Since the massive reveals shown off at PAX East over a month ago, SEMC has been teasing us with information about this “mysterious skin system” ranging from skin reveals to hints at how the skins will work and be unlocked.

Already we have seen the first four skins, Dark Parade Adagio, SAWborg, Queen Bee Petal, and Kandi Twirl Koshka. We also know, that you aren’t going to be able to “just purchase them from the shop.” Implying that they must be unlocked in some way. The community has already speculated on this a lot, and ideas range from special achievements to winning some number of games with the hero. And of course the community is very entrenched in suggesting skins for heroes like French Maid Catherine, Mafia Ringo, Halloween Petal ideas, and so many more. I wanted to see what some prominent players were thinking about the skin system, so I went ahead and interviewed a selection of streamers, podcasters, and other well-known users.

Brad Chmielewski – ShatterTheVain Host and a Streamer

Do you have any thoughts on how the skin system might work?

“There are two ways I can see the skin system working. One would be skins costing a large amount of ICE, you can buy them straight up but they are going to cost you. And then the second option, to go along with this will have you play a certain amount of games with a heroes and then after the determined number of games the skins will be available to you at a reduced cost. This is similar to how we saw Vox work, those who wanted to spend the money could play him right away and the other people who didn’t want to spend money had to wait. I can’t see this first round of skins costing glory it is very likely to be ICE. The amount of work that goes into make the artwork, modeling and animating for skins is time consuming.”

What skins would you really like to see in the game?

“I’m a big fan of the silly skins or joke skins, they are the ones I buy in League of Legends and Heroes of the Storm. A couple I’ve mentioned before either in the Vainglory twitch stream or on the podcast have been; Twitch Streamer Vox, Bro Ringo, Boxer Ardan, Gangster Glaive and Flight Attendant Catherine.”

How do you like the skins shown off so far?

“Right now my favorite skin is the Queen Bee petal. Personally it looks like the most original and seems like that one that has the most original animation done for it. Petal lends herself to a lot of fun skins because of the Munions and I’m excited to see what non-bug creature they come up with for her.”

Do you have any thoughts on how the skin system might work?

“I think it will be an achievement system of some sort. Maybe related to each hero and how often you play them. I don’t think they should make it objective based, as that will deter teamplay if someone is trying to ‘get 10 shank kills with SAW'”

What skins would you really like to see in the game?

“Mariachi Ringo (Thanks, KIMA)

French Maid Catherine (Thanks, HolyLucifer)”

How do you like the skins shown off so far?

“The Petal skin is amazing. I’m not that fond of the Koshka skin. The artwork is beautiful, but it just doesn’t seem to translate in-game as well.”

Do you have any thoughts on how the skin system might work?

“This is actually a topic I haven’t thought too much on, I’ve been rather happy keeping it a complete surprise. But, I have a few potential guesses:

Skin Unlocks after completing certain in-game “achievements” (reaching a skill tier, # of wins with a specific champion, etc.)

Some skins are only available through ICE purchases

I hope the system is a larger vision, including what I’ve mentioned, but going even further.”

What skins would you really like to see in the game?

“There are a large potential number of these, but i’ll just list a few that come to mind.

Secret Agent Ringo

Tiger Glaive

Soccer Vox

Yoga Instructor Celeste

Riot Police Catherine

Caterpillar Skaarf

Boxing Champ Ardan

Turtle Taka”

How do you like the skins shown off so far?

“I like the ideas so far.

Adagio & Saw both look really good

Petal’s skin is pretty awesome, they just need to update her seeds I think.

Koshka’s new skin looks great in the splashart, but the color is dull in-game.

I know some of these skins are not in the final stage yet, so I’m excited to see what they look like at release.”

Do you have any thoughts on how the skin system might work?

“I am 99% sure that they will be directly purchasable with ICE. The devs have already alluded to the fact that they were going to implement more ICE sinks and this is probably one of them. However if that was just it, then why always refer to it as a “skin system”? That is the most curious part of it all. More than likely it will have some kind of alternate unlock component, like a certain number of wins with a hero. I believe Smite and more recently LoL have a hero mastery element and it could be similar to that. Alternatively it could cost a combination of glory and ICE or maybe some entirely new system I haven’t even fathomed.”

What skins would you really like to see in the game?

“I personally can’t wait to see a Glaive skin, although I’m not sure what it would be at the moment. Would he just be another type of cat? Maybe Tony the Tiger Glaive?

Also I would like to see Corpus in some form. Like maybe Joule can be riding on a mechanical goat. I don’t know why she would be or what the lore reason of that would be, but wouldn’t that be awesome? Alternatively Petal with little baby goats running around, it could even be named Shepard Petal.”

How do you like the skins shown off so far?

“I like them a lot, especially the Petal skin. I love the little bee munions that she has instead of her typical onion plant monsters. I hope that some of the skins will have particle effect changes added to them. I noticed that Koshka’s claws are rainbow colored in the Kandi Twirl Koshka skin so it would be cool if her twirly death animation was multi-colored instead of just pink.

Granted though the devs have stated that the skins shown may not be representative of their final product and that they are still working on them so we’ll have to wait for release day and see.”

Gadianton – YouTuber and Broken Myth Writer

Do you have any thoughts on how the skin system might work?

“Unless SEMC has changed their mind, I believe they indicated that skins would not be purchased (at least not with money). This immediately had my mind going down the path of an achievement based skin system.”

“For anyone who is familiar with Heroes of the Storm – a computer-based MOBA by Blizzard – they have many per-hero achievements that can only be earned by playing/winning so many games. In other words, if you really put in the time and effort for one of your favorite heroes, you’ll eventually have a badge of honor to display to your opponents and teammates. Essentially, this is telling the other players, ‘This isn’t my first rodeo with this hero and I have a good idea of what I’m doing.’ This can be both comforting to your teammates and unsettling to your opponents. I think this is important because psychology in this game can play a significant role.”

“If I’m right and this is an achievement-based system, I think it would be fun if SEMC prioritized skins for the least played heroes, such as Joule. I think those players not only deserve to be recognized for playing ‘low tier’ heroes, but I think it could be useful to help deter queue dodgers who are thinking, ‘Crap. He just picked Joule.’ Instead, they might see the skin – hopefully, during hero selection – and get a ray of hope that this particular Joule might be different than the rest.”

“Full disclosure: I’m a very practical person, so I’ve never been a fan of dropping money on skins. It doesn’t affect how I play and there is no meaning behind it except that I really like a hero and I had an extra few bucks in my wallet. However, I am fairly competitive, so an achievement-based system gives skins meaning.”

What skins would you really like to see in the game?

“I think skins are coolest if the abilities are also reskinned. I recall skins in League of Legends that completely changed how abilities appeared (e.g. generating colorful confetti rather than poison darts). For me, that level of detail will make skins even more appealing.”

How do you like the skins shown off so far?

“As for the aesthetics for skins so far, I think Petal’s is witty. I think that Petal might be just the most fun because you’re reskinning both her and her pets. I think the first Adagio skin looks pretty awesome as well. I’m kind of indifferent when it comes to SAW’s and Koshka’s.”

Do you have any thoughts on how the skin system might work?

“[…] skins are going to be able to be earned. Not just purchased by ICE. The system that comes to mind is the honor system. Where you thumbs up and thumbs down an opponent and ally after each match. This could improve behavior in some of the players who may troll or afk if they want a specific skin. The developers have said previously that the honor system will be implemented in some way, and I see it being used for skins. If not skins, it will be interesting to see what the honor system will be used for. Possibly for a reward like League of Legends where players earn ‘Teamwork’ and ‘Worthy Opponent’ ribbons.”

What skins would you really like to see in the game?

“I would really like to see holiday themed skins. Such as Bad Cop Catherine or Friday the 13th SAW for Halloween.”

How do you like the skins shown off so far?

“I really like the skins shown so far. Especially the Koshka and Adagio skins.”

Do you have any thoughts on how the skin system might work?

“With SEMC referring to it as a ‘skins system’ it implies that there will be more than one way to unlock and that a system involves multiple levels.

I’m confident that one way they can be unlocked with through the purchase of ICE. The other ways are all purely speculation. Super Evil has always wanted us to have fun first and foremost! So I imagine a skins system can be a way of encouraging newcomers to play VG while greasing the palms of veteran players and giving them incentive to continue playing those heroes. The system could be a tier ranking system such as “Complete Daily/Weekly/Monthly challenges and you’ll unlock the skin!” or “Win one game for 7 days with that hero (Skinister Seven!)”

Whatever the system may be, I’m sure that if you want to unlock it upfront you can with ICE, or if you want to earn your skin you best put on your big boy boots and dive Halcyon Head First.”

What skins would you really like to see in the game?

“I’ve got a big ol’ list:

Luchador Arden

Sweet tooth Petal

Space Cowboy Ringo

Storm Queen Catherine

Storm Queen Celeste

Solar Flare Celeste

Special Forces SAW

Deep Sea Diver Vox

Komodo Dragon Skaarf

Zombie Krul

Shadow Stalker Koshka

Order of the Retsu Taka

Steam Powered Joule

Cyber Joule

Cyber Glaive

I could go on for hours…”

How do you like the skins shown off so far?

“The skins so far seem very cool. Some that are just reskinning a hero, some adding new particle and VFX! While the skins currently coming out look great, it’s also a monument to the capabilities of Super Evil Megacorp thus far. So as new skins get announced and released we’ll see some groundbreaking visuals that will grow as SEMC does.”

Do you have any thoughts on how the skin system might work?

“Thought for the skin system, I imagine something ice will be the preferred option. But the devs have mentioned a way to possibly get skins other ways, maybe a small portion of every win will grant a ‘skin credit,’ or something similar. For now I just assume it will be ice only.”

What skins would you really like to see in the game?

“I really want to see some Catherine skins. think she’s going to be very easy to adapt to skins. Examples would be like a french maid Catherine, beach Catherine, lots of stuff!”

How do you like the skins shown off so far?

“I love the skins shown so far, I think my favorite is the petal one. I like playing petal and seeing the minions incorporated as bees was just awesome for me.”

Thank you to everyone who helped with this article and agreed to the interviews, I’m hoping this made for an interesting read for everyone. What are your guy’s thoughts on the skin system? There are a few people who’s interviews will likely be added later on, but in the interest of getting this out as soon as possible, the article was published before they were ready. Check in later to see those interviews!

UPDATE: Added in the interview of Justin from TheFoldPodcast. Also cleaned up some formatting issues.