Star Guardian 2022: The Good, The Bad, & The Broken

Star Guardian 2022 was Riot’s hugely anticipated summer event, spanning multiple games and expanding a beloved in-game universe. Though there were some highlights, the event was plagued by bugs and criticism from the community.

The Good

The Star Guardian skinline is one of the most popular in League, indulging in our ultimate anime fantasies. The skins have always been exceptional, and this year’s were no exception.

The 12 League skins look brilliant, and feature some popular champions (like Kai’Sa and Akali) alongside some more niche picks (like Quinn and Rell). All roles have a skin or two, so every player had the option to pick up a new skin. Wild Rift even had some exclusive skins, with the likes of Star Guardian Seraphine and Orianna.

Star Guardian’s art has been sublime throughout the event. Everything Goes On — the collaboration between Riot and artist Porter Robinson — is a masterpiece that balances Porter’s musical style with the wonder and magic of the Star Guardian universe. It’s a truly fantastic song on its own, but was amplified by the stunning music video.

The phenomenal art continued throughout the event; the splashes are gorgeous, and the art used in Second Sky has been breathtaking.

The Bad

Star Guardian events have been renowned by the community due to the inclusion of PvE content. In 2017, the Invasion game mode allowed you to defend Valoran City from waves of monsters for exclusive rewards. This was one of the first PvE game modes, and quickly became a fan favourite.

Unfortunately, there was no PvE mode for this year’s event despite the Star Guardian universe being expanded like never before. This attracted a lot of criticism from the community who were looking forward to a new PvE mode to make the summer event feel special.

Riot have stated they’re reducing how many PvE modes they develop for events due to the amount of resources they require to make. Though this is understandable as the PvE modes are only around for the event’s duration, this made the Star Guardian event feel like it was missing a vital element.

The Broken

Unfortunately, the event was plagued by bugs. Though the client update was pretty, the amount of animations overwhelmed the client and made it even more broken than usual. Players were unable to see their progress through the Star Guardian stories, so weren’t able to claim rewards. Some players also claimed they weren’t receiving the correct amount of tokens from the paid event pass.

The bugs became so severe that the event was extended by a week and players only needed to play a few games to claim all the event loot. This compensation was satisfactory and benefitted players with more tokens and orbs, but it undermined Riot’s objectives with the Guardian Stories and the intended rarity for some loot.

Summary

Star Guardian 2022 had the potential to be one of League’s best events, featuring an incredible musical collaboration and some beautiful artwork. However, the amount of bugs and lack of PvE content made the entire event feel like a huge missed opportunity. Hopefully Riot will respond to the community’s feedback and shift their focus back to PvE modes for their big, narrative-based events.