League of Legends is often one of the first names to come up when gamers are asked about toxic communities, for a great variety of reasons. But when push comes to shove, the players of the League of Legends community are people with hearts, and they’ve been wearing it on their sleeve lately.
If you haven’t heard, one of the oldest champions in the game, Fiddlesticks, is getting a sizeable rework. His kit will see a good number of changes, though it stays quite faithful, as well as a complete visual overhaul.
Fiddlesticks was one of the champions playable in the earliest days of the then-infant League of Legends, even being designed during the alpha of the title. Since then, he’s seen incredibly few changes outside of balance and splash art updates, serving as a loved relic of the earliest moments of the now-worldwide phenom.
Unfortunately, push will eventually come to shove, and even most of the player base believe that Fiddlesticks needed this rework. Paired with Udyr, Fiddlesticks even won a vote at the beginning of 2020 to be reworked as soon as possible.
But just because we know it means to be done doesn’t mean we’ll greet it with a smile. Fiddlesticks is a deeply loved character; for all the times players have been chain-feared by him, or pentakilled by a surprise Crowstorm, everyone still loves the goofy scarecrow with a heavy limp and a silly dance.
The fanbase is out in droves to show their love. One French streamer even wrote an emotional ballad for his friend, and you don’t need to be able to speak French to see the true love on showcase. Players have taken to Reddit to write extensively on their memories of the soon-to-be-reworked champion, both positive and negative.
In fact, one of the most upvoted posts on the League of Legends subreddit at the moment with more than 6,000 upvotes is from user u/OnlySevenMore, writing a letter in the first person to Fiddlesticks directly. You can read the whole thing here, and while u/OnlySevenMore admits that it seems a bit silly, it really is a testament to how much something like this can mean to those of us that unwind and find enjoyment and passion in gaming.
Fiddlesticks isn’t leaving, of course, he’s just coming back with a makeover after hanging out in the same clothes for a while. But either way, much of the community is sad to see the classic relic of a bygone age fall away as well.
