Well, that is the end of an era for the League Universe.
Riot Confirm New Lore Will No Longer Release With Champions
One of the things that gave League of Legends its soul, was the lore tied to champions. It's the worldbuilding in the background that made us appreciate a badass Yordle scout taking on a giant Void monster, instead of them being just characters on a screen.
And, even though the lore was never the main part of the game, we're sad to see the usual releases go. Now, Riot have confirmed that the lore releases are taking a new direction, and in retrospect, it shows a disturbing trend!
Briar Lore - New LoL Champion is Not Getting a Color Story
The release of Briar's design came upon us earlier than expected. Whether it was due to the copious amount of leaks surrounding the champion, or if the timing coincided is irrelevant.
One thing we did notice, however, was that, while Briar's abilities have been revealed, there has been very little mention of her lore. And Riot has revealed why that is, in a question posed by a fan asking if Briar is getting released with a color story.
"No! We decided this year to channel lots of that narrative energy into finding alternative methods for exposé of a champion. Not that it means there won't be more color stories, just that most of those don't really have readership as wide as we would like compared to postcards, cinematic trailer etc etc".
They go on to explain that the last three champions have all had their own, unique, ways of revealing their lore, with Milio's postcards, Naafiri's cinematic, and Briar's unveil and marquee.
So, where is new League of Legends lore supposed to come from then, if at all? Well, Riot have not pulled the plug on releasing new lore indefinitely, but the new lore will likely come from sources other than League of Legends.
That implies the Riot Forge titles such as the Mageseeker game, which advanced Jarvan IV's lore, and that of the mage rebellion. We must note that it took four years for the mage rebellion to get any sort of advancement.
- For some incredible lore get yourself the full story of the Ruination
So, the new lore getting released that way seems incredibly slow, compared to what we're used to. After all, a lot of story advancements could have happened in the four years while the fans were waiting on the conclusion of Sylas' rebellion, not to mention how many LoL fans can't afford to buy Riot Forge titles.
And, finally, this poses a disturbing trend across the board, when taken in conjunction with the recent announcement of the 200 USD Jhin skin.
It almost seems as if Riot are pay walling all of the parts of League of Legends that are not found on Summoner's Rift directly, in a pure effort to milk the game for what it's worth, and doing it quite openly at that.
We definitely hope we're wrong in our assessment, but once is a mistake, twice is a coincidence and three times is a pattern. So, all that's left is to wait for a third indicator!