The LARGER problem with Maokai's new VO (And other reworks)
Edit: or just don't read anything I wrote and take things out of their context. Thats cool too.
When it comes to reworked VO's there tends to be two types of people, the indifferent who think "its not too bad" so they accept it, and the fans of the character who think its less fitting.
This has generally been true for many of the updates in the past, like Poppy's, Taric's, Galio's, etc.
And yes, a character's voice and personality feeling fresh and fitting is very important, but again and again there are two MASSIVE problems people are overlooking when it comes to Riot's reworks.
- They often spend loads of time and money on low priority, unnecessary voice overs (Lux, Maokai) and spend time rewriting a character who doesn't need to be rewritten.
And 2)
THEY NEVER ASK THE COMMUNITY BEFORE JUMPING THE SHARK, SPENDING MONEY, AND CHANGING EVERYTHING.
Even after promising they would ask the community THREE TIMES.
For anyone new to League or just generally unaware, Nasus was one of the first champs who got a new voice over that sounded much different from their old actor, even when people liked the old voice (I think he's the first of this type, don't quote me on that)
Sure people like Janna and Anivia got their VO's changed, but people generally agree their old voices were worse, and just poorly scripted.
The thing is, Nasus's original voice actor actually died a few years back, before Riot was going to rework him.
But instead of finding someone who sounded like the fan favorite old actor, they completely replaced him with a different VO which made ZERO reference to the old actor.
Riot completely ignored the legacy of the dead voice actor in favor of pretending it never existed.
This, as it should have, caused a lot of commotion back in the day, people we're frankly insulted that not only did the character sound much different than what they liked, but at the fact that Riot made no effort to memorialize the person who sadly died.
Their response (paraphrased):
"We already spent the time and money on the new actor, we are sorry for acting hastily before telling the community, and we are sorry for not properly respecting the dead."
Great, fantastic, it sucks that it happened but Riot appears to have learned their lesson and has promised to ask the community before changing future characters.
Fast forward to Poppy's rework, they changed her from being the only serious Yordle (who actually was kind of funny because she was way TOO serious) to Tristana with a different backstory.
As someone whose favorite champion was old (and even new) Poppy, I and many others were absolutely baffled at Riot's lack of communication with what the community wants. The main type of people who actually liked it didn't care at ALL about Poppy, and though it was uguu kawaii like the filthy Weaboo's they are.
Riot's response?
"We already spent the time and money on the new actor, we will ask the community before changing future characters".
Great. Maybe this time they will-
NOPE, Taric rework comes out, new voice actor is made to sound completely different in an attempt to make Taric less of a stereotype, without realizing that they are doing the exact opposite.
Many Taric players were pissed, and Riot said:
"We promise to let you all-"
JUST KIDDING; WE CHANGED GALIO!
Galio used to be a complete twist on fantasy Gargoyle stereotypes, he was an intelligent philosopher (kinda) who was designed to look deceptively dumb with his sculpted under bite and general features, who was searching for meaning after failing his one true purpose: To protect his creator.
An interesting take on the character, can't wait for it to be expanded!
OH LOOK AT THAT, PEOPLE WHO CARE ARE PISSED AGAIN BECAUSE YOU GUYS NEVER ASKED.
MONEY WELL SPENT WHEN MOST PEOPLE ARE INDIFFERENT.
And sometimes it's not even as polarizing, but still confusing and poorly thought out like Warwick's new VO.
It's great, it fits, his rework is AMAZING, but listen side by side to how similar he sounds to Sion (Who by the way, didn't get a traditional skin to respect the old cheesy voice actor).
Even many of the quotes are EXTREMELY similar, but they never even bothered to ask what the people who love Warwick want.
Seriously Riot, your community managers have promised time and time again to work with everyone when it comes to reworks, but this has never been the case, and once a voice actor is recorded you guys won't change it because you already spent the money.
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TL:DR, Riot has promised time and time again to ask the community what they want out of a rework, and they never actually follow up with that promise.
Please, Riot, I know it sucks that you already spent the money, but don't launch Maokai with this new voice over.
The people that are indifferent won't care, and the people who loved old Maokai will be pissed off.
I know there are people who may like the new voices, but they are often the minority, or fans of the new character who never knew the old one existed.
(PS, Riot, if you guys give Poppy an "Iron Ambassador" legendary skin that returns the old voice actor, I will buy it instantly and remove this post. Not actually, but, you know, maybe).
Posted on the reddit as well, if anyone cares: https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/666gh8/the_larger_problem_with_maokais_new_vo_and_other/
