@Riot Skins Team: Perceptions of Sona, Skins, and Playsyle
I've been playing Sona for a few years now, and I've seen a lot of change in her prevalence, artwork, and the general attitude towards her. It used to be most players treated her as a passive buff who occasionally healed or stunned. When her 'rework' came out, her kit was kept mostly the same but the changes to timer-based AOE buffs as well has her range made her a more active player in the game. Over the next season, parts of her abilities were changed (mostly tuned down) to affect her heal strength, mana costs, range, ap scaling, and shield potential. These changes pushed her even farther than before into the realm of an active bully in lanes.
The issue I see is that her artwork and graphics in the majority of her skins do not fit with the playstyle of an actively poking bully. Sona has plenty of skins that portray her as a someone who moves fluidly through the battlefield playing music to both heal and distort the area. Muse, Silent Night, Guqin, and now Sweetheart Sona all have this quality which at one time worked very well with her gameplay. Now, however, she does not fall into this description. The reason so many people like Arcade and DJ Sona stems from the fact that these skins are the only ones among the set that are fun, energetic, and 'bouncy' to say the least.
That's not to say that the dress skins are bad in any way, but they are much more in line with the older style Sona than what we have today. When Sion got reworked, his visual updated remade all of his skins to fit with the new mechanics as well as the new personality. Sona never got this treatment.
The next Sona skin won't come out for a while, but are there any thoughts at Riot about what it will be like? In particular, is it going to follow her standard 'Long dress, arm waiving' style, or will it be one of the more energetic styles? DJ Sona came with an entirely new model and animations. It even has legs! These were a previously omitted piece of her anatomy. For future Sona skins, has anyone talked about using this new, leg-friendly model and setup to create a more modern view of her kit and in-game interactions? DJ and Arcade have given us a perspective of Sona's personality that shows so much more than just the reserved grace of her other skins.
As a side note, some things I hope for: Why hasn't a Pool Party skin come out for Sona? Surely the champions had music at this party. I've always thought it would be great to see Sona walking around running a TIki Bar and throwing drinks at people, or playing a set of steel drums. Other artworks I've seen include her as a waitress or Oktoberfest barmaid, carrying a food tray and drinks.