League of Legends: ARAM edition

[Yumil]

Originally Posted by K-Resh

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.

Quite a few of the horror stories end up being justified punishments, just harder to see or the person posting it was focusing on one or two games in the reform card instead of the bigger picture. Just having one game being toxic is enough for a punishment. Also, the tribunal stuff misses out from not having pregame chat or postgame chat. In fact, I say people tend to get pardoned wrongly more often than punished wrongly.

However I have seen some wrongly punished players, but when you start talking permabans, which is where people really start crying, one of two things have happened. Either they've been to the tribunal so many times that their punishment has ramped up from warnings, chatbans, and multiple time bans to get there. Or Riot saw something so horrible that they outright permabanned them(usually in the pre/post game chats, which aren't included on tribunal).

[synkr0nized]

Oh man a specific map for -arom? That's nice, actually, as all-mid can be amusing (something I used to partake in at LANs with WC III dotes).

Does LoL have WTF mode? That shit's great sometimes. Of course, it's only for fun.



I never did like the whole idea of runes and your summoner != your chosen hero in LoL. I also don't like that you have to pay to unlock them, but a F2P hybrid has to make money somehow.

The last time I dusted off my account, my summoner's name had been changed to gibberish to free up the name due to my inactivity. So I have no idea what its name is now (I did change it to a name again), as I uninstalled the game again after not touching it for a couple weeks, but I seem to also recall I had no levels (not 100% sure I ever had any, though).

[Yumil]

Originally Posted by synkr0nized

Oh man a specific map for -arom? That's nice, actually, as all-mid can be amusing (something I used to partake in at LANs with WC III dotes).

Does LoL have WTF mode? That shit's great sometimes. Of course, it's only for fun.



I never did like the whole idea of runes and your summoner != your chosen hero in LoL. I also don't like that you have to pay to unlock them, but a F2P hybrid has to make money somehow.

The last time I dusted off my account, my summoner's name had been changed to gibberish to free up the name due to my inactivity. So I have no idea what its name is now (I did change it to a name again), as I uninstalled the game again after not touching it for a couple weeks, but I seem to also recall I had no levels (not 100% sure I ever had any, though).

Unfortunately there is no WTF mode. They are going to have another account name clean up soon, though if your name gets deleted itll just ask you create a new one.

Also, at least you can only buy runes with ingame currency. You have to play to earn them(though you can buy boosts and you can pay for the pages for more variety). I don't like the rune system either, probably woulda been fine with just masteries, but meh. I like customization as much as the next guy, but there comes a point where it's just tedious.

[synkr0nized]

Originally Posted by Yumil

Also, at least you can only buy runes with ingame currency. You have to play to earn them(though you can buy boosts and you can pay for the pages for more variety).

Oi, that's a good point. I swear I knew that, but that post definitely was written as if you paid real money for them. As far as I recall the runes are all tied to leveling your account, and the purchases are all for heroes and their gears.


If you were looking to "sell" this game to new players, what would be some of the key features of gameplay that you would highlight? Pick, say, three of them.

I am curious if my impression of LoL is fair or if I rely too much on comparing it to the original.
Edit: and I don't mean this in an "I will laugh at whatever gets posted or try to refute it" but more was just hoping to add to some discussion of features that might make it more appealing to folks new to the style of game.

[Arcanum]

Some LoL features that make it very "new player" friendly, just off the top of my head from what I remember:

• You don't lose gold when you die.
• Both top and bot lanes are the same length so one lane isn't more at risk of being ganked than the other. (bit of a double-edged sword though, because that means you can't stick a new player in the safe lane)
• You can't deny creeps, removing a layer of micro-management while also not allowing a decent player to completely shut down a new player.
• Very few "active" items, again removing a layer of micro allowing a new player to focus more on skills.
• A shop with great filters, allowing players to quickly find what they want by just ticking a few boxes (this was probably added since you last played synk), which is a HUGE step up from the random symbols and columns in DotA's shop. (Although DotA's integrated player-made guides is something that LoL should definitely copy because it's an amazing feature).

[Yumil]

Originally Posted by Arcanum

Some LoL features that make it very "new player" friendly, just off the top of my head from what I remember:

• You don't lose gold when you die.
• Both top and bot lanes are the same length so one lane isn't more at risk of being ganked than the other. (bit of a double-edged sword though, because that means you can't stick a new player in the safe lane)
• You can't deny creeps, removing a layer of micro-management while also not allowing a decent player to completely shut down a new player.
• Very few "active" items, again removing a layer of micro allowing a new player to focus more on skills.
• A shop with great filters, allowing players to quickly find what they want by just ticking a few boxes (this was probably added since you last played synk), which is a HUGE step up from the random symbols and columns in DotA's shop. (Although DotA's integrated player-made guides is something that LoL should definitely copy because it's an amazing feature).

Pretty much this, but Ill add a few things.

Shop has a pretty good list of recommended items for each champion, including offensive and defensive options. Not just a final build like they used to. You may also customize these recommended options either through config files or a 3rd party tool to further help yourself(Riot is working on making it easier)

B teleports back to base not requiring you to buy tps or fight using the courier. Its much easier having that as a natural skill.

Smart pings. By ctrl+clicking then dragging a direction you may use any number of pings(enemy missing, On my way!, danger, notice this, and need help here). It generally communicates more with less.

[Ryong]

DotA 2 has recommended items for each hero and you can make and share your guides in-game too.

LoL's map is smaller than DotA and as such you have that B teleport back to base - it's also on a 5 minute cooldown and it's only back to base as opposed to DotA's tps to buildings.

DotA 2 also has a ping and "draw on map" feature and a customizable set of lines for you to press a button and hold a direction to say.

I'd talk about the bush, but I'm not sure exactly how does it work.

I know that LoL has no form of magic immunity whatsoever, that it doesn't have the same kind of roles as DotA and some are downplayed - lot less junglers, jungling is a lot harder, can't have a support that heals or helps with denying since no such thing as denying, getting rid of the notion of caster heroes who are strong early game but can't keep up by having skill damage scale...

[Yumil]

B has no cd, the summoner spell teleport has a long cd and allows you to teleport onto friendly creeps, buildings, and wards.

Summoners rift, dotas map, and hons map are the same size. Dota iis character models are larger though and make the game feel zoomed in if you are used to hon or lol, though it makes it easier to last hit/deny that way(i find it a bit cramped, but i play lol).

Stats are a bit more simplified. There are no agi, str, or int based heroes, and stats generally only do one thing. There's ad which increases damage on auto attacks(and some skills scale off of) and then theres ap which most skills scale off of. AD scales better overall, while AP is there to make sure skills can somewhat keep up after being maxed.

Basically any character can be like a str/agi/int char from dota based on the items they build. Anyone can build like a hypercarry would and still deal tons of autoattack damage, but certain champions kits make one focus better, not what their primary stat is.

The bush is a whole different animal. Its like trees in that they break line of sight, but different in that they provide a sort of stealth inside them. Im not sure which i like better. Sneak attacks are easier with bushes, but trees are a lot more skill oriented.

[Ryong]

My mistake on the B, then, but, again, it won't allow you to go back to lane or to go to another lane.

Summoner's Rift is around 13k units in size, DotA's map is just a bit more than 15k and both games have comparable movement speeds - but DotA also has turn rates, which make it a bit slower. Bases are also bigger in LoL. So, yes, the map is smaller.

DotA also lets you build like a hypercarry on anyone, fuck, I've seen people going full damage on treant protector, but shit varies. I also feel that having the stats gives more variety, otherwise a lot could just be simplified into EHP.

Isn't the deal with bushes that you can't see inside it unless you're in it?

Also, LoL no longer has height differences, apparently?

[synkr0nized]

I was kind of naively hoping that would have led to discussion of just what might make LoL appealing that didn't directly bring up DotA or make comparisons, but I suppose that is more or less impossible.

For what it's worth I prefer DotA's method of play over LoL's.