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We want the same thing but in different ways

ScurvyNave·6/8/2015, 2:36:37 PM·3 votes·1,720 views

We can all agree that we want more Lore. The lack of it since and even before the retcon is disappointing. Not only the quantity but also the quality of the stories recently made are lacking. Riot themselves obviously wants to improve the lore but every new champion seems to get a story that raises more questions and concerns than answers them.

Now before anyone assumes this is a typical rage "RIOT LORE TEAM SUCKS I CAN DO BETTER EZ" post, let me just clarify what I believe are the main concepts or goals of a Lore about a place or being:

  1. A good lore should answer at least as many questions as it raises. The mysterious Bard movie and lore write up tell us nothing with very little material at all. It's like if they changed Garen's lore to: He was a big guy with a sword who joined Demacia for mysterious reasons and does mysterious things. ......... It's not only lazy writing but it also makes the reader more confused and unattached to the champion. A good lore has to at least give some description or personalization of the champion

  2. Lore's should intermingle. I know Riot wants their universe to be separate like some odd Super Smash Brother's style but good storytelling can intermingle champions without having to fall back on the League of Legends and summoners. A quick search for LoL fanfics is proof enough that people can find ways to interconnect the champions and give them reasons for interacting.

  3. Lore can not be stagnant or predictable. The main issue with the pre-retcon lore was that most of it fell into a basic formula. Champion released...lore.....journal of justice..... This is so and so... so and so has this power....this is why so and so joined the league. While the recton and new lores break this formula they also come out so rarely with such little material it feels like I'm subscribed to some Lore magazine that has cheatedd me out of my money by putting a fancy animated Bard movie on the front cover with the inside pages being blank.

Then we run into the main conflict which is what Riot wants/plans to do and what we want/expect from the lore team

We want (in general): -Decently long Lore descriptions showing characterization and motivation and how the universe fits together after the chaos the retcon caused

  • Lore released at a reasonable pace to answer our questions with feedback and communication with the lore team so we know that they aren't dead or up a creek without a pen or paddle -Respect for pre existing lore's that are well written and don't deserve to be cut apart like what happened with the shurima champs (Skarner/ Amumu).

What Riot wants (in general and n my interpretation): -To not trap themselves by answering every question about a champion. That way they leave the story open ended so it can be added to. Except we rarely see any additions and at this rate I'll have a beard the size of Zilean's by the time all the lore is converted into the new anti-summoner form. -Try new things other than just story telling with words (Clips and animations or the awesome Rek'sai journal as examples). -To be respected and interact with a community that (by some of their own fault) currently has more hostility than a cornered badger.

Overall the Lore of League of Legends will get better but we have to come to some sort of compromise in order for everyone to be happy. We want detail...Rito want mystery. We want updates/ communication Riot wants... mystery and suspense.

Something has to be done and soon before this situation becomes irreversible. At this rate I'm liable to go back to playing TF2 at least their universe has a story and makes sense!

27 Comments

Narasimha6/8/2015, 6:16:00 PM3 votes

Just to jump in for an instance

The mysterious Bard movie and lore write up tell us nothing with very little material at all.

This is entirely intentional. Ever heard of the Cthulu Mythos? Bard is basically the semi-benevolent version of 'The Old Ones'. A being beyond human scope and understanding, something that does its own thing in its own way. You can't describe a character like that, because humans aren't able to comprehend it.

Tesla Effect6/8/2015, 6:26:55 PM2 votes

Yes, I just want more lore. The new approach aint bad, its just we need more lore from that new canon, otherwise people will nitpick anything that will come by because the key factor isnt released in a satisfied amount.

I agree with most of your points, except the champion updated lore. Champions that really didnt have a place anywhere in the old lore, or dont have a place in the new one should in my opinion have a new lore to back up the changes and if they are part of a new faction that can make sense in the long run, why no (Example: Alistar and Malphite could be part of Mount Targon, Shaco and Nocturn from the Glades) Some lore changes have to happen, but the best they can do is to incorporate aspects of the old lore into the lore of the champions, that way we are assured that current canon is incorporating the old as well as the new (Sion for an example with the whole Darkwill, Black Rose and Swain come to power thing).

I also want to see consistency between what we seen in the concept art of the world of Runeterra. Numerous artwork looks amazing, but most of them are so inconsistent with one another that Im not sure how the place even looks like (Examples being the shape of the Shadow Isles, Howling Abyss location). This is why they have to place a basis for all the locations we currently know of in the LoL universe, so that future artists wont draw the location completely differently. And for the very least they should incorporate some aspects of the old artwork into the new one (like make the Freljord capital of Rakelstake actually be the block of ice we saw in the old artwork). Make detailed maps, city layouts and general world item artwork instead of just pretty scenery artwork.

TheGrandAlliance6/11/2015, 12:45:13 AM2 votes

{quoted}

We can all agree that we want more Lore. The lack of it since and even before the retcon is disappointing. Not only the quantity but also the quality of the stories recently made are lacking. Riot themselves obviously wants to improve the lore but every new champion seems to get a story that raises more questions and concerns than answers them.

I see it differently... before "retcon" everything was evoling. The few paragraphs of lore written were masterful... they had so much context in what little space provided. You had a clear understanding of Runeterra from otherwise was very small space. I had no problems with "old lore release strategy".

What IS I believe what people what is a RPG or MMORPG. Until LoL becomes LoLRPG (single player plz) there isn't more that lore team could or should have done otherwise.