Riot Games product manager NeoLexical has responded to the controversy sparked by changes to League of Legends legacy champion Akali over the past few days.
All of the champion’s English voice lines have been replaced by the voice actress who produced the lines for Akali’s Legendary Star Guardian skin. While the changes haven’t hit the live servers yet, they are available on the Public Beta Environment (PBE).
The new voice lines feature a completely new style, delivering a new sense of personality for the assassin, who was released in 2010. While the previous lines were voiced by Krizia Bajos, the new lines are delivered by Ashly Burch.
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Some players have criticized the change, saying the new voice doesn’t suit the champion. Riot has responded.
“We want Akali to stand in the middle of Zed and Shen as Chaotic Good,” NeoLexical explained in a recent Reddit thread. “The new VO make Akali more heroic, but potentially lost some of the chaotic/anti-hero elements.”
The developer also said they haven’t dismissed the idea of reverting the voice line changes but will need more time to “let it soak to get more feedbacks from both sides” because “it’s very common to reject change.”
At this early stage, it’s unclear what decision Riot will make for the champion.
Published: Jul 15, 2022 03:27 am