I thought it was a good joke.
But personally, I've found all the prices in League to be reasonable. You can't afford every champion, but you can afford the ones you want. You can always use the free rotation to try them, and then buy one if you like it. Runes are expensive, but by the time you've reached the level that they're worth buying, you should have all the characters you need, so can focus all your IP on runes.
Of course it's a lot easier if you pay, but that's why the game's free to play, so you're encouraged to spend money on that. If Smash Bros was free to play, I'm sure we'd see something similar. However, even for Project M, you have to purchase a copy of Brawl, so it isn't free.
Look at that, your joke has started a giant debate. That's what happens when people take jokes seriously. In other words, the moral for you readers is that you should never take a joke seriously. But what if you don't realize it's a joke? Well then, clearly you should never take anything seriously.
I like to eat chocolate.