Heroes of the Storm explains the Lore behind their Skins, Couldn't Riot?

Darrosh Jewfist·1/26/2015, 3:12:09 AM·4 votes·9,249 views

I recently got a chance to play Heroes of the Storm Beta and one neat thing I noticed is that their alt. skins for their heroes have lore to go with them. It's pretty neat how each skin gets a few lines that explain the skin (basically they're alternative dimensional personas of the classic heroes).

For example, in Hellhammer Thrall: Go’el, the new Warlord of the Ashwolf clan, lifted the shattered Doomhammer from the Blackrock chieftain’s corpse. Of his father’s betrayers, only Gul’dan remained.

I hope Riot does something similar but given that the current lore's foundation are pretty shaky, I don't expect much soon.

23 Comments

Duke Anax1/26/2015, 3:29:31 AM14 votes

Riot can't even handle their base lore for champs, how should they get this done then?

RiotIronStylus1/28/2015, 6:41:23 AM6 votes

We usually intentionally don't do many lore skins. That would reeeeeaally limit us in what idea space we could work in. I think one of the best parts of the game is that the skins aren't cannon. I don't think you could find a fitting place for Heartseeker Varus in the story..

..even if you can, well.. yikes.

AvariceSyn1/26/2015, 8:27:45 AM5 votes

The key term here is BETA. Heroes of the Storm is so new and has so few champions and skins that it really hasn't become a hassle yet. Now, I will say that it really does not seem like a large undertaking when you include lore behind skins as you're releasing them, but for them to go back and add lore info for the hundreds of skins they've already released, I hope you could see how that could be a bit of a frustration.

Don't forget that Blizzard also has over 20 years of established material to work with.

I was discussing a similar issue with my fiance (he's playing HotS next to me right now, actually) about how disappointing it is that they did away with the Journal of Justice, among other lore-related candies. I really don't think that it would be that difficult to get a group of volunteers from the community to keep up the legend. In fact, I think multiple projects have already been started. But if Riot were to feed them some information and general guidelines in-between when a champion is announced and when they are released to come up with an article, it'd satisfy those of us who are interested in more than just gameplay. Not to mention that there are thousands of people who would jump at the opportunity even with an NDA requirement.

The grand majority of us love to be a larger part of something that we thoroughly enjoy. The other 10% are playing single player games on their emulator boxes.

Decaedeus1/26/2015, 11:59:34 PM3 votes

How do you explain how Riven, an exile, suddenly decided to put on a bunny outfit? Or how Fiora suddenly decided to be a teacher? It just doesn't work.

GreenLore1/26/2015, 12:02:00 PM2 votes

Overall this is more or less the case,since it was mentioned that every skin is basically part of an alternate universe even though these AUs are rarely explored(except for the few skins that are part of the canon universe).

Some AUs who are a bit explored are the pentakill universe where mordekaiser found a haunted guitar and started the pentakill band or the Battlecast universe where viktor created the bc-line to turn everyone into robots. Some other skin lines have also some sort of information about it,like the pool party line where ziggs invited all champions to one big pool party.

Silents4291/26/2015, 10:41:05 AM2 votes

Um. how would this even work, Some of these skins are so different and silly they really couldn't get an explanation without being completely dumb. How are you going to explain the skins based on LCS, or Tristana being a firefighter? Or Yorick being a rockstar.

Ximlee1/29/2015, 6:30:56 PM1 votes

I think that really limits the skin team in terms of what they can release. Sure, Nurse Akali and Blackfrost Anivia can easily be tied to lore, but how would you explain pool party or holiday skins for example?

Chromatic Eagle1/26/2015, 5:48:12 PM1 votes

Most of the skins don't have lore. A lot are basically fan service. The ones that do are normally alternate universes/what-ifs like the battlecasts, justicars, and archlights. The only actual lore skin I can remember are the Crimson Elite, which I'm still waiting for Katarina's Riot.

Revan Sulli1/26/2015, 6:36:42 PM1 votes

Dawngate did it as well.

and had a sustainable story.

DemiluniS1/28/2015, 6:49:11 AM1 votes

Many skins doesn't have lore behind them at all, for example event skins, challenger ahri, championship skins, what lore whould you tie to them? And with each skin they release there's actually a description/introduction of the skin, which is pretty neat by itself.

He’s the greatest luchador ever to enter the ring. He shatters turnbuckles with his Moustachebombs. He knocks out rudos with his panthera jabs. He partners with poros for his tag team matches. Ladies and gentlemen, the man with the heart of a tiger, El Tigre Braum!

Decrit1/28/2015, 9:01:16 AM1 votes

The reason is simple: LOL is 6 years old, Diablo + Starcraft + Warcraft lore is decennia years old. When they want to expose lore for their skins they just dig un in the past, say "how could be otherwise" and dunk it on the client: they are basically fishing from their own old content, and this is good for them and for the nostalgic player.

Like high elf Tyrande: she is basically a mix of Sylvanas and Liadrin ( maybe only Liadrin, the commander of the blood knights, the paladins of the horde besides taurens) and that. Is it lazy? Like hell. Is it good for everyone? Indeed it is. and everyone is happy.