The New Lore Changes: Divorcing Lore from the Gameplay experience is a BIG Mistake

Dear Riot,

After reading several threads and comments, I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one extremely dissapointed with the announced Lore changes and the decision to retcon the Institute of War and the League itself out of existence.

I think it's very positive that you want to expand the lore, and develop regions of Runeterra like the Shurima into greater detail - However, I think you are going about it in the wrong way, for several reasons:

1. By destroying the League of Legends and the figure of the Summoner, you are destroying the players' connection to the game, and our ability to feel like we are influencing events in the world of Runeterra. With the current retcon, there is literally no in-universe motivation AT ALL to play the game, there is no reason to explain why characters like Kata and Garen, which hate each other, would possibly find themselves fighting for the same team, whereas the old lore at least provided an explanation. (flimsy at times, but an explanation nevertheless) Now there is literally no reason at all for these characters to be fighting to destroy the rival nexus. Nothing is at stake, it makes the game less interesting for a lot of us players. Even among those of us that also watch e-sports and care about the competitive scene, there are many that also care about the lore... divorcing the gameplay experience from the lore is major step back, most games nowadays are moving in the opposite direction, giving you the ability to make choices that influence the story, rather than the other way around.

2. More content is being destroyed than created. You are replacing complex, beautiful characters with great backstories, like Skarner, or the Nasus-Renekton rivalry, with very simple one-liners that frankly seem hastily written. Even if this is some sort of "preview" to be expanded in the future, I don't see the need to put these one-liner descriptions into the game without nothing else being said... it simply alienates the playerbase that has invested into these characters. Amumu is another sad example of this; Before, he was a yordle mummy that awoke in a pyramid with no memories, he wanted to find out what happened to him and who his parents' were, and eventually ended up in the League. Even this very simple story, was turned even more simple, with a one liner about being an undead with no memory... one simply wonders... what is the point of doing that?

3. The League gives more chances to tell stories and for characters to interact with each other. With the old lore, you could have more opportunites for characters hailing from opposite corners of the world, to interact with each other. The League provided a common space for characters like Yasuo to discover Riven's identity, or for Diana and Leona, or Morgana and Kayle, to pursue their rivalry. In a sense, it provided a more globalized world, where different characters from different regions could find common ground or reasons to fight each other. Without the League, your new approach is creating divided, isolated local conflicts (Freljord, Shurima), with no connection to the greater world.

4. Everything that you are doing, could have been done with no retcons. I understand your desire to flesh out the different regions, and create sources of conflict... however, this could have also been done without retconning summoners, the League, or champions' backstories. Originally, the League was created to arbitrate disputes between nations, to keep excessive magic users in check, and to prevent another Rune War. Beyond that, the Institute of War never really cared about localized conflicts, backroom palace plots, or even full-scale war, as long as magic was kept in check. New regions, conflicts and champions, through all types of media, could have been introduced without major retconings taking place. I understad it's your game and your creative decision, but frankly, destroying old lore simply alienates the playerbase without bringing that much new people in. (Those that didn't bother to read the Journals of Justice or the League Judgements before, are unlikely to care much about the lore either).

We need more lore and gameplay interaction, not less. We could have actual, meaningful events, like some sort of "story mode" where, say, Piltover and Zaun go to war (just an example) and we can play only with, champions from either Piltover or Zaun depending on the team, and then the aggregate results of these story matches determine the way the story progresses. If most of these games ended up in a Zaun victory, you could advance the story saying Piltover is now in financial decay because it's paying a tribute to Zaun - thus, for example, paving the way for Jinx to sow chaos in the city.

This is just an example of what I mean by players advancing the story. in this sense, the Freljord event was a step in the right direction, despite the retcons. There are many other ways, you could also have special one-time matches, like the Ionia vs. Noxus event... I would totally watch that.

I've been playing this game for a couple of years now (My main is in the LAS server, actually), and I'm very grateful for the great game that LoL is - probably my all time favorite game. However, I do feel you are moving in the wrong direction and it's putting me off - hence the need to write this long post. Thank you very much for reading, excuse any possible spelling mistakes (my everyday language is Spanish), and I hope nobody is offended or put off by my constructive criticism... at the end of the day, we all want what's best for the game.

Cheers!