Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

How necessary was the great retcon really?

The Wet Baguette·3/1/2015, 11:18:32 PM·37 votes·2,857 views

Riot. I love you. You have created an amazing game filled with an amazing world and amazing characters. You made it feel as if we were the summoners controlling our champions on the fields of justice in order to bring political dominance to our nations.

Maybe its just me, but I'm fairly sure this is what we want.

You removed all semblance of reason for us to be immersed in the game's world.

When the retcon first happened, a user by the name of Gentleman Gaston said, "Ok, so, would I be wrong to say that the game would be akin to something like super smash brothers? ... So, there's a 5v5 arena because that's cool game play, and not for any particular narrative implications?"

To this, the Opeli, an associate writer for Riot replied, "Correct."

I think Gentleman Gaston hit the nail on the head. Removing the established lore has turned League of Legends into nothing more that a game about winning. Why should I pick Katarina over Akali? Why should I pick Thresh over Blitzcrank? Why should I pick Morgana over Lux? Because I believe they're a better fighter? Or because I believe they're a better character?

Obviously, when you go into ranked, this point is invalidated, but that doesn't excuse playing favorites with the isolation of the people who like to be the summoners in favor of the purely competitive players.

Riot, if what you say is true. If your philosophy about protecting the interest of players is truly what you believe, then protect our interests, the players who care about the character they our playing as.

Either show us that you are putting more effort into the storytelling by giving us a complete work of lore, or give us back the League of Legends that we knew.

I'm not ranked. I'm not even level 30. I'm not even good at this game. But I know what I want. I don't think I'm alone.

23 Comments

SaltyToplaneGoat3/1/2015, 11:27:28 PM17 votes

When they removed the institute of war I was like "Meh, they have some valid points, but they said there would be awesome stuff coming. so, let's see if they can hold their promises and stop the nagging and flaming..."

And now, after all this months... nothing. Still no narrative rioters active on the boards, not a single bit of world building done, every content (if there even was one) was tied to a champion release, occasional shock reveal but nothing else, etc etc.

Also it doesn't take SIX MONTHS to update the in-client lore, even with tech issues. I'm starting to suspect that you don't even HAVE a lore team... they might as well be nonexistant, because if you truly cared about updating the lores you could have just put them up on the borads like you did with Xerath's and Azir's stories - they were a good start but apart from that nothing.

We still know nothing about Xerath's current goals for example. Or if renekton follows his orders or is just on a "normal" rampage.

Ah and of course the latest hit of all "Screw you all we can't use ideas from the community anyways". Wtf is that supposed to mean? Honestly?

LordHippoman3/2/2015, 8:46:43 AM6 votes

I still feel like a better solution to the issue of the IoW being a possible end to all conflict being "Time Bubble that shit, sort it out later" would have been simply to nerf Summoner's power a little. Summoners perhaps being masters of just...summoning magic and simple spells like Flash and Ignite would keep them relevant, but also not give them the supreme power over the city states that seems to be what the retcon was aiming for.

Cyrex Wingblade3/2/2015, 7:14:00 AM6 votes

It's marketing, ladies and gents. They make more money with big flashy videos and themed releases (Azir/Shurima; Amumu video; Jinx video; New Dawn video) than they do with a consistent, sustained story.

I knew as soon as they announced this retcon that nothing was going to happen for the 'overarching' story. This was a purge to meet a marketing goal.

And the awful part? It's working. They are raking it in with these promotions and themed releases... because nobody reads anymore.

/shrug

RIP IOW

NorthernDruid3/4/2015, 1:05:50 AM5 votes

You still haven't actually done anything Riot. None of us will blame you for forgetting about the retcon and releasing more League Judgements instead.

Though until you actually tell me the pitch for the new setting you want me to pay attention to aside your game, I'll just take your 6 months of silence as the retcon not actually being canon.

Nybx4life3/2/2015, 4:00:58 AM3 votes

I want to know, would it be better for them to try to ride out this retcon and adjust everything, or revert the lore to what it was, and adjust the newer champions to fit that mold?

Only Play Darius3/2/2015, 12:11:08 PM3 votes

Amumu

FastFall3/8/2015, 5:40:48 PM2 votes

Kinda confused here... what's the Great Retcon???

Keagn3/3/2015, 1:23:36 AM2 votes

Fellow Members of the League of Legends Community,

I would like to start by pointing out that you are right for having your doubts, and for being upset. It's okay, its human. Yes it's been 6 months, and there has been little progress. Let me draw your attention to creation of the League of Legends for a moment, if you will. Riot Games was established in 2006 and their debut title that we all know and love, League of Legends, was released in 2009. 6 years later, in 2015, League of Legends has reached around 125 or so champions, each with their own unique identity, and story. That means 6 years worth of lore, along with the ever expanding universe and increasing volumes of characters and stories need to be brought into a new identity (through the "retcon"). It is unreasonable to think that so much history could be brought into this new age in such a short time, 125 individual stories, as well as the history of over a dozen factions, as well as events and conflicts between these factions. This would be like rewriting the history of the world, because that's basically what they're doing. But its not just scrapping everything, yes, some components, like The Institute of War, have been done away with, but only to expand the possibilities for all of the characters, and this game, and Riot, the company who gave this gift to us, which we have all grown to love in one form or another. So be patient, and most of all, be brave. Change is scary, but we'll all get through this together.

~Keagn

Fried Noob3/2/2015, 7:05:01 AM1 votes

I feel the retcon was necessary because how many champions simply had no reason to want to join the IoW, and how many could have the IoW substituted basically anything and the outcome is the same. Sure, Champions like Lee Sin, Jax, and Mao needed the IoW to make sense, but champions like Morde, Hecarim, Orianna, Veigar, Lissandra, Rengar, Kha'Zix, Nami, Diana, and Lulu don't.