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Runeterra Vs Retconterra - Constructive Pros and Cons

Impetual·3/23/2015, 6:52:33 AM·11 votes·2,371 views

I thought it would be cool to discuss the pros and cons of the lore retcon in a constructive matter.

Disclaimer: My opinion is pretty one sided. If you have a different opinion, POST IT! The point is to have constructive discussion about both pre-retcon and post-retcon Runeterra and figure out if there's a way for us to have best of both worlds!

Maybe some Rioters will take some constructive criticism into consideration.

Share your constructive opinions, whatever they may be about!

Anyways, here we go:

Personally, I really think that the lore content concerning champion releases post retcon has somehow felt much less connected to the world, as we have yet to see any factions interact with each other. For some reason, champions released after the retcon don't seem to have any interactions with champions outside of their own faction.

Except maybe Bard (if we knew anything concrete about something that he actually did)...and Gnar (does he have a faction?)

It would be cool to see the different factions interact again, but I guess that's kinda hard for Riot to pull off as each faction has yet to be redefined to fit into the post-retcon Runeterra.

It also seems like lore concerning the development of the world itself has been pretty much abandoned. It was really cool how the Journal of Justice tied stories into the release of the dominion map. It would be really cool if Riot could do something like that again. (I'm talking more specifically about the lore build up and international importance that affected many champions and nations aspect) Not really sure why they discontinued such a cool narrative device.

To be fair though, we have seen some pretty cool champion videos post retcon...they just don't seem to contain much story. They pretty much seem more concerned with showcasing what champions are at a glance, rather than showing us very much character depth.

Although, that may just be because it's harder to create character depth in a video than in written form. (not sure if it is or not, just a hypothesis)

Also, I gotta admit, I pretty much lost the will to play consistently when I found out Summoners don't exist in Runeterra anymore. They were a really cool interesting part of the lore that made each game feel much more immersive.

Somehow, Summoners existing in Runeterra just made the game feel better to play.

Now, Summoner just means a person/gamer who plays League of Legends, when it used to actually have an in-game meaning as well. It no longer feels as fun to be Summoner.

Sorry if my post was pretty one-sided, but seriously, it would be cool to make a thread that analyzes the pros and cons of the Retcon, so that maybe (fingers crossed) Rioters can discuss and perhaps even alter their lore direction based on constructive feedback and suggestions from the community.

A man can dream.

31 Comments

OneMoreDaySK3/23/2015, 1:45:40 PM18 votes

Pros:

  • Potential world building
  • Sion's rework was good

Cons:

  • What lore? Announced way too early without anything to hold it up.
  • When lore? Apparently Soon(tm)
  • Who lore? Um, Narrative team, some of us would like to talk to you all. Not all of us are wielding pitchforks and torches, but if you keep hiding under your bed, that number will keep shrinking. (As if it already hasn't by now)
  • Where lore? How is the world put together at this point? All we see are shiny visual effects, so props to the animation team, but we have no idea where each set-piece is in relation to each other. How many days does it take to walk from Noxus to Demacia, etc. etc?
  • Old Trundle has been taken by body snatchers. He was idealistic who took on his kind's curse and turned cynical later. He is now a power-hungry king of the trolls who did a team-up with Sejuani for more power.
  • Old Skarner has been taken by body snatchers. The last of his kind due to the clashing of Noxus and Demacia, which also resulted in the Dominion map Crystal Scar, he is now generic raid boss #324. I miss his kind.
  • Old Xerath has been taken by body snatchers. Once he was a man obsessed with the arcane, to the point where he lost everything he had loved in pursuit of magic (especially powerful was the last interaction with his wife, after which he couldn't go back). Now he reminds me of Jafar or an FMA villain.
  • Lack of meaningful interaction with the narrative team. The most we've gotten from them is the Soon(tm) message, and that it'll be big. Wouldn't say that is bs, but it really feels like a hype train that's gonna crash hard.
  • What ever happened to player contributions with the Freljord. If I recall correctly, Lissandra's team won... and nothing came from that.
  • Minimal or non-existent character interaction. When's the last time you've seen two champs actually communicate (JoJ anyone)? What's the last flavor text you've seen (need to verify the removed "Flipping Ninja buff") that ties two characters together? Nowadays, every champ is in their own shiny little sealed package separate from others.
  • I have less reason not to believe that my favorite champ, Sona is not the bloodthirsty in the whole lot. Old lore had her join to try and pacify / control the etwahl due to the tragic mishap in her backstory, but now that the IoW is retgone, why is she fighting?

As you can tell, I do have a chip in my shoulder concerning lore.

DrCyanide3/23/2015, 5:20:24 PM13 votes

I really like the the stuff like...

  • Journal about Rek'Sai
  • The Sion Relaunch.
  • The story telling of Xerath's new lore (first person perspective, giving his thoughts, giving insights into the culture)

I really don't like stuff like...

  • Xerath's personality change (he's "The Politician Ascendant" not "The Magus Ascendant")
  • Azir's lore (it feels boring)
  • Kalista's lore ("Beatlejuice, Beatlejuice, Beatlejuice!" was all I could think off durring it)
  • Ezreal's personality change ("he's gained the reputation of a hero, much to his embarrassment."?!? Who is this champion?)
  • The videos (they're pretty, but shallow)

As for the summoners, I'm kinda indifferent. I'm one of those people that hates Superman because he's too OP, and I feel like summoners were right on the edge of being too OP for good storytelling. On the other hand, I don't think that summoners should have been completely removed. I think they should exist as the way to bring in summoner spells, as a support to the champions, rather than manipulator of the champions.

Nameless Hero3/23/2015, 7:09:46 AM9 votes

Let's be fair to Riot. The retcon hasn't happened yet.

What you are seeing now is a placeholder for these champions' lore until Riot sorts out his grand narrative issues. The new videos also have a lot of visuals and as little hard facts as possible in order not to clash with the New Lore that Riot is still working on.

Lots of people are unhappy about this and they are justified when they say that Lore has been in limbo for so long but it is unfair to say that the NEW lore sucks because it hasn't happened yet.

For my part, I think that they are trying to tie in the back stories, implement faction allegiances, champion interactions, implement ingame quests like Ashe/Sej/Lissandra and maybe implement new voice over lines which requires a lot of coordination with the different teams, programming and updating the client and is expensive and time consuming as fuck which explains the lateness. I'm not condoning and justifying anything, I'm just trying to be constructive and logical

SchaakaKon3/24/2015, 5:42:09 PM3 votes

When Braum first came out, I said it and it still holds true since, Braums lore is told as a legend to the then young princess Ashe. League of Legends is going to be a game where Runeterras legends through out history fight each other in a super smash bros brawl.

It would be awesome if we got a story of, lets say, Renekton in Noxus having a joyful time playing with all the newish age weaponry and viseversa Nasus in Piltover acting like a grumpy old man to all the new tech.

Tesla Effect3/23/2015, 11:26:58 PM3 votes

{quoted}

Also, I gotta admit, I pretty much lost the will to play consistently when I found out Summoners don't exist in Runeterra anymore. They were a really cool interesting part of the lore that made each game feel much more immersive.

Somehow, Summoners existing in Runeterra just made the game feel better to play.

Now, Summoner just means a person/gamer who plays League of Legends, when it used to actually have an in-game meaning as well. It no longer feels as fun to be Summoner.

I made an Idea about bringing back Summoners into the lore of Runeterra again while pleasing both the fans and the developers. Check it out

Killer of Poros3/24/2015, 1:10:31 AM2 votes

They need to have a way that allows the characters gain more from each other. There doesn't need to be complete closure such as Rengar slaying Kha'zix or vice versa, for obvious reasons, but the different characters have become one dimensional entities without growth. To me that stagnates the lore in the worst possible sense.

Nybx4life3/24/2015, 3:24:40 PM2 votes

Let's see: Pro: -Animation intros of champs are looking quite nice; Kalista, Amumu, Rek'Sai, Bard are examples

-Some stories are nice as they give other champ perspectives; Rengar's POV of Gnar's lore story is cool, Jinx's and Braum's lore stories are also good.

-They have the POTENTIAL to do it great.

Con: -Lack of material. Back to the "DC New 52" argument; when DC announced a retcon of its universe, they were ready with the comics of ALL their heroes to start up. Riot needed to have been ready to roll this stuff out, and that's a major gripe of everyone here, I think.

-Cohesion. Some champs had reasons to fight on the regular; Demacia and Noxus guys in general. Others don't; Sona, Ezrael(?), Nami, and MAYBE Bard. Sprinkle me on some crackers and call me salty, but I'm VERY uncomfortable having a game like this broken down to Super Smash Bros. It doesn't have the CONTEXT to do so (yes, Smash Bros had a reason why Nintendo all stars from various games came together to duke it out...they were toys being played with), and I think it needs something that brings these champs together to fight.

-Champions. While I personally feel there wasn't a great amount of detail placed into the world of Runeterra pre-retcon, there was a solid story provided with the champions. Those stories, some STRONGLY tied to the now non-existent League, made their personalities and who they are. An example would be Jax Jax; although he was a mercenary, he was a NOBODY before the League, an arena to display his skills. This is in contrast to other mercenary-type champions like Miss Fortune MissFortune or Sivir Sivir who are known for being good at that trade. Without it, I don't see him being a champion at all. There's others who have similar arguments, but others can fill in those blanks.

-Lore. While I do commend the team for having some good presentation, I will have to deduct it for not actually providing anything worthy for some champions in actual lore. Looking at my argument for the retcon, Gnar's Gnar lore told through Rengar's POV is a great story...that told us little about Gnar we don't already know through gameplay. In gameplay, he seems little more than a Pokemon. Other champions suffer the same issue: Kalista Kalista for example has a great short video that introduces people to her, and her quotes in game suggest an inner conflict, but her damn summarized lore doesn't give her anything! This might end up in a "quality vs quantity argument", but one piece of hors d'oeuvres, regardless of how delicious it is, isn't filling at all. On that note...

-Summarized lore. I get that people want tl'dr versions of damn near everything, but don't put that in a character's story. It annoys me because then I feel that the Narrative team is lazy. I'd honestly wait for a full fledged story that gives substance to a character, than some two or three sentences that describes them. Tristana Tristana is a pretty huge offense to me. You could honestly leave her lore page empty and let her in-game quotes summarize her personality. Lore EVENTS may get a summary on the client, but not the champions.

Impetual3/23/2015, 8:43:28 AM2 votes

C'mon Forum goers, feel free to join in and discuss what you like/dislike about the retcon! What are the pros and cons?

BlazeRiver3/24/2015, 3:19:33 AM1 votes

Pros -Sion's new story

Cons -feels like nothing was put into the world in place of the IOW -needs clarification on what happened and what didn't -needs a way to truly feel that this isn't lore that would have been consistent with the pre-retcon world/needed the IOW gone

I'm pretty biased towards the pre-retcon world. Usually, I just ignore the fact that officially, the IOW doesn't exist. The lore has been with me long before I started playing the game, and personally it's what kept me going before. Now, however, I've mostly abandoned the game.