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[2021] Riot's mission to advance the lore with the Sentinels of Light event is heavily marred by skin politics


Original Post — Direct link

Let me open this by prefacing that I am only talking about lore of this event. Not the skins, not the game mode, not the champion release, etc.

Initially, I was very excited for this year-long event when it was announced back in January. We would get a Runeterra-wide event that would push the stories of all regions of Runeterra forward at once. Now that we're in the thick of it, it just feels like an eye roll because the champion selection for this lore-advancing event is so heavily and obviously affected by who will sell skins for it.

How convenient that the saviors are Runeterra are popular assassins and marksmen; including, for some reason, a thief and gambler like Graves, a murderous feral jungle cat like Rengar, and a vengeful, hateful reincarnation like Pyke. Also convenient that the one "unpopular" sentinel champion who sticks out like a sore thumb in terms of champion popularity has its skin sales going to charity and not Riot, but that's a discussion for another day. No matter what Riot wants to write off as reasons for why these champions want to join Senna's team of sentinels, even if they are good reasons, it doesn't make sense that other champions -- champions that wanted to protect Runeterra pre-Viego -- like Soraka, Taric, Braum are nowhere to be found right now. Does it make sense that champions like Graves, Pyke, Rengar are going to step up and save the world, and champions like Soraka and Taric aren't? It makes even less sense that other Shadow Isles champions like f*cking Yorick, Maokai, Elise are nowhere to be found right now. Why is Yorick not a main character in this event? The Black Mist comes and Vayne and Graves are main characters and Yorick and Maokai are MIA. Why should skin politics affect the canon lore of Runeterra? This event just doesn't feel believable. Like, I don't believe that this is the story that the writers would have picked to push Runeterra's lore forward. This feels like what the writers threw together when given a list of champion names that would get skins.

Another thought... what happens after this event? Pyke goes back to murdering everyone that's crossed him? Graves goes back to being a thief and an outlaw? Or do these champions suddenly have completely different lore post-event because they needed to sell a skin for a big event? The first option isn't really logical (Is outlaw -> savior -> outlaw a believable story arc?) and the second option may piss off some hardcore mains as the character essentially has a new personality.

I also don't think the choices for the Ruined champions are particularly great either. Two of the mentally strongest champions in Runeterra -- Karma and Pantheon -- are able to be ruined by Viego, but mere mortals like Graves, Vayne, aren't? It's kind of a blow to Karma's and Pantheon's characters as they were so easily corrupted by Viego. Furthermore, these mortals are gonna take them on and win? That's an even bigger blow to Karma and Pantheon. Karma, who is supposed to have the mental strength of all of the Karmas that came before her, and Pantheon, the unbreakable spear fueled by will, get corrupted by an evil twink and then gets their ass beat by a mortal like Vayne or Graves? Ouch.

Honestly, I think the event is cool for all other aspects outside of lore, but this is not the way to push Runeterra's lore forward.

TL;DR: We already know that naturally benevolent champions like Soraka, Braum, and Taric or major Shadow Isles champions like Elise, Maokai, and Yorick aren't going to sell as many skins as Pyke, Rengar, Graves, Riven, Diana, etc. But if Riot wants to make a big event that affects Runeterra's canon lore, Riot needs to stick to their guns, use logic, and give attention to champions that make the most sense -- regardless of who will bring in the most profits. If Riot's not willing to do that, just have the big events affect the lore of alternate universes like Spirit Blossom.

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over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Hey all, Reav3 here, Creative Lead of this Event. Sorry I didn't respond to this earlier but I just now got on reddit this morning and checked out this thread. I'm probably insane for even responding in this thread since I think a lot of people in this thread won't care what my response is, and will assume bad intentions no matter what I say here, but hey I like talking to players and I'm also apparently a masochist (I also think this will reach a lot of players that are genuinely interested in the answer here)

So there's a lot covered in this thread and I will try to answer as much as I can. Let's start with the main question, which I don't think is specifically about "Skin politics" since events like this and spirit blossom are massive events that stretch WAY farther than just skin. I think the real question being asked here is "Did Riot care about event ROI (Return on Investment) when choosing the Champions that got skins? ' ' The answer to that is that of course we did. These events are massive events that take a ton of resources and time to create, so of course we are going to care about ROI, so that we can continue to make these types of massive events in the future. I love this game and our IP/lore and loved working on both this and Spirit Blossom and would love for us to continue to do massive events like this in the future, so of course ROI is going to matter to an extent. However, we would never let ROI drive us to choosing champions we felt ruined our lore, or champions we felt didn't make sense in the narrative. We spent weeks finalizing the cast of characters that would show up in the event as well and the champions that would receive skins. We had a huge list we worked on with the narrative team of Champions narrative would be excited to join the sentinels or be ruined (Vayne was actually the highest champion on narratives list of Champions they felt would make the most sense to join the Sentinels and for her story to progress as a result) We then used that long list and paired down a list of Champions that made sense from a skins prospective, trying to get a good mix of high, medium and low popularity champs for the event, but every Champion chosen was from a list we worked on with narrative.

Now let's talk about the chosen champions. Before we even started curating the list I mentioned above the high level direction was for the Sentinels to feel like a ragtag group of Champions of various moral alignments that band together to fight Viego. There are a couple reasons I was excited about this direction that I will go into now. First of all, the Sentinels are a secret organization that operates in the shadows similar to the Assassins in the Assassin's Creed games. A Vast majority of Runeterra have no idea they exist. Also Senna and Lucian aren't aware of a vast majority of the Champions in the game. It’s not like they are aware of all the Champions that make perfect sense to join the Sentinels and can call them up on the phone and ask them to join. Runeterra is massive, and the Sentinels have very little time, and go to the various regions for very specific tasks, and can only warp from one Sentinel base to another. They run into different Champions by doing this. It’s not like the put out a radio signal across all Runeterra asking and one that gets the message to join. They don’t have the means or time to go all around Runeterra finding the perfect Champions to join. I think it’s a lot more believable and realistic if it feels like a ragtag group of Sentinels they happened to run into as they travel around Runeterra trying to to stop Viego. We could have easily made a group of equally popular Sentinels that were all morally good aligned, and the perfect champions to join, but that would have been predictable and boring imo and lead to a lot less interesting interactions and dynamics between the champions, especially over a 15-20 hour long visual novel. We were heavily inspired by things like Guardians of the Galaxy and n Mass Effect 2, where a group of various morally aligned characters have to put their differences aside to fight a world-ending threat. When Magneto joins the X-men, for example, it's impactful for 2 reasons. One Reason is that you know the X-men must be desperate to work with him, but also you know the threat is serious enough for Magneto to put all his baggage aside and join the X-men. To me that just leads to better storytelling. This is just my opinion of course, different people like different types of stories and storytelling, just wanted to clear up that we had a goal for the Sentinels to feel like a ragtag group of champions with vastly different morality from the beginning, before we ever even go to the skin selection phase of discovery for this event. The champions chosen for skins were filtered through that high level direction.

TL;DR Yes event ROI mattered in choosing the champions that got skins but not to the extent that we chose champions that we felt would be bad for the lore or world. We felt we could make a great story with Champions that made sense from both a narrative and champion popularity/resonance angle. The goal from day 1 was to create a ragtag group of Champions of Various morality that must put their differences aside in the face of a world ending threat.

I’m sure many of you won’t believe this anyway, or write this off as some PR bullsh*t or something, but I wasn’t asked to write this by anyone at Riot, I just enjoy talking to players and felt like giving you all my honest response.

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by hellhound39

Thanks for the response, we appreciate it. My only question is will there be any links to piltover or Zaun, it seems a little odd that they’re left out of this as far as representation for Ruined or Sentinels.

I don't want to spoil the story ahead of time especially for a chapter that comes out 2 weeks from now, but while u acquire Graves in P/Z he is not the sentinel(s) you meet with in P/Z. I'll just leave it at that for now

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Masalar

I do appreciate you responding, but I want to try and express why it can still feel bad as player when you choose certain champs for events like this even if you have a good and valid “explanation” for it. And that’s the difference between and explanation and a justification. If unpopular champ A makes perfect sense for a story, but super popular champ B could also sort of probably be used, it feels like the better story would be told with A, and the lore would explain it. But since B makes more money you go with B (which is understandable even if not always enjoyable). But since the story isn’t a perfect when told with B, you’re not giving us an explanation for why the story is using them, you’re justifying why you’re using them instead of A. And the story will pretty much always feel worse when told that way.

When you guys tried to tell us why Viego had the appearance he does we already had a searchable history of male champ design. He was going to be a shirtless pretty boy pretty much guaranteed no matter what appearance would work best with the lore. So trying to tell us why didn’t leave (some of) us feeling satisfied, it just felt like skin sales once again driving the narrative.

It makes it hard to get invested in a story because it guarantees that narrative will almost always have their hands tied to a degree that means we’ll get the best they can do within skin sale limitations and not just the best they can do.

And I totally understand why and you guys do need to have events like this be profitable in order to keep doing these types of events. But it doesn’t mean we’ll love getting a lesser story even if we know and understand why.

And if you want to debate whether or not the story/characters we get are “lesser” than what we’d get if skin sales weren’t the driving force instead of narrative I don’t think you can change my mind there, (and my comment history clearly backs that up). But I like to think I’d be open minded enough that good reasoning and evidence would change my perspective.

Right but I think your A and B example is very subjective. I personally was very excited to see a story with these Champions and I think others will be as well. I think different players as well as different writers here at riot will have different opinions on who they think will make a more exciting story. The main writer of the event for example, was the MOST excited about Graves being in the story then any other Champion and felt he would add a lot to the story. Other writers and players will have different opinions. I think it's impossible to just say "These specific champions would 100% make a better story then these other specific champions" It's all very subjective

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Spideraxe30

I can tell from the tone of this post and your other responses you’re being sincere and I honestly appreciate how open you are about strategy and your thinking behind decision making. I want to ask if you think the scope of the event can really do this story justice since this seems like the apocalypse and everyone reacts to the apocalypse so it might be a little jarring not knowing what X champ is doing during this

I think for the event story yes. The in-client experience is long and is from the Sentinels POV, not the entire world. I think for the Sentinels and champions in the main story, and for many of the main characters we will do them justice. Obv different champions all over the world are having their own experiences that we don't see from the Sentinels POV and we can always touch on those in the future (like how we recently released a story about what Hecarim is doing during all this since the Sentinels never run into him directly.) Like I don't think you needed to know what was happening all over the galaxy for ME2 to be a good story, for example.

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by BADxW0LF1

Can I ask why Vayne was chosen yet again to be included in a big league event since she was also in the Spirit Blossom event? Out if all the Champs you have in this game, she just gets two in a row and even your only two big in client events. It just seems unfair (and I know you guys don't really care about fairness for champ skins, just who fits the theme best) to give your ONLY two big in client lore events to the same champ.

I explained in the response. Vayne was the number one choice for Champions that would make the most sense to join the Sentinels and to advance her lore

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by moumerino

Wow thank you for taking the time writing this! Honestly I picked up on Guardians of the Galaxy vibes right away, and I love it, I just wish we got at least one truly good champion of light for the event. If we're talking Mass Effect, someone like Liara, Tali, and Garrus.

I hope it will be explained how Pyke and Rengar fit into this whole thing.

Irelia is truly good. Senna, Lucian and Gwen are pretty close to truly good as well, Senna for sure. And yes it will be explained how and why they join in the visual novel

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by KingKensei

Alright if money isn't the reason, why include champs like Darius, Samira and Poppy in a cinematic if they're not even gonna be in the event at all? Could have Shown Draven and shyvana getting ruined cause you know their ruined skins.

Seems like shitty bait and switch tactics to me generate false hype and hope for their playerbase

I'd much rather Poppy not have been in the cinematic so I could trust Riot was just gonna ignore her existence again than get my hopes up for them to be ripped away for dollar store Bayonetta

The SS thing happened like 3-4 moths before the current SoL event. This is also why Poppy and Vayne are no longer together. They don't just hang out for 3-4 months after that moment. The SS was about Viego coming after Senna and when he starts to pull the soul out it triggers mini-ruinations across Runeterra. This is separate from the SoL fighting back against Viego. Connecting everything super close like that (the exact champions that randomly get involved in the mini-ruinations just happen to ALL run into the SoL and join them) makes the world feel very small. I think having some connected champions in the various stories we are telling about the Ruination is cool and makes sense, but having everything that connected starts to feel unrealistic in a world the size of Runeterra. SoL is one story directly revolving around Senna/Lucian and their fight against Viego and it involves the Champions and characters they run into during their journey. Also if we put the exact same champions in the SoL stuff AND the Season Start thing then u have less champions getting spotlighted and getting attention in general and spreading out which champions get attention makes sense as well

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by -Falrein

Okay, this'll probably be buried under a lot of other comments but I ought to write it or I won't forgive myself.

First of all, I do appreciate the honest answer. I am personally not a fan of the cast choice, but I appreciate that you'd explain the reasoning behind it.

I am glad to read that you like the IP/World of Runeterra. I'm a huge fan of it as well, and it at least makes me feel better to know that you do to since you're overseeing the whole thing.

Now, if I may voice my honest opinion (and I ask that you believe I have no ill intention), I think that the idea of making a worldwide threat event may not have been the best idea to begin with. Of course, I understand the appeal and all, it's great to have heroes and characters from all around the world having to work together against a common threat.What I personally dislike is that in that sort of instance, there are many, many champions that could or would take action, and we likely never will see what they did. Of course, I may be wrong, and I hope I am. I would love to hear mentions of the greath Thunderbear who crushed the dead's spirits with his roar, or the veiled sorceress who burnt the wraiths with chains of pure dark fire.

My question now is... Will we? Of course, I imagine you can't answer. I'm really liking this event so far. But I (and yes, it is wholly selfish, I know) would love to know what the champions I care about are doing, because it's a worldwide event, so surely they must be doing something right?

Now, again I know this is selfish. Everyone wants to know what their favourite champion is doing. Are they fighting? Did they get ruined? Are they hiding? Great questions! And it's also very unfair to ask of you that you'd mention every champion, because it's purely impossible, I'm fully aware.

I am very thankful that you're investing time in the IP, because it is my favourite part of League. I love Runeterra, its universe and champions. This isn't to throw shade at your or anything really.

In the end, I'm just a single Morgana main, wishing my favourite witch would do something to protect the land she once helped building.

Now, if you read this, and ever have the strength and will to answer... I'd like to ask, would you say that in the future, you'd like to shed some light on other champions?

In term of IP, many champions are in a limbo (not talking about skins and popularity) and could use some love. And since Narrative is bound to different teams to tell stories, these champions may not receive the lore they could have. Again, when I'm saying this, I have my own favs' in mind.

Anyway this was just a random... Rant/honest thought I guess. Will probs go unnoticed, but I really think I needed to write this, from someone who loves Runeterra to another. I hope you have a great day, and wish you great success with this event!

The current event takes place from the Sentinels PoV so we will see what they see. We can always expand on what happened with other champions at different locations like we did with the recent Hecarim short story. While I cant confirm anything we have not announced I can say I agree that it would be exciting to see what happened to different champs around Runeterra during this moment. I don't think it would ever be possible for us to tell what happened to the entire cast of 150+ champions during a massive event like this, nor do I think having a cast that size should cause us to never do world ending threat events. I think u can tell a really compelling story with a smaller cast during a world ending event that is still worth telling, even if the answer to what every other champion is doing can't always be answered

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Raikeron

What is this Visual Novel you keep mentioning? Is it already available?
I feel like I'm missing a lot of lore about this event; people keep mentioning Gwen's interactions with the Sentinels but I haven't seen that yet...

Its in the client right now. Load the game up and press "Begin Patrol"

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by CheddarCroissant

The event will have more cinematics right? I feel like the one we received has a continuation, graves pyke miss fortune etc

The continuation of the story is the the visual novel which is live in the client right now

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by GeronimoJak

Vayne makes the most sense and is a good fit, Olaf is one as well, but characters like Pyke are kind of just ??? and he's legit one of my favorites in the game universe.

Not seeing Yorick, or how champions become ruined is another thing. In voice line interactions it speaks that people like Miss Fortune, Karma, and Draven sold themselves and intentionally sided with Viego which doesn't fit the cinematic of them being taken over, or their characters personality.

Maybe the pandemic did a lot more to change how things worked then anticipated but there's a lot of missing pieces that need to be filled or they just seem kind of mishandled or nonsensical from the current stand point.

All those answers are explained in the visual novel story in client. The reason I'm not answering any of those questions here is that I dont want to ruin the story. As for Yorick, well more characters then just the ones getting skins will show up in the visual novel

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by SomeoneNewToReddit

Hi,

I personally love what you guys have done with the event and just wanted to start of by giving you guys some positive feedback, the event looks amazing and I love the 1 year arc story that you guys have gone for this year.

The only "negative" (which could be proven wrong) feedback I have is that I would have loved to see Yorick either join the Sentinels or break free from the power of mist like Unbound Thresh. I want to make it clear that I don't know a lot about the lore/Yorick's connect to the Mist. All I know is that his persona/lore is based around the Mist and Viego so I really do hope he will make an appearance and received a good quality skin throughout this event.

I am someone who plays really unpopular champions (Ivern, Yorick, Pre-rework Mundo, Pre-and Post-Rework Fiddle, Maokai etc) which is why I think this "means more to me" than any other event/skinline that we have seen in recent times. Yorick would be an amazing fit for this story arc. Similar to how I would have loved if Ivern got a Spirit Blossom skin with his lore being intertwined with Lillia and well turning Ivern into a cheery blossom tree with Daisy as one of the Guardian's of Ionia (as seen in the Akali and Shen short story/Nexus Blitz) would be fitting.

TLDR: Lore skins are in my opinion even more interesting and cool/hurts more when unpopular champions do not get them.

Love everything you guys have done so far though so don't take all the negative feedback to harshly. People are more likely to raise their negative opinions rather than give praise when it is due, which is a flaw in our society, in my humble opinion.

Cheers mate!

It's a long event with more chapters unlocking every weak. More characters then just the ones getting skins or even characters that are playable champions (as already seen with the Buhru Sentinel) will show up in the story and visual novel

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Law-8374

I mean unfortunately this IS just PR bullshit, as much as you convey all of this its just blatantly all about money (obviously its what they have to do), but ill give you credit i think the inclusion of olaf, irelia and graves was very good and smart cause it hit a sweetspot of champs that dont get a crazy amount of love (except irelia) but feel just right in the event (but NOT graves repping pilt/zaun, you guys robbed a lot of ppl that love that region with that) in terms of where you guys missed the mark its just sad, “we thought this would progress vayne the best” what??? you must be joking, vayne has LITERALLY been in a absolute shit ton of events, you know that right??? Her and riven were LITERALLY IN SPIRIT BLOSSOM, im not gonna elaborate too much more cause its not worth, at the end of the day you guys just rely on your money grabbers such as vayne and riven. The last thing is i feel you maybe, justtt maybe Reav3 you should actually chat with ppl that know the lore, let me ask, do you know who yorick is??? Look i dont play him and hes not a champ i particularly care about but his character WAS LITERALLY MADE FOR THIS EVENT, and hes no where to be seen. What about maokai?? Karthus?? I understand you cant include every champ, i get that, but cmon, VIEGO AND GWEN ARE THE ONLY SHADOW ISLES CHAMPS INVOLVED?????? Just shit writing and decision making in the end, But hey, it brings in the big bucks and thats all riot cares about. I appreciate you making this comment cause i can actually convey my frustration about the event and get it all out. I don't have high expectations for riot and its employees cause they f**k up a lot but cmon, its PR bullshit

I was actually the producer of the Yorick VGU. I worked directly on that project and love him. I also mained him for like 6 months after the VGU and still play him in top lane sometimes depending on the match up. My comment about Vayne wasnt about how many events she has been in, it was specifically about how her lore and story progression we felt fit very well with the Sentinels

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Shadowfishy

I greatly appreciate the post from a human perspective and I thank you for taking the time to explain your process. Your words provide some insight towards the choices this event, but I also feel like some of the things said feel really off.

Skin choices aside, as we know this will always be a factor whether good or bad, the choices themselves still don't really fit what you've mentioned, for myself and a lot of others.

Where Guardians of the Galaxy, Suicide Squad and X-Men work is that there's either a common thread or mood attempting to be portrayed. Whether that's collective comedy of GotG (which Odyssey does very well), and some misadventures being funny, or with SS that all share bad guy statuses that don't play to anyone's rules other than their own. Or even X-Men where they are much more all over the place, but never feel out of place and all come together with very few actually being bad guys.

With the choices made, and yes even the narrative choices so far, it feels like the writing team have really missed the mark. The event isn't over yet, but I'm just not seeing the payoff from the ragtag decision.

You have such a clash of different champs between Vayne, Irelia and Senna and Lucian (who are written very seriously), to Graves, Pyke and somewhat Olaf or Rengar, but this clash doesn't really provide any good benefit. It doesn't really go anywhere or make me interested. The ragtag is there, but there's no chemistry that I can see with anybody other than Graves/Vayne who have amazing legendary voice actors this time around. The champs themselves could be explained well, as most have their own valid reasons for being a sentinel, but the themes and ideas you've identified feel... So far underwhelming or not present. And it saddens me because you guys have done better on Odyssey and even Psyops IMO compared to what's been in the making for over a year now for the grand event.

And this is sorta where the big noticeable gaps of "why riven and vayne again", "where's more ixtal and P/Z champs" comments come about. There were already better players that existed in your world and IP, from Maokai to Kalista and Yorick to even Ezreal, Seraphine, Jayce and Caitlyn, Galio, Lux, Garen, Jarvan, TF himself or especially Poppy (though this one has been talked about) that felt like they could've fit the criteria you mention a lot better with potential still to sell skins and vary the roles a bit. Or at least show up in more content than they have so far this entire year.

It's also come to my attention like 80% of the skins this event have been for AD champs? Other than Diana, AP Shyvana or MF, and Gwen as a champ? I think?)... Which feels a little strange.

I dunno. I don't think it's a PR stunt or solely because of skin politics, but I do think for an event apparently so specifically fine-tuned and champions hand-selected, it... Doesn't feel that way, if that makes sense?

Have u played through the in client visual novel at all yet? It's like a 15-20 hour long story that will fill in a lot of the gaps you are mentioning here. It will also show a lot of the champs interacting with each other as the story progresses. I think before the event started you could only really see that in the Legendary skins VO, you are correct.

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Tungvaumtp

This is unrelated but since you are currently active may I ask something: is there any reason why Viego's power is so absurd? Why can he revive a god? Why can the Black Mist corrupt petricite when it can hold the literal source codes of all magic?

Their is yes, and unfortunately this was meant to be a beat that came out right before the event back when Vex was planned to ship right before the event. It's explained in the visual novel but since it was meant to originally be a story beat that happened before the event I'll just explain it here. Prior to this moment Viego was strong but not strong enough to cause a global ruination. He meets Vex who travels to the shadow Isles from Bandle city. Vex fancies Viego so uses her spirit world Yordle magic to greatly amplify Viegos powers. This is what leads to Viego causing a global ruination and becoming crazy powerful. He couldn't do it without Vex's help

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Eragon_the_Huntsman

I appreciate the response and I agree with you on most parts. However if you don't mind a little bit of hopefully constructive criticism, I feel like it could have been better if either Irellia, Diana or Riven got the legendary instead of Graves, or if Vayne had more character growth in hers.

Right now both of them have the kind of "eh I don't really care that the world's ending I'm just here for the cool guns" vibe with their voicelines, which I feel takes away from the impact of the event since they're the front and center. Using your analogy, In Guardians of the Galaxy, Starlord has Gamora as the serious side to balance his more... carefree attitude, and I think a lot of the complaints come from people who expected more of an Avengers approach to this cataclysmic event than the Guardians who are a bit more silly.

TLDR: I dont mind that graves got a skin, I think it fits pretty well actually. I just feel like Vayne should be taking this a little more seriously, so there's more contrast and it doesn't feel like they're mocking the Sentinels since the concept of the organization is just so cool.

I love reading constructive criticism. Thanks for the thoughts! It's something I'll keep in mind for future events

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by PinkShortShorts

Why is there no variety in terms of the champions selected? Why did no mages or enchanters or tanks join the fight against Viego? It feels extremely limiting that the only ones that can be Sentinels are characters that fulfill a hypercarry ad fantasy. I’m not sure how much of a “ragtag” group it is if it only appeals to a specific subset of players.

Choices were also made based on who made sense to use Relic Weapons. Relic weapons are physical based, not magical based. We also took into consideration which champions it would make sense for the Sentinels to have Relic weapons for them to use

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Tungvaumtp

Man I wish all these stories were released when they were meant to. I have been off the internet for a few weeks so I guess Vex is the shadow yordle? Is all this new information? If so pretty big reveal to drop on a reddit comment lol. Cheers.

It's not new, in that she is currently in the visual novel that is in the client right now

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by PinkShortShorts

I can respect this idea of physical only Relic Weapons but I urge you to consider allowing a wider variety in the rosters for upcoming major summer events. I want to engage in this story but there are none of my character archetypes and playstyles in here. Maybe adding someone like Taric who uses a mace and fights for life and beauty would’ve added a different “color” to this squad. Either way, super rad event, I just have no way in with any of these characters.

Yeah ofc, and we had a wide variety in Spirit Blossom. We want to do lots of different events that hit different players

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by StopDyingMan

Since you were just talking about Vex, can you share with us how close she is until she gets released as a champion? I know we just have Akshan, but I remembered the Lillia-Yone back to back release, so I wondered.

She is still a little ways off. She won't release with this event

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by zeroluffs

i don’t understand i already unlocked the first part in demacia, do you mean we have 20h long worth of conversations or more like it takes 20h to grind it all lol? bc those conversations were short

What do u mean you unlocked the first part in Demacia? Like u completed the entire Demacia Region? Or u just got to Demacia?

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by illusoryIdolatry

So she basically tries to win his affection by powering him up? Or does she just like his vision for how the world should be so she in turn wants to help him make it? Either way I'm pretty hype for her and her lore stuff with Veigo!

Now we are getting into stuff that was and is still meant to be revealed in the visual novel. I didnt mind talking a little about some stuff that was originally meant to be in earlier, but I dont want to talk about stuff that was meant to be discovered by playing through the story

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by zeroluffs

i got to meet Gwen (did not play much yesterday) and that’s it. and took just a few mins. i’m just curious because if you say 20h long visual novel there must be A LOT of those little conversations which i would not have expected.

Yes their are A LOT. And new chapters unlock every week of the event. They also get longer later as we wanted the intro region to be short and sweet to get people into the event. Towards the end the chapters get a lot longer

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by BonzaiButty

Just out of curiosity, won't her release be extremely out of place considering she's coming out after the event that's meant to be her big spotlight? How can her appearnce in the game be explained after all of this?

Maybe. I think seeing a Champion is a big story ahead of time could also build excitement and hype for the Champion. We are also interested in how this goes to see if we ever want to reveal champions more intentionally in big stories ahead of their releases in the future.

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Zarathielis

Adding my personal opinion here but i think it's a cool way to tease/show off a champion. You can see their design, their personality and know if you will like the champion or not. I love seeing champs and getting attached to them and them being involved in a story definitely helps.

One question (idk if you can answer that yet): Will next roadmap be in September like last year?

I'm not sure when the next roadmap will be at this point. It will likely be sometime in between Vex and the Champion after her.

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by ithrowstacksonegirls

Is the monster champ the first champion of 2022?

no

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Spideraxe30

Oh yeah I was also wondering if you could explain how you guys chose the Ruined champs if the driver for the Sentinels was a mostly a ragtag crew

Most were chosen as good antagonists for the Sentinels you meet in that region. Vayne is a monster hunter and Shyvana is a monster. Irelia and Karma have a history. Riven and Draven have a history in the arenas, for example. Pantheon was chosen to really show the extent of Viegos power, him corrupting Atreus and resurrecting the aspect of war shows just how powerful he is. I can't really speak, at this point, as to the reasons we chose MF. Ask me in again in the future.

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by tafaha_means_apple

...So the entire reason for having the Aspect of War (not Atreus) join him was just to make Viego look better? And goes along with it only because Viego likes destruction and War is a big baddy who only cares about fighting?

That sucks for anyone that was interested in the Aspects if they are not only exist just to be whorfed, but also have a joke of a reason for joining a guy who's defining feature in life and undeath is being a complete fop.

He most certainly does not just "go along with it" that's really not how ruination works

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by tafaha_means_apple

The Mist did not just subsume Atreus, but also resurrected the long-dead spirit of Pantheon: the old Aspect of War himself. With Atreus' stubborn defiance silenced, Pantheon can resume control and revel in battle once again. It doesn't matter to him whose banner he fights under. If that banner is the Ruined King's? So be it.

This doesn't really sound like War is really being controlled.

He is 100% ruined by Viego. That's also why the skin is ruined pantheon not just regular pantheon. It's a short paragraph skin bio. Their is a lot more context once the Targon region unlocks in the story that I'm not going to go into in order to avoid spoilers

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Ilyak1986

I wonder if Riven qualifies for the "truly good" list at this point. God knows she wants this more than anything. So here's to hoping Irelia comes around to seeing her that way.

Oh, and Gwen is just precious in this VN. What an absolutely wonderful and adorable character.

Getting Irelia and Riven to interact with each other was one of the big reasons we chose those 2 for the event.

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Ilyak1986

Shyvana is most certainly NOT a monster. Shyvana deserves love and acceptance so dearly, maybe more than any other champ in Demacia, right up there with Poppy? God knows how much crap she's had to endure over the course of her life, and then to just get ruined, thrown into the dungeon, and justify all the hatred that's been piled on her forever and ever? Poor Shyvana. I really hope once this is all over that she can get the heck out of Demacia, have her region swapped over to Runeterra proper, and just go somewhere that she'd be appreciated. Ionia seems to like dragons. There seems to be an appreciation for elemental drakes in Ixtal. Just...Shyvana needs a break >_>...

Beyond that...do Riven/Draven have any history besides her whooping him in Awaken? And Riven seems so precious as well. She's another character that I really, really hope can change regions after this event, at least to Runeterra, if not formally not just requested--but demanded back in Ionia once Karma/Irelia decide that her work as a sentinel more than makes up for her time spent as a noxian soldier.

As for MF, I'm guessing she got a scratch in the Ruined King game (a little bit of a delay was fine, but when the story has to move on without it, that stings), and then the big harrowing eventually got to her. I mean if it pulled one over on Karma (SPOOKY KARMA! No longer just a LoR meme, she's now canon =P), I can believe that it pulled one over on MF. But her current bio seems like a bit of character assassination. She doesn't seem like someone that'd willingly just give herself over to the dark side like that.

For sure. I was speaking from Vayne perspective. She views Shyv as a monster. Not everyone in Demacia does. The skin bios are really short paragraphs that don't really go into a lot of detail. I think once u play through the later chapters of the visual novel it will go into a lot more depth into what happened then the skin bios do.

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by tafaha_means_apple

I was always under the impression that the celestial Aspects themselves (not the hosts) are soulless, nearly unfathomable entities embodying ideals from another realm on a completely foreign level to Runeterra. How is it that an inherently Runeterran based thing like the mist that spiritually corrupts souls really even know what to do with something like an Aspect?

I feel like several of these skin bios have been very misleading on what is actually happening (with some even needing to be changed). Is that by design to keep things un-spoiler-y or is it just a function of like word limits or something giving off the wrong impressions?

A Little of both. They are short word length so they don't provide a lot of room for context, but also we didn't want to give to much of the story away in the skin bios

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Ilyak1986

Yeah, well...Vayne needs to get that bigotry knocked out of her. I do wonder who'll be the one to do that though...Riven? Irelia? Gwen? Someone needs to have some harsh words for her regarding her utter lack of empathy for anyone and anything.

Joining the Sentinels is a pretty good first step for her to grow :)

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by bruh31198

i hope you read this because even if a lot of players don't appreciate it it really means a lot that you respond for the .0001% of us that genuinely care and want an answer despite the abuse you'll probably get, thanks man

the point about lucian and senna not knowing these champions really is an obvious point that i cant believe I didn't consider

However, biggest flaw that you haven't addressed and the only truly egregious lore thing here imo is that there's nothing about yorick. I would love to hear the answer for that lmao because unless you guys still have something with him to release, that's a big fat "we forgot and/or didn't care", there is no one more involved in the shadow isles and viego it's like his whole mf lore

I'm giving the benefit of the doubt that he's just going to be a later part (and hopefully a good/big one) because based on responses like yours I truly believe there's some nerds at Riot that love the lore as much as we do and wouldn't do Yorick like that

I did read this, and thanks!

over 3 years ago - /u/Reav3 - Direct link

Originally posted by Zarathielis

idk if you can tell yet but will Vex come with an event skin or will she be like Akshan with his Cyberpop skin? (Also I love that skinline hope you do more of them in the future)

Vex is currently planned to ship with a future event and get a skin within that skinline

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