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The Harrowing: Success and Failure

Neamean··37 votes·7,307 views

http://cdn5.xombitgames.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/27/files/2014/10/Harrowing-league-of-legends.jpg

#Success:

**The Lore ** Riot did good for the lore it was phenomenal it was did on time and it expand the lore beyond just the Harrowing, it gave us the origin of many shadow isle's champs

#Failure:

The Skins They should of open the vault on the previous Harrowing skin with each chapter of the Lore so it would of been available before Halloween Oct. 31 and Dead of the dead Nov.1-2 for others.

#The Harrowing: The Harrowing is a different kind of event it is the one that is mostly tied to the lore of Runeterra, unlike Pool Party or Lunar Revel which are seasonal and releases new skins. People are saying Riot don't care and I just don't agree they do care they given lore which is something a lot of summoner been wanting but they did fail or should I say fumble with the other half of the event which is the skin and seasonal aspect. No matter how hard the try the can't please everybody but I be lying if I say they can't do it any better.

http://memecrunch.com/meme/WWMW/you-have-failed-this-city/image.png

To all the people who are say "RIot you have Fail this Community" they did not really. Riot is like the parent and we are the children they just more focus one Lore sibling then Skins sibling. Which I think is acceptable because harrowing is the only annual lore event. So it's nice the lore people has more attention but that doesn't mean completely neglecting the Skin child.

#TL;DR

Yes the lore was great and yes the skin vault should of been open earlier but we should not just disregard their effort, you can complain because that how they know what they did wrong and be better for the next event but don't just say they don't care.

49 Comments

Kat Head41 votes

Riot basically hid the fact that the harrowing would be postponed or no longer held on relevant dates behind the curtain of the pbe where very few could protest the ignorance of the decision. This was a very disingenuous move on Riots part and deserves all of the criticism it has garnered.

When customers are complaining, smart companies listen and respond.

Where is the response ?

Did no one from Riot open the boards at all this weekend ?

Smart companies actually consider what there customer likes and tailors the product to them. Not Riot though, Riot goes out of the way to hide the fact they will not be doing a harrowing at the appropriate time. This is not the first time Riot has done this, they do it all of the time with base splash arts they already know the community will hate.

Why even make something you know your customers will dislike ?

Why antagonize your customers ?

What can be gained from it ?

Tuesday the entirety of Summoners Rift could be covered in pumpkins and spooky stuff and IT WILL NOT MATTER, to little to late.

Riot should at least open the vault for the people who do not have certain skins they want from the past. I was going to pick up Kitty cat on a couple accounts I do not have it on (because I am stupid, I already know supporting Riot is dumb), now I think I will pass.

Riot you ruined Halloween / Harrowing this year, learn from your mistakes and do not do the same at Christmass.

Your customers expect more from you Riot, you were better than this in the past.

You can be better than this again.

What happened to the old Riot, the company that would hang out on the forums with the customer. The company that loved holidays and making cool skins. The company that was not so big that the little guy did not matter. I miss those guys, I want them back. There are plenty of big evil corporation gaming companies out there and Riot is currently one of them, it does not have to be this way though. Think back to who you were, get back to doing what you once did when the forums loved you and the game was young and fresh.

Ignore this rant and rants like it and Malphite you will lose.

L Rayquaza5 votes

E-sports happened

CasterGilgamesh8 votes

they can't even do that right worlds got so boring with the two teleport comps plus all we saw was Gangplank Mordekaiser be picked or banned and Gragas had a bug that caused him to be disabled from worlds lolz they couldnt even for see that simple bug.i usually support riot but they seriously messed up this year focusing on one of the most boring worlds.maybe if worlds was good this year i would have been ok plus the chose sivir out of all adcs to get that new skin.overall this year was a big disappointment.

L Rayquaza3 votes

Eh, the new champs this year haven't been to bad; RekSai is a fun jungler with not a bad top lane; Bard is a good support and not bad as a top lane off-tank; Ekko was rampant the first couple weeks he was out, but I still enjoy taking him top lane; TahmKench oh man this guy, buggy release, ridiculously over-tanky, I still enjoy it though because he is so amazing top lane; Kindred eh, haven't played them much, they are OK but I'm not much of a marksman person, I prefer tanks and mages

Now let's just hope Illaoi isn't bad (andaoshinplsbasedritogodsplsthankyou)

Vikíng2 votes

Rek'Guy was released in 2014 though.

L Rayquaza2 votes

Oh, I was taking a break from league during last October to late this January, I just thought she was released in January

Vikíng2 votes

All good mate. She was released in December 2014, so I can see why you thought that.

Toxin Flush1 votes

worlds isn't an excuse, the harrowing skins are already in the game, its easy to put them up. And every other game/sport seems to sell stuff while putting on big events. It has nothing to do with worlds its just some stupid strategy of releasing skins whenever they want rather then on holidays. Tired of hearing worlds as an excuse.

Faded Lich3 votes

[{quoted}](name=Kat Head,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=H3HxlBAa,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2015-11-01T20:00:37.342+0000)

What happened to the old Riot, the company that would hang out on the forums with the customer. The company that loved holidays and making cool skins. The company that was not so big that the little guy did not matter. I miss those guys, I want them back. There are plenty of big evil corporation gaming companies out there and Riot is currently one of them, it does not have to be this way though. Think back to who you were, get back to doing what you once did when the forums loved you and the game was young and fresh.

This basically sums up my entire feelings on this situation. I miss the riot of season 1 and 2. I miss the good 'ol days and although this entire fiasco hasn't ENTIRELY (Though it did majorly contribute to) ruin my holiday, it is the straw that broke the camel's back as far as I'm concerned. Harrowing and Halloween are my favorite time of the year. More than christmas, more than my birthday more than anything. League used to honor that and share that love and now they've simply dashed mine and an entire communities' hopes. So, I'm done.

They've done a lot of stupid thing over the past few years but like i said: This was the last straw. Will me not spending a single dime matter to them? Of course not. They're no better than EA at this point so what I do doesn't matter to them and they won't give a damn because they stopped caring about us a VERY long time ago. But either way they won't see a damn dime from me anymore, I'm back charging every account I have for every charge I can and they can keep the resulting permabanned accounts because frankly, I don't give a shit anymore. Nor am i planning to use any of the skins I do own because I'm not going to advertise or help put the idea of spending money into anyone's head.

When they were smaller, they were awesome. They used to be a good company but now? Well, they got rich off of us. They used us and now they've basically thrown us away. GG riot. You got what you want. I'm sure the millions WE MADE YOU were worth it.

QXiqW8fJli12 votes

What effort? Point me to that thread where a Riot employee explain what's happening or at the very least respond to 1 of the 10 posts about it.

My thinking, It's not important to Korea and China, so why would they care. They might have started here but the money is coming from these regions now.

1000% guaranteed that they won't skip Chinese new year while they will trow a wall of text at us, excuse me..lore, for Christmas.

Pathetic really.

Neamean3 votes

I can't really argue about the lack of response from riot it is frustrating but it is also the weekend and they tend to not respond to much on the weekend. I am not saying that is a good excuse just stating why it is probably why there is no responses.

IMO i don't think the money comes from those region they still make money form the player in NA from skin. The other money they make is E-sport which isn't just Korea and China only, although they are the power house of e-sport.

Of course they won't release any lore relating to Lunar Revel because it is not a lore event. The Harrowing was created with heavy ties to the Shadow Isle where as Lunar Revel is just to celebrate Chinese new year nothing related to the lore so for course it won't be accompanied by a wall of text. Same goes for Christmas although they did that lore event for Frejlord that one year, it has never really been a focus on Lore it has always been about Christmas and Winter.

kitcat3001 votes

Actually, the Freljord event happened with Lissandras release in April, nothing to do Christmas.

Neamean1 votes

Sorry I just thought it was for some reason because of all the ice theme skin that were release along with it and Sejuani and Trundle rework or was that separate from Lissandra, I don't remember and I should really go look it up before I continue rambling on :P.

Leadpaintchips1 votes

The Trundle rework was with Liss, don't remember when Sejuani's rework happened, was all sorts of bothered with the Trundle, so it's vivid in my mind.

Toxin Flush1 votes

I've been reading posts about this for a week and they didn't respond during the working week as well. It's clear now they had every intention of just trying to sweep this under the rug and ignore people.

Rolldembones1 votes

They already ran this years lunar if you think about it.

Ralanr7 votes

{quoted}

**All I'm saying is don't discount their effort, you can complain because that how they know what they did wrong and be better for the next event but don't just say they don't care. **

Thank you!

Toxin Flush1 votes

Oh, I think they care in some weird marketing strategy way.

Xulsigae6 votes

I'm not even sure the Lore did what it should have. The writing itself was nice and the details it provided about the world were appreciated, but it didn't actually move the story along. Nothing really happened. The status quo didn't change.

Ralanr1 votes

{quoted}

Nothing really happened. The status quo didn't change.

That's cause the lore doesn't effect the actual game. I love the lore, but I won't ignore this. Gangplank is still alive, champions can face him in game, Miss Fortune can face him in game. That changes nothing in the story beyond a few special quotes.

I have long lost hope for the lore to effect the gameplay meaningfully. I'm more interested in story arcs for the characters and maybe getting a few events out of it. Sometimes the status quo might change, but that's for big events (like the Bilgwater event).

The Harrowing never changed the status quo. Unless you mean adding a new champion, in which case it did so once (Kalista). Maybe it did it in the past, IDK.

Until Riot is able to connect the gameplay to the story, we really can't expect new lore to impact the gameplay. I'm still wondering who is the red side and who is the blue side.

Xulsigae6 votes

I'm not even talking about the lack of connect with gameplay. I mean the over all story. The Harrowing stories changed nothing really. The Mist was beaten back, again. Thresh and Hecarim escaped, again. Olaf failed to find his perfect death. Just nothing really happened. The Bilgewater event actually had stuff happen that changed the world.

Neamean3 votes

That is the thing with moba the tend to be a bunch of circle jerk cause no one important can die however I see this a past event as a great way to create a foundation. Shadow and Fortune was the first event to have champions from different faction interact with each other, we have't seen this since before the Institute of war.

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

Character development for Lucian, MF, and a bit of mystery surrounding the possible future champion.

Xulsigae1 votes

I didn't see much development myself in either of them. I thought they ended the event pretty much as they came in. Even if they did, the actual story hasn't changed much.

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

We explore Lucian's character as someone who isn't entirely driven by revenge, at least not willing to completely throw away his humanity. Now he's motivated to free Senna, instead of avenging her.

Miss Fortune gets to see the consequences of her actions, and how she responds to it.

We just saw the most successful defense against the Harrowing. It may be dim, but there's hope that Bilgewater can be more successful. Also now maybe Olaf can become a recurring character beyond the Freljord.

iKhoality5 votes

Something that I noticed, no Harrowing/Halloween ward skins... ;(

Neamean2 votes

Maybe it's hiding and waiting to spook us when we least expect it.

iKhoality2 votes

I hope so, but what's the point of releasing Harrowing/Halloween skins when it already ended?!?! Kinda sad, this put me in the mood of not wanting to buy Harrowing/Halloween skins ;(

Rose9973 votes

riot really screwed us on this one

John Berserk3 votes

I think people are giving Riot a lot more flack than they deserve honestly. Yes I agree they should have at the very least opened the Halloween skin vault, and I also personally feel the halloween skins this year were VERY meh, but I don't think that's cause for the vast angry mob that just sprung up suddenly.

The way I see it, Riot kind of wants to have The Harrowing be a PURELY lore event, and have Halloween be a separate time to release Halloween-themed skins. That's why they said they want the Harrowing to be able to be held any time of the year, because honestly, having Worlds, the Harrowing, AND Halloween all going on at the same time as three separate 'events' would be kind of a mess.

I think what Riot needs to do is, change the LCS and Worlds schedule so that it DOESN'T interfere with other events. That way it doesn't take away from those who just don't care about it.

Also, plan the Harrowing to maybe LEAD UP TO the Halloween-themed content, so that way there's still some correlation there.

Maybe then we can all get our cake and eat it too.

Leadpaintchips2 votes

I've accepted they severed the Harrowing from Halloween. I don't like it, but they did it. Actually might like it, but I'll have to see how it goes.

Where is the non-cannon Halloween skins then? After the holiday is done? That's just poor marketing.

John Berserk3 votes

I don't know why the skins haven't released yet. I'm assuming for now it's because they want to release them alongside the new login screen they have for them.

Like I said, I think for all upcoming seasons they should try and space these events out better so they can provide what each audience wants at a time they're willing to accept it, rather than just try and squeeze it all in at the same time.

Neamean3 votes

Like most people say, It the lack of communication that is the problem. I took me a while to wrap my head around the idea of Harrowing won't be the same time as Halloween. I mean I understood the part Halloween=/=Harrowing but I got confuse as to what it actually mean.

What it actually mean is we probably won't get a Harrowing(lore) every year but we still can get the Harrowing(Halloween) skins and seasonal stuff every year. If they would just clarify and give it enough exposure than it would of been fine but they didn't .

Leadpaintchips1 votes

What I'm getting from it is that Harrowing =/= Halloween, Harrowing = Shadow Isles aggression, so the Shadow Isles can invade whenever they want, not just at one time.

Neamean1 votes

I think they said Harrowing =/= Halloween so they don't have to release a harrowing lore every year this way they can focus on other place in valoran rather "Uhh we have to do another Harrowing lore". This way they also separate IRL timeline with in game timeline. For example the next harrowing lore could be written 8 months from now but it would be consider one year time has past for Valoran.

Toxin Flush1 votes

I kind of feel the same way. The annoying thing is i spent money buying RP and waited, and nothing. It's kind of a implied contract when they do the harrowing every year around October and for them to not say anything about it not happening is annoying. And they are still dot even bothering to say when they will have the harrowing. Also it's slightly annoying they don't let us know whats gonna be for sale and when. Only game that doesn't want you to know the release date of products. Whens the zombie nunu skin coming out? who knows.

SKG Blue3 votes

I thought Brand, Kassadin, and Vi all got Halloween skins? Then we were getting 3 more after Worlds... That's 6 skins right there. You can debate they're not Halloween skins, but I mean, Kassadin and Vi are technically them cosplaying and Brand has... um... blue? Spoooooooooky xD

Stellafreyja1 votes

Riot stated that the Vi, Kassadin, and Brand skins were not Harrowing skins.

Stars Shaper2 votes

Honestly the Lore has been a major downfall too in my opinion:

The story was spooky, yes. But the main characters should have been the SI champions and how they wrecked havoc and terror upon the ppl of Bilgewater and the struggle of them to stay alive. What we got was another huge spotlight for Miss Fortune and the incoming champion Illaoi with the help of Lucian and Olaf. MF's right hand had more place in the story than Mordekaiser (who didn't even show up) who should have been the warlord of the invasion. All we got was "the cool guys will stay cool". Plus there have been no eye candy content nor an atmospheric music background during the reading. It has been (in terms of quality) a "Bilgewater 0.0.1" event.

I was really hyped about the Harrowing considering how the new Bios where well written and gave justice and dept to the characters involved. But then Riot had to strike back with a great disappointing event.

poopta2 votes

Who gives a shit about the lore if I wanted to read a book I'd go to the library

Shroom Junkie1 votes

A lot of people do. In fact we've been complaining about it. The problem here is that they finally released the lore but skipped on the skins which were also a big part, as if them putting out what we've been asking for makes up for them taking away something we've been expecting.

sp4411 votes

I'm just upset that all this drama about skins overshadowed the actual story, which was great.

Neamean1 votes

I think the lore was great because double down on the lore aspect of the event but forgot about the skin aspect, which resulted in the problem we now have.

SoQuiche1 votes

Please read over your post before posting it, thanks :p.

Neamean1 votes

Sorry I've been making a lot of post recently so my proofreading be slacking (tired/lazy:P). Can you shed some light on my mistakes?

Carnage1 votes

I like to have them at the same time the skins help hype the lore and make me read it but a boring af game mode then no skins . just makes the lore lame to me . this might just be me.

Silver Fluffenbu1 votes

Lore. Skins. Both are great, but I what I wanted was a few jack-o-lanterns scattered about Summoners' Rift and, if I really got my hopes up, Hexakill or some other mode to make the spooky Twisted Treeline a more frequented and festive place. A spooky log in screen, some spooky icons and wards, maybe a sound effect here and there. It's not Skins vs. Lore, it's all the little details coming together to create something larger. An immersion in festivities.

I hardly noticed the Harrowing at all. I was aware there was lore, but with nothing else to ramp up my excitement, I felt no particular want to read it from a neutral state of mind.

Toxin Flush1 votes

It's annoying that the forum moderators don't address this issue what so ever. But digging around on the pbe notes i found this.

"[NOTE: It's coming up a lot but expect the returning seasonal legacy content and the new Zombie/Slayer skins & icons to be available sometime after 5.21 goes to live. While those are the seasonal content for this year, they are not related directly to this story!!]"

http://www.surrenderat20.net/2015/10/shadow-and-fortune_27.html#more

so legacy will be available sometime on patch 5.21.

violatedillusion1 votes

Lets be completely fair here, harrowing isn't even an event anymore. It's just a time when rito decides to release halloween costumes and thats just about it. This year they did something different, they released 4 chapters worth of useless words that made up some boloni story that basically serves no purpose. If those chapters would have actually made my game play more fun, then I would call this "EVENT" harrowing. unfortunately it doesnt even come close to anything. If we should be calling it something, it should be called: failure. But hey, at this point im not surprised by any of this. rito has failed time and time again to pay special attention to the things that their customer pool really wants to enjoy. It all boils down to the idiots who run the show, and man there are some whoppers at riot.

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