Concerning the Lore

Riot is in this for the long haul.

The boards view feels intrinsically naive.

You are looking for issues where there are none. Have faith, and allow me to explain. Understand the process of creation going through production can be long and torturous; as much for the company as its fans. They want to give us everything they have. They are dying to! However, Riot isn't simple. You believe monetary value is their only goal, I disagree. Their business plan to me feels insidiously brilliant. They are going to expand on League of Legends in ways we never could have imagined. Far beyond simple text in a box, or ancillary events strung along to let you know they still have the story in mind. What does Riot have to lose by building on the lore?

By building upon the lore their financial gain can only increase. With more narrative, there will be more avenues through which Riot can deliver entertainment to it's customers. What's a figurine, statue, poster or hoodie in the store to a multi-million dollar weekend at the box office? A prodigious line of visual novels? Have you seen the money Marvel has been making off of milking it's stories? Why can't League of Legends be a large Intellectual Property across several forms of media? There is absolutely nothing more lucrative for Riot in the near future. If they branch out into developing other games, it will distract from League of Legends. They already have an insanely large market share. Why not try to skim more off the top? Their financial core is almost rock solid. Their development team is well established, and continues to produce an exciting form of virtual entertainment. The LCS is getting larger everyday, supported by sponsors and enthused fans; who are ravenous to see the highest levels of play. They have the largest audience for a single game in the world! Their goal from the very beginning was enthusing the masses.

Rather than having League simply be a game for mechanical enjoyment; why not something more? The game is already recognized as a professional sport (in it's own way.) I see fans of several different teams across the LCS everywhere. Riot simply had to make the game good enough in the first place so that people would care, and the aforementioned certainly do care. The LCS has only furthered that end by turning League into one of the most viewed spectator sports across the world. It gets their player base further invested into the game-play by adding a human element. A team you can attach your identity to. To follow the teams story. To live the game through their eyes. As well as to purchase their merchandise. Without emphasizing how interesting the game is on it's own, they could never branch out into other forms of media. It would never have been special enough to justify something like the LCS. It would be forgotten like any other MOBA out there, but it hasn't been. People have only become more attached. League of Legends as it stands now is merely the fish hook in the player bases mouth, and they are waiting to reel the world in.

Riot doesn't want to just engage you on your most basic levels. As I've given in my example with the LCS, Riot wants to surround you with it's intellectual property. It wants to keep you loyal, and it wants to keep you as a consumer. What better way to do that than further encapsulating the consumer in it's vastly profitable product?

I am going to be honest, and let my opinion stand on it's own merits. You may not like what I am about to tell you, however it must be said. Riot is doing these things for a reason. Rome was not built in a day, Empires are never maintained through inactivity. As aforementioned, If your view dictates that the narrative team is accomplishing nothing; you are naive. I have seen many calls for the narrative team to be fired, supplanted, or worse, rather that they simply no longer exist.

You do not understand the process in which narrative is constructed and then sold to the consumer. The narrative team cannot enlighten you as to what they have in store, as it would be premature. It would ruin the surprise. Their brilliance must be kept in the dark, so that you can have it when it's ready. They toil away, trying to piece together what they hope will be a masterpiece. A long line of grand glorious fiction, told in many different ways - with the champions you play as every day; as the centerpiece of their stories. Why spoil it for yourself by demanding light into their workplace? It would be a shame to ruin it for ourselves, not to mention it may give insight for competitors into Riot's plans.

This is why the narrative team does not speak to the community. It cannot give any information, as it is important that the player base gets it when it does. Trust them. They know what they are doing. I certainly doubt Riot would hire fools to manage the precious commodity that is League of Legends storyline, the basis for a massive expansion in production and profit. I understand your worry, but you have to remember; Riot has made a billion dollars off of microtransactions alone. Did you really think their actions would be less measured in lore, than in other areas of development? What we have seen so far are tests. Experiments. Riot is playing with how it can deliver it's narrative.

Riot is actively removing lore so that it can be expanded upon in the future.

Don't try and get in their way, Riot removing lore directly benefits you, whether you think so or not. Quite a controversial thing to say around here I feel.

Well I would like to submit to my fellow board occupants, that just because you can't see the lore; does not mean it isn't there. Remember you pay for nothing except the product you wish to receive from Riot. Everything in the store you purchase on a case-by-case basis. Riot would love to have continued monetary support, which is why they continue to provide as much content for the game as possible.

However the auxiliary incentives such as lore surrounding the game are not why many people "play" League of Legends. Riot wants to change this. The duty Riot has to it's players is only to provide the best experience possible, and how could it get any better than a complete rework of all the lore? To have your battles across Runeterra actually mean something? You may be upset because you enjoyed the lore, well imagine if everybody actually knew and cared about the lore. Imagine if the entire community was shaking in it's boots, waiting to see what happens next! We wouldn't be the fringe, the story would stand on it's own yet support the game it's based on in a way unlike any work of fiction in history. Riot must know what they're doing.

Like with the summoner's rift update, they have had a plan in the works for an extremely long time. Eventually they acted upon it, and the new summoner's rift was brought to life through the gameplay. They could not accomplish this without a cash flow large enough to give Summoner's Rift a complete overhaul. They have to work with what they've got.

While it may seem very like very little right now, before they couldn't expand on the story much. They weren't making enough money off the game to afford investment into what grabs only a part of their audience. Now that they have the necessary financing, only growth can happen.

They are eventually going to bring about a very large string of lore that will seem to have no end; on the condition they have the resources to remain dedicated to it. Riot may be a very large company, but no company wants to fatten it's bottom line without merit. Which as I explained before is why they were experimenting with various vessels for delivering a story.

At the moment, the new lore is not yet ready for gameplay - or it isn't finished at all. At least not in a product that Riot feels will not only satisfy a customer, but will produce repeated business from several customers.

Riot is removing lore so they have none of the weight of the old world to slow them down when they rocket ahead. Let's be honest here. The old League of Legends lore, while it certainly was interesting - and it gave you insight into why a character behaves a way they do. The character profiles were nothing more than context for why they are participating in events at all. I would go so far as to say this is on par with fighting game story line descriptions for characters. "This is why we are here to fight." Is not very interesting, though with flavor it's enough to assign attributes to characters and give you enough reason to grow attached to them. If there were no paragraphs before, granting us context, we would have no learned knowledge of why the characters behave the way they do. Why would Fiddlesticks be terrifying? Is Gangplank the pirate king or just a regular pirate?

Now that the grand community as a whole is accustomed to many champions, Riot is ready to develop further upon the framework they've built. What you're asking for is more of less than what they're capable of.

You're asking for 2009 style production in 2015.

Think of the possibilities this can bring!

In-game champion voice interaction with one another; depending on if they're allies or enemies. More game influencing rivalry events like the Battle for Freljord, or The Hunt is On! between rival champions. (Hoping for a Jayce and Viktor one, if I may splurge.)

Massive story based events could be made that the entirety of the community can participate in; like the Noxus vs Ionia match of yore. Imagine if that kind of event were expanded upon, even given it's own queue and you could only play champions from select factions and as you play a story draws itself out as the minutes go by based on who you've chosen.

Narrative investment infused with MOBA style gameplay sounds difficult to pull off, but infatuating when done right. I ask you, what other game could do this aside from League of Legends? What game has the resources to accomplish lore of this caliber aside from League of Legends?! They've worked their asses off for years, for free I might add, so that you could enjoy their game. Now that the community has given back to them enough that they've got a sustainable business model, they're ready to explode.

Remember when Valve used to make games? They have a nearly endless revenue stream from Steam; we've seen screenshots of what they're working on, the new engines they're building, the new technology they are pioneering. What if Riot got a similar chance? (Except they're focused more on providing a great game experience, rather than pushing the boundaries of how games can look and feel.)

Imagine the life of a caterpillar. Think of this caterpillar as League of Legends. To sustain itself it had to move from where it was born and sustain itself by eating plant matter. Constantly on the move, finding the best leaves to keep itself a healthy caterpillar; League of Legends has reached the point where it can sustain itself on it's own and must begin metamorphosis. It, like the community, will turn upside down. It will leave behind parts it no longer needs, and grow into a beautiful new shape. Freed from the shackles of a low budget, League of Legends may now explore any area in it's content as it sees fit. Where-ever the story flowers look brightest, League will float atop them rest, and gently before sucking the nectar lore from it's pedaled bosom. Once it's done it will fly on, seeking newer more interesting story flowers to: draw from, sustain itself with, and pollenate for so that more story flowers will grow.

Do you want it to stay a caterpillar forever?

Lord only knows what they have in store for us, with the resources they have at their disposal. I certainly hope that eventually all this anguish over the death of old lore will be abruptly silenced and overtly made up for in the near-future. This is a new Epoch for League's development, and you should treat it as such. If Riot is playing peekaboo. Covering their face, and acting as if they're not there. Are you really going to be surprised when they turn their palms forward again and show themselves? Grow up. They have bigger things to worry and dream about than the past. You should too. They've got what they want to build upon from the old lore already, so just accept it. There's no use fighting it. Give up trying to get the lore team to speak, it's not your birthday today (possibly), so wait for your present.

I personally look forward to everything they've got planned for us. It's going to be beautiful, and I'm so happy to have you all along with me for the ride. I hope they find a way to satisfy your feelings for the old lore with the new storylines. Remember to try and keep a fresh perspective.

Now, before I finish I'd just like to thank you for playing this game. For enjoying it, supporting it, and making it more than anything Riot could've possibly hoped for. I love you all, despite this issue. Trust me, stop and smell the roses.

You'll see the sun on the horizon.

tl;dr: League is giving you less now for more later. They're ripping out the old lore so they can put in new better lore without being held back by the old story. There is nothing you can do to get the lore team to speak, it would blow what they have in store for you; so don't try. Enjoy the game. Love life for not getting upset about what you're nostalgic over going away so much. It may come back even better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ND3oghPL5M

(Also, a quick word about Valve. Remember when Source came out, so did Half-Life 2? Team Fortress 2? Left 4 Dead and it's sequel Left 4 Dead 2? They're simply repeating their business model right now. Half-life 1 pushed the boundaries of what games could look and feel like. So did Half-Life 2. Now that they've got serious cash flow, Half-Life 3 will be out when they're done with their new engine. It will blow everyone's minds. So be patient. Good things come to those who wait.)

I've been writing all of this since 4 AM, way past when I should be asleep. Good Night. Bows