[2022] Akali Brand New Voiceover Comparison

Hey Everyone!I want to give some thoughts here.
- Generally it is easier to voice out negative sentiment online versus positive ones. I have so far heard Akali players both for and against the VO changes.
- Generally change takes time to get used to and it will take time for those who love the change to voice out their opinions. Its very common to reject change.
- Ashly is a great VA and have some really great work as Akali including her work as part of Tales of Runeterra video.

That being said,
- I very much understand that the Base VO and the multitude of small variations that makes Akali distinct in our minds (laugh etc), is very beloved and has its own apeal.
- We want Akali to stand in the middle of Zed and Shen as Chaotic Good. The new VO does make Akali more heroic, but potentially lost some of the chaotic/anti-hero elements.

As it stand, it would be hard to re-record lines (with these directions I think Ashly would nail!), but this is not impossible to keep in mind for future(might be far future).Thus the two options we have here are:

1. Keep changes and hope everyone will grow into it/ have more time to appreciate as changes takes time to settle in.
2. Revert to old VOs and wait for a more suited time/ potentially revisit Akali's VO as a whole sometime in the future.

Currently, I'm thinking about keeping it up on PBE and letting it soak to get more feedbacks from both sides before make any decisions. Though, we don't have too long to wait. I would love hear constructive feedbacks from both sides.

For those that love the new lines, let me know! so far I've heard that the old one might have leaned too hard in the Chaotic and not enough for the Good Aligned part.

For those that are for the old VOs, would ask you to give the new one some more time to soak and would love more constructive feedback here.

(note* I do think the VOs for SG Akali is amazing, so I'm not in anyways talking about any changes to that..only base Akali)

Hey All! Wanted to follow up on the developing decision and where my head is at right now.

I've been both disappointed and delighted by the feedbacks! I really do appreciate people taking the time to discuss this as it shows how much the community cares. Many of you raise very valid points on both sides (on reddit, discord and other communication facets). However before going into decisions, I do see some sentiment here that I would like to clarify.

1. Both questioning whether there are positive sentiment and questioning that this is already a made decision. Both of these statements are not only countering to what I stated, but I do take it as an attack on my character. There will be times, when I may get things wrong...however I will not sit here and lie about the state of where things are. This doesn't really encourage more open conversation. Its easy to reject truth that you do not agree with, however that doesn't make it less true. So the honest fact is: Yes there are people that love both VOs. I know on Reddit it is easier to be negative than positive. Secondly, when I say we are making a decision, it is just that. There are multitude of things we need to discuss, figure out logistics, discuss value. There isn't a "lets tell everyone we are still waiting on decision, but really we just want to delay it to later". Often, if we have a decision that we know will impact a portion of player sentiments negatively, its really better to just get it out of the way. Yes, there will be times when we have to make tough calls that may be harder to discuss in the open, however this is not one of those times. The decision is open and its actually scary to have the VO up! Because the longer its out there, the more people will be attached to the new VO. The truth is, attachment to VO does come in to play! The ask here is definitely not asking everyone to "get used to" the new VO (if that was the case I promise you I will be direct about the value I see for doing so), its as simple as I'm asking, to give it a chance to evaluate it not off of first perception. I was one of those people that cannot watch subbed anime till I gave it a chance and now I can't go back *No hate pls XD*
2. Reaching out directly for feedback, really helps me to see both sides as well as see if there are value proposition I may have missed myself. There will be times when we ask players for a vote (Champ Updates) and there will be times when voting (especially on just Reddit), is not the best path forward. Thus, it's super awesome to see folks taking the time to elaborate on more of the details, like how the VO makes them feel. As you know, VOs can be objective but things that arise emotions can be very subjective. These are incredibly valuable to me to understand better how different people perceive the changes. There will be times when these things that made us love a champion over the times becomes a core part of their identity, things we should fight to protect but there will also be times when things that we come to love might actually be counter to what we would like to present to players as creatives. In Akali's case we will consider all of this.

Didn't mean to word vomit all over and sound like I'm not trying to listen...TL:DR we heard you :) And those of you that put in time and effort are much appreciated <33I know it might be a big ask, but as a long time member of the community (even before I start to work at Riot), put trust that I will listen and consider everything! Its not going to be easy to trust, but I hope my actions and the actions of my team will show that we have y'alls back. After all we want a caring thriving LoL community too! For many of us, its the love for the community that propel us to work here.

p.s. this was a very vulnerable post for me to write uwu go easy on me...
Also... no be mad when we try stuff on PBE >w< I'm hoping its a space where devs can openly try things!!