Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

Am I just a Nostalgic Grump?

Zypheit·8/16/2017, 12:32:25 AM·4 votes·649 views

So I posted this comment in response to the new Punches and Plant comic that's featured in the client lobby for me: "So what did Riot do to lose all of their creative team members with an actual sense of characterization? It had to be something a couple years ago at least because overwhelmingly new or reworked champions just do not compare to what was released back in League's heyday."

It's fairly mean spirited but I can't say it's not how I feel. I used to be captivated by the world and characters featured in League of Legends, but it's been years now since that luster began to fade and now everything seems so generic and targeted to the lowest common denominator. It really reminds me of the plateau and decline of World of Warcraft having played from Burning Crusade through Cataclysm. It's not that the title failed but it certainly became less than what it was. The frustrating thing for me is I can't articulate well where my dissatisfaction truly lies I just know that looking at what was produced in the past, the champion Judgements for example, and what is produced now leaves me longing for what once was and does not seem to be any longer.

13 Comments

HonestJohnTheCon8/16/2017, 12:06:11 PM3 votes

Personally, I think Riot's doing a great job with releasing new champs while giving them good lore and personality. Kled is hilarious, Aurelion's sarcastic, and Jhin is just straight up AWESOME. Kayn was cool too, and Ornn seems neat.

Updating lores, yeah, sometimes Riot sucks at that.

Also, Punches and Plants was a community creation, so you can't exactly blame Riot for it.

DrCyanide8/16/2017, 12:45:31 AM2 votes

I think I understand. Old Xerath was a mage who was fascinated by raw, arcane magic. He loved, but tragically lost his love to the very arcane magic he was so entranced by.

His first new lore replaced that man with the "politician ascendant", a slave who wanted political power over all else and didn't do anything to indicate he could do magic related tasks on his own. If anything, he implies that Azir is ignorant to think he's a mage and Azir's father was so proud he just wanted a "magus" in his court. It took an additional lore piece to even hint at him actually being able to use magic, but by then I'd long since lost interest in the official stories.

The lore feels flat to me now. Before it was rich with possibility, but now every champion lore I've read feels like they came out of the same mold.

ChompyWulf8/16/2017, 3:36:03 PM2 votes

As a fellow former WoW player, I label what you describe as "The Ghostcrawler Effect" The guy took over as lead design for WoW as it was going toward Wrath of the Lich King. Undeniably the peak of that games popularity, and he was the architect of its slide. All throughout the ongoing releases of Wrath, from godawful "door bosses" from new instances not given enough server power to support the demand, to class power imbalances, to poor writing and character storytelling, an unsatisfying Cata and even worse Pandaria release...ultimately he guided it all. And he has been lead on LoL since 2014.

While the overall amount and effort of reworked and new lore is appreciable, the tone and changes to so many characters from what they once were that people fell in love with is very comparable to how much of the WoW storytelling soured fans of that series.

Warlord Dienekes8/16/2017, 12:39:26 AM1 votes

I prefer Grognard to nostalgic grump. But both descriptions work.

And you're not alone, I have been very vocal about how I think some of Riot's decisions have been detrimental and some of their writing have been straight up bad.

You'll probably be downvoted to hell and back, but whatever. It's not like downvotes or upvotes actually mean anything.

But if you're willing to risk it, I'd like to see if we can find what was the trigger that started to turn you against the game. What do you think was the heyday of league champion creation? What personalities did you find yourself drawn to?