So, about the new lore update

RyzeTheSmurfMage·8/27/2019, 4:01:03 PM·9 votes·7,353 views

Is it just me or has Riot released less and less lore this year compared to the last? We were supposed to get more lore compared to last year, but except for the comics, the lore updates every patch have either been skipped, or have become less and less substantial. This patch for example, the only lore update we got was Kha'Zix's color story which...depicted some event we already knew about from Rengar's lore. I'm not even going to go into how Ixtal had so few lore to the point that they had to use an outdated image from a summoner's rift art to depict their elemental dragons. I know the writers are trying and they are doing a very good job at it, but this is to the lead-department of Riot. Riot, how do you expect us to care more about the lore, if you barely release any? Your excuse will probably be too few people care about the lore to make profit, but guess what. Unless you release more of it, then of course that there won't be a lot of lore fans. And I'm no professional or anything, but I think Runeterra has a lot of potential, and I think that it already has a quite big fanbase. So just let the writers release their stories. Iirc Silence of the Damned, which is one of the best stories you have published, took YEARS to be released. So please, do actual substantial updates.

29 Comments

LordRedStone Nr18/27/2019, 4:32:39 PM4 votes

I have the data to back this up. I have a document keeping track of the lore since they started doing lore updates (9.3, but I included the whole S9) and it's going down.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/547867910111100968/615937418671030278/chart.png

This includes everything noted in the lore updates, new biographies, new color stories, updated biographies, other stories, even AU stories except for the comics.

An interesting pattern is that it goes down every 2nd update (every month). That's true for all updates except 9.10 and 9.16. That could be related to internal scheduling or team planning, t also could be related to the comics which I don't track. I don't know and it's not important really. Let's just keep in mind that it drops after a high patch.

As you can see, the first time they released lore (almost) bi-weekly we got 6 stories each. Even the drops were to 4, 3 and 2 stories. Then the high points are 5 (2x) and it drops to 0. Even if we exclude the low points of 9.8 and 9.9 where we got nothing except the Yuumi reveal and biography, both the high and low points are lower than before.

Patch 9.10, a "low" point is pretty high because of delayed stories from before I guess, and with the exception of 9.13 (which was as good as the old ones, with Malphite, Zilean and Skarner biography updates and Malphites and Qiyanas color stories totaling to 5 updates), the high points are 4, 3 and 1. All lower than their counterpart. While the lows are also lower: the average low point before 9.8 had 3 stories, now they have 2, 1 and 2. Patch 9.16 isn't even a low point because 9.17 which should be a "high" is even lower!

I'm not sure why it is like that and I don't want to blame anyone or complain (we know there are comics coming out as well as a Novella), but the data says the release cadence went down (while the quality is as good as always). Maybe we got spoiled a bit early in the year and they noticed they can't keep up putting out 6+4 stories a month?

PS: Here is another version of the same data split by story type: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/547867910111100968/615939724950896671/Stories_by_type.png

Jeddy0178/27/2019, 7:11:22 PM3 votes

Is it really that surprising? My guess is that they used up most of their lore content in earlier updates, which led to those updates being more substantial. Now they have fewer things to release with the updates, which led to smaller Lore patch notes.

Riot can't, & honestly they shouldn't, produce enough new content fast enough to create more substantial Lore patch notes on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.....at least, not with their current staff. When I say current staff, I mean the amount of people they have.

(Note: I say they shouldn't because last thing we all want is Riot shitting out content just so we can have bigger updates. I rather they take their time with it.)

We know League is a pretty big universe & how much Riot have to juggle. It's clear Riot's lore division can't juggle all of that fast enough to produce enough lore content for consistently substantial lore patch notes throughout the year. I feel like the team is too small for that.

IlyaK19868/28/2019, 4:32:20 AM1 votes

I want more Ionia (Irelia X Riven--both of them need copious amounts of hugs), Freljord (Ashe X Sejuani--seriously, what would happen if Braum would invite Sejuani for some drinks, and then introduce her to a bunch of poros? Would she mellow out?), and Targon (Diana X Leona), maybe some Sivir/Taliyah schlepping around Shurima, and more Vi shenanigans in Piltover.

We got...none of that? This year.

Camille Ferrøs8/28/2019, 12:40:48 PM1 votes

Pushing the timeline forward... We believed that, lol

PhantomPrankster8/28/2019, 9:02:06 PM1 votes

i stopped caring about lore after they retconned the original lore that the game was fucking based on LOL