The Institute of War wasn't a restriction, it was an opportunity.

Impetual·Nov 7, 2014·27 votes·2,075 views

It was a place where any champion within the League of Legends could interact with any other, for whatever reason.

It was a place that gave the battles on Summoners Rift a purpose.

It was a place where champions worked hand in hand with summoners (who were NOT all powerful) to try to prevent war, all while trying to further ulterior goals in the shadows.

It was a place of intrigue and mystery. Where high stakes political espionage happened daily.

While each faction gives a fairly clear picture about what is going on in each section of Runeterra, The Institute of War was where things combined into a intricate and confusing collage of every different faction slyly vying for more power against the others.

It was the reason why Champions existed.

It was the reason why Summoners existed.

Riot Please, bring it back.

27 Comments

Sneak DogNov 7, 20149 votes

They weren't preventing conflict, merely wars. Most were actually furthering or resolving conflicts.

ImpetualNov 7, 20141 votes

Noted, and edited to reflect that.

ImpetualNov 7, 20141 votes

Very true. Some of the Summoners at the Institute (in the old lore) sometimes seemed like they were more likely to antagonize things rather than sue for peace.

AlljoyNov 7, 20143 votes

It seemed like they wanted to actually control all manner of major conflict in a way that would benefit the powers that be rather than actually quell any of it.

GrossNov 7, 20149 votes

Ugh, there were so many missed opportunities... instead of retconning a crucial part of the lore, they could've...:

A) Rework summoners. What is a summoner, what do they do, who are they, where do they come from, what is their relation to the IoW and the champions, etc.

B) Retcon summoners, but keep IoW, possibly rework it. I'm pretty sure IoW could keep its position as a kind of a '' problem solver '' without summoners or a menacing force that is trying to use champions for their own gain. There's also the possibility of reworking IoW to a more '' entertainment '' related thing, like Pokemon tournaments. This way IoW can exists, without sidetracking from the IMPORTANT, RELEVANT story-telling. This would also mean League of Legends THE GAME is yet again part of the lore, yet it's not a BIG PART of it, but you can use it to write some lore IF YOU SO CHOOSE TO.

C.1) Destroy summoners, keep the IoW. If summoners are a big deal, you can just make champions go against them and rebel. Combine this with a possible new champion, new game mode and you have a ridiculously cool and fun event planned, that is also important lore-wise.

For instance, champions are getting fed up with summoners getting all the credit, wealth and recognition (comparable to proplayers and League celebrities, that use League of Legends as a platform to jumpstart their career as a gamer/entertainer) and champions feel as if they are nothing but play things in a game called League of Legends. Include a new champion that likes to cause drama, war and riots, and possibly manipulate peoples feelings, thoughts and subconscious, and there you have it. Champions vs Summoners. And how about a newISH gamemode? Champions start breaking the rules of League matches (Awesome Buff of Awesomely Awesome Buffing, robbing the merchant, start with level 18?) and are up against the best AI that the Summoners have developed (Doom Bots) and there you have a ridiculously stupid game mode that is sure to be intense and fun.

At the end of event, champions have won, and IoW is remade into a neutral '' problem solver '' as it should've been in the first place. Whether it continues to be a entertainment central or a political arena, that's really up to writers.

You could also add an item commemorating Summoners and the war that happened between champions and summoners.

C.2) Destroy summoners, destroy the IoW. Same thing as above, but IoW will crumble as well. It's better than retconning everything...

D) Rework summoners and IoW to a clearly neutral force that doesn't interfere with conflicts, and doesn't force or recruit anyone to join their battlefields. They can still maintain their status as a conflict solver, even if they don't push their agenda to the high heavens that might make IoW and summoners seem too powerful.

But whatever, retconning it is, instead of replacing less important lore (than IoW and summoners), or giving something the end it deserves.

PickleBabahNov 10, 20147 votes

I completely agree.

In all respect, the more recent champions are mostly just cliches that are covered over with 3 sentences and whose stories aren't as heavily invested as I anticipated. I feel like overall the League Judgements need to come back though. Riot wants to tell a story? Don't do it through quotes and interactions. I have learned far more, felt so much closer from the champions with League Judgements compared to those without.

Some ideas will be flawed, such as Gnar, who can't communicate with the Summoners, or the fact that not all champions will fit into the League as well as they should, or that there are only so many reasons why they would join the League.

All of this is somewhat reasonable. But in all respect, the Narrative Department just so happens to be working for the most played game in the world and they just aren't providing the content that should be. Five seasons. 27 million players daily. At this point, honestly, lore should not be 3 sentences long. The reveals should not explain more than the actual lore. Quotes and interactions should not be the main way to tell a story or develop a character. The cinematic trailers develop characters, but they honestly don't have a story to have characters to develop for.

It's all random. It will only be more random unless you have some sort of thing to keep the champions together, to develop characters there, for a reason for us players to feel valued, like the League. You shouldn't be destroying the League, you should be building it, elaborating. The League of Legends without a League is like Elvis Presley winning 3rd place in an Elvis-Look-A-Like Contest: Pitiful.

I do not mean to show disrespect in anyway, but it really is frustrating to see something with potential fall apart and be put to waste just to go the easy way out. I just hope to see that the newer content will improve in length and quality.

-Yours truly, a concerned Summoner who wishes to stay a Summoner.

@Riot, red response now.

XulsigaeNov 10, 20146 votes

I'd like to see a judgement with Gnar where he communicates his desires to the League with cave paintings.

DotintheparadoxNov 11, 20141 votes

That sounds hilarious. I love it!

XulsigaeNov 11, 20141 votes

That sounds hilarious. I love it!

I was thinking a bit sadder, with Gnar showing what happened to him.

With maybe Rengar helping to translate.

PickleBabahNov 11, 20141 votes

The judgement could possibly just show the process of how he was frozen and such without any real dialogue still, or at least hint at it.

Also, it'd be cute if when they asked if they could enter Gnar's mind, he'd say "Demaglio!" or something.

Athenes LuluNov 8, 20146 votes

A place where I can meet new friends and show off my sweet, amazing magic that others will actually like. Now that it's gone, where do I go? Maybe I should tug Veigar to see what's up then! But, wait, I can't, because Rito doesn't even bother expanding any form of story further.

Seriously, though. Just because you can't think of a legit reason for Jinx or Gnar to join the league. (There are other offenders but these 2 are among the worst since Rito can't even write decent stories.)

Fed by Snu SnuNov 11, 20144 votes

Meanwhile, the Freljord war is still going on somehow and apparently that is more interesting than the Ionian event that concluded with a public event that even had an item named in commemoration of it.

Because having temporary game modes keep track of global stats and having lore shaped through that is too much of a hassle and thus "uninteresting". Amumu's 2 lines of story are better 100%.

PickleBabahNov 13, 20142 votes

(I am frustrated as you guys, but please keep the comments respectful, since we're going to have discussions and could possibly change something, despite how good of an argument, point, or idea you might have, make sure to present it in a way that is professional and less sass and more idea, not necessarily talking about you, but it is a good rule of thumb to keep when you are in a community that is fun and neighborly or professional as well.) [Disclaimer: I know I am not good at doing it either, but I digress]

I feel like the world of Valoran is somewhat timeless. Timeless in a sense where Valoran really holds no point of time (or really progression thereof) and will never progress due to the actual gameplay being an arena based game where all previous progress made will be erased upon the next game. As such, if the Freljord war were to stop going on, the in-game Freljord would not be canon to it, as the mechanics of gameplay do not allow it.

While I do not fully support it, the idea of lore-based events (or most of them anyway) are supposedly to capture a time in the lore where a battle has raged. Howling Abyss refers back to the war on the bridge, where people were thrown in the Abyss. This only works becuase it is something that happened in the past. However, for something to actually happen, it would mean for the rest of the League to comply, and change as well, which is possibility for something else to happen, something the JoJ had done in one way or another.

I agree with your points completely, but there are many things that need to be brought back and there is going to be a need for a lot of effort. The imminent discontinuation of the League will destroy a lot of lore and any further feelings of feeling connected to the character. A lot of champions will have lore that will be rewritten, which could open up opportunities, but will nonetheless be replaced with 3 sentences of false hope and shortcoming.

Mori PleaseNov 8, 20143 votes

the only main thing that upsets me is how they just made the institute go poof!

GreenLoreNov 7, 20142 votes

Overall the thing is that while summoners were not invincible,they were still the most powerful faction in all runeterra,so I can see that riot had a problem with that.(I mean with the help of Zilean they were able to stop the 2 most powerful armies and they showed with Morgana and the other other-world champs that they are able to summon champions against their will,not to mention how Lee sin destroyed a whole village by accident)

However I agree that it is a shame that now there doesn't seem to be a place for the champs to interact with each other anymore. Now there is no reason why for example Anivia would ever meet Teemo because they live at the opposite of the continent and have no reason to go on a big vacation(and even then it is rather unlikely for them to meet all the other champs).

Sure it does open up the possibility of search-stories,I mean it wouldn't be so hard for vel'koz to find zilean if he can just meet him at the institute of war,or stories where 2 champs meet for the first time and not just "hey I've seen you in a league match,you were the guy who was feeding the whole time" But they could work around by that,by simply saying the league doesn't extist for such a long time and so still do stories like this.

Overall I'd say that if they merely made the institute less powerful or maybe changed the way it affects the conflict of the factions(like instead of deciding who gets to get a certain territory through a league match,they could merely support the winners in their war,with weapons/troops),then it'd they could keep the benefits of the league without most of the drawbacks.

DiahaneNov 7, 20145 votes

Overall the thing is that while summoners were not invincible,they were still the most powerful faction in all runeterra,so I can see that riot had a problem with that.(I mean with the help of Zilean they were able to stop the 2 most powerful armies and they showed with Morgana and the other other-world champs that they are able to summon champions against their will,not to mention how Lee sin destroyed a whole village by accident)

But summoners had a nationality and their loyalty may lie elsewhere. Summoners were not a united faction, they were a faction made up of people from different factions. There were Noxian and Demacian summoners for instance and if push came to shove I'm sure they'd show were their true loyalty was.

However I agree that it is a shame that now there doesn't seem to be a place for the champs to interact with each other anymore. Now there is no reason why for example would ever meet because they live at the opposite of the continent and have no reason to go on a big vacation(and even then it is rather unlikely for them to meet all the other champs).

Sure it does open up the possibility of search-stories,I mean it wouldn't be so hard for vel'koz to find zilean if he can just meet him at the institute of war,or stories where 2 champs meet for the first time and not just "hey I've seen you in a league match,you were the guy who was feeding the whole time" But they could work around by that,by simply saying the league doesn't extist for such a long time and so still do stories like this.

Overall I'd say that if they merely made the institute less powerful or maybe changed the way it affects the conflict of the factions(like instead of deciding who gets to get a certain territory through a league match,they could merely support the winners in their war,with weapons/troops),then it'd they could keep the benefits of the league without most of the drawbacks.

Yep, in-game events to change the setting are way better than a retcon and in this case could have achieved to keep the best of both worlds.

NarasimhaNov 7, 20142 votes

I would have agreed in the past, but the recent lore outputs have changed my mind. The Shurima event and the Harrowing especially revealed backstory and character points that would be extremely hard to pull off in the Institute of War. We got to see GP and MG actually work together to do something. We found out why Renekton wanted to kill Nasus so badly. We learned that Hecarim and Mordekaiser might not be on the same page after all.

Earl EulrichNov 7, 20142 votes

I don´t see any of this prevented by the IoW (if anything the grounds of the IoW make it more plausible that MF and GP can have a conversation to come to terms with each other and for ma truce).

DiahaneNov 7, 20145 votes

I would have agreed in the past, but the recent lore outputs have changed my mind. The Shurima event and the Harrowing especially revealed backstory and character points that would be extremely hard to pull off in the Institute of War. We got to see GP and MG actually work together to do something. We found out why Renekton wanted to kill Nasus so badly. We learned that Hecarim and Mordekaiser might not be on the same page after all.

MF and GP not being on awfully bad terms was in the JoJ too, Issue 17. And the IoW was still around. Renekton had a reason to seek a fight with Nasus before the retcon too; when about to be killed, he awaited it eagerly as it would bring him relief. When is relief was taken and him cast in the sewers of Zaun, he traced the scent of Nasus because he felt "the familiar scent would guide him to the solace that was fading from his memory". We learnt Hecarim and Mordekaiser might not be on the same page from the altar's quotes in Twisted Treeline and those didn't require the IoW not to exist to make sense.

They added content, it's true, but they added it only through a list and again through a voice narrating things over a pretty static video. They told, they didn't show. Besides, the content didn't need the erasure of the IoW.

Fried NoobNov 7, 20141 votes

The main issue with summoners is that they have to be powerful enough to contain the horrible, powerful nightmarish creatures that are Fiddlesticks , Nocturne , and Chogath while also are proven as being super powerful by being able to rip champions like Malphite and Nasus from their home worlds. This power disparity means that if anything super interesting between factions (like say a massive war in the Frejlord) would have to be reduced to a battle on the Rift because that is the decree of the summoners.

DiahaneNov 7, 20146 votes

The main issue with summoners is that they have to be powerful enough to contain the horrible, powerful nightmarish creatures that are , , and while also are proven as being super powerful by being able to rip champions like and from their home worlds. This power disparity means that if anything super interesting between factions (like say a massive war in the Frejlord) would have to be reduced to a battle on the Rift because that is the decree of the summoners.

Fiddlesticks was not really contained... everyone who entered his room was slained. I'd dare say that he just conquered a room in the IoW xD

Others were summoned forcibly and others like Nocturne or Brand contained, it's true, but remember that some of those were still a menace. The void was more about allowing them to "contain" them so as to corrupt summoner's rituals and minds for their own aims. At least this is what void-lore-lovers have dig out of the pieces of lore we knew. Besides, the problem was solvable through said champions jailbreaking or through someone scheming to get them released. There was no need to retcon the IoW completely, they could have it crumble or get hit pretty badly in-game. Imagine a whole lot of summoners going mad because of visions of the void brought by Malzahar, who deceived them into sharing their minds with him; imagine a whole lot of summoners getting somehow haunted by a Nocturne which was supposed to be bound, but that just got able to lurk in the recesses of their minds and get out when they dreamt. All these were possibilities which are easy counter-examples to the argument that the IoW impeded the reaching of the goals they set for the new lore. The removal of the IoW could be deemed a sufficient condition to get the lore where they want, but not a necessary one, since counter-example exists in which said state is reached and the IoW not erased from the lore.

GreenLoreNov 7, 20141 votes

The problem isn't that these champs were imprisoned. It is the indication that the IoW is powerful enough to summon the real body of a champ against their will(as they did with nasus,renekton,etc.) and that they are powerful enough to imprison most champs,combined this would mean that the league would be able to summon and imprison most champs(or just important persons) one by one,ripping important political figures from their city states whenever they wanted.

SirpimsywinkleNov 7, 20141 votes

What about ezreal...? Everyone seems to forget in ezreals lore he found the glove dealy and randomly gets summoned into the rift, against his will...

Also the summoners could instead of just grabbing champions out wherever do that thing from that 4kids show.... CHAOTIX (wow cant believe i still remember that....) The IoW would ask champions (and or captured monsters) to do the same kind of mind meld buisness but instead of teleporting the actual people in, the summoners transform into the champions.

This way they could still keep the IoW as a peacefull solution to problems but also let places pick which champions to represent them! This could also be seen as a fun event thin likegladiatorial matches in ancient rome! Maybe noxus is angry at demacia and darius says "yeah i want a team of kat, braum, khazix, lucian, and syndra." The summoners would take on the images of these "legends" and since they mind melded they would be able to use said powers and fight effectively (this almost feels like a... Uhh that one kaiju movie...)

That would be cool because champs could be left to their own accord.... Cept maybe the monster champions, BUT MAYBEEEE the bas guys (brand, fiddle, chogath, add your own here) could sor of be like baron is in the lore. Its not the real baron just sort of an image with his assumed abilities, that means monsters could roam free but we could still keep them around!

Well this was fun typin out on my phone....

Thanks for reading if you did!

DiahaneNov 9, 20144 votes

The problem isn't that these champs were imprisoned. It is the indication that the IoW is powerful enough to summon the real body of a champ against their will(as they did with nasus,renekton,etc.) and that they are powerful enough to imprison most champs,combined this would mean that the league would be able to summon and imprison most champs(or just important persons) one by one,ripping important political figures from their city states whenever they wanted.

But magic is not only in the hands of the IoW and the IoW itself is made of summoners belonging to nations. Noxus has its summoners, for instance, and we may be sure that high profile figure of national importance may actually be under a magic protection designed to avoid such abuses of summoning magic. Where there's a measure, there are countermeasures and surely every nation takes its own to avoid bad things happening. Also, we don't know what the price and stakes are for the more forceful summonings: how many summoners were involved in getting the extraplanar champions? What did they risk? What did they sacrifice? The practice was risky and that's why it got prohibited in the old lore. Leveraging on these points, the writers may have put the IoW and the summoners just in the place they wanted. There was no necessary need for the erasure of the IoW from the lore, they could have tuned it down easily, because summoning rituals and all were not really described in detail in the lore. If they said, say, that they had to consume invaluable artefacts to do some of the more edgy things, they would have a limiter dictated by their amount of resources. Besides, they could have described the IoW resources as coming from the nations and being maybe wells they shared with the IoW. That way if the nations withdrew their support the IoW would lose part of their magical gizmos. And, again, summoners had a nationality and their loyalty may lie elsewhere: if the IoW were to enter a tense competition with some nations, some summoners may realize a "strike" and protest against the IoW to uphold their nation's interests and rights. The IoW, if handled with care, could have been the coolest plot device, with myriads of subplots stemming from it.

To conclude: the IoW was just as powerful as the writers let it to be. If they felt it was too powerful, with a few pieces of narrative they could tune it down with no real damage. They just had to describe why it had limitations and what they were.

Sadistic CheeseNov 9, 20141 votes

What they mean is that in a storytelling sense it was restrictive. I agree with you, though. It was certainly a unique element, but I think the issue is the fact that the concept was too cut-and-dry to allow for drastic expansion. Their point about 'why did so-and-so join the League?' always needing to be answered is a valid one. So many champions who never had an explicit reason were asked about when they were released, or more accurately, complained about: "waaah! Jinx has no reason to join! waaaah!" "Vel'koz wasn't captured by the League! why would he join?! waaaaah!" so on and so forth.

If people had simply accepted those characters and not questioned it, we might have been able to keep things. But true to our nature, we wanted answers.

Ultimately though, I think this is just their way of turning a poor situation into a manageable one. A game like this needs to have a backstory that's broad, simple, and can make reasonable most of the things the designers want to do. For example Blizzard's newest title Overwatch (Youtube it. It looks like League had a hot night with TF2 and forgot to use protection. and the results are amazing.) In the cinematic trailer one character notes that "Everyone knows Overwatch got disbanded. Half of them are mercenaries now anyway."

It's a simple concept that gives a reason for conflict across whatever maps the team designs, and it also allows for explanation of shifting rosters, avoiding such awkward questions as "why are Thresh and Lucian on the same team, let alone laning together? Shouldn't they be at eachothers' throats? Why is Rengar perfectly fine with going top with Kha'zix in the jungle?" The Institute of War idea covers that problem and others, but it lacks the basic nature and simplicity of other options that would allow greater storytelling freedom AND make it easier for them to satisfy our desire for reasons and details on a case-by-case basis.

I think what chafes most is that they had the Institute of War to START WITH. If they had had a simpler explanation to begin with and were moving INTO the Institute concept, that would be a far different pill to swallow. We'd probably be excited about the idea. We don't know what the direction really is moving forward yet. Let's see what we're moving into, and if it works to give us more of what we want (champions, game-modes, etc.), before we complain too hard.

DiahaneNov 9, 20146 votes

What they mean is that in a storytelling sense it was restrictive. I agree with you, though. It was certainly a unique element, but I think the issue is the fact that the concept was too cut-and-dry to allow for drastic expansion. Their point about 'why did so-and-so join the League?' always needing to be answered is a valid one. So many champions who never had an explicit reason were asked about when they were released, or more accurately, complained about: "waaah! Jinx has no reason to join! waaaah!" "Vel'koz wasn't captured by the League! why would he join?! waaaaah!" so on and so forth.

If people had simply accepted those characters and not questioned it, we might have been able to keep things. But true to our nature, we wanted answers.

The problem there being that they intentionally stopped trying to fit champions in the League and just didn't have the balls to tell players so. They ninja-shifted the canon since Hecarim without any form of head-ups nor discussion with the community. The community was right in questioning what simply contradicted the structure of the game story at the time. Besides, a possible solution to the situation would have been an intermediate state between keeping the old lore and total ~~planetary annihilation~~ retcon: they could have slightly misaligned the gameplay from the lore and say that not all characters were champions and so Gnar and Jinx were not a part of the League, but characters of Runeterra yes they were. That would've broken immersion by a fewer order of magnitudes than the total retcon. Also, technically, a reason to have any character in the League it's always there: some summoner makes a deal with a not really respectable figure because he/she thinks said figure can give him/her an edge in matches or because he/she wants to spite an opponent (eg: I summon Jinx to taunt the opponent Piltover's summoners I face in a dispute with that city). How would they get permission? Bribes, pressure from big fishes in the IoW who are on the same page as you (maybe there are unions of summoners, perhaps bound together by nationality) and the likes. Sometimes that could be just a bandaid to things gone wrong, like in Fiddlesticks' case.

It's a simple concept that gives a reason for conflict across whatever maps the team designs, and it also allows for explanation of shifting rosters, avoiding such awkward questions as "why are Thresh and Lucian on the same team, let alone laning together? Shouldn't they be at eachothers' throats? Why is Rengar perfectly fine with going top with Kha'zix in the jungle?" The Institute of War idea covers that problem and others, but it lacks the basic nature and simplicity of other options that would allow greater storytelling freedom AND make it easier for them to satisfy our desire for reasons and details on a case-by-case basis.

As you said, the IoW covered those questions and the retconned lore does not, they just tore completely apart the link between gameplay and lore (as opposed to maybe to that but only a bit). So I don't get why it's fine to drop the simple explanation of the whole game in favour of a supposedly greater freedom, considered that actually people who cared about lore are in most part the ones not comfortable with the new one and that the retcon has the only aim to "fix" things lore-wise, as it doesn't affect gameplay - instead depriving it of a backstory faithful to it. I didn't get the argument, sorry.

Let's see what we're moving into, and if it works to give us more of what we want (champions, game-modes, etc.), before we complain too hard.

The reason people complain is not because we believe that no new good content will ever be delivered, it's because we believe the old one was good and worthy of being progressed. Besides, we believe in the possibility of achieving all of their retcon goals within the old lore's structure. In a certain sense, we believe(d) more in Riot's ability to deliver things than those in favor of the retcon...

catravenNov 9, 20141 votes

cmon op, no1 believes a silly little summoner can direct an independent champion to be killed. no champion with any self respect would hand over their lives to some jerk summoners. plus no outside commander is going to respect the little games these jerks play in their little temple...noxus would simply invade while they're doing it.