It's sad that this Board is nothing but a cesspool of whining about the retcon. I, for one, is looking forward to see what's in store for the future, even though the wait will be long. The setup and world-building we have gleamed I find intriguing. Quality is more important, to me, than the one-off inanity and the JoJ nonsense they used to have.
Hellioning9 votesQuality is important, yes, but the stuff they have released isn't particularly exciting; I don't think it's better than the JoJ and judgement stuff.
And I'm tired of waiting. There's only a certain amount of time that you can say 'please be patient' before I decide to go do something else with my time.
Iceborn Pippin9 votesHey if the NEW lore was actually good we wouldn't be having this discussion now would we? When april rolls around, we will have been waiting seven months for this supposed new lore. Let me use Skarner/
as an example of what I mean.
From This:
**Skarner Before: **http://lol.gamepedia.com/Skarner_-_The_Crystal_Vanguard
And His Judgment:
**Skarner (Judgment):**Candidate:: Skarner Date:: 5 August, 21 CLE
OBSERVATION
The silence is eerie. The village was once an endless flurry of activity, with the chorus of pickaxes, rolling mining carts, and shouts of laborers comprising the song of Kalamanda audible during every moment of the day. Now, it is deathly silent, lacking even the far-away cries of birds or the whispers of winds moving through the grass. A blue bubble shimmers overhead, enclosing all life inside without regard to the malice or innocence present in the hearts of the trapped.
Suddenly, the ground in the center of the village bursts upwards. The League recovery crew stationed in Kalamanda is unprepared, staring blankly as a wickedly sharp crystal rises out of the ground. It lingers for a moment, as if tasting the air, and suddenly shoots out towards the humans standing close by. They barely manage to dodge out of the way, stumbling over themselves as the rest of the body attached to the crystal surges through the dirt.
It is a massive creature, seemingly carved out of the earth's most precious gemstones. The light gleams off each facet of its segmented body, a halo crowning the unnatural creature's birth into the world. Menacing claws lash out towards the humans, snapping at everything in its path. The League crew defend themselves the best that they can, yelling out hopelessly to yield.
The crystal scorpion lets out a guttural roar, one that is as full of anger as it is of sorrow.
REFLECTION
Skarner scurried through the Institute of War, his limbs cramped from trying to avoid scraping his sides on the tiny hallways. It didn't help that humans kept cluttering the way, staring at him instead of making space for their unexpected visitor. An escort led him through an enormous set of double doors, where a human was waiting alone in a dark room. He was relieved to be away from prying eyes, though he knew that what was to come would pry into him far more deeply.
The human's honest demeanor betrayed his purpose before he even spoke.
"I am Bertrand Wordsworth, keeper of history in the Arcanum Majoris. It is an incredible honor to meet one of your kind. I have never found any mention of the brackern in all my studies." Bertrand's eyes darted about, taking in Skarner's impressive form.
"So it would seem that humans seek to eliminate our species, but the knowledge that we ever existed at all as well." Skarner replied evenly.
The historian flushed. "I apologize for being so forward. I wasn't thinking."
"No. It is I who should be apologizing." Skarner's jaws clenched. "Forgive me. This new world is so very strange, and the grievances of centuries past are still recent to my memory."
"Understandably so."
"So, shall we get on with your rituals of judgment, then" The brackern was eager to be away.
"On the contrary, your little show back in the village, in addition to our conversations, has already answered all of our questions regarding your eligibility for entry into the League. Your commitment to fight for your kind to return is honorable. It is also a thrill for us to receive one as unique as yourself into the organization." He hesitated.
"But you want to know the story of the brackern."
"Indeed." Bertrand raised a scroll in his hand. "I have a spell here, one that will take us back in time."
The crystal scorpion did not answer for a moment. The desire to see his brothers again was too strong to ignore, but he knew the cost. He nodded his consent.
A swell of magic flared through the room. Suddenly, Skarner was again seeing the world as it once was.
The cold dirt of the earth surrounded him, a comforting sensation on his tired limbs. He recognized the exhaustion and madness that consumed him he was in the final moments of his life's quest. Skarner had not seen his kind for years, journeying into the depths of the mountains to find the one crystal in the world that would resonate with his life essence. Skarner's desperation threatened to consume him, after unearthing crystal after crystal that was not meant to be his. With his last ounce of strength, he reached out with his claws through the dirt and finally found the Arachia that would bind to him for the rest of his life.
Skarner uncovered it carefully, relief and awe washing over him, leaving him breathless. The crystal was the largest of any that he had ever seen, let alone those that had responded to a brackern. He pored over the intricate carvings sprawled across every gleaming facet, marveling at the residue from the earth weaving its knowledge into the gemstone for centuries. Skarner curled around the crystal as it began to pulse, soothing all his fears that he would die alone in disgrace if he hadn't found his Arachia.
He murmured the words of binding, and felt his soul sing as it became one with the earth. His first meditation with the crystal left him paralyzed for days, the knowledge of eons past flooding into his mind. The voices of the natural world whispered to him, sharing the secrets of primal magic and the history of centuries past. In the decades that followed, Skarner communed with the crystal almost daily, and only barely started to explore all of the knowledge imbued within it. Skarner passed on everything he had learned to his fellow brackern, and each creature in turn fed the knowledge back into his own Arachia for future brackern.
Then, a devastating explosion rocked the land. Skarner knew what was coming next.
Seconds later, a noxious cloud engulfed the valley, and the crystals vibrated with an alien glow. A piercing hum grew in volume to a deafening shriek. One by one, the crystals began to shatter, spraying glowing shrapnel in all directions. The brackern that were bound to the crystals screamed, dropping to the ground in writhing agony.
Chaos erupted. The brackern called healing magics upon their dying brothers and conjured up shields around the valley. But it was all to no avail - the brackern continued to fall until their numbers dwindled. Eventually, the brackern's desperate pleas awoke the ancient magic in the Arachia crystals, who called them underground. The brackern would fuse with the crystals, their mutual strength protecting each other until the world was safe again for both to exist.
Skarner was one of the last to remain awake, assisting the stragglers underground. His last view of the surface was another wave of unnatural energy rippling through the valley, before he plunged into the ground and cast the spell of hibernation, a prayer for his kind on his tongue.
Sleep began to overtake him. Suddenly, a piercing glow jolted him awake, and his eyes flew open. His Arachia crystal was pulsing, and the scorpion knew something was wrong. This had not happened before in his memory. Skarner reached towards the crystal, and he was abruptly tossed backwards in time once again.
The Odyn Valley appeared as it had long ago, but something was wrong. No brackern were in sight, and humans had overrun the gorge, engaged in war. Robed humans surrounded numerous runes meticulously placed in the center of a circle. Their voices rose in unison, and suddenly the runes fractured and disappeared. In their place, an intense concentration of energy lingered for a second before winking out of existence. A second later, the entire valley shook violently, as an entire city in the distance disappeared in a massive explosion.
The earth shuddered and reached out with fingers of magic for help. They found small creatures, fierce despite their own size, and called them to crystals hidden deep underground. There, the earth imbued the scorpions with power from the crystals, and from their union, the brackern emerged.
The scene dissolved around them, bringing them back to the present. Both brackern and human remained silent as the gravity of revelation weighing down upon their hearts.
Human mistakes robbed them of life. Human mistakes raised them out of nothingness.
Consumed with rage and sorrow, he roared, lashing his tail wildly around the room. The scorpion slammed the ground repeatedly with his claws, as if he could knock the vivid images of his dying brothers out of his mind. Bertrand barely managed to dive out of the way, cowering in the corner until Skarner's emotions subsided.
Bertrand eventually spoke.
"I'm so sorry to make you experience all of that. Yet, it was... necessary." The historian made an honorable, yet poorly veiled attempt to hide his excitement over such an amazing reveal of history.
The brackern's voice was gruff and low, the weight of loss heavy on him. "To have the story of our kind told and remembered is worth reliving the sorrow a thousand times. Have you all the answers that you came for?
"Far more than I ever expected." Bertrand was awestruck.
"Then we are done here."
Bertrand made a motion as if to comfort the creature, but he knew no words that could bring any sort of relief. He bowed deeply, then turned and fled from the room in a flurry of robes.
Skarner remained in the room, the bitter sting of realization lingering. There was so much in this strange world yet to understand. Every breath, every moment, and every fight in this League of Legends would be a step closer to bringing the brackern closer to living once again.
To What Remains:
Skarner After: Skarner, the crystalline guardian, defends the entrance to a realm deep beneath the shuriman wastes. The few who survive trespassing his domain describe a creature of terrifying intelligence, anger, and precision. What this merciless creature protects, no one knows.
Solideus1 votesI think you also realize that is an unfair comparison, right? That's a short summary, not his new bio. His post-retcon lore isn't out yet, which makes it totally futile to compare it to the old one. That we'll have to wait a long time for it is an entirely different issue than the bio's quality.
Iceborn Pippin7 votesI think you also realize that is an unfair comparison, right? That's a short summary, not his new bio. His post-retcon lore isn't out yet, which makes it totally futile to compare it to the old one. That we'll have to wait a long time for it is an entirely different issue than the bio's quality.
You mean the short summary that was meant to be a placeholder yet it turned out its taken over half a year for them to upload the actual full length lore which in turn has caused the Summary to become the official lore replacement? That lore? This is not an unfair comparison.
If you want an unfair lore comparison you would be right if the lore change was say 1 month old and I was all like comparing this back in October when the Lore Change had happened in September. Yet when we have waited for six months or half a year and no updates had happened... its fair game to compare the old lore to the new lore.
333lom5 votesIt's not even the long wait that is the main problem. Even if he gets a new, long lore, it will be something that is correlated with the short summary. And I can't imagine anything, with a desert scorpion monster guarding some entrance, that could ever be better than the old lore.
This was the first time I've read Skarner's Judgment (I have no idea why I didn't do this earlier, shame on me), and I literally got the shivers. It's that good. Especially the revelation that humans both created the Brakern and nearly destroyed them.
DG Ashabel5 votesAmong all the posts I have seen in favor of the new lore so far, this is the one I feel most compelled to describe as narcissistic. There is so much "I" and "me" in it, compounded even further with callous passive-aggressiveness directed at the fans of the old lore, that it becomes near impossible to take seriously. You don't even have an argument here, it's all arrogance and insults.
Like everyone else pointed out, the issue is precisely with quality. The reason fans continue to be agitated seven months after the retcon is because the new lore has so far been even crummier than the old, with writing riddled with grammatical and stylistic mistakes, and world-building that gets people exhausted because of how many holes they need to plug before it makes sense.
Solideus2 votesMy frustration stems from the fact that the board is just a wall of the same complaints posted over and over, and the genuine, interesting discussions are drowned out.
I'm certainly *not *saying my opinion is above everyone else's. I use "I" and "me" very intentionally because it's my opinion and it makes me frustrated when, too often, people just try to impose their opinions like they represent the whole in this kind of discussion. It is ironic you interpret it in the worst possible way when that was my explicit intention in writing that way.
I strongly disagree about the quality, it is much better in almost every way, I think. The old lore was crummy because of the way they made jokes out of characters in demeaning ways and did such a horrible job with world-building and cohesion. The art disciple is a big part of the improvement as well, although I think narrative get way to little credit for their part in development. I can see how you'd think otherwise if those aren't interests of yours, though. That's fine.
The fact that it will take a long time for content to be released and that they have a lot to get through seems, to me, futile and unnecessary to keep railing against even though it sucks. I bet there's very little critique that will make their work go any faster at this stage. There really doesn't have to be a million threads about it still.
DG Ashabel5 votesYou just essentially said that discussions you dislike are not genuine, therefore once again diminishing their value and making them look as less worthwhile than your opinion. See also: my point about your arrogance.
I don't even see the need to extensively argue with the rest of your claims because you simply use buzzwords like "demeaning", then "cohesion", but you don't actually back them up with anything. The new lore has two depictions of Shurima that are completely contradictory to each other and a Noxus/Ionia war that is essentially fought over nothing because of nothing and with a tactical map that is logistically impossible, but that's apparently more cohesive than complex politics. And looking down, demeaning is basically your way of saying that characters shouldn't have personal lives outside of how they are presented on the Fields of Justice, which is actually demeaning to them because you deny them ability to be more than stereotypical heroes.
You even add yet another passive-aggressive and pompous insult toward me, implying that I dislike cohesive world-building and enjoy demeaning characters by stating that those "aren't interests of" mine.
The actual fact is that people will keep on rallying against the new lore because it's of incredibly low quality by modern video game standards, it lacks cohesion, consistency and rhythm. People don't expect the narrative team to go faster; opposite, they dread every new lore release because they don't want to be exposed to even more low-quality content.
The second actual fact is that when your discussion of the new lore involves being demeaning toward everyone who disagrees with you, you shouldn't be surprised that people don't want to discuss either new or old variations of the lore with you.
Solideus2 votesI "essentially" said no such thing. Whatever you interpreted like you misunderstood, frankly. You accused me, I explained why I wrote the way I did. You're the one throwing insults around at this moment. My intention was only, from a moment of irritation, to represent my own view on the boards.
I don't think it should be necessary to spell out exactly why I use every word I write; you can either google it so you know it's meaning or, if you simply can't grasp what I refer to, you simply ask what I mean by it.
Don't know what you mean by Shurima being contradictory. Noxus/Ionia hasn't been revisited yet, like much of the lore, so there's nothing to analyze yet, frankly. The "personal life"-argument I'm unsure how to respond to, you lost me there.
I had no intention of being passive aggressive, although I assume you'll refuse to believe that at this point.
Again, I strongly disagree about the lore that has come out to be low quality, especially as compared to the JoJ. What you wrote, however, is exactly the kind of language that looks like it unfairly attempts to represent some implied majority, whatever your intention.
I'm sorry you feel demeaned for being disagreed with, or otherwise, and tend to find more hostility than intended in my comments. I have, however, had many nice discussions about Valoran and it's inhabitants on the forums. It's the constant complaining about the retcon that starts to sour the forums for me.
P.S. When I speak of the low quality I'm especially talking about the JoJ. The Judgements told some interesting stories despite its issues. I believe more of the Judgement's content will be re-introduced for that reason
Nybx4life4 votesWait. I need you to break this down (maybe also to ensure this is a legit opinion and not just troll bait):
What do you dislike about the old lore, and what do you like about what we currently have from the new lore? You mention one-offs and the JoJ as things you dislike, so I'd like some details from it that you don't like.
Solideus2 votesAnnie's, Pantheon's and Karthus' stories could have taken place in entirely different worlds, for instance. Champions were disconnected from most of the surrounding world, and they all had the same ending: "-joined the League". Few proper narratives moved along back then either. The JoJ had many jarring moments; stuff like Janna's lingerie-thing, Sivir's drunk driving, Blitzcrank's dating service, Tango-TF/Evelynn, Pentakill Sona and Morgana's bakery-thing were demeaning to the characters, I think. Kalamanda was really boring, there was no sense of place or themes to it. All of the stories delivered through the JoJ fell really flat compared to how the delivered, say, Reborn. The newspaper-angle was really limiting over all, really.
The retcon hasn't really removed much of the world except for the IoW. Cleaned up versions of old narratives remain, sans the wonky stuff. The new lore has set the scene really well, even if the new narratives haven't really started rolling yet. Shadow Isles, Freljord, Shurima and Reborn were real treats. Champion releases often have some neat stuff too, especially in the teasers. Ancient Mystery, Quinn's and Braum's were all excellent.
Nybx4life9 votesSo I see where you stand, and here's the things I find odd from your statements:
Champions were disconnected from most of the surrounding world, and they all had the same ending: "-joined the League".
It could be said now for many Champions, sans the last bit. Many feel disconnected from others, to the point they are quite one-dimensional. Trist's lore then and now portray the same character in essence, but not in purpose. Gnar's lore has a nice tale told through Rengar's POV, but says little about who Gnar is. Then there's Skarner, Sion, etc...They're the type I'd find in kids cartoons, with no character development and one or two things that define them.
All of the stories delivered through the JoJ fell really flat compared to how the delivered, say, Reborn.
The thing about the JoJ I felt you are ignoring a bit is that it gives the spotlight to champions, to give them chances to develop past what's on their lore page. It lets them break out of what they're defined by, if only for a moment, and bring them new life. These lore events you mention now are nice...if they had completion to them. Most events seem only to introduce a new character: Frejlord was just to provide new Sej skin and add Lissandra, Shurima adds Azir, whose purpose of reviving this ancient city SHOULD ring some bells to the rest of the world, but it doesn't (will it? I dunno), add in Rek'Sai whose purpose to that storyline is...nil, from what I can see. Kalista doesn't fare much better.
Some champs have good lore (I like Braum myself), but it's not enough to make me want to discard what existed just for the potential of something that has so far proved itself unimpressive.
Solideus2 votesOf course I can see the reasoning that mediocre writing is better than no writing. It sucks the wait is long. The way I see it, though, the JoJ was a quick way for a champion to deliver two rows of dialogue, but the content too often made me cringe. I'd rather read about characters with their own place, goals and means than everyone just being the same kind of gladiator in the IoW, as well. It remains to see what will be done to all the lore they have to re-write, but my hope is we'll have quality over quantity. That they haven't started shoveling out throwaway stories can be a good sign in one sense, if nothing else.
Nybx4life4 votesThe champ lores in the client are throwaway stories. Gnar's lore page is a throwaway story (Rengar POV confronting Gnar says little to nothing about who Gnar is), and I already stated other champs who have lores on the client who lack quality.
I'd rather read about characters with their own place, goals and means than everyone just being the same kind of gladiator in the IoW, as well.
I'd like to as well, and the old lore gave unique characters with their own place, goals, and means. I can't think of any two champions who were identical in lore from before. If you'd like to contest this statement, feel free.
What I hope is that while new champions will come through, the old ones won't get forgotten (I don't mean just getting a new skin/VU), which the JoJ provided. Could it have been better? Sure. But, I don't want champions to just get released, get a new skin every now and again, and that's it.
The new lore seems to be trying to revive champs, which is okay. I just don't want champs to get placed in, and have nothing added to them.
Nameless Hero3 votesIt's sad that this Board is nothing but a cesspool of whining about the retcon. I, for one, is looking forward to see what's in store for the future, even though the wait will be long. The setup and world-building we have gleamed I find intriguing. Quality is more important, to me, than the one-off inanity and the JoJ nonsense they used to have.
Solideus, I agree with you but I don't think that antagonizing the whole board will help anything. Criticise the behaviour not the person.
Solideus2 votesI did criticize the behavior! But you are right; in hindsight the post was stupidly hostile, born from frustration.
Nameless Hero1 votesI did criticize the behavior! But you are right; in hindsight the post was stupidly hostile, born from frustration.
You are cool bro. Have an upvote