Dear all,

This thread is a response to the lore changes to Soraka and Warwick as of September the 18th 2012, described and discussed in this thread http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/....php?t=2590088

EDIT: I made a poll to better capture the community opinion. Anyone who is interested please vote.
http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/....php?t=2602860

I am an active player, a lore enthusiast, and a Soraka/support main. When the lore changes to Soraka and Warwick happened, I was, to say the least, surprised. For me, these lore changes were not an update or improvement, as RiotRunaan suggests, but actually a degradation to the personalities of our favourite champions that turns their story into a generic and cliched fantastical piece for teenagers.

If you are concerned in any way with Warwick and Soraka, because you love either or both dearly, please read through this post, I know it is long

Let me explain exactly what bothers me about the new lores.

Warwick and Soraka have been degraded from revered and famous citizens of Zaun and Ionia, to just some random strangers with "unique" backgrounds. If you read the old lores carefully, you will see that Warwick was a famous alchemist in Zaun (the reason why he was hired by Noxus), and Singed was his apprentice (and we know how deadly Singed is, imagine Warwick!). Soraka, on the other hand, was a human at some point, but then she transcended her mortality and evolved beyond her kin, reaching towards the stars. Hence she became a famous cosmic spiritualist and one of the most powerful (if not THE) healers in Ionia.

In the new lore, Warwick is a manhunter and a specimen hunter. There is no allusion to him being an alchemist, or being in any way a brilliant scientist. This, to me, is degrading to his intelligence, character and prominence in Zaun. He is just a hunter... a bit lackluster. His personality is just as "underdeveloped" as RiotRuunan suggests, as it was in the old lore. In fact, I don't think that in the old lore his personality was underdeveloped at all. I don't think that in the old lore his personality was defined by Soraka. Well, perhaps his story was centered around the war, but I think that his ruthless inventions during that war contibute to our understanding of his personality. All the death, destruction and suffering he caused, he did because he wanted to, because he is cruel and bloodthirsty, and that is why he also enjoys being a werewolf. If you wanted to elaborate more on his intentions, Riot, you could have just added a few more sentences. But you have actually altered the story in more than one ways. So, I think that in a sense Warwick was, for the most part, degraded.

In Soraka's new lore, she is not a human, nor a demi-goddess aspiring to divinity. She is just a "celestial being" which is something that at least I cannot relate to. What is this "celestial being"? Why did you have to take her nickname, "starchild", literally and actually make her a child of the stars??? In the new lore she is pure and compassionate, always ready to help, yet she is bound to that grove of hers. She is just like a naive, superpowerful dryad (in Greek Mythology dryads are bound to Oak trees). Clearly, Soraka is not a revered spiritual leader, definitely not a champion of Ionia, but just a dryad? A dryad that was fooled by a manhunter? And she was punished by the stars because she hurt a few guys with pretty lights? What about cursing Warwick, wasn't that a much more dangerous action, worthy of punishment? Also, why does her "now mortal" body have a horn and hooves - if Soraka just lost that divine glow around her, why did her body mutate? It just seems that Soraka is a naive, silly dryad who lost her mortality, yet feels liberated, empowered and curious about the world (as opposed to the old Soraka who was seeking atonement). This is a drastic change between new Soraka and old Soraka, and is a major, divergent point in the motivations of both. And by the way, in the new lore wasn't Singed's potion the reason why Warwick turned into a werewolf?

I think that the lore changes have taken the intensity and drama away and have just given us an insipid and generic fantastical love story, which doesn't add to our champions' personalities, but actually deprives them of depth. I am sorry, but I strongly disagree with RiotRunaan. I respect the effort and time you have invested in the new lores, but I believe that they are not adding anything to our champions, and I believe that the lore changes should be either reversed or revisioned!!!!! For the sake of those of us who main Soraka and Warwick and have invested time, money and energy, please consider my plea. I hope that my opinion is supported by the majority of the LoL community. Again, I believe that the lore changes were unnecessary and in a sense degrading.

Edit: I hope I dont sound bitter or harsh. Trust me, my last intention would be to offend anyone. But as a Soraka and Warwick fan I feel the need to express my opinion. Hope it will contribute to the discussion and a possible revision.

With all due respect,

Dobyk

Edit: Wow, I actually got 70 likes! Thank you people! It's more than RiotRunaan's thread, so please keep it up - maybe Riot will listen to us! Also, please remember to vote on the poll, I have given a link above.

Warwick being an alchemist just didn't really fit with his actual character, the lore just didn't feel right. If he was some crazy alchemist why was he in the battle? Why did he become a wolf? Why does he do nothing with alchemy now and is just a hunter? It just didn't fit where they made the character go.

Soraka not being mentioned as a hero of Ionia is a little disappointing, however, her being punished for using her magic to harm instead of heal makes sense, and after she realized the trickery she used the last of her power to curse Warwick (Or so I got from the lore). Which is a bit weird, why did the stars let her use her magic to harm after punishing her for using it to harm? I do like the new stories but it could have a bit better of an explication for the warwick being a wolf thing, and give both more connection to the city-states they represent.