Why is Demacia so Boring?

PapaGreg21·9/2/2015, 4:57:39 PM·50 votes·6,823 views

This will probably get downvoted like crazy but I will comment anyway because i don't give a concern. Look at the recent state of Bilgewater with the "death" of Gangplank or Piltover with Jinx blowing things up like the Joker. These seem like such exciting locales but everybody gets along too well in Demacia and powerful champions are just kissing up to Jarvan like it's their job.

Look at all the Demacian natives. They are all way too honorable and good. There is nobody there creating any conflict. Imagine watching Game of Thrones where you had the same king all the time, and everybody got along great. It would be awful. The only conflict they ever have is minor or with the Noxians who are infinitely more interesting.

I suggest incorporating a coup of Jarvan's position, a void infiltration of the city or an Ao Shin reckoning for J4 and Shyvana killing dragons. Something to make this part of Runeterra come to life and not just be "where we put all the good people."

Edit: For some reason there are people that are arguing that Demacia is the most favorable quality of life environment in Runeterra as an (argument?) to what I initially posted. I completely agree that I would move there if I were in this world and there is nothing "wrong" with being surrounded by good people. I would not want to move my family next to a void portal or to a high conflict area if I physically lived in this world. However, my initial statement was that the lack of morally diverse characters and the successful orderly regime of J4 has created an environment where conflict (and thus exciting story) is rare and usually minor within the confines of the city.

131 Comments

DG Ashabel9/2/2015, 10:23:34 PM40 votes

Demacia is boring in the same way Warhammer 40K's Imperium is boring. Yes, it's explicitly coded as the good guys of the setting, but that is because:

  1. There is a layer of "good-aligned" fantasy terms softening up the fact that they're dangerously close to being Nazi Germany.

  2. More than half of the other factions in the setting are such terrible assholes that they look good by comparison.

Once you actually consider Demacia's characters, what they actually have is more like:

Fiora Demacia's extremely conservative culture has essentially ruined her life, seeing as she had to sacrifice her entire personal life and focus on becoming the perfect duelist just to maintain the traditional view of noble houses as perfect unblemished things.

Garen His status as a cultural icon is easily defined by the saying "Kill one man and you become a murderer, kill a thousand and you become a hero". His biography has a quote "The most effective way to kill an opponent is to slice through the man next to him." attached, indicating that Garen's chivalry is usually punctuated by a healthy dose of slaughter.

Lux Was forced to become a secret agent and go through soul-crushing training because of that very same view of noble houses as perfect things where every member must perform a purpose for the crown. Has severe PTSD and is basically a dead-eyed lunatic hiding behind a cheerful facade.

Lucian and Vayne A pair of vengeful psychopaths only concerned with murdering undead and practitioners of dark magic regardless of the cost.

JarvanIV Solitary, secretive and kind of a jackass.

Quinn Effectively Demacia's Riven before the fall - a country bumpkin elevated to poster girl by her competence. Although she's always dreamed of knighthood, her own diary indicates that she has some doubts and reservations about Demacian nobility now that she's gotten personally acquainted with them.

Shyvana Essentially a noble savage - a monster adopted into the military because she's dangerous enough to be useful, not because she's good.

...so really, once you come down to it, the only good people in Demacia who don't have serious emotional issues are Xin Zhao and Galio.

Honestly, it sounds like what makes Demacia boring to you is that it lacks any sort of in-fighting, which I don't know why it should. It's basically set up to be an antagonist to every single evil or questionable member of the setting, which is... everyone except Ionia, Piltover and Bandle City.

Also, I really wouldn't want them to give Demacia some conflict in the same way they gave it to Bilgewater. Retconning Miss Fortune into an extremely generic Vengence McBroody just to force some conflict into the setting was the lamest part of the story. :/

Matezoide9/2/2015, 7:32:47 PM26 votes

{quoted} champions are just kissing up to Jarvan like it's their Job.

It is.

Scrimshäw9/2/2015, 10:08:22 PM17 votes

anyone who thinks for themselves in demacia gets like, executed.

it's actually very much like the boards come to think of it

Ralanr9/2/2015, 5:00:32 PM13 votes

Lack of exposure in my opinion.

Yes Demacia really is boring. Quinn, Fiora, and Galio are the only ones I like.

And no one remembers Galio.

gubigubi9/2/2015, 10:53:06 PM8 votes

I think Demacia is very fine how it is right now. Every city/state has its own personalty and most of my fav characters come from Demacia. I don't think Demacia is boring ):

Also Demacia isn't the "Good" people and Noxus isn't really the "Bad" people at least from my understanding of it. They both have different values and beliefs how their cultures should work and Noxus just happens to run toward the slightly more dark side of the spectrum.

FirexSaber9/2/2015, 9:07:39 PM7 votes

I don't see why everyone thinks that a character (or characters) being good can't lead to anything interesting. There's tons of conflict that can come from being good- for instance, putting Demacia in situations where it's hard to see what IS good. Maybe there's situations where you can pit lawful versus good. Have characters have internal conflict where they wonder if what they're doing is right. I think that would be a better direction to go for than the champions in Demacia suddenly becoming grey and gritty. Grey and gritty is /tiresome/. It's just as common as good vs evil tropes now, if not more so since everyone wants to be edgy these days. We already have Bilgewater, Zaun, Piltover, as a source of grey characters. Noxus too even.

I'm afraid that suddenly Demacia is just going to be turned into some tyrannical dictatorship all in the name of being 'grey', when it doesn't fit the theme of so many of the already established characters. Honestly, I think it's lazy writing if Riot can't make good interesting.

KoKoboto9/2/2015, 7:03:30 PM7 votes

wow peaceful is boring violent tomato

Nahara9/3/2015, 1:51:07 AM5 votes

I don't think a shaking up is what Demacia needs. What Demacia needs is a fleshing out (and maybe a slight re-imagining, depending on how old some pieces of information on it are).

Look at how places like the Freljord and Shurima and Bilgewater transformed from what we saw originally to something a lot more unique and interesting than what they originally were after a healthy dosage of fleshing out.

Demacia could most certainly use something like that, a heavy pass-over by the lore team to transform it from what it currently is to something greater to better fit into the new lore and the world at large.

Wheatloaf9/2/2015, 11:00:53 PM5 votes

Let's face it, justice is only actually exciting when it's not really justice.

Gorgannan9/2/2015, 11:16:19 PM3 votes

I actually feel that Demacia is more interesting. You see these crazy weirdos in Noxus and think "oh, another, great."

Demacia has plenty of interesting stuff. I'm fascinated by Vayne. She hunts evil, but she does it locally in Demacia. In Noxus, that stuff is praised. In Demacia, it is not. They're putting themselves more at risk because Demacia is less ok with it, for a potentially higher payout. Witches kill Vayne's parents? Political secrets and scandal? (Kalamanda.)

I honestly think Demacia is the most interesting faction. Noxus is cooler, but it's almost predictable with the "everyone is completely unique and crazy."

IMMENSE COURAGE9/2/2015, 11:48:30 PM3 votes

Demacia just needs a lore event. Since the whole League retcon happened, pretty much every character in the faction besides maybe Garen is in need of some fleshing out (especially Shyvana , what's her deal?). As for the infighting... I don't really think it's needed for Demacia when they have a polar opposite enemy like Noxus to oppose. I'd really, really, love to see a Demacia v Noxus lore event, especially now that the League of Legends as an entity (and it's prevention of any large-scale warfare) is abolished.

SEKAI9/3/2015, 11:50:04 AM2 votes

Why is Demacia so Boring?

Because clearly Noxus, Zoan and other batshiet insane nations are the places to be eh? Murica/some people are just programmed to worship anarchy, that's why.

Anarchy is only interesting to read about, and not to actually live in. If you think otherwise then by all means, please buy yourself a plane ticket and go to an uncivilised tribe somewhere (hell even most of them know the value of rule and order).

The end of all spectrums is always bad, that's for sure. But saying XXX country is "boring" for being goodie 2 shoes is just wrong, because you don't wanna live in the war zone or some random nation that's like Nazi on steroids trust me.

Demacia is bad for being stupid and ignorant, Noxus is bad for being braindead and backwards, same with almost all other nations on Runeterra, they all have their problems to share.

Ionia is probably the best place in LoL, they don't go out of their ways to run over people which is always nice.

CasterGilgamesh9/2/2015, 10:25:01 PM1 votes

personally i don't like Demacia.Noxus will rise Darius.I dont like it since it just feels like they are forced purely to be the "good" faction.i like noxus since you have some very cool characters like Talon Darius Katarina and to a small extended Cassiopeia while the only thing Demacia has is Quinn and Lux. i only like Lux from her judgment and how it seemed like she truly did not want to be part of the ranks of Demacia since she was forced to unlike her brother Garen who just accepted it.Quinn is trying to live out the dream her brother and her had.but i ship Talon with Quinn and Lux at the same time.... dat love triangle

Audiomancy9/3/2015, 2:54:44 AM1 votes

I kinda feel like Demacia is pretty bad as far as factions go. I mean sure, they have the whole 'honor and justice' thing but nobody has any kind of freedom. At least in Noxus even a nobody like Swain can achieve greatness, while Demacia puts a lot of focus on rank and nobility.

Having said that, Bandle City is still the best faction. Yourdles for life bro. Veigar Lulu Tristana Ziggs Heimerdinger Rumble Poppy Kennen