Karma is getting another lore update after the Ionian support got a new story that didn’t resonate with League of Legends players.
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The new lore for Karma came at the same time that stories for other Ionian champions like Irelia were updated. Though many of the lore updates were received without issue, Karma’s received some criticism. In both the main League of Legends subreddit as well as the forum specifically for Karma mains, players voiced their dissatisfaction with the champion’s new story.
In response to the feedback, Riot Scathlocke, lead narrative editor for League of Legends, took to the League boards to let players know that their voices had been heard. Riot Scathlocke explained that the updates for the Ionian champions are part of the larger series of faction updates and are part of an experimental process.
“We updated the backstories of four Ionian champions to accompany the Irelia VGU earlier this month, including the Enlightened One,” Riot Scathlocke said. “As with all of these now-regular faction updates, I hope it’s becoming clear that there is no template for the type or amount of content we publish – to be quite honest and open, we Narrative folks are experimenting with ways to get new lore out to you.”
Acknowledging that some players weren’t satisfied with Karma’s new lore, Riot Scathlocke said that the team working on Karma’s lore did have plans to deliver additional story content at the time that her new story was released. Time constraints caused the team to change course, something that Riot Scathlocke said prevented them from telling Karma’s full story.
“And, in this case, the plan changed mid-flight. We ended up not telling her whole story, and that’s not good enough when so many players are so invested in her as a champion, and as a character in the wider Runeterra setting.”
These comments about Karma’s lore all led to Riot Scathlocke promising that the team would update the champion’s story once again. The improvements won’t be a retcon said, but would be an improvement instead.
Though the plans have already been set to improve Karma’s lore, similar situations for other champions won’t always play out the same way. The Rioter said that lore wouldn’t be revisited for a champ every time players had negative feedback about changes, though Karma’s will be in order to deliver more.
“Sometimes we’re doing something for a specific reason, with a specific goal in mind… but in this case, my personal feeling is that we only delivered half the picture in Karma’s update.”
The second lore update hasn’t been delivered yet, but look for it in an upcoming patch.
