I don't really approve of the way Riot handles lore criticism.

Let me paraphrase that I don't go into this wanting lore to be bad. I don't go in with a smug sense of satisfaction when it turns out the lore isn't great. I like League lore, I want it to be good and, honestly, most of Riot's new lore has been pretty high quality. That said, the way Riot handles criticism isn't something I approve of.

So let's focus on DyQuill's comment from the board thread:

Totally agree - this bio doesn't do Varus' tragic backstory justice. Fortunately, we're gonna release a lot more than just this bio.

I have another comment that's on the last page at the moment, but TL;DR this was an accidental early release and just a snippet of the full narrative still to come. Don't expect anyone to think it's a good story based on my word alone, but trust me when I say there's major context that might change your mind about the quality of his updated lore.

Do you see any problems with it? Well, here are my issues.

1.) Riot isn't really responding to criticism in this case.

I know DyQuill is agreeing that it's not up to snuff but...doesn't offer more than that. He/She does offer something but that's for part number two. This statement (if I was a huge Varus fan) does nothing to ease my concerns about his lore. This just tells me it's a fraction of what I should expect. Sure, you can't judge an entire novel by the first page but that gets to my next point.

2.) The response is "Trust me"

See, the problem with most Riot lore threads is that if we hate it, we're told "You don't have the whole story" or "Trust me, the additional pieces will make it make more sense". This is a disastrous way to deliver lore to people. Imagine if I was writing a fan fiction and said "Then Caitlyn activated the Piltover Orbital Cannon and obliterated Noxus". You'd go what the fuck, right? Me saying "Don't worry trust me when you know the WHOLE story it's way cooler" doesn't really excuse the jarring and sudden change.

3.) Riot is overly confident in their new lore.

Granted, this is deservedly so. Riot's lore team, despite the memes, is world class. I sure as hell couldn't get hired and I doubt anyone here really could. That said, there's an air of arrogance that seems to permeate whenever Riot talks about lore we don't know yet. "Trust us, I've read it and it's SUPER good" or "All your concerns will evaporate when the new lore comes out". Yes, you can be confident, but good god why does it always feel like I'm being spoken down to? What if I don't like the new lore? Am I just not getting it? Are there more novels I have to read? Especially for such a player-focused company like Riot this feels like I'm being told that I just don't get it, man.

4.) It's a bad opening paragraph.

One of the most cheesy recommendations you get when reading a book, watching a show, whatever is that "it gets better after <x>". Sometimes it's true, sometimes it's bad, but no matter what it tells me that there has to be a time investment for me to get enjoyment. Hell, sometimes bad shows/books are propelled by fantastic openings/first installments and only degrade from there. But a bad opening is still a bad opening. It does not instill confidence that the opening paragraph is so utterly bad for Varus that Rioters are coming out for damage control. BE? Sure, new system. Gameplay? It's the game. But a single paragraph of lore? Isn't that...telling?

The main problem with all of this is that I feel like the lore is cocked, locked and primed to be fired at us. Even if the backlash was so universal Tencent and Riot Presidents were calling the lore team going "What have you done!?", it wouldn't be fixed. I feel like Varus's lore change is a foregone conclusion with little in the way of modifying the story. At the end of the day, once you release a character to a fanbase you're technically losing control as Bioluminescence said. The issue is that Riot is grabbing this butterfly, turning it into a moth, and giving it back to us: Yeah, it's technically the same, but maybe we wanted a bit more butterfly and a little less moth.