Recently, Riot Game’s skin team announced that Rakan and Xayah will no longer be receiving shared recall animations in their new skins.
Rakan and Xayah, League of Legends’ power couple pairing, are two champions who receive unique bonuses to their abilities when paired with the other in game. One of these unique power-ups is the ability to recall, or return to the base, together, effectively sharing a singular recall animation that either champ can join in on at any time.
Since the champs were released, they have traditionally shared a unique animation that plays when they recall together. This animation syncs up regardless of when the other partner joins in, and adds a little visual flair to celebrate their togetherness.
Up until recently, Rakan and Xayah have received new shared recall animations in every new skin they receive, meaning that a Rakan and Xayah pairing with matching skins got a new, thematically fitting recall animation.
However, they did not receive said animation in their shared Arcana skins, which were released some time ago. Despite player backlash, Riot DW Platypus has announced that they will no longer be receiving shared animations in their new skins.
According to Platypus, this is because the chances of Rakan and Xayah being in a game together with matching skins is statistically rare, and therefore not worth the budget allocation to make these animations.
Fan backlash to this news has been severe, and the topic is currently trending on League of Legends Twitter. The response to the news is almost universally negative, with Rakan and Xayah players sharing their disappointment with the decision.
Riot Brightmoon stepped in to defend the decision, claiming that it was not an issue of laziness on the skin team’s part, but a matter of budget. However, this claim confuses a lot of players, as League of Legends reportedly was getting the biggest budget yet this year.
Though Riot Brightmoon says player opinion is important, the controversial decision has many questioning Riot’s commitment to player feedback. Many are quick to point out that, when similar backlash was given over the Arcana skins, Riot promised to include shared recall animations in the next Rakan and Xayah skins.
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