As of today, September 5th, the League of Legends Refer-a-Friend (RAF) program is officially retired, along with all associated rewards.
The system had been in effect since the game’s release in 2010, providing players with an incentive to invite friends to League of Legends. When the invited friends reached a certain level, RAF would reward the original player with bonus IP and more. The rewards increased in value through a tiered system the more people you invited, from bonus Riot Points to exclusive skins for Warwick and Twitch. Both Grey Warwick and Medieval Twitch will become limited edition after today.
At one point, if a player’s referrals rose to truly amazing levels, they could have an in-game monster or item named after them – Grez the Lizard Elder on the original Twisted Treeline and the item Ohmwrecker are examples of this.
The system was updated a few times over the last half decade, including a relaunch about a year ago, mainly to make rewards more attainable and to reduce botting – when players referred themselves and leveled up alternate accounts for the RP rewards.
However, Riot’s data is showing that the program is more than a little outdated. As the game has matured and grown, other ways for players to bring in friends and connect with new ones on the Rift have become available, including finding Facebook friends. In light of these more utilized social systems, “RAF just doesn’t meet that bar anymore,” said Riot Zulu.
Referrers who have qualified for the higher tier rewards will still receive them and other players have until October 5 to submit a support ticket if there is an issue redeeming their rewards as well.
