@(Any lore-related Riot person) An open letter to Riot about upcoming lore changes

Dear [any and all Riot people who read this],

I've been a big fan of the lore of this game for a long time. It was one of the main things that let me see this game as different or special compared to other games in fantasy universes. When the lore changes were announced, I had mixed feelings about them. On one hand, I had never liked the concept of summoners being so absurdly powerful. Let's take Aatrox. He's this mythic figure who has changed the course of wars. If some random mage is controlling him like a puppet, where's the fun in that? I was happy to hear that this was going to change. Other than that, I tried very hard to keep an open mind about what was going to happen. I figured, if they aren't showing me new things, they aren't ready for my (and by extension, the community's) opinion. I wasn't happy seeing Skarner turned into a generic guardian monster, but again, I tried to keep an open mind. Then I saw some of the more recent things, more specifically, the teaser pictures about Azir, Nasus, Renketon, and Xerath, and I broke down. Xerath used to be ambitious to a fault, and selfish, but still somewhat morally ambiguous, which made for a compelling and interesting character. Now he's a cartoon villain. I don't even play Xerath, and this still breaks my heart to see. At the same time, you guys are coming on to the forums to respond to the (overwhelmingly negative) community responses rarely. When you do, you talk a lot but seem to say very little. Everything is some variation of "we'll do better" or "just be patient", etc. I'll start with the first thing. "We'll do better" seems to be one of your favorite phrases lately when talking about lack of response to feedback. So I guess all I can say is, actually DO better. Stop talking about how you'll talk to us more, and start talking to us more. Next thing. I agree that patience is a virtue, and a virtue that I tried to show myself at first. But when you release these teasers, like the one I mentioned above, you make us less eager/excited, and more despondent and convinced that our opinions do not have meaning in your eyes. Maybe I'm just angry, but right now, if someone came up to me and said that Riot values my opinion, I'd laugh in their face. Please prove me wrong. Please help me. Please give me some sign that you aren't lying that you value my opinion as a member of this community. Talk to me. As a frustrated person who loves your game, talk to me and prove me I'm wrong. That's all I'm going to ask.

Thanks for reading if you got this far.

~Xenohaz

(Disclaimer: I was pretty angry, frustrated and sad when I wrote this, and you can probably guess why. I may seem harsher than intended here, and I apologize if that's the case.)