As an apology for last week’s patch day downtime, Riot credited any player who had logged in over the past month with 350 free RP. It was a nice gesture, especially considering the scope. I’ve had a couple thousand RP sitting around for a while now for no real reason. This extra boost put me at a level that required a little spending, so I threw down on Leprechaun Veigar. I had yet to see it in game, but let me you, if you like Veigar even the littlest bit you should get this skin. He drops a pot of gold for god’s sake. It’s awesome.

So how are you spending your free RP? I thought about buying Apocalyptic Brand, but since I’m starting up the Champ of the Week column I probably won’t be playing him a ton. I can stand to wait a few weeks for a skin sale at least.

I’ve been waiting a while for the skin sales to finally have something I don’t already own or have no interest in owning, and it looks like it finally happened. Over the past week I was able to pick up Pharaoh Amumu and Tribal Ryze for a total less than 500 RP. It was a pretty sweet deal, and I hope it keeps coming.

I’d venture a guess that I own at least one skin for nearly all of the champions. There are a few exceptions, of course – Janna and Kassadin off the top of my head – but I like the extra bit of flair the skins add to the game. I’m also happy to throw my money at a game that I’ve enjoyed so immensely over the last 10 months or so. That said, I’ve tried not to buy any full price skins in the last three months or so. I had seen so many skins go on sale that I had already purchased that I just had to start waiting. Glad to see it has finally paid off.

As though you needed another reason to play LoL through the weekend. Yes, LoL managed to stay ahead long enough in the latest reader’s choice poll that Riot is giving everyone double IP this weekend. I know last time they granted the double IP boost I made enough to pick up a few cooldown quints along with a champion or two.

Though the official forum post is corny and invokes Abraham Lincoln about what is essentially a popularity contest, I’ve included the full text here:

Once again, the League of Legends community has shown their incredible ability to rise to the occasion. Despite being behind in the election not so long ago, we’re now leading the MMOSite contest in the running for Best MMORTS of 2009 and Best New MMO of 2009. Maybe it’s the spirit of the Winter Games, or maybe it’s the fact that you’ve catapulted us to the front of another two Game of the Year polls, but we really feel like celebrating, and we hope that you do, too. That being said, without further ado, it is my pleasure to announce that this coming weekend, from Friday the 19th through the end of Sunday the 21st, Riot Games will be awarding double Influence Points for all games played. Oh, and if you have an active IP boost or are planning on purchasing one, not to worry. You’ll still earn bonus IP from both your boost and the double IP weekend. You’ve all earned it, and we hope that you will celebrate with us this weekend by spending a lot of time out there on the Field of Justice.

That being said, while you’re waiting for that next queue to pop, please don’t forget to take a moment to show your continued support for League of Legends. President Abraham Lincoln once said: “The ballot is stronger than the bullet,” which is no small proclamation despite the fact that he never had to spend a game staring down the barrel of a solo-mid Tristana. There’s still time to cast those important votes, so let’s make that we stay ahead. Keep up the voting!