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Lore and theme-wise Quinn is somewhat boring.

ArnoldSchwarzens·1/3/2017, 7:58:53 AM·9 votes·2,003 views

Her gameplay identity is fine ever since the marksman class update, she fills a unique ( albeit somewhat annoying ) niche by being a splitpushing roaming toplane marksman. When it comes to lore and model design though . . . she's just really unappealing. She's got not a lot going for her in her lore except for a dead brother, being demacian and valor. Reading her lore also made me somewhat uncomfortable because she somehow tried to deal with the loss of her brother by turning a bird of all things into a "new" Valor, similar to how that one professor turned a robot into a second Orianna in her old lore, which of course makes Quinn somewhat unsympathetic.

When it comes to looks, she's just very far below the standards of most other champions.

http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Quinn_0.jpg

Other champions have very unique and awesome companions that you can't find anywhere outside of league. Annie has a teddy bear that she can turn into a magical firey grizzly, Skaarl is an aweome mix between a lizard, an ostrich and a retard. Even Beatrice is more intriguing than Valor, she is really creepy and has that 6 eye thing going for her. Valor though . . . he's a burd. That's it.

They took that theme even further and thought like "since she has a burd as a companion, let's make everything else about her a burd" so literally every piece of equipment is aimed to look like one and in the end it not only looks completely impractical but also stupid. Her helmet, her crossbow that looks like a children's toy and especially her really weird looking wing-cape make her look like one of those discount Marvel or DC superheroes that people only really know because their outfits and superpowers are hilariously dumb.

I don't know . . . there are a lot of champions in the game with a really good lore but horrible kit and model that needs to be updated but Quinn is pretty much the only one where it is the other way around. Her kit is great but her lore and model are just way below what Riot's standard usually is. I hope something gets done about her when the Demacia event hits in probably a few years or so.

11 Comments

Quepha1/3/2017, 10:13:37 PM4 votes

Riot admitted her production schedule was rushed, she was one of the last champions that they released on a set schedule and was probably a big reason they decided to move to a policy of releasing champions when they're done. She had that really weird ult that was completely redesigned to an even weirder one (albeit one that gives her an actual niche), her armor doesn't really seem to serve a purpose or communicate a theme, her idle stance/animation looks really bizarre (her new heartseeker skin highlights how awkward it is), and her whole concept of being Quinn and Valor, a team of a falconer and her raptor pretty much just boiled down to having bird-shaped spell particles (unfortunately Riot seemed to repeat this mistake with Lamb and Wolf aka Kindred).

Valor Bot1/3/2017, 10:36:56 AM3 votes

{quoted}Reading her lore also made me somewhat uncomfortable because she somehow tried to deal with the loss of her brother by turning a bird of all things into a "new" Valor

What do you mean? Quinn found Valor as a wounded fledgling at the place of her brother Caleb's death, giving him that name to honor her brother's fearless and spirited personality which Valor too embodied. It's not at all like Orianna's lore--unless there's something I'm missing.

I do agree with some of your other points though, particularly in regards to her art--Quinn and Valor's in-game models were rushed and didn't receive enough development time, which is why they kind of failed to meet quality standards. Valor's splash art paints him as just a plain ole' eagle with blue feathers when in reality his concept art made him look so much more unique and interesting. He's supposed to be a Demacian Eagle--the last of his kind in fact--but his design fails to communicate this by making him appear quite ordinary. Similarly, his in-game model makes him look like a chubby blue parrot rather than a rare and deadly bird of prey, which ties back into the Champion's rushed development.

I also agree with you that Quinn's model makes her weapon look a bit too much like a child's toy even though her concept art and splash paint it as a hulking piece of steel craftsmanship--I mean just look at size of that thing. Her model certainly scales it down a bit (in fact some of it clips into her arm), probably because Riot wanted to draw players' attention elsewhere. Still, it'd be nice to move a bit of the emphasis back to her crossbow so that it actually carries some visual weight and feels important when playing as her--she is a Marksman after all. I'm personally of the idea that it should be redesigned to look a bit more Demacian, perhaps by adding a bit of wood here and there and adding some white colors, as well as giving it a few medieval elements (look at Fiora's new rapier for example). But one could certainly make the counterargument that this would take away Quinn's uniqueness and make her weapon look too much like Twitch's or Vayne's. Likewise, one could also argue that Quinn's weapon is supposed to look small and unimportant in game since her story emphasizes her teamwork with Valor rather than a reliance on her weapon ("Most soldiers only rely on their weapons. Few truly rely on each other.") I'm sure there's a sweet spot or middle ground that Riot could achieve, though, to make her weapon look and feel more powerful and appropriate for the character without overstating its importance.

I agree with you that her backstory is somewhat unremarkable, although I find there's beauty in how subtle, realistic, and relatable it is. It deals with overcoming grief, moving forward in life and rising from an unfortunate situation to achieve one's own dreams. I think that has the potential to touch a lot of people. Doesn't mean Quinn's lore couldn't be made more interesting, but I do think this is a really cool and grounding aspect of her story that lends well to her humble personality.

As a final comment, I'd just like to say I don't think her gameplay identity is necessarily fine after her rework. Sure, she's the roaming Marksman now, and the best one in the game at that, but I don't think the way it was implemented was successful. Before her rework, Quinn was basically two Champions in one, since you could not only play as Quinn but also as Valor; with her update, that aspect of the character was completely removed and Valor was turned into a mere particle effect for her R. She feels so much more like some sort of Eagle Rider or Flying Cavalry Champion now than a falconer, which I think does her character a disservice and removes Riot's opportunity to introduce an actual Flying Cavalry Champion to the game (we already know Demacia has flying cavalry due to this post; it's an unexplored archetype which I think would be really cool to see fulfilled in game, but Quinn is filling up that spot at the moment which she probably shouldn't be).

If Riot had given Quinn a rework that actually stayed faithful to her original 2-in-1 Champion design, then they probably could have made her gameplay a lot more involved and exciting while furthering her thematic as a falconer and windowing her split Marksman/Assassin-like playstyles into two distinct mini-kits (Quinn renders enemies vulnerable with basic attacks -> Valor tags in for the kill, rinse and repeat ... think of an AD Nidalee with better map mobility but much less range). Of course Quinn would still have the best roaming of the Marksman class, as that is her niche, but her gameplay would, again, be so much more fun and exciting than just flying around the map spamming passive procs. To me, her rework is a missed opportunity and a betrayal of what she once was--just like you don't take away GP's oranges, you don't take away Valor as half of the kit to turn him into a visual effect and nothing more.

GreenLore1/3/2017, 11:37:26 AM3 votes

Well I think that Quinn is pretty much supposed to be a bit more down to earth,so it would make sense that she doesn't look that outstanding.

Though of course that means that she couldn't look better.

KoKoboto1/5/2017, 3:19:53 PM3 votes

I can agree that Valor was shoved to the side pretty hard, I even think Beatrice and Swain's relationship is shown better in-game than Quinn and Valor's. The tag-team thing isn't prominent or unique in regards to gameplay visuals and gameplay. The rework made her a stat-check champion and gave her toxic gameplay if you ask me. I think her lore is okay although it's mostly just an introduction and backstory to Quinn, we don't know what she really wants aside from being a better Demacia person.

Quinn has the coolest get-up in game if you ask me. I don't think it's too super-hero although the gold and her head piece are kinda extra they make the outfit more nicer. For her type of missions it doesn't seem to out there when compared to other Demacia people, she doesn't wear full out armor because she has to be more mobile thus brown leather. Other Demacia folk have some gold and blue on them, Fiora has a lot of white going on, Vayne is vayne so.

I vehemently disagree with Quinn's kit being great lmao also Rito at the time didn't have the best lore but it got the job done.

Meowing Mango1/3/2017, 8:04:39 AM2 votes

I mean... There really isn't much to her character. Quinn and Valor scout. What more could you want?

OurLestrade1/3/2017, 10:19:44 AM1 votes

I'm a Quinn fan and even I agree. I remember reading a Riot post yonks ago going on about how Quinn had a really troubled and sub-par production or something (Mainly comparing her animations and appearance to Vi 4 months earlier), but I'm not sure where.