Noxus v Ionia Still Happened
Tommy Gnox (NA) - about an hour ago
Good questions. Taking the League/Institute out of the world in no way changes the relationships between the factions and cultures of Runeterra -- you can be sure those will remain and get explored more fully. (Noxus and Ionia are still enemies [that happens when you get invaded].) And, of course, it allows for both the threat and the reality of armed conflict.
But the impact isn't limited to those things. Nations interact with each other in all sorts of ways, right? There's the public stuff -- ambassadors, consulates, official statements; then there's the less public stuff -- communications from one leader to another, negotiations, etc. And then there's the really underground stuff -- spying, covert ops, blackmail, assassination. And that's all before we even get into the various forms actual war can take.
I think you'll see that we're now going to have freedom to tell stories including any or all of that stuff that we never would have been able to tell within the original framework of the game. Cross-regional conflict will definitely be on the table, and I think we're as eager to explore the Noxus-Ionia enmity and what's going on in the Freljord as you are. (Remember, we're all LoL lore fans, too.)