I just don't get it. Fiora did not need a visual update, and yet Riot devotes time and energy to it anyway. Meanwhile Taric, Mordekaiser, Warwick, Udyr...the list of painfully ugly champions goes on and on. It's called prioritization Riot. You are like a doctor that insists on treating a minor rash before treating a tumor. It simply makes no sense.
PS. Yes Fiora needed a kit redesign, but that's a different matter. Not all gameplay updates need a visual update as well.
i think they just did the VU along side it since they changed the abilities anyway theyd have to do the animations all over with the VU. so why not get it over with now? Not like the VU was a major overhaul on her like the sion one was. She looks sorta the same kinda like MFs/GPs. They also are working on the other kits/VU (warwick/udyr/Etc probable) while they work on these. These are the minor ones that get done in a shorter time while they work on both simultaneously.
You are like a doctor that insists on treating a minor rash before treating a tumor. It simply makes no sense.4
If both are non-fatal and an extensive amount of time is required to devise and refine a procedure to treat the tumour, with input from multiple teams and potential revisions as the situation changes, doesn't it make more sense to treat the simpler ailments in the short term rather than ignoring them outright and commiting everything to the long-term project?
Smaller projects like this VU get done precisely because they're not as horribly complex and touchy issues as completely redefining a character's identity alongside a radical kit rework, lore update and new voiceover.
Overall they seem to prioritize champs who receive Gameplay updates.(except for the really minor VUs,where champs only got a model update,like Singed,Alistar and MF)
I mean look at the last few VUs,they all got gameplay updates alongside them 
(and Ryze is getting his VU after his gameplayrework,they were originally intended to be released together)
Its simply because making the new skills alongside the model is more resourceful,they can develop animations/model of the champ and spell effects together.
Another problem is that projects like 
and 
are massive.They require deep insights into the personality of the champ.
In Fioras case it was mostly of "how could we make the same champ just better"(not saying it actually looks better,thats up to personal opinion)
In the case of champs like Poppy,they have to remake the entire champion.
Also keep in mind that the champs who need big updates simply take a very long to finish. From what I've read they are working on Poppy,Urgot,Taric and Eve somewhat simultaneously(Not sure if Eve is currently being worked on,but they did start the work on her update already) ,its just that these projects are very hard to get right and take tons of time.Putting more people into the team doesn't make it necessarily faster too,because more people means there are more differing opinions,which could even slow down the project.
Did you know Gangplank also got not one but TWO visual update? Yep... poor Shen, Morde and so so.
I think it's better to do a VU with a rework. I know others need updates and reworks much more than her, but it doesn't make sense to bounce around all of the champions. Doing them at the same time gives their work some organization.
They have a lot of resources, so they probably thought "might as well". I don't think two people work on the same piece at once, so that means there could be extra people with nothing to do, so they give them jobs like Fiora's rework.
I like her visual rework, but, I think I understand a little bit. I didn't like the new Gangplank update visuals, but when I asked my brother and cousin, they said he looked "badass". She looks like a Disney villian, but, I kinda like that. She is a lot uglier though.
