Should you join League of Legends' new referral program, or stay in the old one?

"Go big or go home" is a motto that's doomed many a board game night for me. I want the big prize or nothing at all—it is my curse. But those more eager for mid-tier rewards are going to be excited about League of Legends new referral program, which removes the top-tier real-life rewards of the original program, but makes it significantly to get the in-game perks. Transitioning to the new referral program is optional, but permanent, so take a careful look at what each offers before you decide.

The original Refer-A-Friend program

If you have an existing account, this is what you're currently enrolled in. You can see your progress within this system in the account management page . Each time someone you refer hit level 5, you earn a four-win IP boost, and receive bonus rewards at the following milestones.

1: Forum Recruiter badge
10: Tier 3 champion (worth 975 Riot Points)
25: Forum title “Recruiter”
50: Grey Warwick skin
100: The League of Legends Digital Collector's Pack
150: Forum title “Senior Recruiter”
200: 10,000 Riot Points
250: Forum title “Master Recruiter”
350: Medieval Twitch skin (extremely rare before the new referral program)
500: Get your name added to the “Wall of Fame” in the Riot Office
1,000: A content element will be named after your summoner
5,000: All current and future content permanently unlocked
10,000: An all expenses-paid trip to visit Riot Games and develop a champion with the design team

The new Refer-A-Friend 2.0 program

This is the new program that you can join at any time--even if you choose to stay in the old program for awhile longer. But once you join, you're in it for life. If you do switch, all existing referral numbers will immediately apply and unlock rewards in the new program. In addition, each time someone you refer hits level 5, you earn a flat 250 IP, instead of the IP win boost of the old program. The level requirement for your referrals to apply towards the milestone achievements below is level 10 under the new system, though.

1: 500 IP, "Recruiter" title and badge for the forum
2: 500 IP
3: 500 IP
4: 500 IP
5: 500 IP and a Rune Page
10: 975 RP
25: Grey Warwick skin and "Senior Recruiter" forum title
50: 2,000 RP and Medieval Twitch skin
75: 4,000 RP
100: 10,000 RP and "Master Recruiter" forum title
150+: 5,000 RP for every 50 referrals after 100

As you can see, it's absurdly easier to get good rewards under the new system. Almost anyone should be able to recruit five friends through message boards, guilds or, well, friendships to earn 2,500 IP--enough to pick up a few of the beginner champions or some new Runes. The biggest perk of the new system in my eyes, though, is the drastic drop in requirements for the Medeival Twitch skin, which is incredibly rare and was out of the grasp of most players under the old system. It'll be more common because of these changes, but will likely be pretty rare still. If you think you can get 50 referrals, I'd make the jump to the new system without hesitation.

That said, if any movie stars, athletes, or insanely popular Twitter people are reading this article, you might want to stay in the old system. The only reason to stick with the old system is that you really think you have a shot at those top-tier prizes of getting your name in Riot's offices, having an in-game item named after you, and being able to develop a champion in-person with the Riot dev team. Those are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, but you have to be able to recruit thousands of people to LoL. For the rest of us, I definitely recommend switching to the new referrals program .

But before I make the switch myself, I'm going to throw out a hail Mary and leave my referral link right here: CLICK ME! Now I just need 10,000 of you to click that, sign up, and hit level 10. Pretty please?