While I wasn't there at the very beginning, I started playing League of Legends in summer 2010, less than a year after the game was officially released, so I always get excited whenever one of the champions I remember from back then get an update - be it in terms of graphics or gameplay. This time, it's League's original pirate, Gangplank, who debuted a new model and moveset on the PBE as of last week, with the changes to be released alongside the "Burning Tides" pirate event. On the other hand, aside from a few tweaks - mostly regarding his E ability, "Raise Morale" - for all intents and purposes his abilities have largely remained the same since the game was released in October 2009. Unlike other champions from the game's early days, his kit remains functional and conventional wisdom says not to try and fix what isn't broken. The same could be said for his model, which still holds up next to even the newest champions. But what about when it's not broken, just boring? Riot has clearly demonstrated their philosophy in both art and game design in that regard - that the "fun" in functionality has to be front and center and here I think they succeeded.
