Gangplank's new voice over isn't fun anymore, and here's why that's a problem

(TLDR at the bottom) (Also UPDATED for GP's Re-Rework at bottom) (UPDATED for Poppy's rework at the bottom)

Like most everyone else, i really like Gangplank's new kit. It's interactive, fun, and keeps the core of what makes GP the pirate we love. However, the new voice over raises a big question for me; does Riot understand why we like certain champions as characters? Based on this, the answer is decidedly no.

Looking back, I think that the best reworks/VUs Riot has done were Master YI, Karthus, and Nassus. What did those champions have in common? They were all bare-bones characters with about 8 lines of dialogue each and, in Nassus's case, very poorly acted lines at that (sorry traditionalists, but it's true). Riot basically rebuilt these champions from the ground up, and the results were pretty awesome. Now, let's look at the less successful reworks, with champions that had clearly established personalities.

First, the primary topic, Gangplank- I completely, 100% understand why they updated his lines of dialogue. The old lines were disconnected from anything else in the game, and could have belonged to any pirate character ever made. Even if, as i personally feel, the new lines sound like someone doing an awful pirate impression, a new voice-over was understandable. However, Riot forgot to consider if people **liked **the old voice-over, and what it was they liked about it. For me, and a lot of people, the charm of Gangplank was that you built a ton of crit and crit chance on him, and played a goofy playstyle no one else had (this is mostly kept in the kit rework). His voice lines went perfectly with this- Gangplank is a fun guy! When he signals for a cannon barrage across the map, he laughed as if no one had ever had more fun that Gangplank was, at that moment, calling in for a cannon barrage. However, the new narration completely changes that personality. I appreciate Riot's token effort to keep the laugh when he ults (though i find it distressing that they had to be reminded to keep it in), the effect pales in comparison. Listen to that 'laugh'; what exactly are we supposed to feel? With the old one, you couldn't help but smile along. I don't know what to feel now.

This is a problem that started a couple years ago with the now infamous Trundle rework. At that time, Riot had zero understanding of why people liked or played Trundle, so they essentially made a new champion who had Trundle's kit but no personality. While Riot members have clearly and repeatedly stated that they've 'Learned form their mistakes', i have my doubts. The old Trundle, who had humor and charm, is at least playable through his (now unpurchasable) traditional skin, but those will never be available again (for reasons I've never found to be satisfactory, and boil down to "Those are for in case we think we're making a mistake, and we never make those now."). Reworks never got as bad as this one again, but similar mistakes are still being made.

A more middling case is the Sion remake. Like everyone else, I think he's 'cool' now. Imposing, huge axe, well done kit, grimdark voice lines that never shut up- what's not to like? Well, for several people I know, the reason they chose to play Sion in the first place was for... the cheesy 'Ahnold' VO. I know Riot doesn't want to believe this, but a lot of people like campy charm in the champions they play. Is Sion fun to play now? Certainly. Is it still 'Sion'? Not really, just like Trundle isn't really Trundle anymore, and Gangplank isn't really Gangplank- it's Gangplank's father, from the old lore.

It's clear from these examples, and from the most recent champions, that Riot will never have a champion with a 'fun', or heaven forbid, 'campy', personality. The example Rioters will inevitably hold up is , but Gnar has no comprehensible voice lines. The closest a champion comes to this kind of charm would be , but it's been years since his release. In the meantime, we've had a mindless monster, a ghost of vengeance, a vivisecting tentacle monster, a true neutral deity who cares about nothing, and a devil catfish that eats souls. Now, these are all fine champions with fun kits, but consider what kind of world this game inhabits now. There's no fun to be had- everyone is either murdered in Zaunite slums, skinned alive by pirates, hunted by void monsters, or abducted to join an ever-growing horde of Shadow Isle ghosts. A world this grimdark could be bearable if the characters are charming or likeable enough (one of my favorite manga, Dorohedoro, works like this), but where are these charming characters?

So, why is this a problem? It shows that Riot doesn't really understand, and can't be bothered to understand, why players like the champions they play.** If you ever enjoyed playing as , i would be extremely concerned right now**. I guarantee he will have none of the charm he had before, and none of the new voice lines will be memorable or creative. At the very least, there was a long thread where Rioters DID ask what people liked about Taric, so there's maybe a little hope there. But what about the upcoming Yorick, Mordekaiser, and Urgot reworks? Poppy is another blank-slate champion like Nassus or Karthus, but Yorick and company have clearly defined personalities that will almost certainly not be preserved, and by the time the VOs are recorded (months before release to the PBE) it will be far too late for any change. Additionally, given the tone of the new stories Riot are writing (credit where credit's due, I love that we're finally getting lore after years of broken promises), there will likely never be a champion that's unself-consciously silly again.

TLDR: Gangplank's fun kit overhaul but joyless VO continues a pattern of VU's greatly improving kits, but destroying the personalities the players loved. The world of League has become grim and joyless, every champion who had charm is being reworked to get rid of it, and it doesn't look like Riot understands what players like about their favorite champions. Be very concerned for the upcoming reworks if you liked those champions at all.

**UPDATE **(Post-Resurrection): Having sampled the new 'official' GP VO (http://www.surrenderat20.net/2015/08/82-pbe-update.html), here are my thoughts:

I actually like it a bit better than the 'Captain' VO, if only because the lines are acted with 'emotion' and was a lot less boring. Yeah, the lines are pretty grimdark, but it resonates OK with me because the performance is more interesting and engaging. The laugh is still, at best, a C-, especially while Ulting. It sounds like he's having a little fun, at least.

So... slight improvement? But my main points still stand.

POPPY UPDATE: I was pretty happy with the Poppy rework. Her character was pretty endearing, and Riot avoided the temptation of making her another serial killer (Like Jihn! SOON* TO BE RELEASED). I did notice that there were many people unhappy with it for one reason or another, and i can only assume this is because the personality that players mentally created to match her 8 lines of dialogue had no chance of being replicated by any rework. While i'm happy with how it turned out, it's interesting to note what a vocal minority took issue with.