League of Legends: ARAM edition

[Yumil]

Ok, It's been forever since anyone has made a League related post and since the last update has made it even more fun to play, I decided to remedy that. I'll do a quick faq for those not in the know(spoiler tag style)

What is Leage of Legends?League of Legends is a free to play MOBA. You play in an rts style game, controlling one character with unique abilities, along with a team of players to kill the other team and destroy their objectives while protecting your own. There are a number of modes and over 100 characters to play as.

I played once and it was pretty toxic, has that changed much?For the most part it has. There are still toxic players, but with new features such as honor(a system where players can earn ribbons for being honored by other players), tribunal(a system where a group of players review reports on other players and decide whether or not they should be punished...with bans being reviewed by RIOT), and the upcoming alert system(warns players when they get reported more than normal to help prevent a bad day ruining your account) they are working on improving the community.

What are the multiple modes?Classic(Map: Summoner's Rift) is a 5v5 classic MOBA game where you fight in three lanes trying to take turrets down in order to get to the enemies base and destroy it.

Dominion(Map: Crystal Scar) is a 5v5 domination type game where you have to hold more turrets than the enemy for a longer time. It's the red headed step child mode and Riot doesn't really support it too much anymore. I find it fun, but most people treat it like a death match.

Twisted Treeline(Map: Twisted Treeline) is a 3v3 classic MOBA game on two lanes. It's had a rerelease recently and is quite fun.

ARAM(Map: Howling Abyss) is All Random All Mid on a one lane map. Every randoms a champion and is pitted 5v5 on a one lane map. No backing to base, no regen on the summoning platform, can only buy items on respawn. It's super fun and casual. This was added as a matchmaking queue this last patch when they added the map as well.

Anywho with that out of the way, I feel the game is better than ever with the new changes and how Riot is handling the pro scene. They've added tiered rank, added a challenger tier to qualify for team tourneyments, and even host the LCS, which is basically pro league play with seeded spots as the rewards for doing well. Really fun stuff to watch, almost like watching football(both american and soccer).

Also they added ARAM, which by it's very nature is laid back. It's team fights the whole game with people playing god knows what. The past couple days have been the most fun I've had with League in a good long while. It's cool that Riot listened to players and made a popular custom game type a supported matchmaker queue with it's own new map.

If you want to play some ARAM, add Quasari in LoL. I don't mind playing with anyone. I may be horrible, but you know what, so are the vast majority of players.

[Arcanum]

League has to do three things if I am to ever go back to it.

1) Do something to make the meta less stagnant. The meta really only changes with every season update, which is basically once a year. The fact that lanes are all the same length means you end up with mirror matchups 90% of the time, and it's a duel to see who's the better bruiser top, or AP mid, or the better support/carry combo bot. And the only way to influence these mirror matchups (beyond the players in the duel) is ganks. Boring.

2) Fix the rune system. Nobody buys T1 or T2 runes. There's no point. And you can't get T3 runes until you're level 20. Why? What's the damn point? Cut out the shit nobody uses. Give someone the option to specialize their favorite champion from the start, instead of forcing new players to hoard their RP (or use it to unlock champs they might be interested in). Keep the level restrictions on rune slots to stop those players from getting a massive advantage over others who want to spend their RP on new champions, and you're good to go.

3) Offer a wider selection of free champions in each rotation. The champion pool is freaking massive in League, so the amount of free champions should reflect that. It also gives more opportunity for people to try before they buy. Alternatively, add a trial option so players can try out a champion for two or three games. Add a limit to the trial option, such as 5 champion trials in a week, or 10 trial games, and you easily prevent people only using their trials instead of spending RP/IP.

So yeah, until League does those three things I'll be happily playing Dota 2 and Smite.

[Bells]

is the player base still completely shitty?

Cause, i jumped from that game when my own team started berating me cause i didn't knew what were the optimal jungle spots...

I mean, i'm not averse to Competitive gaming (Hell, come play with me on Ghost Recon Online. i usually dominate the chat pointing out enemy movement and positioning my team...), but i like a game that has the option of me playing casually for fun. For me, a game that only has a especific way to play, to win, and the only variant is luck and lag... i dunno, sounds pretty boring to me.

[Yumil]

Originally Posted by Arcanum

League has to do three things if I am to ever go back to it.

1) Do something to make the meta less stagnant. The meta really only changes with every season update, which is basically once a year. The fact that lanes are all the same length means you end up with mirror matchups 90% of the time, and it's a duel to see who's the better bruiser top, or AP mid, or the better support/carry combo bot. And the only way to influence these mirror matchups (beyond the players in the duel) is ganks. Boring.

There has been some meta breaking in the LCS, though generally it doesn't happen in ranked solo queue. The Korean/Tawainese metas aren't quite as stagnant and since they won last year, it's been slowly changing in Europe and NA.

2) Fix the rune system. Nobody buys T1 or T2 runes. There's no point. And you can't get T3 runes until you're level 20. Why? What's the damn point? Cut out the shit nobody uses. Give someone the option to specialize their favorite champion from the start, instead of forcing new players to hoard their RP (or use it to unlock champs they might be interested in). Keep the level restrictions on rune slots to stop those players from getting a massive advantage over others who want to spend their RP on new champions, and you're good to go.

T2 runes are worthless. T1 runes are 1/15 the cost of T3 at 55% of the power. They are perfect for people who don't have the IP to buy a full T3 set and still need runes as they are so cheap.

3) Offer a wider selection of free champions in each rotation. The champion pool is freaking massive in League, so the amount of free champions should reflect that. It also gives more opportunity for people to try before they buy. Alternatively, add a trial option so players can try out a champion for two or three games. Add a limit to the trial option, such as 5 champion trials in a week, or 10 trial games, and you easily prevent people only using their trials instead of spending RP/IP.

So yeah, until League does those three things I'll be happily playing Dota 2 and Smite.

Eh, I don't find the champion rotations too weak. They do 10 champions a week, with new champions showing up the third week after their launch. There are enough cheap IP champions to increase your pool that waiting for a champ to hit the rotation before you buy shouldn't be too bad. Yes, they removed Karma, Twitch, and Eve in the past from the rotation before their remakes due to how hated they were, but I don't think their system is too bad. Dota 2 is certainly better having all characters unlocked and you just pay for cosmetics, but I don't see too much wrong with LoLs method.

s the player base still completely shitty?

Cause, i jumped from that game when my own team started berating me cause i didn't knew what were the optimal jungle spots...

I mean, i'm not averse to Competitive gaming (Hell, come play with me on Ghost Recon Online. i usually dominate the chat pointing out enemy movement and positioning my team...), but i like a game that has the option of me playing casually for fun. For me, a game that only has a especific way to play, to win, and the only variant is luck and lag... i dunno, sounds pretty boring to me.

There are still toxic players, but Tribunal and the Honor system has helped tremendously. Usually if you tell them beforehand that you are learning they are a bit better at reacting to noob plays. Just as long as you don't do it in ranked you are fine. Theres still the problem of smurf accounts of people that were recently banned from being toxic, but ignoring/reporting them is the best way to do that. They'll get a lifetime ban eventually.

[Arcanum]

Originally Posted by Bells

is the player base still completely shitty?

Yes.

Cause, i jumped from that game when my own team started berating me cause i didn't knew what were the optimal jungle spots...

That's another big problem I have with LoL. If you don't adhere to the meta you are instantly the spawn of satan. Even though most of the players in the lower levels don't know why the current meta is effective.

Originally Posted by Yumil

Eh, I don't find the champion rotations too weak. They do 10 champions a week, with new champions showing up the third week after their launch. There are enough cheap IP champions to increase your pool that waiting for a champ to hit the rotation before you buy shouldn't be too bad. Yes, they removed Karma, Twitch, and Eve in the past from the rotation before their remakes due to how hated they were, but I don't think their system is too bad. Dota 2 is certainly better having all characters unlocked and you just pay for cosmetics, but I don't see too much wrong with LoLs method.

The thing is, I love to hop between characters. For me it's the easiest way to learn what each champion/hero does. It's why I've almost exclusively been playing Single Draft and All Random in Dota 2.

So in LoL my understanding of champions is severely crippled because I can't really hop around and play different ones (doesn't help when people freak the fuck out when you don't want to mid as a predominately mid champ because you're not confident with the guy you're playing for the first time). And that just discourages (or rather, encourages me to play more Dota) me even more because I have no fucking clue what's going on in team fights.

[Yumil]

Originally Posted by Arcanum

Yes.

That's another big problem I have with LoL. If you don't adhere to the meta you are instantly the spawn of satan. Even though most of the players in the lower levels don't know why the current meta is effective.

The ones in the lower levels yelling about meta are the smurfs. Ignore them. I've played ap bot, ad top, etc lower levels and have done fine on my smurf I play with friends. Though if you play ranked in Bronze/Silver expect to facepalm a lot. It's better in high Gold/Diamond, but man Bronze/Silver are slaves to whatever is popular at higher elo.

The thing is, I love to hop between characters. For me it's the easiest way to learn what each champion/hero does. It's why I've almost exclusively been playing Single Draft and All Random in Dota 2.

So in LoL my understanding of champions is severely crippled because I can't really hop around and play different ones (doesn't help when people freak the fuck out when you don't want to mid as a predominately mid champ because you're not confident with the guy you're playing for the first time). And that just discourages (or rather, encourages me to play more Dota) me even more because I have no fucking clue what's going on in team fights.

I'm actually the same way, but now I got quite a few of the champs so it's not quite a big deal to me anymore. You can take a look at how the rotation has gone recently here. ARAM is pretty good for this sentiment though

[Revising Ocelot]

If anyone wants to play this Doter thing I have... 40 invites or so? Yeah.

Lol @ Lol.

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

Originally Posted by Yumil

The ones in the lower levels yelling about meta are the smurfs. Ignore them. I've played ap bot, ad top, etc lower levels and have done fine on my smurf I play with friends. Though if you play ranked in Bronze/Silver expect to facepalm a lot. It's better in high Gold/Diamond, but man Bronze/Silver are slaves to whatever is popular at higher elo.

Isn't the problem less that they're shouting and more that it's possible for them to report you for going against standard meta and have you probated for it?

[Yumil]

Originally Posted by K-Resh

Isn't the problem less that they're shouting and more that it's possible for them to report you for going against standard meta and have you probated for it?

You cant be banned for not playing the meta. They can report you, just unless you are seriously trolling(six pairs of boots, ungodly amount of deaths, etc) the report means nothing.

From http://na.leagueoflegends.com/tribunal/en/faq/

11. Can I be banned for not playing the meta?

Players are not banned by the Tribunal for not playing the meta; they are banned for consistently creating negative experiences for others.
We have data suggesting that reviewers of Tribunal cases are very thoughtful and accurate in their verdicts, so if you were reported for not playing the meta but were being a positive player, you can expect to be judged fairly.
In general, players should feel empowered to play what they want and to try new strategies; however, this does not give you a license to be disrespectful or rude to your fellow gamers.

So as long as you aren't running into towers, cursing everyone, or just being an ass, the Tribunal is told not to punish you. It does happen on occasion(as any crowd judgement can convict an innocent man), but Riot will re-investigate if you feel you were wrongly punished.

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

Fair enough. I do suppose you'd end up hearing more about horror stories than successes out of something like the Tribunal system, no matter what the actual ratio of good decisions to bad was. I should have thought about that more before making a judgement.