Riot spent an entire blog post detailing how and why they changed his gameplay kit , but for those with concerns over how drastically Gangplank's character was changed Riot has been completely silent.
It's disheartening because it feels like Riot has no concern for those who care about their characters and those that are hurt when they're retconned out of existence.
RiotBioluminescence14 votesI know this hasn't been much help in the past (as many here would be quick to point out) but the change to Gangplank's bio is still only on PBE - it's not gone to live yet. We may see more information about it (much as we see Q&As on new champs) once it is actually pushed to live.
Personally, I still get caught out with the distance between PBE announcements and actual going-live announcements. Often I'll get hyped for a champ, only to then have to wait the fortnight or so before it hits the live servers! I realize this situation is the opposite of being hyped for a new champ, but we may hear more about the workings behind Gangplank's changes when it actually goes live. I hope so, anyway.
(Note - I am not on the Narrative team, nor am I on League directly.)
Hellioning4 votesI don't think they were referring to his lore so much as the change between 'Basically a joke' and 'HE WILL CUT YOU'. See also: his new splash art, his new VA, etc.
Rinky Dinky3 votesWe are mostly referring to his new voice.
Nothing was preserved. His new laugh, to be frank, sucks compared to his old one IMO
ULTRAF0RCE11 voteshere is the original lore
Gangplank was born the son of the dread pirate captain Vincent the Shadow - one of the most wealthy and feared pirates in all of Blue Flame Islands. One might think this would have spoiled the boy with a cushioned life of privilege, but the truth is quite the opposite. Growing up in the city of Bilgewater isn't easy; pirates are not known for their compassion, and that most certainly extends to their families. Vincent wanted his son to grow up tough and strong, so he was extremely hard on the young Gangplank. Even as a child, Gangplank was as mean as a snake and is said to have slept with his eyes open. As he grew, the young man rapidly became the most ruthless and feared pirate in all of Bilgewater, and his daddy was never more proud than on the day of his son's eighteenth birthday - when Gangplank stabbed his old man in the back and claimed the famed pirate ship, the Dead Pool, for his own.
The continent of Valoran, however, is a dangerous place for pirates; Gangplank could read the writing on the wall. The den of pirates known as Bilgewater would soon be pulled down by the undertow of Valoranian politics and the Institute of War. It was time for Bilgewater to have their own champion to represent them in the League of Legends, and who better than the fiercest pirate of them all? It is said that Gangplank has enough power and favor to claim the title of the Pirate King back home, but that he is simply biding his time and building his reputation as a champion before he returns to a life of piracy.
"Yo ho, blow the man down. Or at least shoot him when his back is turned and steal all his booty."
Here is the pbe lore
As unpredictable as he is brutal, the self-appointed reaver king known as Gangplank rules Bilgewater through a mix of fear, violence, and cunning. Where he goes, death and ruin follow, and such is his infamy and reputation that the merest sight of his black sails on the horizon causes panic among even the hardiest crew.
other than condensing and reducing the story like aspects it is the exact same character, still a mean and bloodthirsty pirate who has earned respect of his peers, the in game gangplank never reflected his lore, originally that is.
RiotBioluminescence16 voteshere is the original lore
Gangplank was born the son of the dread pirate captain Vincent the Shadow - one of the most wealthy and feared pirates in all of Blue Flame Islands. One might think this would have spoiled the boy with a cushioned life of privilege, but the truth is quite the opposite. Growing up in the city of Bilgewater isn't easy; pirates are not known for their compassion, and that most certainly extends to their families. Vincent wanted his son to grow up tough and strong, so he was extremely hard on the young Gangplank. Even as a child, Gangplank was as mean as a snake and is said to have slept with his eyes open. As he grew, the young man rapidly became the most ruthless and feared pirate in all of Bilgewater, and his daddy was never more proud than on the day of his son's eighteenth birthday - when Gangplank stabbed his old man in the back and claimed the famed pirate ship, the Dead Pool, for his own.
The continent of Valoran, however, is a dangerous place for pirates; Gangplank could read the writing on the wall. The den of pirates known as Bilgewater would soon be pulled down by the undertow of Valoranian politics and the Institute of War. It was time for Bilgewater to have their own champion to represent them in the League of Legends, and who better than the fiercest pirate of them all? It is said that Gangplank has enough power and favor to claim the title of the Pirate King back home, but that he is simply biding his time and building his reputation as a champion before he returns to a life of piracy.
"Yo ho, blow the man down. Or at least shoot him when his back is turned and steal all his booty."
Here is the pbe lore
As unpredictable as he is brutal, the self-appointed reaver king known as Gangplank rules Bilgewater through a mix of fear, violence, and cunning. Where he goes, death and ruin follow, and such is his infamy and reputation that the merest sight of his black sails on the horizon causes panic among even the hardiest crew.
other than condensing and reducing the story like aspects it is the exact same character, still a mean and bloodthirsty pirate who has earned respect of his peers, the in game gangplank never reflected his lore, originally that is.
I think this is part of the core of it - in-game Gangplank and old-lore Gangplank were quite different in tone. In game, he was a bit of a caricature of a pirate - somewhat jolly and brightly colored. He was fun, over the top, and a a bit of a laugh. His lore, on the other hand, had him a patricidal iron-fist type guy with an insecure streak.
If I were to guess, I'd say that the conflict between those two sides probably prompted the move to align them in one direction or other. I know when I talked to other players about this before, they said that champions like Teemo demonstrate that you can have a dual-personalitied champion without too much of a stretch - he's cute but homicidal. It's possible that wasn't the route for Gangplank.
sp4414 votesSo... should I mention that you can make a jolly fun guy very threatening?
Y'now, Like the Joker? Often considered amongst the greatest villains in fiction?
RiotBioluminescence9 votesSo... should I mention that you can make a jolly fun guy very threatening?
Y'now, Like the Joker? Often considered amongst the greatest villains in fiction?
Indeed and I mentioned that in my (overly long, sorry) comment. I compared him to Teemo - admittedly not in the same league as the Joker, but a fun/homicidal character nonetheless. I suspect that Shaco is the closest comparison instead of Teemo.
sp4412 votesWhat I meant is that you can make a character very fun and jolly yet still threatening. My problem with the Gangplank Retcon is that instead of trying to find a compromise between his in-game personality and background, instead of just completely erasing his in-game personality and making him rather generic and humorless. You could have this really jolly drunken seadog who was followed partly because he's a great and fun man to serve under and partly because he eviscerated everybody who had a different opinion.
I just think that League in general is gaining more and more ultra-serious champions and honestly, I just don't find champions that have little to no venue to just relax and be human all that interesting. One or two is fine, but when it's nearly every single champion...
Narasimha4 votesYou could have this really jolly drunken seadog who was followed partly because he's a great and fun man to serve under
I don't know, that just sounds too... fake, if that makes sense for a fictional character. He's a bloody pirate, emphasis on the bloody. He's supposed to be a figure to be feared, not a dashing and jolly antihero. Would he get some drinks with his crew? Sure, as long as he's not paying. But it doesn't mean he's their friend. He's the captain. Anyone who thinks otherwise is going to take a long walk off a short plank.
sp4412 votesNobody said anti-hero here. He's fun until he decides something has to die.
Think like a less outright psychotic version of Vaaz from Farcry 3. Where you're not entirely sure whether or not he'll get you a drink or feed you to the sharks the next second.
Kuroi861 votes
Shíny4 votesWithout context from the writer(s) from the gangplank team, it just looks like they ignored player sentiment and focused entirely on the old lore story. I'd rather not think badly of them, its just i have nothing else to go off of.
Dextix LT1 votesFor me its k that he got serious.... But just like with every other champion lore, big stories are replaced with "This character is a badass" short paragraphs, which is not k.
Impetual1 votesRiot, it sounds like you just deliberately showed us how you've decided to downgrade Gangplanks lore.
It's hard to agree with you after that.
Shíny1 votesI thought that his in-game voice-added to his lore, showing him as someone who reveled in his cold-blooded brand of piracy. Gangplank's personality was quite striking as someone who'd be laughing as he boarded a merchant ship and killed the crew.
ULTRAF0RCE3 votesI guess, but his vo did not really make it seem like he was the kind of guy who would backstab whenever it is convenient as much as he was more so just a guy who insulted people with pirate speech and acted as the saturday morning cartoon pirate it is just my opinion but these are his original voice lines
Upon Selection "Prepare to be boarded!"
Attacking "Yaarr!" "Swab the poop deck!" "C'mere, me beauty! Hehehe." "Look what trawled out of the bunghole!" "Nothin' but a bilge rat!" "I'll be usin' ye for chum!" "I won't rest till I see ye hangin' from the yardarm!"
Movement "Ya-ha-har!" "Avast, me hearties!" "Shiver me timbers!" "Yo ho ho, and a bottle of... rum!" "Ahoy!" "Well blow me down!" "I ain't got me ground legs yet, landlubber!"
Taunt "Enjoy your visit to the depths of the sea, landlubber!"
Joke "Wanna know why me Roger is so Jolly? Heheheh..."
Krizalid10 votesLet's just say that he went from this: http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/VTlPxIOijxs/mqdefault.jpg To this: http://40.media.tumblr.com/15e31257dd22df5ae8845738971c521f/tumblr_mo5qe1xi9h1rcb0d2o1_500.png
Solideus3 votesThat is way too accurate.
Chespin20131 voteshonestly I like that he is ruthless looking like Captain Barbossa from pirates of the Caribbean just seems to fit what a pirate should look like in my mind for gangplank
GreenLore9 votesAs far as I remember they wanted Gp to be not so....generic. He was basically Pirate McPirate,so I guess they wanted to give the character a bit more seriousness and uniqueness.
New GP is still rather Pirate-like,but they reduced his jollyness,which actually fits better with how he is depicted in the lore.
Sneak Dog8 votesWait, isn't he now a completely generic dread pirate, instead of a completely generic jolly pirate?
Pikmints5 votesWith the addition of the fiery passive and explosive barrels he's more of a fire based pirate where before he was just a pirate. It also helps make League more cohesive giving GP a more serious personality. It's like how Sion was previously a silly zombie with a descrepency between his lore and in-game experience, GP was previously a pirate that was oddly jolly in-game but a standard pirate in lore.
Sharjo4 votesWho cares if it's generic if you just like it? People liked jolly GP because that's a stereotype people like and gravitated around. People will do the same for dread GP. It just depends on what people prefer.
Heckin Support1 votes
RiotRiotJaredan9 votesAs others have stated, we wanted to push Gangplank in a direction that matched his original lore and put him as a more starkly formidable character. We feel the character you see in his new bio (which you'll see in full before the end of the month), drives Gangplank in a very slightly new direction that makes sense in contrast (and conflict) with other denizens of Bilgewater and beyond.
The short character introduction in the client is one of the first steps (along with his new art) in conveying a character who you can very quickly understand as being a dominant force in a city full of dangerous folk.
Hellioning3 votesCounting the 16 and a bit days til July 31st here, Jaredan. Looking forward to it.
HigeR2 votesHello Jaredan! as far as I know you're not in charge of character concept-ing but I wanted to ask about Gangplank´s new look, specifically his beard Since I found that its scruffyness was beyond fitting for a pirate. Now of course I understand that Gp's lore changed and I'm guessing you guys put him in a position where his power allowed him to be more... delicate, with his looks. The only reference that I can think of is captain hook from robin hood who happened to be a pirate but was always clean and well dressed (until his crazyness hit....).
That said I think that his beard is just way too, I don't want to say pretty but yeah that's all I can think off, he probably spends more time cleaning that beard than sailing ._. where's the salt eaten hairs? I'm not saying he should look like udyr but seriously, a little unkeptness would be amazing on his new model and I think that his beard is the perfect spot to hit on in order to bring a little bit more realism to the character itself.
The splash art suffers from a different problem but all in all the same, his beard is Avril Lavigne's hair ._. plus I think that the values between his moustache and his skin color are way too close. His model clearly has different values that makes his face stand out and not look like a blob of highlights.
Darrosh Jewfist5 votesExpecting Narrative to explain their design choices... bold move.
Narrative delenda est.
Zarxis4 votesRiot spent an entire blog post detailing how and why they changed his gameplay kit , but for those with concerns over how drastically Gangplank's character was changed Riot has been completely silent.
It's disheartening because it feels like Riot has no concern for those who care about their characters and those that are hurt when they're retconned out of existence.
There have already been Red posts about why Gangplank's lore is being changed. The gist of it is: old Gangplank was an extremely flat character. He was a pirate, yar-har-harrr. The rewrite is meant to flesh out Gangplank as an actual character, rather than leaving him as one overused character archetype (pirate). I'm not entirely sold on it, either (primarily because Gangplank's tone has been changed to be very dark and cruel, rather than hilariously bombastic), but though I love old Gangplank, I think it is pretty evident that he's little more than a pile of piracy-related shouting in terms of character.
Sharjo3 votesI'd assume it was because Gangplank had nothing going for him but "Yarr! I'm a pirate! Yarr!" in game. What personality he had was practically pushed on to him by us as a community because oranges make everything k. Everyone was ok with him being a jolly pirate but neglected to care about the fact in the lore he's always been portrayed as a brutal pirate lord who murdered his own dad to get ahead in life. I mean they were both happy because Vincent wanted the best for his son but you get the idea.
They decided; in the lore we made him a nasty, brutal pirate. Let's make him one in game. But we keep the oranges, because removing those would be a cardinal sin. If anything, this Gangplank is what I personally would've expected from the character that was described in his old lore.
Llanite3 votesNo lore changed: Y NO RIOT CARE ABOUT LORE. lore changed: Y RIOT NO CARE ABOUT THEIR CHARACTRRS.
A2 NieR Automata3 votesWell I feel this go rework is good because gangplank relied too much on his Q and he needs to be more flexible with the new kit
skyfall6192 votesHe is better now imo. Matches his lore now.
HighKingOfSkyrim1 votesI might be the only one, but i sure cant understand why anyone would be against this superb rework
NemeBro1 votesRiot spent an entire blog post detailing how and why they changed his gameplay kit , but for those with concerns over how drastically Gangplank's character was changed Riot has been completely silent.
It's disheartening because it feels like Riot has no concern for those who care about their characters and those that are hurt when they're retconned out of existence.
Gangplank didn't have a character. He was a walking pirate caricature with the depth of a kiddy pool.
I don't know if the new GP will be any better (and I am admittedly confused about why they chose to update his visuals so dramatically), but let's be honest: GP needed something to make him more than the corny theme park pirate he was.
