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My Two Cents on Poppy

SteelWithIt·11/8/2014, 1:46:34 AM·15 votes·14,476 views

Wasn't really sure where to put this to be honest, just thought I'd chime in my thoughts on Poppy since it was just recently announced that she was going to get the Sion treatment.

You can swap around Home-Gurls skills as much as balance dictates but the whole theme of being a pint-sized diplomat dishing out pain and justice in equal measure and football charging someone from the enemy team needs to stay there. In that regard I think she'd be good as a bruiser or a tank. She definitely should not have access to poke or be much of a lane bully though. She's got to be that champ that you dread trading melee with when you go in to CS because she's a beefy lady with a big-ass blacksmiths hammer and HER CONVICTIONS WILL NOT FALTER . Whatever you dish out she will be able to take. To draw a parallel she should come off concept wise as the lady-yordle equivalent of Garen, minus the patriotism and military position.

The most important part of the rework for me would be her lore and main concept remaining wholly the same. Like, she was a kid doing an important political job with her dad and her dad was killed by assassins while she had to watch helpless and she finished the job for him without asking for a reward when she did. She needs to be the most justicey character that has yet been released. She's not even after revenge on the guys that killed her dad. She's in it for peace and diplomatic unity. After all, Poppys main goal is that VALORAN WILL KNOW HARMONY. She's gotta be somber, not sad necessarily, but I don't think that she should really be funny. After all, SHE DOESNT KNOW ANY JOKES.

Either way as long as her story remains mostly the same and her character stays intact I have faith in Rito delivering a bitchin' Poppy.

HER REWORK IS NON-NEGOTIABLE

64 Comments

RiotIronStylus11/9/2014, 4:20:02 AM14 votes

She's got to be that champ that you dread trading melee with when you go in to CS because she's a beefy lady with a big-ass blacksmiths hammer and HER CONVICTIONS WILL NOT FALTER . Whatever you dish out she will be able to take. To draw a parallel she should come off concept wise as the lady-yordle equivalent of Garen, minus the patriotism and military position.

I feel you there.

You can swap around Home-Gurls skills as much as balance dictates but the whole theme of being a pint-sized diplomat

This is where you lose me.

Diplomat?

I realize that's a current thing. But what does that mean and how does it translate into any meaningful theme for Poppy at a high level?

Things I get the feels for when I thin of Poppy:

Big power, small package. Whether she's the runt of the litter, the outcast, whatever, she's tiny and packs a punch. Contrast, love that shit.
Conviction and loyalty. Maybe she's part of the home guard, maybe she's her own little one-yordle army. Either way, she has her allegiance and it's like an oath that binds her.
Serious. Unlike a lot of yordles, Poppy is probably the least goofy or silly. Maybe she's even stoic. Either way she's not a big-brain like Heimer, nor is she a crazed bomber like Ziggs. She's got grit and isn't down with the nonsense.

Big character reference for me, though not in terms of actual scale :P -- http://i.imgur.com/8YbWLA3.jpg?1

Let me know if I'm off the mark with that.

Diplomat though..

Yes, I realize that it's something in the current iteration of her story. But what does that mean at a high level? A diplomat is a career, it isn't an identifying characteristic of a person's core. You could be an honest, peace loving diplomat. You could be a sneaky, covert ops "diplomat". You could have good, bad or neutral agendas. Either way, this is the least compelling term that currently shows up in the lexicon. I would argue that it's completely arbitrary, and is only compelling on an extremely granular level. Not something I'd build a character off of.

That said, I'm open to ideas. I'm more interested what players feel viscerally when they play or want to play Poppy. What makes her compelling at her core? What makes her speak to the pint-sized terror in all of us? What makes us root for the underdog? What allows us to feel what drives her?

Rainbowgasm11/8/2014, 5:29:42 AM9 votes

I still want to keep the whole theme where she treats combat like a bargaining table.

Poppy "Diplomacy time" Swain "no poppy no!"

Centuros11/11/2014, 12:25:33 AM5 votes

Make sure you keep her pigtails, though. Those are great.

COBRA C0MM4NDER11/10/2014, 4:16:33 AM3 votes

Noxus Poppy says "screw diplomacy". & "Why don't you just lay down your weapons and die."

Aggressive diplomacy is the key to her greatness.

BetterNerfPoppy11/11/2014, 8:04:00 AM3 votes

I'm the biggest Poppy fan for at least 6 miles around my house, so if I didn't get my two cents in, I'd feel like I failed. I've posted multiple times on the forums regarding her, but I'll make it short this time.

Thematically, I feel like her story is significant in and of itself (simple daughter of a working-class yordle, called to greatness by a.) circumstances outside her control and b.) her overwhelming sense of duty). It's her tragic story combined with her stoic response that really drives it home for me. [VO reference opportunity: "I didn't ask for this...", don't miss out!]
She's the only non-comedic yordle ( comes close), and has a matching voice and lines. While she definitely needs a re-do, changing her to be, say, all revenge-driven would drive her straight into the niche. Nothing inspires fear in your enemies quite like a hammer, a stoic resolve, and a strong distaste for dramatic monologues. If you're looking for more references for the stoic, no-nonsense-yet-lovable character take a quick look at Artie from Warehouse 13.
As for stray ideas, I've always imagined her E: Heroic Charge to be really sloppy in it's actual execution. Imagine, if you will, a raging dive through the air onto her enemy, but overestimating the force needed, causing both to fall over on the ground. Goes hand-in-hand with the "little ball of fury" idea we all love. Other stray idea: Certain champs' nearby jokes cause Poppy to say "...I don't get it." or the like. I think that tops, "I don't know any jokes", but leaves the same impression.
If you still haven't decided on a VA, I can't think of many other people who can fit that tiny niche of high-pitched-yet-gruff better than Sarah Silverman. I wonder if she's available...

Thanks for getting our input! I love the champion like no other and I'd be sad if I couldn't at least say something useful.

Jungle Lux God11/8/2014, 4:43:53 PM2 votes

I think Riot sees a lot of value in Poppy's current lore, and I have a feeling they won't dramatically change it. I also think Riot also sees a lot of cool gameplay with Poppy's Heroic Charge (E), and I think that will stay as well. However, I have a feeling like much of the rest of her kit outside of her Q will get changed in some shape or form.

Nameless Hero3/6/2015, 1:06:26 PM2 votes

Poppy is not diplomatic, she does not have language skills but she is an **Ambassador **: Bandle City's representative whose role is to gain support with their foreign allies against Noxus' invasion.

Personally, I always liked how she inspired courage and determination to Galio and that's the thing that I want to see. The feeling that the whole team can turn around the tide of battle when all hope is lost if people would just stick around for 1 last stand. And sorry Iron Stylus but I don't like your picture. Poppy is not a lady of war like Delenn from Babylon 5 or Caitlyn Stark from Game of Thrones. She is a simple peasant girl with no training that inspired a whole nation to fight back.

She is a Joan of Ark.

Nixtarma11/10/2014, 4:02:29 AM2 votes

Another Poppy player pops in.

I am glad I found this thread. Lorewise, I concur with basically everyone else. Her role as a diplomat is fun and unique.

Kitwise, I have two thing main thoughts. First, one thing I value when playing Poppy is that she deals significant magic damage. I enjoy being hard to build against, and I think that this is an important part of her gameplay identity, In addition to her ability to dive. Even if her Q goes, I hope that her ability to deal magic autos remains. Second, it has always bothered me how her W was "Paragon of Demacia" when she was a representative from Bandle City.

Cheers, Poppy fans! -Nixtarma

Nameless Hero3/6/2015, 2:15:05 PM1 votes

But seriously, if we want her to be viable, we need to accept some changes. I don't like her as an assassin as it does not make sense with her backstory so maybe her ultimate should be something that benefits the whole team.

Here's my suggestion.

Poppy's R: Final Stand Passive: Each level will reduce all dmg she receives by half when she is under 15/25/35% health. Active: Poppy sacrifices HALF of her CURRENT Health to emit an area of effect buff for all allies within a range of 400. The buff reduces dmg to allies by 30/50/65% for 4/5/6 seconds. Poppy gains bonus dmg but buff disappears if she dies. 90 seconds cooldown

Gameplay: Activating her ult makes her whole team more tanky and powerful at the cost of her own safety. The small range is to encourage her allies to dive in with her. Activating her ult means that smart enemies will try to focus her to kill the buff = she will draw all the aggro. Teamwise, it would combo with Sivir's ulti, Garen, Amumu and Tristana's W. It would also make her vulnerable to Darius and any kind of cc. Players will have to build tenacity and tank items to make full use of the ult or else they would die early. Smart players need to choose exactly **when ** to use the ult for maximum effect. Activate at the start of the fight and the cost is very high. Activate when she has low health and the cost is minimal.

Objective:

Edit: Changed the ult activation cost and the mechanic