made and placed on the PBE.
Some even speculated that Riot might have created an exemption for the skin so as to please the fans while still establishing the ground rules for chromas.