Devil's Advocate: New Aatrox looks great
I've been reading the topics and checking on most of the voices of disdain, and I'm so glad to see so many people with hardly any Aatrox mastery acting like this rework is such a tragedy /s
It's like you guys are just looking for any excuse to complain. New Aatrox looks fantastic- and I'll admit, I hardly played the old one. I hardly played old Aatrox because he was two dimensional, flat, and boring. What's with all the drama regarding "he's not a warrior poet anymore"? The fuck? Did we play the same Aatrox? Old Aatrox has no passion, no charisma. His in game presence and VO hardly matched his lore of being a warlord that encouraged massacres and battle. He was a lipstick wearing claymation that had the build of a dweeby high school sophomore riffing on Edgar Allen Poe like a drama major.
Let's go ahead and talk about the criticism regarding his playstyle rework. Yea, it's similar to Riven's. Riven's playstyle has combo-based flow mechanics inspired by fighting games. New Aatrox has that shit, redefined it, and improved on it. He looks like he plays like he came straight out of a beat-em-up like Devil May Cry. Most of you haven't even touched him I'm guessing, but from what I can surmise, I'm betting he can animation cancel and have his abilities roll into one another, like Riven. Which isn't a bad thing. Aatrox takes all the tankyness of a juggernaut and adds an improved Riven kit. I cannot wait to take him into top or the jungle. There seriously aren't enough characters that play like fighting games.
In regards to his new voice and personality- they've added way more to him than old Mufasa-sounding Aatrox ever did. You're playing as an ancient war god pissed off at the world for being locked inside a sword for a thousand years- and you want him to sound like he's calmly mumbling Linkin Park lyrics while he kills people? Old Aatrox was some Tim Burton mother fucker we had no clue about, and they actually added depth and character to him. Yea, he has an accent. Fiora has an accent. Kled has an accent. I'm personally digging his booming German-sounding voice. He has so many interactions with so many characters, he's dripping in lore. Who care's if he's funny or not? No one has to be ultra-serious all the time like Darius, Varus, or Swain. This is a demonic war god that cuts loose. Games are going to be awesome having Aatrox up top and Rhaast in the jungle, they practically ooze in personality.
Do you want to know my favorite part about new Aatrox? The dude believes he is a good guy. Any decent villain believes he is the good guy in his story, and Aatrox is a dude brimming with vengeance, hatred, and self-righteous rage, and yet his quotes against the Targonians and Kayle make it seem like they aren't as good as they seem. I'd love to hear this guys side of the story. To hear his regrets when he sees a voidborn, you can somewhat sympathize with him.
Whenever a VGU comes out, its always the same thing: reddit whines, but the boards whine harder. Then you guys get to playing that champion, and you all shut up about it because while you guys may think you're excellent arm chair dev's, you realize your outrage was overblown and you end up liking the champion anyway, and silently nod your heads in agreement rather than publicly admit your mistakes.
It's cool, I get it. You're human. Look... no one likes being told their opinion is wrong. I'm not doing that. You guys are free to have them. I am telling you that you're having knee jerk reactions and you aren't thinking this through. You're being too emotional and you're not looking at the big picture. Old Aatrox was not good for League of Legends. At best, he was a vague character called a Darkin, and Riot at the time didn't really have any story regarding what the hell a Darkin was. So you guys used your imaginations and romanticized what it could mean. I read your guy's Darkin fanfiction here on the boards. You can't escape from that. That fanfiction is on the internet now- it's permanent like googling your first name and "the Hedgehog" afterwards. You aren't getting those stains out of the web.
It's 2018 now. Riot has a story. They have a great lore team. Old Aatrox doesn't fit in that story. Being the vague mumbler that he used to be just isn't good character building, and his kit was a disaster. He was esoteric as fuck. Old Stabby McDraintank was an under utilized fossil that had to go. Sometimes things have to be destroyed before they can be created, and new Aatrox is a phenomenal improvement over the old one.
You don't have to like it, but you do have to look at things in the big picture. Any old Gangplank or Sion mains that raged with the VGU here want to stand up and shout your grievances from before, or have you guys moved/adapted as well? So I've said my piece, sorry it ruffled any feathers, but I think you guys will come around and enjoy this guy once you've gotten your hands on him. Or you won't, and you'll threaten to quit, quit for a month, and be back.
Either way, congrats to Riot, Aatrox looks great.
