The first champion to get a second major visual update and why it was a good idea

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.

Gul'dan - how the warlock we all love to hate has cast a spell over the Warcraft fanbase

With the latest developments of Warlords of Draenor, Gul'dan has returned to the Warcraft universe as a major villain and for his first primary role in World of Warcraft.  Though I don't play WoW, I follow the story and after watching the cinematic from Patch 6.1 when he assumes control of the Iron Horde, I found myself really excited to see where Blizzard takes the plot surrounding one of my favorite villains.

But this begs the question: why is he so intriguing?  While important for lore reasons - being the one who set the orcs on their path to demonic corruption and invasion of Azeroth, etc. - as a character the first orcish warlock has very little depth.  His desires power simply for power's sake and will sacrifice anything and anyone to get it.  He's a textbook sociopath with exactly zero redeeming or even vaguely sympathetic aspects.

Despite all this, Gul'dan is widely considered one of the best villains in the franchise - why?  What makes the Betrayer of the Orcs such a compelling villain?

Like Diablo? Like Warcraft? Then get excited for Dungeons II

Remember how Azmodan kept appearing to taunt you all through Act III of Diablo III but instead ended up telling you all of his plans?  His bravado and overconfidence were a big part of his undoing, and he's not alone.  Your standard villain will almost always trip themselves up at the finish line and the hero capitalizes on it to save the day.  When you're on the verge of completing your grand plan for world domination or ultimate power, one would think you would be damn careful at such a critical juncture.  There will be plenty of time to gloat later when they're all your  unwilling minions.  Did you ever catch yourself thinking "if it had been me things would have gone differently..."  Well, developer Realmforge Studios is giving you your chance to prove it with Dungeons II.

"Rek'Sai: Scourge of the Desert" bodes well for League of Legends lore

So lately the popular opinion of League's lore is that it is either low quality or non-existent, both because of what fans have dubbed "The Great Ret-con", when Riot's lore department removed the Institute of War from the official narrative.  The decision met with severe backlash (case in point: you'll have to click "show" to see that actual quote since the comment is below the forum's rating threshold).


With the story piece released yesterday, I think that the lore department's stated goals of expanding the world are actually beginning to show some results for the narrative as a whole.  It's ironic that they would be brought about with the introduction of League's first "true beast", who would be expected to have a fairly small story element (eat caravans, terrorize cities, burrow, repeat).