It's Been Years Since The Retcon. How Do We Feel About Today's Lore?

Chromatic Eagle·2/8/2020, 12:03:13 AM·10 votes·4,226 views

Do you feel that the removal of the Institute of War was a good call? A bad one, or are you indifferent to the retcon?

Do you believe Riot has maintained a steady release of lore that has updated the setting? Are they going too slow? Too fast?

Are there any updates to the lore that players have enjoyed? Any pieces that you hate?

Overall, are you looking forward to any particular update? Is there something you dread approaching? Indifference?

17 Comments

ModAttysu The Poro2/8/2020, 12:43:51 AM6 votes

I think the retcon of the lore lead to a lot of more opportunities for storytelling, but they're so focused on adding champions to flesh out the lore, they forgot that like 1/4th of the champions are sitting around like "hi... please fix us."

HonestJohnTheCon2/8/2020, 1:08:55 AM6 votes

While I do think they still could have done some interesting stuff without the retcon, I would also say that the post-retcon worldbuilding and atmosphere is much better for the fantasy story that they're trying to build. The new lore we've gotten from Riot over these past few years has astounding at its best. If I had one issue, it would be the number of champions that are still waiting to join in on the fun, and while they are getting around to it (for example, Alistar was updated mere weeks ago), it would be nice if they could prioritize getting champs up to date.

Overall, they're doing a great job. They've found their footing, now they just need to keep up the pace.

RyzeTheSmurfMage2/8/2020, 6:28:56 AM6 votes

I personally think it got way better. Pre great retcon lore was honestly just badly written fan fiction. Nothing could ever matter because the champs would respawn, the regions themselves were irrelevant because always the champs would sort it out in summoner's rift, and i have no clue why they would willingly put themselves under the control of some raging idiots who flame themselves over who stole blue buff. There were no tensions because if any threat arrived the summoners would have just insta-anihilated it. The worldbuilding was also bad asf. Demacia was the goos guys tm, Noxus was bad guys tm with a biker gang aesthethic and a fucking mountain of skulls, Shurima didn't even exist at that time beyond some random floating pyramids in the desert. Not to mention the fact that a "lore" event at that time got done not by writers, but by pro players which like makes no sense

ModKnightsKemplar2/8/2020, 12:12:13 AM5 votes

Honestly, while I did hate the idea at first, I would say they've done an excellent job of convincing me that this is ultimately a good direction. The removal of the institute definitely messed up the lore for a few champions like Noct and Fiddlesticks. The removal of the associated canon also messed up quite a few interactions between champions, like Garen and Kata.

My only lingering frustration is that they haven't cleaned up those loose ends quickly. At all. In terms of the new content, I think it's amazing, but that doesn't help a lot with the lack of details on some important relationships and origins in the old lore. I want to see them focus on updating those things.

Like... wtf is amumu now? Their answer was basically... it's a mystery... no one knows! And I think that's kinda lazy, conceptually, even if it was well executed.

Kazekiba2/8/2020, 1:35:49 AM5 votes

Utter trash. They're so set on selling the newest badboy and hyping up every new release to be the greatest and coolest, and every VGU destroys what lore did exist. Sometimes there wasn't anything to kill, and Irelia/Warwick and some others are definite stand-outs but for every one good lore you have Galio Swain and, my most bitter loss, Evelynn.

She's no longer connected to Shadow Isles, which lost any relevancy post-Burning Tides and took much of what Eve COULD be away. This just adds to the sting that Treelines altars never got interactions with her specifically because "Evelynn is too new at this point and we're not ready to spoil her story yet." but of course Treeline stopped existing after that.

Rivier2/8/2020, 7:15:20 AM4 votes

New lore realeses are definitely longer and more frequent but the constant changing and retcons made me lose interest. It doesn't help either that some lore-only characters have more lore than a big group of in-game champions. Champion stories also tend to shift focus from what was originally making people wonder and raise new questions instead leaving the reader with few answers.

Pika3102/8/2020, 7:33:54 AM2 votes

The retcon was a horrible idea which alienated old players, destroyed the very foundation of the game's story & is a blatant offense to the original writers.

They spent YEARS after deleting the story to so much as write more than a single fucking sentence. As far as I know, the new writing comes wayyyyyy slower than originally, not that I even care to pay attention.

I hate it. All of it. It's all terrible & the retcon should be reverted.

I don't give 2 craps about any story they release now. There's no continuity & constant bastardizations of the vorthos. FOR EXAMPLE: Demacia has been painted into Nazi Germany, whilst Noxus gradually becomes more & more American. Which might be the 1 thing I don't mind, since I've always felt Noxian champions to be far more interesting & well-developed than ~~Garen~~ Demacians.

Camille Ferrøs2/8/2020, 8:19:57 AM2 votes

If they kept to their promise it would have been great but... 293483 retcons later we know what happened.

GreenLore2/8/2020, 12:28:14 PM2 votes

While I am a bit skeptical if a lore retcon on this scale was necessary, I do understand why they did that(lots of new stories wouldn't be possible in the old lore) and think that the end result is a lot more solid than the previous lore, especially the world building, which was almost nonexistent in the previous lore.

The only retcons I really didn't like were I think Zac and Shyvana . I don't think that Zacs parents needed to be dead, that feels honestly a bit generic and removes an interesting element from Zacs lore and Shyvanas new lore feels rather awkward with the removal of her dragon dad and Shyvanas mother having unclear motivations. Targon, the darkins and the angels are also a mixed bag, where I do like some elements of the updated stories, but dislike others.

I also feel like Riot has lately slowed down with actual lore updates, as several champions are still missing their new bios and color stories, which is in my opinion unacceptable. Bandle City has also been left in the dust, which I really don't like. Sure they do release some new stories from time to time, like Lissandras dream-story, but I feel like updates should take priority over new stories(and no the dream-thief does not count as Lissandras color story).

Jaspers2/8/2020, 12:43:20 PM2 votes

I started league properly shortly after Burning Tides so much of the old lore was still in place. Over time, I think many of the changes are good but that was a long time ago now and some champs haven't been updated yet. The seeming lore dumps certain champs get over others kind of sucks sometimes. Sylas has had more lore and stories about him since release last year than most champs combined and some Yordle's aren't up to date yet. Removal of the Institute of War was needed for more well thought out ongoing narrative.

I like the concept of Vastayan and fine with changing some champs to be them, dislike the fact they'd retconned their origins once already and made them all shapeshifters instead of fixed forms as it has no baring on their in game characters. I dislike the Darkin change, unstoppable warring demon like race to me is far more interesting of a threat (and believeable why they are trapped in weapons) than some emo Ascended who did it to themselves and only have themselves to blame yet moan at everyone else, the way they are made out of be such big threats is just laughable to me.

Targon stuff is good (could do with less Darkins in it however) and we need more on Yordles and Bandle City in general, the lack is starting to be obvious. Oh and let's take a step back from all the grey characterisation. We need actual heroes and villains sometimes.

GreenKnight2/8/2020, 12:58:31 PM1 votes

Old lore actually existed for a reason.

New one is just trashy fanfiction that brings nothing, and only removes old, good content. If you don't believe me, just look at Varus or Galio.