Anyone Else Gave Up On Lore?

Chromatic Eagle·Feb 28, 2015·78 votes·4,708 views

I made a snarky comment on another thread, but I'm legit curious. For all of our tears, our rage, our crushed hopes, and unrealistic expectations, has anyone just decided that they don't care about the lore anymore? You might read the champion bios for the new champions (because we'd all be dead by the time the old bios are released), you might care a bit for the events that they do, but how many people are just playing this game for the gameplay now?

This isn't meant to be entirely whiny or passive aggressive, but I've read some comments that gives off that impression. Riot has said that they'd rather have passionate angry fans than those who don't care, so I wonder how they'd feel if they learn how many fans feel disconnected.

65 Comments

OhOkYeaFeb 28, 201539 votes

LoL has lore?

test accountFeb 28, 201519 votes

No, they don't even have a lore team.

SentethMar 1, 20155 votes

I think it did... once...

Error ScreenMar 1, 201528 votes

LoL.

Lack of Lore.

Sneak DogFeb 28, 201534 votes

I can't care. I used to, then that investment I made got crushed and abused by Riot when they removed Trundle from the game.

KagaepiMar 1, 20153 votes

[{quoted}](name=Sneak Dog,realm=EUW,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=4su5Me09,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2015-02-28T22:06:06.337+0000)

I can't care. I used to, then that investment I made got crushed and abused by Riot when they removed Trundle from the game.

underrated post Trundle

Xela SyabMar 1, 20152 votes

[{quoted}](name=Sneak Dog,realm=EUW,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=4su5Me09,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2015-02-28T22:06:06.337+0000)

I can't care. I used to, then that investment I made got crushed and abused by Riot when they removed Trundle from the game.

this.

BoswickMar 1, 201521 votes

They retconned the foundational premise and namesake of the game out of the lore, replaced it with nothing and deleted the aspect that gave the story player immersion, honestly what am i supposed to feel connected to? Most of the characters (especially if theyve been recently rewritten) are very cliche and now most aren't connected to each other whatsoever. The world of Valoran is now just a bunch of characters that exist in a vacuum with a couple half assed plotlines that went nowhere and never concluded.

I'll still play because lets face it, i'm addicted.

EverTokkiMar 1, 201515 votes

It's done. like why would I give a fuck. It was amazing before but not anymore. like, I don't know what riot's making of the lore right now, neither I am interested in whatever they are making.

I want the League of legends back, the JoJ, the League Judgements, Summoners, and everything that made the Runeterra just more realistic and everything, but well it obviously was too complicated and everything(I wouldn't have complained even if they reset the whole JoJ or the League Judgements and tried to make it better from scratch, at least they'd have something) so well, yeah. Here's where we are.

We've complained enough. We've tried enough. Why would we keep complaining if there's nothing that's gonna change. As Riot said, I guess there are a lot of people who don't care about the lore. I'm fed up with the lore team as it feels like talking to a wall. Maybe one day they'll realize what big mistake they'd done.

Why does league even exist anymore? What happened to bandle city? there's so much stories in the old lore, and now it's gone.

SilverwindsMar 1, 201512 votes

Freaking preach it man.

You have just explained exactly how I feel about lore.

I used to really, really care about the lore. I thought it was great, unique, limitless in where they could go. I thought it was awesome that the Lore tied in really well with the game part of LoL. The summoners, the matches and all that.

BOOM. RETCON. Seriously? And before that the only Riot replies (The very few there were in the months before) was just stringing people along like they were going places with the League's lore. Ha.

I can't bring myself to care about the Lore as it is now. Wait- I mean. I can't bring myself to care about the lore they say they will supposedly make. It'll be a shell of it's former self. Especially taking into account the few new bits we have now.

'Course I'll still play. I mean, it's a fun game. And I've sure put more than enough money into it, But the World.. The Characters.. They just all feel so dead to me now.

EverTokkiMar 1, 20155 votes

Okey I feel like crying right now.. Gotta have to punch the wall to feel more manly.. (sob)

moogle890Mar 2, 20151 votes

Amen.

EverTokkiMar 2, 20151 votes

♡

Ravenous KatMar 1, 201513 votes

I used to care about lore. Then the retcon happened.

I actually tought that it would be a step in the right direction and that they wanted to make lore a priority but months have passed since the retcon and the majority of the champions still have 3 lines of lore and others like Jax and Kayle are in an unknown situation.

The recent lore they have released just doesn't catch me, I don't find it interesting. I read Azir's story and it was ok but it did not made me want to read Xerath's.

I really hope Riot will focus on lore at some point, I just don't see that happening soon.

Daedalus871Mar 1, 201513 votes

I use to care about lore.

Then updates happened on the scale of years. Then stories ended on a cliff hangers. Then the retcon happened. Then champion bios were reduced to a few sentences.

Now I am wondering what lore there is to care about.

X FradyMar 1, 20159 votes

I just still read the OLD lore when I can. This "new" nonexistent lore is just a paragraph on new champs with a boring description. The lore was a crucial part of the game, maybe not many read or cared about it, but it felt like the soul of the game. Without new intriguing stories, there's no way to understand the origins and actions from the champions and just makes them feel like purposeless tools.

Salt and VeigarMar 1, 20159 votes

I'll be completely honest here despite the fact that I know I will get massively downvoted but I like how lore is progressing so far it's been slow but we are (very) slowly learning about the continent of Valoran. My favorite part of the lore is about the Shadow Isles, and the idea of "The Ruined King" and his grief,defiance of death, and the various champions that are tied to it. One thing I really enjoyed was how Kalista purchasing item 3153 revealed her connection to the king and his downfall

Biff ManlyMar 1, 20156 votes

"What even IS a Rammus? I'unno."

"Yeah, there's this big angry purple bug in a cave, leave it alone."

"Kalista used to be alive, but she was too #salt to give up on this world."

"Fizz is from the ocean. Yup."

"Nami's ALSO from the ocean. Yyyyyup."

"Nautilus? From the ocean, why?"

"From the void, digs."

"From the void, eats."

"From the void, wants to destroy everything, too lazy to go through with it."

Biff ManlyMar 1, 20153 votes

[{quoted}](name=Biff Manly,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=4su5Me09,comment-id=000d,timestamp=2015-03-01T02:08:34.628+0000)

"What even IS a Rammus? I'unno."

"Yeah, there's this big angry purple bug in a cave, leave it alone."

"Kalista used to be alive, but she was too #salt to give up on this world."

"Fizz is from the ocean. Yup."

"Nami's ALSO from the ocean. Yyyyyup."

"Nautilus? From the ocean, why?"

"From the void, digs."

"From the void, eats."

"From the void, wants to destroy everything, too lazy to go through with it."

They should hire me onto the lore team.

BoweroMar 1, 20154 votes

They should start a lore team.

AshenFoxMar 1, 20156 votes

Well, lets see. I was the 'lore expert' of my little circle. Then I had to stop playing for a few months because I just didn't have the time. I came back and just after I had left, they had removed the League and IoW from reality. I now don't even pay attention to anything but mechanics and visuals. So... you decide if I've "given up" on the lore.

Hint: Yep. 100%. I can't even be bothered to go back and see any changed lore and I don't even talk Lore anymore. So yeah.

LeeDarkMar 1, 20156 votes

I lost hope when they announced the retcon. They had been outright lying to us about it for a year before that, and their lack of transparency proved they didn't really care about the community. I thought they might be able to salvage all of that with good stories, but I have been consistently unimpressed by both the quality and quantity of lore content that has come out since then.

Azir and Xerath made for a "just okay" story, but it was ultimately unimaginative, cliche', and terse. Seriously, how many month did it take them to write that utterly vanilla junk? Since then, we haven't seen much better. I could churn out lore of equal quality to what they've given us in less than a single month. I do not claim to be the next great American novelist or anything like that, but it would be no hard task to simply pump out a few dozen short stories, based largely on established lore minus the Institute. At the rate they've actually released content, and still not being the next great American novelist, I could definitely write something better than what Narrative has given us. And I don't even think I should get the job, because I've seen far better stuff than I could write just on the old forums.

KnalxzMar 1, 20155 votes

Yeah, I gave up on the lore when I noticed two things about Rengar.

His species doesn't have a name
His lore suggests that Warwick could of been his adopted father but just chooses to ignore his existence at every turn. Really just take a read.

Rengar never knew his real parents, but was raised by a human who was revered as a legendary hunter. He was an ideal pupil, intently absorbing the lessons of his father, and improving them with his uncanny feral instincts. Before his mane had fully grown, Rengar set off on his own and claimed a wide territory for himself. Along its perimeter, he mounted the skulls of his slain prey - a warning to would-be aggressors.

DustogreiMar 2, 20151 votes

Indeed it totally skips over WHAT is Rengar. Why would the hunter raise Rengar? Why would he raise a different species? As a pet? As an adopted child? Are there more lion type creatures around or is he the last one?

And all that hunting story, ok, fine, he's trying to hunt Kha'zix because of the thrill of the hunt. No explanation whatsoever on why he would be in Summoner's Rift fighting someone like LuLu.

KnalxzMar 2, 20151 votes

Maybe he just likes killing purple things...

Jesus is SaviorMar 1, 20155 votes

I used to care.

I no longer care.

Riot could release full bios for every old champ, with a huge interconnected story. I won't care. It has been what, MONTHS, coming up on a year soon, that we have had no lore for MOST of the roster? Anything they do now will be too little too late.

Nothing they have done has proved they "needed to remove summoners/the league/institute of war" to create a story. Nothing they have done has proved that by removing those things, writing lore would be easier. If anything, it has proven the opposite - because it has been months and most champs DON'T have lore - clearly it's harder to start from scratch than it was to keep doing what they were doing before.

ShínyFeb 28, 20154 votes

Basically yes, I don't care anymore. I can't invest in the type of storytelling Riot wants to do now.

Earthlord JazzFeb 28, 20154 votes

My friends and I would always have long, in-depth conversations about the lore throughout our day. Now, it just kind of slips our mind since we don't feel as connected to the lore (nor the champions). Occasionally a new music video will come out and we'll discuss it for a bit, but then the conversation just ends too quickly as there is very little 'substance' to these new pockets of information.

So to sum it up, sometimes I feel like I give up on lore when nothing new has come out (or at least it slips my mind). Occasionally, Riot will give a small seed to talk about, but there's not a lot to it and I get bored quickly. Overall, I'm disappointed in this retcon, and have lost a lot of my interest in it.

AuryielMar 1, 20154 votes

I don't care about the lore Riot outputs

That doesn't mean I don't care about LoL's lore

Meaning, I wouldn't care if they had zero lore from this point forward, because all they output is atrocious, so I'd rather imagine my own stories.

CritwrenchMar 2, 20154 votes

I stopped caring about lore the moment they retconned summoners. They had something interesting and then they decided to toss it in favor of being lazy pricks.

TheTyeGuyMar 1, 20153 votes

Solidair3Mar 1, 20153 votes

Nah, not yet.

I think LoL's higher ups just don't see Lore as a huge priority, and this Narrative hasn't been able to do all the things they want. (Thus, the tech issue wasn't worked on sooner)

Hopefully, once that is FINALLY resolved, then the lore will start a-flowing.

LANWhaleMar 1, 20153 votes

Giving up on the lore is not an option for me. As such I hope others haven't given up on it either but if they have, I can not blame them.

Seeing my self give up seems like a betrayal of all the thoughts and theories I have put in to this game. I'm not in this to see the Lore team finally announce they have made mistakes, for that won't solve anything really, but rather that they do their job and release quality lore. Huh...that phrase...

Quality Lore...

What does that mean? What should it mean? Perhaps i need to find the answer to that and then decided whether or not Narrative is doing a good job. maybe they need to ask them selves this question.

All I know is I haven't given up on lore. Not because I don't like it but because I do like it. Not the new lore, not that its really bad, but rather I love the old lore. Perhaps that's just the nostalgic in me talking butt he old lore had a sort of spark to it that I can't seem to find in any other game. Who knows really, we are waiting for quality lore, but is quality lore what we need? I don't know I'm just some crazy person who just wants to see the lore thrive.

SephAgroMar 1, 20153 votes

The game is being molded to support LCS as the primary focus of the game. Look at the constant balance changes made to fit the LCS entertainment model. Look at the frequent stream of sports/LCS themed skins. Notice the new tone Riot projects as being more of a sports association than a game developer of a strategy based RPG battle arena.

The lore, Runetara, all that stuff is just so they can continue holding on to the market of players who like that. Otherwise they probably would have officially let go of the lore a long time ago. Things aint what they used to be.

KeagnMar 2, 20153 votes

I strongly recommend all of you poking fun at the Narrative Team to consider the facts before bringing out your pitchforks and torches. Here's a few laid out for you all:

It was a unanimous decision by Riot as a whole that the old lore wasn't cutting it. Not just Narrative/Lore. There were major problems with how the JoJ, IoW, and other components of the lore was playing out, and it wasn't coming up to par with the kind of story they wanted to produce.
There are nearly 130 champions, at least a dozen recognized factions (Demacia, Noxus, Ionia, Piltover, Zaun, Bilgewater, Shurima [Empire, Bandits], Shadow Isles, Void, Rakkor, Solari/Lunari, Avarosan, Winter's Claw, Frostguard [and this doesn't even include the smaller tribes and factions], independent, etc), and even more locations beyond this, all of which have their own, unique story which needs to align with each other, and give DEPTH to each champion, faction, and location. There are very few, if any things that the difficulty of this can be compared to. Its the equivalent of creating a universe, with its own people, gods, heroes, mythos, etc.

There is a quality standard that both the community and Rioters hold the lore of League of Legends to. Obviously, neither party are content with the short explanations we've been getting for champions recently, everyone wants to explore these characters more. However, with the massive retcon operation going on, it is increasingly difficult to produce the stories at a high quality that everyone is happy with. And as high as you think the bar is set by the community, Rioters set the bar even higher for themselves.

Think about these things next time.

Chromatic EagleMar 2, 20152 votes

I'm not sure if it was a unanimous decision, but it was something they decided to do. Most of us would agree that the old lore wasn't perfect. In fact, I expected retcons. They can be good if done well. This wasn't. They were so focused on just deciding on the retcon that I don't think they thought hard about the direction they want to go, which partially explains the months of waiting for new content.
We know they're creating a universe. All fiction have their own universe, which is why these retcons are so frustrating. They're rebuilding the world and are expecting us to wait after years of content drought, followed by months of them trying to figure out this "new" universe they wish to write.
You're right. Which is why it's something they should've decided on building before announcing it. Which is why when they do release content, and fans consider it subpar, we question if the retcon was worth it.

MotajoMar 3, 20151 votes

{quoted}It was a unanimous decision by Riot as a whole that the old lore wasn't cutting it. Not just Narrative/Lore. There were major problems with how the JoJ, IoW, and other components of the lore was playing out, and it wasn't coming up to par with the kind of story they wanted to produce.

[citation needed]

KeagnMar 3, 20151 votes

{quoted}

First of all, the decision to remove the IoW and begin a new story world of Runeterra was not Narrative's alone. Rioters from many different teams have been involved in the discussion. It essentially came down to the difficulties beyond just removing the IoW. If we just wanted to remove the IoW, destroying it through some disaster, political maneuvering, or war, it would have been its own story to explore. However, there were a number of problems this caused with other plans we have for stories going forward.

[{quoted}](name=Tommy Gnox,realm=NA,application-id=Ag8jgd8Q,discussion-id=6TxWksvF,comment-id=0040000100000000,timestamp=2014-09-04T20:43:32.235+0000)

Happy to do it. I guess the best way to sum up our approach going forward is that we want to, in the words of my colleague Glorft, "do no harm, and respect core themes." The key word in terms of what both you guys are saying is "core." What falls into that category is somewhat subjective; you might think killing Superman and then reviving him as four different people for a while still stayed faithful to the core themes of the character, since each of the four was meant to personify an aspect of his character. I might disagree. There's no right or wrong. Some players may feel that getting rid of the Institute of War and Fields of Justice cuts too close to the bone as far as core themes of LoL; we've thought about it long and hard, though, and decided that, in our opinion as stewards of the game and its fictional world, the pluses of doing so outweigh the minuses (by quite a bit, frankly). We hope you ultimately agree, but we know not every single LoL player will agree with every choice we make. Doesn't mean we're not listening, though, and it certainly doesn't mean we make any such choices casually. You'd be surprised how long and hard all of this has been debated within Riot before we arrived at a place **we all **felt good about.

"unanimous" is not directly used, but all of them being good with it is unanimous. Arguably this isn't directly saying it directly, but its clear that those involved in the decision got to a point that they "all felt good about."

KeagnMar 3, 20151 votes

{quoted}

First of all, the decision to remove the IoW and begin a new story world of Runeterra was not Narrative's alone. Rioters from many different teams have been involved in the discussion. It essentially came down to the difficulties beyond just removing the IoW. If we just wanted to remove the IoW, destroying it through some disaster, political maneuvering, or war, it would have been its own story to explore. However, there were a number of problems this caused with other plans we have for stories going forward.

[{quoted}](name=Tommy Gnox,realm=NA,application-id=Ag8jgd8Q,discussion-id=6TxWksvF,comment-id=0040000100000000,timestamp=2014-09-04T20:43:32.235+0000)

Happy to do it. I guess the best way to sum up our approach going forward is that we want to, in the words of my colleague Glorft, "do no harm, and respect core themes." The key word in terms of what both you guys are saying is "core." What falls into that category is somewhat subjective; you might think killing Superman and then reviving him as four different people for a while still stayed faithful to the core themes of the character, since each of the four was meant to personify an aspect of his character. I might disagree. There's no right or wrong. Some players may feel that getting rid of the Institute of War and Fields of Justice cuts too close to the bone as far as core themes of LoL; we've thought about it long and hard, though, and decided that, in our opinion as stewards of the game and its fictional world, the pluses of doing so outweigh the minuses (by quite a bit, frankly). We hope you ultimately agree, but we know not every single LoL player will agree with every choice we make. Doesn't mean we're not listening, though, and it certainly doesn't mean we make any such choices casually. You'd be surprised how long and hard all of this has been debated within Riot before we arrived at a place **we all **felt good about.

Ebonmaw DragonMar 1, 20152 votes

Never give up

PorkcchopMar 1, 20152 votes

I stopped caring about the lore when they stopped doing judgements, so around Fizz's release.

Danica1708Mar 1, 20152 votes

Honestly, I used to really love the lore. The last really good lores were Thresh Lucian and even then the Lucian end was a bit cliche. And what the heck was with Azir ? Like really Riot? You call 3 lines lore? Is that really what passes for a story these days? God it's like teenage girls with Twilight all over again. It's awful and no one ACTUALLY likes it. I read a lot. A LOT. I probably have about $2000 worth of books in my ownership. That's not even counting the stuff I've read but don't own. I literally got nothing from that crap. Azir 's 'lore' literally gave me no real clue what the heck he was about. None. It was abysmal effort by Riot really.

ImpetualMar 1, 20152 votes

I'm starting to... But I'm holding out that RIot might decide to swallow their pride and reverse the retcon.

I'm sure this sounds really stupid, as it's unlikely RIot would do such a thing.

But I still remember how Riot was in Season 1. They were player focused game developers we could trust. Sure, they've become a bit commercialized since then, but I still have some faith in them.

Maybe I'm just naive though.

Itadaki SeiekiMar 1, 20152 votes

Give or take, I remember Urgot's old lore of being torn apart and sewn back together. That's what inspired me to play him. With the retcon, I don't feel the need to play MOST of the champions that I played purely for the lore they had behind them.

Silents429Mar 1, 20151 votes

I never cared outside of the small paragraph you can read when looking at your champion.

Miku Lv99Mar 1, 20151 votes

Yeah, I gave up on the lore before I ever even read any of it. It's just not something I care much about.

WolfBVMar 2, 20151 votes

From what I've read in these boards one person on the Lore team said that they won't be accepting ideas from the fan fiction writers.

DestínumMar 2, 20151 votes

I want to stop caring, I really do, but I can't because there's just so much potential in LoLs lore. Honestly, it's tearing me appart as a fan of LoL.