One last post, for the road

It's been fun, friends, but the twilight of the boards is upon us (see what I did there? It's like the winner of last year's lore tournament). For the last day that these forums are active, let's reflect on some of the big things that came up a lot here.

Reworks So, the biggest thing (I feel) was discussed on here are the big reworks. Especially discussion around Reav3's (usually) annual Tier 1 lists, which were posted (exclusively?) here. I've had a lot of fun looking back at the older lists and appreciating how many of those champions we've gotten through. The thing I'll be most disappointed about when we lose the boards is that I'll never be able to go back to that original list and see every one of those portraits updated. And we got so close too... |First, a list of those that are done| ... ...

Tier 1 List #1 (4 years ago) As you can see, we almost got through all of these. Only Mundo, Cho'Gath and Rammus are left. I'm sad I'll never see this one complete. It was extremely satisfying seeing these icons updated one by one. And we only had 3 to go, man! Also, Shaco and Voli were mentioned in the comments as potential candidates, but they weren't in the actual list. At least Voli's neglect was rectified.

Tier 1 List #2 (3 years ago) This list is a bit longer, but again we're almost all the way through it. Urgot, Galio and Eve are reworked and gone, everyone else is carried over (the only ones left at this point are the original trio [Mundo, Cho, Rammus]), plus Shaco and Voli officially join the list (the latter is happening but we'll never see the icon on here updated, sad)... and Xin, who was downgraded to a gameplay update. But he still got a new splash, so at least his icon got updated. I feel like this is the first time we saw the full Tier 1 list after the 'original 8' (Sion, Poppy, Taric, Yorick, Warwick, Galio, Urgot, Evelynn). Before, they always talked about those 8 specifically as the Tier 1 list, and all of these champs were the Tier 2 list. Well, we finally got past Eve and the Tier 2 list became the Tier 1 list. I wanna note here that Nunu, Mordekaiser, Pantheon, Swain and Irelia were kind've this 'higher tier, Tier 1' group that was talked about before this list even came out. I can't find any evidence of this, but I remember it clearly. Not that it really matters considering all five have been updated now.

Tier 1 List #3 (2 years ago) I really like this one. It's the longest list we ever got, and there are a few champions that appear here that were never mentioned again (Kog & Ken). It's the first appearance of Corki and Fid, who are both now set in stone on the VGU list (Fid more so obviously). I like this list a lot. It was a good surprise when it came out, and all these newly-announced members were exciting. I did have a bit of fear that these new additions would take precedent over the original candidates (which they did, obviously) but it was still exciting. Especially Fiddle, who's been my most wanted VGU besides Nunu for a long time. We already got Nunu, so...

Tier 1 List #4 (a year and a few months ago) So this one's pretty interesting. Right after the most massive list in the history of this hobby, we get something outside the usual annual update. A random Reav3 comment on QGT with a tiny number of champions. Almost half the list is cut out here. Kog and Kennen are gone, never to return. Udyr and Shaco are conspicuously missing. Nunu and Kayle VGU's were announced so they're gone. And this is the one and only list that Cho doesn't appear on (kind of... you'll see). At the time, this was both devastating and clarifying for me. Yes, it cut out a bunch of champs that I wanted to see updated, but it was also more focused and better showed Riot's intentions. Heck, we're back to a place where we can say (almost) half the list has been done (if you count Fid/Bear as done). I feel like this group of champs are the ones they probably focused on most (which is probably obvious considering 4 of 9 are done/on the way). I expect they (for the most part) will be updated before any of the others. The outlier here is Amumu, who never came up again. I hope he does.

Tier 1 List #5 (1 year ago) So, the final official Tier 1 list from Reav3. It all culminates in this. Firstoff, Cho's back! Yay! Also, this was the first list not to include Morde (since he got announced at this point). Amumu is gone, Skarner is back, and Shyvana is here. Shyvana I think is one of the most interesting candidates to appear on the list. She appeared once, then went on to feature in the rework vote and now is (most likely) already gonna get reworked before the end of this year. She spent so little time on here that it feels a bit mean that Mundo and Rammus have been on literally every single list and still are (probably?) a ways off. But I'm happy for her. Other than that, this is what we're left with. 4 Champions that have been here (mostly) since the beginning (1 of which is already done), 1 from List #2 (who is in the works), 4 from list #3 (1 of which is in the works) and 1 all-new champ, who is probably in the works. Also, Shaco and Udyr were mentioned in the comments as being 'forgotten, but still on the list'. Seems like that happens a lot to Shaco. Poor guy, he deserves better (at least in terms of getting chosen for a rework). This might be the last we see of the "Tier 1" lists, and that makes me a bit sad. I'll never have that rush of seeing an exciting new champ being added to the list. So, it's the end... Or is it?

Tier 1 List #6 (9 months ago) That's right! The Tier 1 lists have taken on a new form, the vote! Now technically Mundo is the only one to be on every single list. Maybe that tells you he should be next! Anyway, we got a treat here and TWO of these champs were chosen (and dare I say, a third is on her way?). This vote had a nice mix of candidates. One from List #1, 1 from List #2, 2 from List #3, and 1 from List #5. I feel like something similar should happen with the next vote, which is coming up... soon? Who knows. But these are our Tier 1 lists now. They just have the added benefit of guaranteeing at least one of their members a rework in the near-mid future. Personally, now that Nunu and Fiddle are done, I wanna see Shaco the most. I'll vote for him if for no other reason than that he keeps getting forgotten off lists. He had the most instances of that (mentioned in the comments as being forgotten twice, then left off List #4). Also, his art and lore are arguably the worst out of the remaining candidates. He's got a lot of those damn Chinese splash arts... I expect the second rework vote to include 1 champ from List #1, 1 champ from List #2 (Shaco), a couple champs from List #3, and a curveball. Shyvana won't be on it because she'll be announced soon(TM). I don't think Mundo and Nocturne will be there again.

So, that's reworks. But that's not all we talked about on here... ... ... ... ...

Skins The other thing is skins. I made this post a year(ish) ago detailing every champ that was being neglected for skins (including newly released and reworked champs that hadn't had a skin since their release). I've been updating it ever since. Out of the 27 champions that were originally on that list, only 5 still don't have new skins ( ), and 3 of those have been promised skins this year. Also, almost everybody that hasn't gotten one since 2016 was ALSO promised a skin this year (except poor , and I guess [but her absense makes sense since she's getting a rework]). And of course, have been promised nothing.

This is major progress, I think. I still remember when Yorick was the most egregious offender before his rework (6 years without a skin) and there were multiple people that hadn't seen any love in over half a decade, with no sign of anything in sight. Yeah, we have Skarner, Zac and KALISTA but it feels like an improvement. Now, if they could just give a freakin' skin to , I could die happy. That's my other big disappointment is that I'll never be able to rave about how amazing it is that she finally got a skin here on the boards. Oh well, maybe she straight up won't ever get a skin so I won't feel like I'm missing out. Anyway, for posterity, here's everyone that's being neglected currently (more or less in order). Urgot and Nunu are there because they're the only reworks from 2018 or earlier that have only gotten 1 skin post-release (other than Sion and Taric) [i dont know why im doing this for posterity considering everything here will be deleted forever in a couple weeks i guess this is for me not posterity] (also, all have only 1 available skin) That looks like a lot, but half of these have been confirmed to be getting skins this year, and it's extremely likely that others that haven't been announced already will also get skins. This is what it looks like if it's just the unconfirmed ones (and without repeating champions like silly, and getting rid of Nunu and Urgot since they aren't REALLY neglected). See? Much better. A lot of those are pretty likely to get skins anyway. Kayle 100%. Aphelios and Sett 99%. Syndra, Kha, Ori and Gnar are all historially not neglected much, I'm sure they have stuff coming up. I think things are looking really positive. I'm in a really good mood after the batch of skins that's on the PBE right now (which knocked out 3 from this massive list ( ) and also included skins for a few other historically neglected champs ( ). Also, I feel the need to note that just got a skin and is off the list after being there for like 5 years. It feels nice to have these long-standing champs knocked out. Now if only ... ... ... ... ...

So, that's everything I had to say about that. I'm gonna miss the boards. This was my favourite place to come and talk about dumb stuff like this, and dumb stuff like reworks and skins were my favourite thing to talk about. I think the thing I'll miss most of all is the ability to put champion portraits in your text. It's such a fun little concept that makes big posts like this way more digestible. It's a lot easier to glance at a list of champions than to read every one out. Also, putting a bunch of them all together just looks really nice. I'll miss this.

So, in summary: rework Shaco, give Kalista a skin, and farewell, Boards. Goodnight everyone. Goodnight, but not goodbye.