TL;DR - please keep VO in LoR Voiceover is a huge part of why I enjoy this game so much, and to reconcile with a potential state of the game where that's not on the table is really difficult. I love LoR and PoC is the most fun it's ever been with Constellations; but the things I always looked so forward to seeing with new champions were the new mechanics, translation of champion into card, and the level-up animation and voice interactions. Seriously, the voices add SOO much personality to the game. I've changed opinions from "I don't care about X champion" to "this is my guy/gal" just because of hearing a few voice lines over and over. I never get tired of hearing Vex go "pretty... cringe". Pyke and Senna's level-up VOs go hard. Some of them become community memes (Azir, Mordekaiser). While I was a little bit disappointed when they started scaling down on VO with some cards, I could at least live with it knowing that it wasn't the whole case, and champions would always have them. Yeah... it's really sad to see that even that may not be feasible. Of course I understand there's a burden on the production side and it's a choice based on efficiency. I can only speak for myself, but I would rather keep the VO going. I'm comfortable taking the trade-off of a slower champion release pace if it means that when they do arrive, they come fully stocked with voice lines. I'd prefer that they have a unique level-up, even if it's more basic, since it also adds a big moment to the game; but maybe that's asking too much, I can just live with having voiceover. It's not gonna kill my love for the game but... man, it hurts. (Sorry to ramble on your video Mr. Snnuy. Love your videos and think it's so great that you're in a position to speak directly with the creators of a game we're all super passionate about.
Second this. I wasn’t happy with the new monetization and content cadence for PoC, if they cut out vo and lore from new content I might just move on tbh…
Completely agree, no voicelines means no personalitie, in Lol i main Sona, if they would ever bring her without voicelines, i'd rather them not bring her, having her with no personality will mean they didn't bring the champion i love, they'll just bring a .png of it, and that will hurt a lot
Adding this comment because I do want to still be positive about the game, as I said, still love it very much. First, biggest thing... I mean, you can sense the love Eric has for the game. One of the biggest strengths of the current and former LoR team has been how attached they are to what they are making. And I have faith that they'll continue to create content we can enjoy. There's a lot of creative people on the team that have helped give us some really unique and fun experiences. Hearing that the game's financial situation has stabilized (for now) is a blessing. I get the sense that - although there's still some tension - they've found their success enough to support keeping the game alive and moving on to new and better things. I actually really love the answer concerning the sectioning off of Nightmares vs the World Adventures. Hearing him say that players felt like things were left incomplete if they didn't / couldn't complete a difficult adventure (like Swain and Lissandra) was how I would feel, without knowing it. I play to have a fun time and casually feel powerful, not for a challenge. I know my perspective isn't everyone's and that's fine. Some people really enjoy running through 5+ star adventures, planning their relics and all. Having that be in a separate part that isn't on the "core" map (through the Nightmares) is a nice solution the bridge those different perspectives. Some concept of "unleveling" your progression has been thrown around in the community for a while, and it's nice seeing community-requested features actively being worked on (including the recent animation changes). I may not make use of the de-starring, but even if it's not an option for me, it's still super cool that it'll be there. For sure it'll add some spice to the content to watch. That's just some of the takeaways that are nice from this interview.
I understand the idea of putting gameplay first, especially when you have limited resources. It's a difficult act of ressource management. However, as someone who was introduced to the world of Runeterra through LoR, part of the hype for new champions is those extra bits of polish like voice lines, flavor text and level up animation. They give the champion "life" so to speak, even tho they are not the core essential parts. Without them, the champions would be just PNG attached to a gameplay effect. So there is a complicated balance to find I think. I get we can't have everything anymore due to the budget cuts, but I still feel that these small non-essential things are still important to a certain extent, even if dialed back. Obviously they should not be the priority over the gameplay but removing them entirely might kill the hype later down the line.
Also, and I might be wrong here, but I think that people who are eagerly waiting for their favorite character to be added to the game want to see them in their "full glory" so to speak, not just as cool gameplay but with the "LoR polish". Again, I don't play League so maybe I'm wrong here.
I largely agree, I don't see why they can't just use the voice files from league. As for flavor text, I don't see how that would be too costly to get done
@@Plight_ He addresses why somewhat. It sounds to me like there are a ton of union and legal concerns (foreign and domestic) involved in even just re-using the voice lines in a different game than LoL.
Same here, the fact that LoR has a cohesive lore and fluff - compared to the absolute mess that is every other property set in Runeterra - is a major selling point for me. And it's more important than evern ow that the game is PvE.
No voicelines just straights up kills it for me, I still get chills EVERYTIME renekton levels up, his animation + ""MY FURY CANNOT BE CONTAINED". It adds so much love to champions, renekton is not particular good but for the sake of how COOL his art, level-up and voice-lines are I wanna make a deck around him every set. Now it would be weird for warwick to drop on the board in silence... or when levelling up especially with all the lore tied into jinx, jayce, vi, caitlyn..
Yeah it's most of the reason I even play the game, Lack of VO or level ups means I just won't play those champs, and that not previously being explained for FIddlesticks VO wise when the community assumed it was a bug since the VA for Fiddle said he recorded lines, feels like a bit of a rug pull
@@alarming529 Was already sad that they killed PvP to focus on PoC, the VA problem is just another shot in the foot that litterally overkilled the game off. Although not that I truely care about it as I have zero interest into PoC so it is a minimal impact to me, but if that is going to be reoccuring thing that'll defitinively going to make me twice as copium mad as we are getting Warwick exclusively as a PoC... I'll just be here and hope that they format those champs later on for PvP, if that ever happens... but not going to support Riot with money until they help resolve those concerns as honestly it really doesn't benefits me in the slightest. (They have sadly completely lost all monetary incentives when they decided to focus on PvE. (Did nabbed all the freebies though.))
Cant agree enough. Udyr, Riven, Caitlyn are some of the few champs i love playing with which i havent played in league once. And them having no voicelines would've made it impossible for me to play them cuz the main thing that really pushed me into playing these champs was how much i love levelling them due to their excellent lvl up animations and so impactful voicelines. Without them it just feels dead, soulless. I prefer having less champ than having more without voicelines and lvl up animation anyday.
"Let us turn this tundra.. REEEEEEEEEED" Yeah. I'm not playing it with no VAs. Making the level up animations less awesome removes a massive part of PoCs appeal. Making them 'more generic' for faster champion turnover completely misses the point; all it does is make the champion less flavourful, less fun to play, and gives less to look forward to.
I respect Eric’s honesty and straightforwardness. Hope this guy gets props internally. It’s always hard to give answers in an interview that you know some people won’t really want to hear; Mr. Shen did a really good job here. Also, I love how the team dynamic sounds. People really working together. I love the sounds of unity. Riot is such an interesting game studio.
I'm sure it will be a while before we see voice-over changes (if we get them) since they have a year out planned. Changing those things when there's multiple other departments they're working with makes it even harder to change too. I am hopeful that we start getting them back in the middle or end of next year though.
I am a Hwei main, I would rather wait and get a fully realized, interesting voiced over with extra lore ( something we rarely get elsewhere, the game was great for lore lovers) than just emotionless cards that don't do anything. Half of the fun of the game for me is this. The amount of times I repeat a level up voice line while playing " I AM THE WORLD ENDER!! " / " THE LIST. JUST. KEEPS. GETTING. LONGER!!! ". Thank you for being so open and seemingly honest with us, genuinely. We appreciate and love your effort. It's so criminal that Fiddle of all champions didn't get voice lines, Mr Shen please reconsider the teams stance on it. I can understand the pitfall being a smaller team with bigger expectations from Riot but you're giving up a lot of LOR's personality. All of Fiddle's followers are literally different forms of Fiddlesticks in different areas of Runeterra but a lot of people won't realize that. That's so insanely cool and yeah the new adventures are lovely but it just feels hollow without the spice of Voicelines and level up animations. I'd probably stop playing if we didn't get voice overs.
as long as they can add voicelines and flavortext to the champs, I don't mind how long it takes to add a new champion into the game. I'll still be here playing!
I would definitely wait a bit longer for proper Voice lines and animations. Flavor text can come later, but those two are such impactful Feel Good moments. It's so nice to hear from a dev that clearly understands their audience! Couldn't be happier that LoR is gaining more steam than ever and look forward to what they're cooking for next yearM
awesome interview but please please please consider keeping the VO and the level up animation. The satisfaction and the chills I get from the level up and the champion voice lines are what make LOR special for me. I think most players would rather have a champion with voicelines and animation than five champs that levels up in silence.
No voices lines + no level up animation is a big big yikes moment. 90% of the runeterra attraction for people is gameplay merged with flavors, champ level ups and VO play an enormous role in that and it's no very appealing to play say Volibear full voiceover, epic lines, amazing level up then play Warwick with... silence.
Yea, I think we don't need voice lines for the followers(if they need to cut something, cut the followers voice lines), but we need voice lines and animations for champions!
I think VO is definitely a must, even if it is really cumbersome to get them done. LoR (or is it called TPoC now?) is heavily depending on/adding to the world building aspect of the "Riot Universe", people who are playing it love it mostly for the theme (aside from being a good card game, ofc). In that sense, experiencing new content without VO or flavourtext is a big letdown... I think we can live without the sophisticated LUP animations, and I would risk to say having less frequent updates but with voices (at least in english if localizing takes up too much coordination time) is better than regular content that feels half-done or misses the immersion.
I am on the fence as long as I dont know how much it actually takes. If VO makes new things take 2 extra months I would say it's not worth it. If it's 1 month extra I would have a tough time choosing, if it's 15 days go for more VO
I'm glad thar Eric mentioned SAG here. People forget that voice lines in League are made by humans and that those should be fairly compensated. If LoR were to just implement the VO from League into LoR, it would not just be a quality issue but also a legal issue - rights, compensation, coordination... I'm glad the conversation was brought up.
Honestly I dom'tind getting fewer champs a year but they all get unique level-ups and full VO. I love LoR for the fluff first, everything else second. Even going back and giving champs pike Darius and Thresh an update to their level up would be awesome.
@@ulyssemeewt1398 I know, hence why I figure they can still release a good battle pass for the month, maybe some QoL updates, etc. Especially if communicated ahead of time, I don't think it would impact user retention much. It'd give a serious boost to the game's polish as well, which isn't something to underestimate.
I feel like if they do change to that, it will be more likely to have in the 3rd quarter of next year or 2026. Not because they're not listening, but because changing the road map after production on things has started can be difficult to do.
I don't want the champs if they're not complete. RIOT is known for being a high quality company when it comes to new content. Their reputation is on the line and I hope they care
@@Dex-of7ri they are though, lets be fr. Even if the metas themselves are terrible, riot always releases in full. Obviously bugs will exist but it's a sacrifice for the frequency of the releases.
You do realize they're losing a lot of money just by keeping LoR available to play for us? A lot of companies would have just shut down the servers entirely
Thanks so much for this interview Snnuy! This makes conversing with Riot feel so much more transparent! I think we definitely dont mind slower releases if the champs are delivered more indepth. Like if Im a superfan and i am waiting for my favorite champ then VOs and voicelines are definitely something that I would love to see.
As everyone is saying VO is such a huge selling point for LoR ... Like one of my favorite interactions are in this game Hell i dare to say one of the voices that sends chills down my spine everytime is not even a champion but a follower the "warrior" 5 cost celestial card aka Pantheon the aspect of war no the champion But like some one else said it would be hella disappointing when yone eventually releases and is just dead silence even when you drop him next to his brother yasuo ...... One of my favorite intersections is that "does the wind flee..... Or does it follow" it really aches your heart or some others warm you enough to smile , or be outright comedic like the nocturne taunting zoe : "Ezreal will marry lux and live happily ever after" VO gives life to the game and makes it stand away from other card games I really hope they can shift back power into it beacuse....it honestly makes the game completely different
VO is honestly important for this game. It's what makes everything feel more alive than something like magic where there are so many cards that they rarely matter as characters.
As most comments already say, I too value having a fully completed champ with voice lines (and flavour text, level up animation, etc.) way more than having more new champs released. The attention to detail, little interactions between cards and lore made me fall in love with the game and it's imho much more important than releasing many champions.
I can probably do without level up animations as only some I really care for (like D&D Nami) but the Voiceovers make the game so special. Especially when there's interactions you don't expect between two cards or a unique dialogue for specific spells.
I understand the team needs to keep the game going, but please, don't go for quantity over quality. Very interesting level ups can be made with Foundations style level ups, which at least seem to require less resources to make. Both VO and Level up animations is what makes the game FEEL like Legends of Runeterra and not just another card game that uses a known IP.
I really see VO’s as an essential part of the LoR experience and something that keeps me playing. The replay value they add for me cannot be understated imo. Edit: just want to add that this was a brilliant interview and overall I’m feeling excited by the future of lor
Fastastic interview with really good quality, in-depth and insightful answers from Eric which makes me feel taken serious as a player and fan as well as giving hope how they're handling this. Seeing his open-minded attitude to the VO thing makes me think they've genuinly overlooked the importance of it but are more than willing to revert on that direction and update the champs coming out w/o VO/flavor text at one point when they've pivoted their current course on that aspect of the game to include VO/flavor text again. So thank you for that Eric! And you as well for the interview Sunny! On a side note for everyone else, do keep in mind that if they decide to add VO's again, even if players are fine with it taking longer, that this will also mean less of those champion 2 & 5 stat bundles per year that are doing so well, so there is also an incentive for them to keep things less polished at a higher frequency if that reduced polish won't have too much of a negative impact in the long run. But that's too soon to tell right now and something they'll have to weigh against one another in terms of pros and cons.
Haven't personally played since the move away from PvP, so I understand that I'm no longer the intended audience however, to have LoR the game known for making decks based on the Champions, now have Champs without VO is insane to me. All of the flavor that made the game special just gone. I remember waking up the day of an expansion to spend hours reading all of the flavor text, to try and find interesting Champ-Champ or Champ-Follower interactions, see what new things I would learn. I understand it is not the same team anymore, but you had something really exceptional with the stories being told that I felt put it above most other card games. With such a goldmine of an IP and so many stories to tell, it was wonderful to watch them all unfold. LoL likely never would've given us anything as interesting as Xolaani. To slowly learn more through the various cards in the expansion was a great experience. To lose a lot of that with the followers sucked, but to have Champs now also not have it feels awful. The mechanics can be interesting, and the art can be pretty, but other games also have good art with neat mechanics. It would feel like there is less reason to play LoR over other card games like HS or Magic. One of the wonderful things about having these games be online is the ability to add all of these interesting features that can't be done in person, but as more things get stripped away, I imagine it feels less like playing a Champion and more like you are playing with pieces of cardboard. I apologize if this comes off as too negative, but even as a player who already left, it still comes as a gut punch to hear that going forward, a lot of the cast will be missing that spark that I truly think made LoR so important to all of us. I hope that the team finds enough success that they can rationalize reconsidering this decision as I believe that by leaving these behind we are losing what gave LoR so much life.
I'll be as direct as I can be: I don't give a shit if we have all the champion roster if they have no VO or flavour text, this would make LoR just a random card game with League art
Definitely absolutely prefer slower more polished releases. I still listen to all of Aatrox's voice lines, they do such a good job showing his role as a general, and the fear in his voice about having to go back to the weapon
I'm not sure that i want my favourite champ to be released in LoR, if they're going to be essentially second-class citizens without lvlup animations and VO compared to even the earliest champs.
Fiddle arriving on board with no special animations nor voicelines. Sometimes it’s easy to even miss that he got summoned and not the other Nightmare units The disappointment with Fiddle is huge after all the waiting and teasers.
I agree with the general sentiment. I‘d be fine with reduced level up animations as these are usual once per game anyway, but flavor text, lore, world building and voice lines are a huge draw factor to the game for me, more than the gameplay if I‘m being honest.
I only played LoR for the new lore. If there is no new lore, I'm 100% not playing. This interview made it clear that they are putting that on the back burner in order to pump out more content for a general audience. Which I can understand, yet I'm still upset about. Many things in the game for me was the details. Such as how champions interacted and had new info revealed about them... and the voiceline and lore is really important for that. Some of the champs that I love the lore of are Fiddlesticks, Evelynn and the demons in general. They are very interesting and I'm very upset to know they put the interesting things on hold for more content. I used to just listen to all the voiceline they made... and read all the flavor text for HOURS. Shame.
Adding champs without VOs is just not the same, I want a champ to be added to the game because I fell in love with the character, not the mechanic. I would much rather getting fewer champs but with complete VOs and flavor text than just getting what is practically a blank card with a new mechanic added to it.
The fall off of LoR just breaks my heart. The flavor, the world building, being able to place yourself within the corners of Runeterra. Oh, how this game deserved so much better
Another option could be to have a month or two spread out across the year where no new champions or cards are introduced, but focus is put more on fluff. Adding animations, voice lines, etc, plus a generic Battle Pass for the month.
I dont understand their mission? Who said we want all the roster as soon as possible? I'd rather have them release 1 champ a year if it has a proper cool level up animations, a cool concept, flavor text and interactions. Oh, and actually be usable in DECKBUILDING. Remember the core aspect of LoR? DECKBUILDING? As a CARD GAME - Experimenting with the Champs you want? And they release a champ you can only play in Path of Champions...I know so many inactive players who saw the fiddle teaser and were genuinely interested to come back to playing the game, only for it to be kind of underhandedly announced that it's PvE exclusive, and killing the game for good in those players eyes, including myself. This direction of LoR is killing every aspect of it that the players actually like. I guess that's what happens when your Budget gets cut off, I feel sorry for the players who didnt get to experience LoR in the golden days...You never truly know what you have until its gone...I always financially supported the game, such a shame :/
I think LOR needs to remember Quality is better than Quantity. Yes everyone having their favorite champion is good, but not if they’re half-baked and objectively less finished
To be honest, I dont care how many or how long they need to add a new champions into the game, but i do enjoy the whole package they brought to the table, the mechanics, the artworks and ofc the VOICELINES and FLAVOUR TEXT. Its really sucked to see that future champs will not have voicelines, feels like a part of them is lost... I really do hope that the team can reconsider the choice!
can we have warwick? riot: you can have silent doggo can we have fiddlesticks? riot:You can have motionless scarecrow riot: Without voice lines champions are nobodies.
What I hope to see in the future is flavour text added on release and VO added in bulk a few months or maybe a year after the release with a bunch of little interactions like the pvp champs. The silence is deafening for Fiddle
Well, guess i won't be putting any more money into the game, cutting corners and not adding voicelines is a HUGE letdown, the main attraction for me in the game is the AUDIBLE lore and interactions between units and their followers
Good interview! Voiclines and animations are what makes the game special! Even if they make the animations like rising tides again, it would at least add some soul into it all! Maybe riot could start making animated skins in game for champs/followers/landmarks/etc. I wonder in the long run, if LoR could bring ultimate skins/boards into the game to at least help with some money! They could start with: spirit guard udyr, pulsefire ezreal or gun goddess miss fortune! The boards could have unique clickable spots, music swap outs, animations when getting giving hits,etc. Imagine a dj sona board with each of sonas forms like kdas board! The crowd could change and even the way they interact with cards and moments! Just a thought
The good news is that the game is finally making money for riot, so that means they will get more resources for Voices, texts and even cinematics in the future
I get that LOR had to change but tbh Since they went straight to PVE i haven't touched it. and hearing that VO now isn't going to be a part of LOR for seemingly the future AND a general Level up. HELL the basic level ups from the first ever champs were still made to be good because of the VO's. Man just killing everything that made LOR so special to me. Again i get they had to make this shift to keep the game running, but after putting so much time and effort into it, to see what it has become just makes me sad.
I hope that they will change their focus to high quality releases. When I started playing my favorite thing was playing Nautilus, leveling him hearing his music and "All will drown!". It won't be the same without those iconic or memorable voicelines. I'm honestly going to look forward to seeing champs that already exist in the game added to path rather then brand new ones, simply because they have level up and VO. I don't even like seraphine. But I'd be more excited to hear she is coming to path then a soulless warwick. I can't wait for Nautilus, even though I already have my favorites champions in game, Pyke, Pantheon, Swain. Nautilus isn't even one of my favorite league champ, same with A-sol. But here their voices carry power and it makes them feel impactful. A-Sol would he a nothing to me if he didn't have voicelines with his spacey echo effect. I wouldn't be excited if say another champ I like, Yone comes to the game and...has nothing that makes yone, yone other then gameplay. It feels flat. Fiddle does too. He is cool.....but i dont really feel anything when he level or jumps onto the board. Please, keep voiceovers and level ups. Those are the soul of every character. The gameplay is important but without voicelines it feels lifeless and will get boring. I just quit playing Fiddle even though he is 6 star.....cause well...he doesn't feel like fiddle without his voice. I put time and money into getting fiddle too 6 star but I don't even feel like playing him, not necessarily because I don't like how he plays. I'm not buying anything for Warwick or Ambessa. I probably won't even get the pass. I'm just not interested in using a lifeless champion. Why would I play and buy packs for Warwick when I could just wait until Pantheon or Viktor are added with their voicelines and unique level up.
Pure PVP enjoyer here. Watching LoR put so much energy and attention into TPoC feels so depressing for no reason. They were transparent. We knew it would happen. But damn if im not going crazy seeing it. Feels like a car crash man, I cannot look away.
I enjoyed both modes though my focus was more on PvP. I liked PoC enough to keep playing a bit but they are now even removing the voicelines and animations?
I'm cool with animations and voice lines. (I don't like the level up animations that are just little movies with PlayStation 2 graphics), but they could release 2~3 little cards for PVP every now and then.
It’s awesome to see how passionate Eric is about lor. It’s visible through the way he speak about it, and it gives great comfort knowing pretty much everything that has been happening lately has come from a good place.
Bring back emphasis on PVP in this game. I've been playing it non-stop since beta and now they're forcing me to play a game mode I don't want to just to experience one of my favorite characters.
Personally, I'd rather wait an extra few months for champions to be really polished out before releasing than mass producing gameplay. I think many many players agree that level up animations, voicelines, and flavor text really give life to the cards. It was also an awesome pass time during PvP where I could listen to different interactions and voicelines when I'm not planning out my next move. I understand Fiddlesticks' release being on a bit more of a time constraint for the spooky season, but I'd rather see more Fiddlesticks lore and voicelines over the next few months rather than Warwick and Ambessa.
I gotta say: level ups really matter to me. Maybe that’s a cosmetic we can buy? But I guess the reason level ups aren’t around is because skins didn’t sell well and people didn’t buy level up animations and therefore, the devs thought we won’t mind if the level ups go.
Nah, it's something thats been in the background for a long time Not that I neccessarily think it influenced this decision but pretty much since the inception of the game there have been people asking to be able to disable level up animations entirely and it became even more vocal after they became a whole cinematic with the release of Shurima.
I think we don't need voice lines for the followers(if they need to cut something, cut the followers voice lines), but we need voice lines and animations for champions!
Eric seems very sincere and engaged. I appreciate the detail he gave in explaining his reasoning behind leaving voice lines and such even if folks ultimately disagree with that decision
Im gonna be honest. I understand the reason why they arent doing the voice overs or level up animations... But i would rather they just not put new cards in the game if they cant do the full thing...
So much Jhin talk got me thinking about possible star powers for the "mastermind," and I came up with two ideas: - Every fourth card played (could be first and then every fourth) gets its stats x2/x3 or, if it is a spell or skill, deal x2/x3 - If you've only played 3 cards this turn, "play" a Jhin and casts Curtain Call (the attacking skill) on Round End I don't know why I loved the thought of planning the three cards, getting Jhin as the fourth card with more stats, and then the curtain to profit on the turn stuns. It loses some of the 4 and control parts, but I think it could be quite cool!
I just recently played this game and the lore and VO is a big impact on game experience. Wishing that this game prosper and give more content. League is getting in the game of TV Series or maybe movies this game is a great platform to display story.
Ouch, I feel like they don't really know what their own game is about tho. Both Animations AND VO are what makes LoR ... well... LoR. If my main champion was coming and had no VO and no animations, it would be a waste imo. Also, does disliking the video hurt Snnuy or not? While I didn't like the content of it, I don't wanna be mean to Snnuy for no reasons.
For me PvP is important and it wasn't touched at all in this interview. I was thinking that competitive part of LoR will get revieved once they are part of League. Seems I was wrong 😢.
Man, every time LOR has "news" it lowers my desire to play the game. i would have preferred a sustainable financial model rather than just killing the game to keep it ultra friendly to F2P. As great as it was, i would rather spend money for a good game than not play because the game isnt as good
The voicelines, animations and how they expanded the universe the game takes place in was what made me like it in the first place. I don't expect the team has the freedom to change direction on this, though. Gotta cut corners to keep up with that gacha release schedule.
Yeah, no voice lines and new level up animations are a dealbreaker for me, sorry. I would be fine with no voice lines for followers, but at least give them to the champions. And no new animations? Just go back to spinning cards or whatever, but do SOMETHING. What a giant bummer.
I fully understand what they are getting on and their situation. The director of the game is really open and I think he got his head into right priorities. But i must admit... LoR without lvl ups and VOs is not the same. I cannot imagine playing volibear without "LETS TURN THIS THUNDRA REEEED!!!". I can only hope that game being in a good spot means we will eventually get bigger LoR team.
I don't like the champion specific +1 mana relics, because on other champions that's a condition you can't meet. So even e.g. you would pick a relic that does not suit your playstyle at all, the cards you find along the way might do that. I would love to see a change like "Round Start: +1 Mana if (Champ X) is in your deck." Therefore you either can find that champion as a support or generate it with other cards/relics, giving a niche upside to having that relic on another Champion.
As a lot of people have stated here, honestly I don't mind waiting for new releases if it means we get the new champs with everything polished, a lot of my enjoyment of this game comes from the Voicelines and Level up animations
As much as I want more of our favorite champs from LoL in LoR, if they have no voices and interactions, I would probably not be excited at all to play them, as I don't get to experience their personality. We'd just have a few Images and that's it.. Many champs who haven't really interested me before in LoL quickly became favorites of mine by playing them in LoR, because I got to know them. Nilah, Janna, Malphite, Jax, Seraphine, Zilean, Kayn and Rhaast and the List goes on. I wouldn't have gotten to love them if they were just pictures without voices. I was so excited for Fiddlesticks to arrive and I'm also having fun playing him right now, but I don't get any feel of Fiddlesticks from him or any of his followers, except his Level Up, which easily gets stale. It does not feel like I'm playing Fiddelsticks, but just the support champ I've chosen that run, who most of the time becomes my main focus of my deck as a result. Luckily my main champs from LoL (namely Taliyah, Poppy and Samira) already are in the game with their VO, but if more of my favorites, like Briar, Ivern, Milio(...) came to LoR, and they wouldn't have a VO it just would feel like they haven't been added after all.
Guys, as a big fan of the Fiddle and having long waited for its debut in LoR, I’m so disappointed. Fiddle's background information has always been minimal. Basically, we knew it was the devil of fear, and it appeared a long time ago, and that’s it. I was expecting a lot from LoR to add tons of details about Fiddle’s background by VOs and flavor texts, just like the brilliant work they’ve done in the past. It turns out we got none of them…… (Alright at least they decided to bring the texts back). There are tons of other card games in the market, but what makes us want to stay is the beauty and fun of the LoL universe, and we can pick up all the missing pieces of the very limited storytelling from LoL. Also, now we know LoR has started to do better financially and wants to stay focused on PoC. But instead of bringing the sacrifices back (e.g., PvP updates, unique VFX), why are you still going to sacrifice more of this game’s core? Haven’t you really made profits? There’s a big logic break here to me because to my understanding the only reason to cut them down is because of the budget (I don’t know much about VOs and animation does cost more). Up to this point I really hope the developers could listen to the community and save the game. We want quality instead of quantity and you did such a great job before! We don’t want the speed-up incomplete champs. And think about the those fans who waited so long for the debut of their fav champs but all they got is just unpolished work. I still feel so sorry about Fiddle, please bring the VOs back and listen to our voices. We love this game and really wish it all the best.
I think not having resources for pay voicelines and animations is okay is a decision from Riot Games OTHER DIFFERENT THING is not being mod free since before Aatrox release i watch a lot of edits of fanmade CARDS with ANIMATIONS and VOICELINES Is so Dumb you can hire people to do this !!!
I think it's understandable that the team can't deliver on VO and lore on launch but I encourage them to release it later when/if they can, as long as we get them I don't mind it taking a bit longer than before
The only thing I'd like to get added is for people who spend more time playing have a chance to actually grind exp with completing the adventures rather than having a fixed amount on a weekly and daily basis
I would hope the success could give them enough ravanue/funds to increase the team. Not to speed up the content, but to increase it, to make VO's possible.
It has been noticeable that the level up animations for champs have reduced in quality (e. Lux 2.0). Make a generic lvl up, but a purchasable (cheap) better lvl up animation. Don't skimp on voices for cards and lore text as well. That's one of my favorite parts about LoR. Also, if it takes a bit longer to keep voice and text I would rather them take an extra 2-4 weeks to keep this aspect of the game.
Very interesting to hear the insights of how riot games operates, the fact that league studios essentially poached talent from LoR is concerning. Hopefully LoR dev team can increase in size down the road with better financial success
I usually buy the 3* for each new champ and 5* bundles for the champ that unique mechanic. Need more way to get relics and shard. Fiddle mech is great and also ahri.
I don't know how much more expensive is doing the old-stiled lv up animations (Teemo, Yasuo, Elise) are but I would be ok if we went back to those. Specially if it includes spell effects. For example, I find it a little disappointing that fiddle does not have a special animation when leveling up from the deck. I expected at least one second of suspense music and the screen getting dark before que spawns.
TL;DR - please keep VO in LoR
Voiceover is a huge part of why I enjoy this game so much, and to reconcile with a potential state of the game where that's not on the table is really difficult. I love LoR and PoC is the most fun it's ever been with Constellations; but the things I always looked so forward to seeing with new champions were the new mechanics, translation of champion into card, and the level-up animation and voice interactions.
Seriously, the voices add SOO much personality to the game. I've changed opinions from "I don't care about X champion" to "this is my guy/gal" just because of hearing a few voice lines over and over. I never get tired of hearing Vex go "pretty... cringe". Pyke and Senna's level-up VOs go hard. Some of them become community memes (Azir, Mordekaiser).
While I was a little bit disappointed when they started scaling down on VO with some cards, I could at least live with it knowing that it wasn't the whole case, and champions would always have them.
Yeah... it's really sad to see that even that may not be feasible. Of course I understand there's a burden on the production side and it's a choice based on efficiency. I can only speak for myself, but I would rather keep the VO going. I'm comfortable taking the trade-off of a slower champion release pace if it means that when they do arrive, they come fully stocked with voice lines. I'd prefer that they have a unique level-up, even if it's more basic, since it also adds a big moment to the game; but maybe that's asking too much, I can just live with having voiceover.
It's not gonna kill my love for the game but... man, it hurts.
(Sorry to ramble on your video Mr. Snnuy. Love your videos and think it's so great that you're in a position to speak directly with the creators of a game we're all super passionate about.
Completely agree. 👍
Second this. I wasn’t happy with the new monetization and content cadence for PoC, if they cut out vo and lore from new content I might just move on tbh…
Completely agree, no voicelines means no personalitie, in Lol i main Sona, if they would ever bring her without voicelines, i'd rather them not bring her, having her with no personality will mean they didn't bring the champion i love, they'll just bring a .png of it, and that will hurt a lot
Adding this comment because I do want to still be positive about the game, as I said, still love it very much.
First, biggest thing... I mean, you can sense the love Eric has for the game. One of the biggest strengths of the current and former LoR team has been how attached they are to what they are making. And I have faith that they'll continue to create content we can enjoy. There's a lot of creative people on the team that have helped give us some really unique and fun experiences.
Hearing that the game's financial situation has stabilized (for now) is a blessing. I get the sense that - although there's still some tension - they've found their success enough to support keeping the game alive and moving on to new and better things.
I actually really love the answer concerning the sectioning off of Nightmares vs the World Adventures. Hearing him say that players felt like things were left incomplete if they didn't / couldn't complete a difficult adventure (like Swain and Lissandra) was how I would feel, without knowing it. I play to have a fun time and casually feel powerful, not for a challenge. I know my perspective isn't everyone's and that's fine. Some people really enjoy running through 5+ star adventures, planning their relics and all. Having that be in a separate part that isn't on the "core" map (through the Nightmares) is a nice solution the bridge those different perspectives.
Some concept of "unleveling" your progression has been thrown around in the community for a while, and it's nice seeing community-requested features actively being worked on (including the recent animation changes). I may not make use of the de-starring, but even if it's not an option for me, it's still super cool that it'll be there. For sure it'll add some spice to the content to watch.
That's just some of the takeaways that are nice from this interview.
In terms of level ups, it's not like there is a precedent of quality anyway. I mean they gave us Ryze's level up completely unironically.
I understand the idea of putting gameplay first, especially when you have limited resources. It's a difficult act of ressource management. However, as someone who was introduced to the world of Runeterra through LoR, part of the hype for new champions is those extra bits of polish like voice lines, flavor text and level up animation. They give the champion "life" so to speak, even tho they are not the core essential parts. Without them, the champions would be just PNG attached to a gameplay effect.
So there is a complicated balance to find I think. I get we can't have everything anymore due to the budget cuts, but I still feel that these small non-essential things are still important to a certain extent, even if dialed back. Obviously they should not be the priority over the gameplay but removing them entirely might kill the hype later down the line.
Also, and I might be wrong here, but I think that people who are eagerly waiting for their favorite character to be added to the game want to see them in their "full glory" so to speak, not just as cool gameplay but with the "LoR polish". Again, I don't play League so maybe I'm wrong here.
I largely agree, I don't see why they can't just use the voice files from league.
As for flavor text, I don't see how that would be too costly to get done
@@Plight_ He addresses why somewhat. It sounds to me like there are a ton of union and legal concerns (foreign and domestic) involved in even just re-using the voice lines in a different game than LoL.
@@Plight_ for the voiceline: Money. They bought the voicelines and actor right for one game, one type of using them etc.
Same here, the fact that LoR has a cohesive lore and fluff - compared to the absolute mess that is every other property set in Runeterra - is a major selling point for me. And it's more important than evern ow that the game is PvE.
No voicelines just straights up kills it for me, I still get chills EVERYTIME renekton levels up, his animation + ""MY FURY CANNOT BE CONTAINED". It adds so much love to champions, renekton is not particular good but for the sake of how COOL his art, level-up and voice-lines are I wanna make a deck around him every set. Now it would be weird for warwick to drop on the board in silence... or when levelling up especially with all the lore tied into jinx, jayce, vi, caitlyn..
Yeah it's most of the reason I even play the game, Lack of VO or level ups means I just won't play those champs, and that not previously being explained for FIddlesticks VO wise when the community assumed it was a bug since the VA for Fiddle said he recorded lines, feels like a bit of a rug pull
@@alarming529 Was already sad that they killed PvP to focus on PoC, the VA problem is just another shot in the foot that litterally overkilled the game off.
Although not that I truely care about it as I have zero interest into PoC so it is a minimal impact to me, but if that is going to be reoccuring thing that'll defitinively going to make me twice as copium mad as we are getting Warwick exclusively as a PoC...
I'll just be here and hope that they format those champs later on for PvP, if that ever happens... but not going to support Riot with money until they help resolve those concerns as honestly it really doesn't benefits me in the slightest. (They have sadly completely lost all monetary incentives when they decided to focus on PvE. (Did nabbed all the freebies though.))
Cant agree enough. Udyr, Riven, Caitlyn are some of the few champs i love playing with which i havent played in league once. And them having no voicelines would've made it impossible for me to play them cuz the main thing that really pushed me into playing these champs was how much i love levelling them due to their excellent lvl up animations and so impactful voicelines. Without them it just feels dead, soulless. I prefer having less champ than having more without voicelines and lvl up animation anyday.
"I am not done with you!"
"Let us turn this tundra.. REEEEEEEEEED"
Yeah. I'm not playing it with no VAs. Making the level up animations less awesome removes a massive part of PoCs appeal. Making them 'more generic' for faster champion turnover completely misses the point; all it does is make the champion less flavourful, less fun to play, and gives less to look forward to.
I respect Eric’s honesty and straightforwardness. Hope this guy gets props internally.
It’s always hard to give answers in an interview that you know some people won’t really want to hear; Mr. Shen did a really good job here.
Also, I love how the team dynamic sounds. People really working together. I love the sounds of unity. Riot is such an interesting game studio.
I'm sure it will be a while before we see voice-over changes (if we get them) since they have a year out planned.
Changing those things when there's multiple other departments they're working with makes it even harder to change too. I am hopeful that we start getting them back in the middle or end of next year though.
I am a Hwei main, I would rather wait and get a fully realized, interesting voiced over with extra lore ( something we rarely get elsewhere, the game was great for lore lovers) than just emotionless cards that don't do anything. Half of the fun of the game for me is this. The amount of times I repeat a level up voice line while playing " I AM THE WORLD ENDER!! " / " THE LIST. JUST. KEEPS. GETTING. LONGER!!! ". Thank you for being so open and seemingly honest with us, genuinely. We appreciate and love your effort.
It's so criminal that Fiddle of all champions didn't get voice lines, Mr Shen please reconsider the teams stance on it. I can understand the pitfall being a smaller team with bigger expectations from Riot but you're giving up a lot of LOR's personality.
All of Fiddle's followers are literally different forms of Fiddlesticks in different areas of Runeterra but a lot of people won't realize that. That's so insanely cool and yeah the new adventures are lovely but it just feels hollow without the spice of Voicelines and level up animations. I'd probably stop playing if we didn't get voice overs.
"I BRING... OBLIVION!!!!!!!!!!"
So many incredible lines. I legit play champions looking forward to certain lines.
@@iamthedave3 So many fun interactions too ;o;
Definitely gonna be part of the vocal crowd here saying VO and animations matter - quality > quantity
Great interview, thanks to both participants!
Awesome interview!
I was shocked but encouraged by the transparency. I am excited to see where this game goes next.
as long as they can add voicelines and flavortext to the champs, I don't mind how long it takes to add a new champion into the game. I'll still be here playing!
I would definitely wait a bit longer for proper Voice lines and animations. Flavor text can come later, but those two are such impactful Feel Good moments.
It's so nice to hear from a dev that clearly understands their audience! Couldn't be happier that LoR is gaining more steam than ever and look forward to what they're cooking for next yearM
awesome interview but please please please consider keeping the VO and the level up animation. The satisfaction and the chills I get from the level up and the champion voice lines are what make LOR special for me. I think most players would rather have a champion with voicelines and animation than five champs that levels up in silence.
No voices lines + no level up animation is a big big yikes moment. 90% of the runeterra attraction for people is gameplay merged with flavors, champ level ups and VO play an enormous role in that and it's no very appealing to play say Volibear full voiceover, epic lines, amazing level up then play Warwick with... silence.
Yea, I think we don't need voice lines for the followers(if they need to cut something, cut the followers voice lines), but we need voice lines and animations for champions!
Sad aroo noises... Wait, now there's no noises, only silence.
@@Incarnato009what! So you want to have a muted Ledros of a muted Vyrnna?
@@Yeheah I play this Game for the champions, I personally don't care for the followers, I think a Lot of casuals that came from lol think the same.
@@Incarnato009nah followers are just as important
I think VO is definitely a must, even if it is really cumbersome to get them done. LoR (or is it called TPoC now?) is heavily depending on/adding to the world building aspect of the "Riot Universe", people who are playing it love it mostly for the theme (aside from being a good card game, ofc). In that sense, experiencing new content without VO or flavourtext is a big letdown... I think we can live without the sophisticated LUP animations, and I would risk to say having less frequent updates but with voices (at least in english if localizing takes up too much coordination time) is better than regular content that feels half-done or misses the immersion.
I am on the fence as long as I dont know how much it actually takes. If VO makes new things take 2 extra months I would say it's not worth it. If it's 1 month extra I would have a tough time choosing, if it's 15 days go for more VO
I'm glad thar Eric mentioned SAG here. People forget that voice lines in League are made by humans and that those should be fairly compensated. If LoR were to just implement the VO from League into LoR, it would not just be a quality issue but also a legal issue - rights, compensation, coordination... I'm glad the conversation was brought up.
Honestly I dom'tind getting fewer champs a year but they all get unique level-ups and full VO. I love LoR for the fluff first, everything else second. Even going back and giving champs pike Darius and Thresh an update to their level up would be awesome.
Main problem with this way is User Retention and average monthly money income
Pyke and Thresh's level ups are fine imo. Darius, Teemo and Garen need one more lol
@@Mushroom-Stew Oh there are some that need it more, I was just giving examples. They all need one because the later level ups are just so much nicer.
@@ulyssemeewt1398 I know, hence why I figure they can still release a good battle pass for the month, maybe some QoL updates, etc. Especially if communicated ahead of time, I don't think it would impact user retention much. It'd give a serious boost to the game's polish as well, which isn't something to underestimate.
I feel like if they do change to that, it will be more likely to have in the 3rd quarter of next year or 2026.
Not because they're not listening, but because changing the road map after production on things has started can be difficult to do.
I don't want the champs if they're not complete. RIOT is known for being a high quality company when it comes to new content. Their reputation is on the line and I hope they care
imagine how boring some champs would be without VO, like draven idk
Riot is known as a what company?!?!?!!?
Lol give me a hit of that copium, brother. Riot's QA has always been shit. They are good at creating a facade of polish, I guess.
@@Dex-of7ri they are though, lets be fr. Even if the metas themselves are terrible, riot always releases in full. Obviously bugs will exist but it's a sacrifice for the frequency of the releases.
You do realize they're losing a lot of money just by keeping LoR available to play for us? A lot of companies would have just shut down the servers entirely
Thanks so much for this interview Snnuy! This makes conversing with Riot feel so much more transparent! I think we definitely dont mind slower releases if the champs are delivered more indepth. Like if Im a superfan and i am waiting for my favorite champ then VOs and voicelines are definitely something that I would love to see.
As everyone is saying VO is such a huge selling point for LoR ... Like one of my favorite interactions are in this game
Hell i dare to say one of the voices that sends chills down my spine everytime is not even a champion but a follower the "warrior" 5 cost celestial card aka Pantheon the aspect of war no the champion
But like some one else said it would be hella disappointing when yone eventually releases and is just dead silence even when you drop him next to his brother yasuo ......
One of my favorite intersections is that "does the wind flee..... Or does it follow" it really aches your heart or some others warm you enough to smile , or be outright comedic like the nocturne taunting zoe : "Ezreal will marry lux and live happily ever after"
VO gives life to the game and makes it stand away from other card games I really hope they can shift back power into it beacuse....it honestly makes the game completely different
Couldn't agree more
VO and Level Up animation is THE GAME for me
VO is honestly important for this game. It's what makes everything feel more alive than something like magic where there are so many cards that they rarely matter as characters.
As most comments already say, I too value having a fully completed champ with voice lines (and flavour text, level up animation, etc.) way more than having more new champs released. The attention to detail, little interactions between cards and lore made me fall in love with the game and it's imho much more important than releasing many champions.
I can probably do without level up animations as only some I really care for (like D&D Nami) but the Voiceovers make the game so special. Especially when there's interactions you don't expect between two cards or a unique dialogue for specific spells.
I understand the team needs to keep the game going, but please, don't go for quantity over quality.
Very interesting level ups can be made with Foundations style level ups, which at least seem to require less resources to make.
Both VO and Level up animations is what makes the game FEEL like Legends of Runeterra and not just another card game that uses a known IP.
Its a Champion focused game. VO is not just "fluff" or "polish". It IS content.
I really see VO’s as an essential part of the LoR experience and something that keeps me playing. The replay value they add for me cannot be understated imo.
Edit: just want to add that this was a brilliant interview and overall I’m feeling excited by the future of lor
Fastastic interview with really good quality, in-depth and insightful answers from Eric which makes me feel taken serious as a player and fan as well as giving hope how they're handling this. Seeing his open-minded attitude to the VO thing makes me think they've genuinly overlooked the importance of it but are more than willing to revert on that direction and update the champs coming out w/o VO/flavor text at one point when they've pivoted their current course on that aspect of the game to include VO/flavor text again. So thank you for that Eric! And you as well for the interview Sunny!
On a side note for everyone else, do keep in mind that if they decide to add VO's again, even if players are fine with it taking longer, that this will also mean less of those champion 2 & 5 stat bundles per year that are doing so well, so there is also an incentive for them to keep things less polished at a higher frequency if that reduced polish won't have too much of a negative impact in the long run. But that's too soon to tell right now and something they'll have to weigh against one another in terms of pros and cons.
Haven't personally played since the move away from PvP, so I understand that I'm no longer the intended audience however, to have LoR the game known for making decks based on the Champions, now have Champs without VO is insane to me. All of the flavor that made the game special just gone.
I remember waking up the day of an expansion to spend hours reading all of the flavor text, to try and find interesting Champ-Champ or Champ-Follower interactions, see what new things I would learn. I understand it is not the same team anymore, but you had something really exceptional with the stories being told that I felt put it above most other card games. With such a goldmine of an IP and so many stories to tell, it was wonderful to watch them all unfold. LoL likely never would've given us anything as interesting as Xolaani. To slowly learn more through the various cards in the expansion was a great experience.
To lose a lot of that with the followers sucked, but to have Champs now also not have it feels awful. The mechanics can be interesting, and the art can be pretty, but other games also have good art with neat mechanics. It would feel like there is less reason to play LoR over other card games like HS or Magic.
One of the wonderful things about having these games be online is the ability to add all of these interesting features that can't be done in person, but as more things get stripped away, I imagine it feels less like playing a Champion and more like you are playing with pieces of cardboard.
I apologize if this comes off as too negative, but even as a player who already left, it still comes as a gut punch to hear that going forward, a lot of the cast will be missing that spark that I truly think made LoR so important to all of us. I hope that the team finds enough success that they can rationalize reconsidering this decision as I believe that by leaving these behind we are losing what gave LoR so much life.
I'll be as direct as I can be: I don't give a shit if we have all the champion roster if they have no VO or flavour text, this would make LoR just a random card game with League art
Definitely absolutely prefer slower more polished releases. I still listen to all of Aatrox's voice lines, they do such a good job showing his role as a general, and the fear in his voice about having to go back to the weapon
It’s just not the same game without voicelines and interactions, I really hope they can take longer on each champion to give VO
I'm not sure that i want my favourite champ to be released in LoR, if they're going to be essentially second-class citizens without lvlup animations and VO compared to even the earliest champs.
Yeah months of Fiddle being mentioned and he has minimal animation nor voicelines to highlight his arrival.
There’s zero impact when he is summoned.
Fiddle arriving on board with no special animations nor voicelines.
Sometimes it’s easy to even miss that he got summoned and not the other Nightmare units
The disappointment with Fiddle is huge after all the waiting and teasers.
I agree with the general sentiment. I‘d be fine with reduced level up animations as these are usual once per game anyway, but flavor text, lore, world building and voice lines are a huge draw factor to the game for me, more than the gameplay if I‘m being honest.
I only played LoR for the new lore. If there is no new lore, I'm 100% not playing.
This interview made it clear that they are putting that on the back burner in order to pump out more content for a general audience. Which I can understand, yet I'm still upset about.
Many things in the game for me was the details.
Such as how champions interacted and had new info revealed about them... and the voiceline and lore is really important for that.
Some of the champs that I love the lore of are Fiddlesticks, Evelynn and the demons in general. They are very interesting and I'm very upset to know they put the interesting things on hold for more content.
I used to just listen to all the voiceline they made... and read all the flavor text for HOURS.
Shame.
Not having VO or flavor text is one of the main reasons why i might skip battepasses or buying bundles so glad they heard people about those
Adding champs without VOs is just not the same, I want a champ to be added to the game because I fell in love with the character, not the mechanic. I would much rather getting fewer champs but with complete VOs and flavor text than just getting what is practically a blank card with a new mechanic added to it.
The fall off of LoR just breaks my heart. The flavor, the world building, being able to place yourself within the corners of Runeterra. Oh, how this game deserved so much better
Another option could be to have a month or two spread out across the year where no new champions or cards are introduced, but focus is put more on fluff. Adding animations, voice lines, etc, plus a generic Battle Pass for the month.
I dont understand their mission? Who said we want all the roster as soon as possible? I'd rather have them release 1 champ a year if it has a proper cool level up animations, a cool concept, flavor text and interactions. Oh, and actually be usable in DECKBUILDING.
Remember the core aspect of LoR? DECKBUILDING? As a CARD GAME - Experimenting with the Champs you want?
And they release a champ you can only play in Path of Champions...I know so many inactive players who saw the fiddle teaser and were genuinely interested to come back to playing the game, only for it to be kind of underhandedly announced that it's PvE exclusive, and killing the game for good in those players eyes, including myself.
This direction of LoR is killing every aspect of it that the players actually like.
I guess that's what happens when your Budget gets cut off, I feel sorry for the players who didnt get to experience LoR in the golden days...You never truly know what you have until its gone...I always financially supported the game, such a shame :/
Fantastic interview/update. Glad the are being so open with what is going on
The voices have to be there, please. It’s a good 30% of a card. Without it something feels deadly wrong!
I think LOR needs to remember Quality is better than Quantity. Yes everyone having their favorite champion is good, but not if they’re half-baked and objectively less finished
To be honest, I dont care how many or how long they need to add a new champions into the game, but i do enjoy the whole package they brought to the table, the mechanics, the artworks and ofc the VOICELINES and FLAVOUR TEXT. Its really sucked to see that future champs will not have voicelines, feels like a part of them is lost... I really do hope that the team can reconsider the choice!
can we have warwick?
riot: you can have silent doggo
can we have fiddlesticks?
riot:You can have motionless scarecrow
riot: Without voice lines champions are nobodies.
What I hope to see in the future is flavour text added on release and VO added in bulk a few months or maybe a year after the release with a bunch of little interactions like the pvp champs. The silence is deafening for Fiddle
Lore is LoRs biggest strength and they should really focus on that. No VO is very sad to hear about
Well, guess i won't be putting any more money into the game, cutting corners and not adding voicelines is a HUGE letdown, the main attraction for me in the game is the AUDIBLE lore and interactions between units and their followers
I'd rather get a couple of champions a year if it means they can have a VO and a proper level up.
Good interview! Voiclines and animations are what makes the game special! Even if they make the animations like rising tides again, it would at least add some soul into it all!
Maybe riot could start making animated skins in game for champs/followers/landmarks/etc.
I wonder in the long run, if LoR could bring ultimate skins/boards into the game to at least help with some money!
They could start with: spirit guard udyr, pulsefire ezreal or gun goddess miss fortune!
The boards could have unique clickable spots, music swap outs, animations when getting giving hits,etc.
Imagine a dj sona board with each of sonas forms like kdas board! The crowd could change and even the way they interact with cards and moments! Just a thought
The good news is that the game is finally making money for riot, so that means they will get more resources for Voices, texts and even cinematics in the future
I get that LOR had to change but tbh
Since they went straight to PVE i haven't touched it.
and hearing that VO now isn't going to be a part of LOR for seemingly the future AND a general Level up. HELL the basic level ups from the first ever champs were still made to be good because of the VO's.
Man just killing everything that made LOR so special to me.
Again i get they had to make this shift to keep the game running, but after putting so much time and effort into it, to see what it has become just makes me sad.
I hope that they will change their focus to high quality releases. When I started playing my favorite thing was playing Nautilus, leveling him hearing his music and "All will drown!". It won't be the same without those iconic or memorable voicelines. I'm honestly going to look forward to seeing champs that already exist in the game added to path rather then brand new ones, simply because they have level up and VO. I don't even like seraphine. But I'd be more excited to hear she is coming to path then a soulless warwick. I can't wait for Nautilus, even though I already have my favorites champions in game, Pyke, Pantheon, Swain. Nautilus isn't even one of my favorite league champ, same with A-sol. But here their voices carry power and it makes them feel impactful. A-Sol would he a nothing to me if he didn't have voicelines with his spacey echo effect. I wouldn't be excited if say another champ I like, Yone comes to the game and...has nothing that makes yone, yone other then gameplay. It feels flat. Fiddle does too. He is cool.....but i dont really feel anything when he level or jumps onto the board. Please, keep voiceovers and level ups. Those are the soul of every character. The gameplay is important but without voicelines it feels lifeless and will get boring. I just quit playing Fiddle even though he is 6 star.....cause well...he doesn't feel like fiddle without his voice. I put time and money into getting fiddle too 6 star but I don't even feel like playing him, not necessarily because I don't like how he plays. I'm not buying anything for Warwick or Ambessa. I probably won't even get the pass. I'm just not interested in using a lifeless champion. Why would I play and buy packs for Warwick when I could just wait until Pantheon or Viktor are added with their voicelines and unique level up.
I would love to hear whether the idea of a co-op POC would be in the cards for the future.
Pure PVP enjoyer here. Watching LoR put so much energy and attention into TPoC feels so depressing for no reason. They were transparent. We knew it would happen. But damn if im not going crazy seeing it. Feels like a car crash man, I cannot look away.
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I enjoyed both modes though my focus was more on PvP.
I liked PoC enough to keep playing a bit but they are now even removing the voicelines and animations?
It's been almost a year, stop torturing yourself
I'm cool with animations and voice lines. (I don't like the level up animations that are just little movies with PlayStation 2 graphics), but they could release 2~3 little cards for PVP every now and then.
carai salve pato
I agree the voicelines and VFX are a big deal but I don't care about the full animations
It’s awesome to see how passionate Eric is about lor. It’s visible through the way he speak about it, and it gives great comfort knowing pretty much everything that has been happening lately has come from a good place.
Bring back emphasis on PVP in this game. I've been playing it non-stop since beta and now they're forcing me to play a game mode I don't want to just to experience one of my favorite characters.
Personally, I'd rather wait an extra few months for champions to be really polished out before releasing than mass producing gameplay. I think many many players agree that level up animations, voicelines, and flavor text really give life to the cards. It was also an awesome pass time during PvP where I could listen to different interactions and voicelines when I'm not planning out my next move. I understand Fiddlesticks' release being on a bit more of a time constraint for the spooky season, but I'd rather see more Fiddlesticks lore and voicelines over the next few months rather than Warwick and Ambessa.
I gotta say: level ups really matter to me. Maybe that’s a cosmetic we can buy? But I guess the reason level ups aren’t around is because skins didn’t sell well and people didn’t buy level up animations and therefore, the devs thought we won’t mind if the level ups go.
Nah, it's something thats been in the background for a long time
Not that I neccessarily think it influenced this decision but pretty much since the inception of the game there have been people asking to be able to disable level up animations entirely and it became even more vocal after they became a whole cinematic with the release of Shurima.
Absolutely loved the interview, some really great questions were asked.
the honesty in the answers is something you definetly dont see a lot, huge congrats to eric, nice job man!!
I think we don't need voice lines for the followers(if they need to cut something, cut the followers voice lines), but we need voice lines and animations for champions!
Eric seems very sincere and engaged. I appreciate the detail he gave in explaining his reasoning behind leaving voice lines and such even if folks ultimately disagree with that decision
Im gonna be honest. I understand the reason why they arent doing the voice overs or level up animations...
But i would rather they just not put new cards in the game if they cant do the full thing...
Ditto!!
So much Jhin talk got me thinking about possible star powers for the "mastermind," and I came up with two ideas:
- Every fourth card played (could be first and then every fourth) gets its stats x2/x3 or, if it is a spell or skill, deal x2/x3
- If you've only played 3 cards this turn, "play" a Jhin and casts Curtain Call (the attacking skill) on Round End
I don't know why I loved the thought of planning the three cards, getting Jhin as the fourth card with more stats, and then the curtain to profit on the turn stuns. It loses some of the 4 and control parts, but I think it could be quite cool!
that's a pretty nice insight interview in a cozy setting.
So will they "eventually" get voicelines is my question?
maybe, flavor texts are confirmed, but VO not for the moment but they are considering it.
@@sedarium5307 I will take it.
Right on time >:)
I just recently played this game and the lore and VO is a big impact on game experience. Wishing that this game prosper and give more content. League is getting in the game of TV Series or maybe movies this game is a great platform to display story.
Ouch, I feel like they don't really know what their own game is about tho.
Both Animations AND VO are what makes LoR ... well... LoR. If my main champion was coming and had no VO and no animations, it would be a waste imo.
Also, does disliking the video hurt Snnuy or not? While I didn't like the content of it, I don't wanna be mean to Snnuy for no reasons.
For me PvP is important and it wasn't touched at all in this interview. I was thinking that competitive part of LoR will get revieved once they are part of League. Seems I was wrong 😢.
Man, every time LOR has "news" it lowers my desire to play the game. i would have preferred a sustainable financial model rather than just killing the game to keep it ultra friendly to F2P. As great as it was, i would rather spend money for a good game than not play because the game isnt as good
very good interview, thank you
The voicelines, animations and how they expanded the universe the game takes place in was what made me like it in the first place.
I don't expect the team has the freedom to change direction on this, though. Gotta cut corners to keep up with that gacha release schedule.
Voice over and animation are a big must. The game would lose so much flavor without them
Yeah, no voice lines and new level up animations are a dealbreaker for me, sorry.
I would be fine with no voice lines for followers, but at least give them to the champions. And no new animations? Just go back to spinning cards or whatever, but do SOMETHING.
What a giant bummer.
Faster Champion rollout is 100% not worth cutting expected features like voice lines and level up animations. Completely kills the experience.
fantastic interview, thanks to you both
I fully understand what they are getting on and their situation. The director of the game is really open and I think he got his head into right priorities. But i must admit... LoR without lvl ups and VOs is not the same. I cannot imagine playing volibear without "LETS TURN THIS THUNDRA REEEED!!!". I can only hope that game being in a good spot means we will eventually get bigger LoR team.
Great interview!
We need VO 😢
Aye! If “getting everyone’s favorite character into lor” is a priority for you guys, then I wish for blitzcrank, Alistar and rell. Thank you!
Great interview
Thank you that was a great interview
I don't like the champion specific +1 mana relics, because on other champions that's a condition you can't meet. So even e.g. you would pick a relic that does not suit your playstyle at all, the cards you find along the way might do that. I would love to see a change like "Round Start: +1 Mana if (Champ X) is in your deck." Therefore you either can find that champion as a support or generate it with other cards/relics, giving a niche upside to having that relic on another Champion.
As a lot of people have stated here, honestly I don't mind waiting for new releases if it means we get the new champs with everything polished, a lot of my enjoyment of this game comes from the Voicelines and Level up animations
As much as I want more of our favorite champs from LoL in LoR, if they have no voices and interactions, I would probably not be excited at all to play them, as I don't get to experience their personality. We'd just have a few Images and that's it.. Many champs who haven't really interested me before in LoL quickly became favorites of mine by playing them in LoR, because I got to know them. Nilah, Janna, Malphite, Jax, Seraphine, Zilean, Kayn and Rhaast and the List goes on. I wouldn't have gotten to love them if they were just pictures without voices.
I was so excited for Fiddlesticks to arrive and I'm also having fun playing him right now, but I don't get any feel of Fiddlesticks from him or any of his followers, except his Level Up, which easily gets stale. It does not feel like I'm playing Fiddelsticks, but just the support champ I've chosen that run, who most of the time becomes my main focus of my deck as a result.
Luckily my main champs from LoL (namely Taliyah, Poppy and Samira) already are in the game with their VO, but if more of my favorites, like Briar, Ivern, Milio(...) came to LoR, and they wouldn't have a VO it just would feel like they haven't been added after all.
Guys, as a big fan of the Fiddle and having long waited for its debut in LoR, I’m so disappointed. Fiddle's background information has always been minimal. Basically, we knew it was the devil of fear, and it appeared a long time ago, and that’s it. I was expecting a lot from LoR to add tons of details about Fiddle’s background by VOs and flavor texts, just like the brilliant work they’ve done in the past. It turns out we got none of them…… (Alright at least they decided to bring the texts back).
There are tons of other card games in the market, but what makes us want to stay is the beauty and fun of the LoL universe, and we can pick up all the missing pieces of the very limited storytelling from LoL.
Also, now we know LoR has started to do better financially and wants to stay focused on PoC. But instead of bringing the sacrifices back (e.g., PvP updates, unique VFX), why are you still going to sacrifice more of this game’s core? Haven’t you really made profits? There’s a big logic break here to me because to my understanding the only reason to cut them down is because of the budget (I don’t know much about VOs and animation does cost more).
Up to this point I really hope the developers could listen to the community and save the game. We want quality instead of quantity and you did such a great job before! We don’t want the speed-up incomplete champs. And think about the those fans who waited so long for the debut of their fav champs but all they got is just unpolished work. I still feel so sorry about Fiddle, please bring the VOs back and listen to our voices.
We love this game and really wish it all the best.
Community-made content would be amazing to add
It's just IMBA and too many cards to track
I can't believe that I listened to this whole video.
I think not having resources for pay voicelines and animations is okay is a decision from Riot Games
OTHER DIFFERENT THING is not being mod free since before Aatrox release i watch a lot of edits of fanmade CARDS with ANIMATIONS and VOICELINES
Is so Dumb you can hire people to do this !!!
I think it's understandable that the team can't deliver on VO and lore on launch but I encourage them to release it later when/if they can, as long as we get them I don't mind it taking a bit longer than before
The only thing I'd like to get added is for people who spend more time playing have a chance to actually grind exp with completing the adventures rather than having a fixed amount on a weekly and daily basis
AMAZING VID!
I would hope the success could give them enough ravanue/funds to increase the team. Not to speed up the content, but to increase it, to make VO's possible.
It has been noticeable that the level up animations for champs have reduced in quality (e. Lux 2.0). Make a generic lvl up, but a purchasable (cheap) better lvl up animation. Don't skimp on voices for cards and lore text as well. That's one of my favorite parts about LoR. Also, if it takes a bit longer to keep voice and text I would rather them take an extra 2-4 weeks to keep this aspect of the game.
Very interesting to hear the insights of how riot games operates, the fact that league studios essentially poached talent from LoR is concerning. Hopefully LoR dev team can increase in size down the road with better financial success
I usually buy the 3* for each new champ and 5* bundles for the champ that unique mechanic. Need more way to get relics and shard. Fiddle mech is great and also ahri.
I don't know how much more expensive is doing the old-stiled lv up animations (Teemo, Yasuo, Elise) are but I would be ok if we went back to those. Specially if it includes spell effects.
For example, I find it a little disappointing that fiddle does not have a special animation when leveling up from the deck. I expected at least one second of suspense music and the screen getting dark before que spawns.
Such a good interview! love the openness, love the whales also 💋, please fund our pvp :3
It's amazing how they have their unique ways to stab one more hole into and already half-dead game with stuff like VO and lvlup animation removal
Cry