[2020] Some background on K/DA, events, and alt universes

Hi everyone,

I wanted to address some of the posts we’ve seen around the early K/DA news -- while we’ve been listening to players globally and across channels, we’ve specifically seen quite a bit of confusion and concern here on the sub, so I’d like to provide some clarity. We’ll have more info to share before the event kicks off near the end of the month, but I can share some of the thinking behind what you’ve seen so far.

Specifically, we’ve seen concerns here clustering around two distinct topics: 1) the choice of K/DA as an event theme, and 2) cards derived from alternative themes / universes in our IP.

(1) Our goal for events is to create rich, accessible experiences that expand the possibilities of what LoR has to offer. We also think they’re a great opportunity to serve players with something novel, so you should definitely expect variety as a baseline.

As for the choice of K/DA for our next event, going back to its initial debut in 2018, K/DA has been a worldwide hit throughout the League ecosystem, and a doorway into that ecosystem for many new players and fans. This year’s cross-game K/DA campaign is another big worldwide event aiming to both deepen the experience for existing fans and invite new ones to discover our games, and we’ve been super excited to enable Legends of Runeterra and its players to be a part of that celebration.

(2) We're absolutely excited to eventually explore all the sprawling parts of the IP through Legends of Runeterra, including and even especially through cards. We plan for LoR to be around for a long time, which means a LOT of cards, and the rich and varied alternative universes of the IP are an incredible source of fan-loved content. To be clear, we think there are lots of players who would love to see those alternative universes filled out and explored as we have with the regions of Runeterra.

It’s a primary mission to bring to life (and grow) the core Runeterra world, however, we do want to start exploring what works and what doesn’t with visiting the other worlds. The K/DA cards are a small, early foray into the future, and as with all those forays we’re eager to observe, learn, and adapt as needed.

To make sure all players who want to explore the K/DA fantasy can easily do so, the K/DA cards are earnable as part of the free portion of the K/DA event pass (and yes, 3 copies of each spell are earned at once). You can use the cards anywhere, and after the end of the event they’ll be purchasable with shards or wildcards, or earned in chests, like any other card.

As always, we’ll be listening to your feedback on all parts of the event experience. Thanks as always for the feedback, and we can’t wait to see what you think of the event, as well as Monuments of Power and other spooky cosmetics before then.

(edited for spacing for easier reading)