Influence Points will be earned by simply playing the game, while Riot Points will be available for purchase with real money. Both currencies will be used to unlock additional content customization options, whereas only Influence Points will be used to unlock content such as Runes, which enhance the power of playable characters. Gamers who spend money in the game will not have a power advantage over other players; they will have access to rare visual customization options.  The system is designed to empower the player with a huge number of mechanical choices that deepen the level of the strategic thinking in the game.  
 
Riot Games will also offer a League of Legends Collector’s Pack that contains exclusive items, such as two unique Champion skins, as well as a number of Champions, Runes and Riot Points. Players who pre-order the Collectors Pack at www.leagueoflegends.com or at retail outlets GameStop and Best Buy will also receive an exclusive Champion skin that will only be available with the pre-order. The Collector’s Pack will retail for $29.99.

Influence Points will be earned by simply playing the game, while Riot Points will be available for purchase with real money. Both currencies will be used to unlock additional content customization options, whereas only Influence Points will be used to unlock content such as Runes, which enhance the power of playable characters. Gamers who spend money in the game will not have a power advantage over other players; they will have access to rare visual customization options.  The system is designed to empower the player with a huge number of mechanical choices that deepen the level of the strategic thinking in the game.  
 
Riot Games will also offer a League of Legends Collector’s Pack that contains exclusive items, such as two unique Champion skins, as well as a number of Champions, Runes and Riot Points. Players who pre-order the Collectors Pack at www.leagueoflegends.com or at retail outlets GameStop and Best Buy will also receive an exclusive Champion skin that will only be available with the pre-order. The Collector’s Pack will retail for $29.99.

That's quite the acronym there.

 im not sure how i feel about free to play. i guess if you can compete well without micro transactions then its all fine and dandy.

Comment! HAAAAAA!!!

Interesting, very interesting indeed..

Dota! I HEAR YOU MAN!

Smart move on them it was probably gonna get pirated and played on things like Garena otherwise

Again, you can't beat free.

Give me YOUR FREES

I've been having a blast with Battlefield Heroes, so this sounds like wonderful news. The microtransaction model is a little dangerous, I can see how someone could get carried away and end up spending double, triple what a game is actually worth. But a little caution and this model could be real satisfying.

Really good idea

Looks great, I'll probably pick it up

OK, why does everyone always give "DoTA" so much credit and make it the fore-front of everything?  "Aeon of Strife" was first and was created during the StarCraft days.  DotA is a rip-off of it. 

League of Legends is based off of "DoTA All-Stars" which is based off of "DotA" which is based-off of "Aeon of Strife". 

I wonder if "Aeon of Strife" is going to return in StarCraft 2, or it's just going to be "DoTA All-StarCraft2" and "Aeon of Strife" will just die-off and never get proper credit? 

I was so excited for this game, now im even more excited! Being free will bring in a nice big player base which is exactly what this game from a unknown dev needs

Looks like Warcraft III. Except a few years late.

I'm suddenly interested.  I actually really do enjoy popping into Battlefield: Heroes for a few games any time I find myself a bit bored.  I can definitely see myself doing the same with this game.

Wonder what will convince Dota players to switch.

This is now a a must play for me

Definitely getting free client... problably pay for the characters anyhow :P

im wondering why everyone thinks this model is so new, its a old model that works very well.
everything you buy does not imbalance the game in any way. people may level faster or get some things faster but they still cant get more powerful.
plus most are just visual changes so they stand out from the crowd.

I can't stand little girls ugh

" I can't stand little girls ugh "

" OK, why does everyone always give "DoTA" so much credit and make it the fore-front of everything?  "Aeon of Strife" was first and was created during the StarCraft days.  DotA is a rip-off of it.  League of Legends is based off of "DoTA All-Stars" which is based off of "DotA" which is based-off of "Aeon of Strife".  I wonder if "Aeon of Strife" is going to return in StarCraft 2, or it's just going to be "DoTA All-StarCraft2" and "Aeon of Strife" will just die-off and never get proper credit?  "

This is awesome, I was thinking about buying this game but now i dont have to, game does look great.

glad its free but that doesn't change the fact that Annie is lame.

" @Bigandtasty: Except thats not how LoL works. You can unlock everything you need to be competitive with out spending a dime. What changes when you start spending money is the speed in which you unlock stuff. You'll never buy items for your heros in game with real money, and your not going go buy stat boosts for your heros either. All the items you get either make the game easier when it comes to unlocking stuff (like champions) or gives you cosmetic changes to the Champions you have, so you can stand out a little when you play.  "

Looks good and free never hurts.  Will definitely be checking this out as right now DOTA is a little to intense for me.

Free is good. I'll at least give the game a try.

It has honestly shocked me that western companies haven't adopted the "free to play/micro transaction" model more often.  There are a ton of games, mostly from Korea, that have been around for years with this model.  So many of them are garbage, but they still manage to survive.  It will be interesting to see what kind of longevity LoL ends up having.

If the retail game comes with all the stuff I can get via micro transaction, and releases packs of any new stuff that I can buy in chunks, maybe I'll do the retail version. But I think this should just be a retail game, with maybe some extra micro stuff down the road,  but nothing really important. If the retail comes with all I really need and want though, I'll go with that. Why they don't just make this a retail game with free online is beyond me, but hey, I guess it's cool that they have so many options.

Now I'll give the game a shot - otherwise I would've waited for StarCraft 2 and a DOTA release on that.

I wasn't going to get this game but now I will try it for sure ^_^

There's a microtransaction model for some of the Puzzle Pirate servers, and we have spent a few scrip getting some extras. But if everyone paid as much as we have, I think they'd go bankrupt.

Another one... still this one is from the dota guys but we already have HoN(beta), demigod and the original dota.
09 the Dota year

This game looks pretty interesting...F2P so there's no sense in not giving it a try...which I will...when it's out... :P

They became desprate because of HoN's arrival in the market.

"How's the whole free-to-play model working out for you? Anyone playing Battlefield Heroes or BattleForge and getting suckered in by the microtransaction model? Are you more likely to play League of Legends now? This is still an emerging business model in the West and I'm really curious to see if it will catch on"

Well i almost bought the retail  of battleforge to get points and cards but luckily i did not and no i am not more likely to buy this game. i like my dota and am getting more into HoN,.

the funny thing is saying it Free but then you find out if you want to be good and get the whole experience you have to pay does not sound free to me

LoL looks halfway decent, lol.

If the game is good, it doesn't matter if it's free or costs money.  I looked at the trailer & it didn't impress me very much. If they offered it over the Xbox, I'd probably check it out.

I just preordered this game, it looks great and Im fucking tired of the fucking assholes who play DotA, wouldnt mind getting into a game before they're are "pros" or "vets" at it. So that I become one and can say things like "newb"  >:)

The thing that's dumb about the BF Heroes Pay shop is the fact that it's temporary. Like, I feel they REALLY missed the ball on that part.

This looks good but I'm glad it's free, after playing the (also free) Heroes of Newerth BETA it's got some competition.

All champion will be Free to pay by the end. They need to be unlock by influance point which you earn every game depenant on you perfemence.The pre-order pack will unlock 20 at first if not pre-order you will get 6 the other must be unlock by yourself.

"OK, why does everyone always give "DoTA" so much credit and make it the fore-front of everything?  "Aeon of Strife" was first and was created during the StarCraft days.  DotA is a rip-off of it.  League of Legends is based off of "DoTA All-Stars" which is based off of "DotA" which is based-off of "Aeon of Strife".  I wonder if "Aeon of Strife" is going to return in StarCraft 2, or it's just going to be "DoTA All-StarCraft2" and "Aeon of Strife" will just die-off and never get proper credit?  "

Because DotA: Allstar was what made it popular. The first DotA like game was a game where there is only "hero" from starcraft (ex: jim) is it fun?? personally I think it is unbalanced. 

I haven't played this yet, but I am actually enjoying the Heroes of Newerth beta a lot. Anyone play League of Legends and HoN? What's the difference?