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The problem with the Kayle/Morgana VGU is that they were done together

Gixia·2/25/2019, 2:05:10 AM·11 votes·5,849 views

So by now the flaws with both Kayle's and Morgana's reworks are growing fairly well known. Whether you like or hate the new designs (I hate Kayle's/like Morg's), it's hard to deny both feel unfinished. Many of Morgana's (most noticeably Blackthorn/Ghost Bride) skins are missing details and effects that they used to have. Kayle skins don't have new VFX despite being 975 skins that are supposed to get them. Aether Wing Kayle doesn't have the new/unique animations you'd expect from a legendary. Even if you like Kayle losing her helmet, the animation where she loses it and it just vanishes is janky as all hell. Etc. There's a myriad of actual problems with them all even if you do happen to be a fan of their new looks, and with each passing day it becomes increasingly unlikely that any of these issues will be fixed as time to make changes runs out. So knowing that most, if not all of these problems are going to go live and likely become permanent, I think it's pertinent to ask how it happened, and after thinking about it a bit, I feel the answer is clear.

Doing a simultaneous VGU for both champs was an incredibly terrible idea.

This isn't even just a screw up Riot made, as it's something the community wanted long before they were officially announced (though as the ones actually doing the work and making the calls, they do deserve the brunt of the blame for making the decision). In theory, the idea sounds super hype, as Kayle and Morgana are inextricably entwined in lore, and at the very least I don't think it'd be possible to rework either one without at least changing the other one's lore (and any interactions and VO likely would have at least needed to be planned together). At the end of the day though, actually doing both VGUs simultaneously was only ever going to cause problems, exacerbated by the decision to turn Kayle into some 4 form monstrosity.

Like, just look at the number of skins between the two of them. Ignoring their bases that's seventeen skins. Probably closer to 26 once you take into account all the work that has to go into Kayle's multiple forms. Can you imagine if they had two new champions and 17-26 new skins at the same time as them? Can you really imagine that kind of scenario and not picture most of those skins being half-assed just to get them out the door? Hell, even half-assed, the amount of work that would be required to fix up all those skins is enormous, because they just can't possibly have enough artists to get the job done right while also needing to work on the rest of the new skins/champs/VGUs that came out recently/will be coming out in the following months. Hell, I'm pretty sure it would take at least another month if not more to fix all the problems at this point. So the end result is more work being put out for a lesser result.

Kayle and Morgana's reworks are looking to come out pretty sub-par, but it's not because Riot and all the people who put the work into them were lazy, it's because whoever made the final call to VGU them simultaneously made an extremely poor decision.

12 Comments

QMighty2/25/2019, 4:59:46 PM6 votes

Yeah, that seems like a solid theory. They did say last year that the art teams were really overworked between doing Akali/Aatrox/Nunu/Ezreal all in a row (and as a result the latter three suffered in terms of skin quality) so it would make sense for 17-skin Morg and Kayle to get really shafted. Let's hope they learn from this mistake and don't try this again (looking at you, Diana and Leo)

DeadUnborn2/25/2019, 2:54:27 PM3 votes

this actually makes sense as long as we assume the same they took the same time to work on these two champions as they do for all other reworks

Mistiya2/26/2019, 10:54:18 AM2 votes

It really does feel half-@ssed compared to what they did for other reworked champions. I honestly can't believe that no one at Riot was able to take Sinful Succulence Morgana to a cool place. That should be a 720 skin, it is nothing but a model swap and not even a very impressive one.

At least they changed their minds on Exiled Morgana.

Madjack012/26/2019, 11:12:20 AM2 votes

Would they really do a mistake like this though?

I mean from what I've heard they constantly work on stuff that never shows fruit until much, much later. So the notion of them pushing the redesigns at the same time instead of developing one and then shelving it until the other is ready seems like either a rookie mistake or something that has been done out of greed (gaining profit from the invested work as soon as possible instead of long term thinking).

I want to believe that you are right and it indeed was just a mistake. Currently however I'm more inclined to believe that they just intentionally rushed things for profit and underestimated the perceptive eye of the community, as the gaming industry has shown to be prone to in the past.

AbiwonKenabi2/25/2019, 9:35:00 PM2 votes

I think they had separate teams, just like Xayah and Rakan did when they were released simultaneously. But Kayle and Morg are definitely not light in the skin department. I would have rather seen them delayed a month or two (maybe even put behind the next Champ in the pipeline) to make sure they get it right. If Riot had just been up front about it, saying something like "hey, we aren't happy with them visually and want to delay them so we make sure to get them right", I think fans would have been understanding about it.

GreenLore2/26/2019, 1:52:23 PM1 votes

They were said to have 2 teams working on them though, so they actually had the resources for 2 VGUS.

The reason why some of their skins are a bit lackluster is more likely because they just have so many skins to begin with.(and that Kayle has a form change as she levels up).

You could see the same with Nunu, who also lacked some new skill effects on his demolisher skin despite it being a 975-skin.

Pyrop332/28/2019, 1:45:09 AM1 votes

I'd be more than okay if they openly admitted to the flaws and skin inconsistencies. (I can speak more for Morgana personally) If they delayed the updates by another month or two to polish these girls off i'd feel better. It's the silence that bothers me, it's like a chill that they realize we've noticed and they don't know how to respond.

Maisanai3/2/2019, 7:12:05 PM1 votes

which skins are the issue for you? all of them?

Sukishoo3/2/2019, 7:18:21 PM1 votes

About Aetuer wing: To be fair they didn't give gatekeeper galio unique animations in his update either. So need to go back and fix where it all started.