So, during the (12 day or so) downtime with the MP servers, I decided to give LoL another go and have been enjoying myself. I'm glad DG is back up and running, but the break was enough for me to try another competitive DoTa style game and start to enjoy it. This thread isn't about bashing DG or any nonsense (so don't ffs). Its simply a place for those of us that play or have played DG and now play LoL as a main or occasionally to discuss the game and keep in touch.
So - chime in here if you have been playing LoL with your experiences or whatever you want to chat about.
I'll get us started. I've been enjoying the F2P aspect of LoL quite a bit. Remember WAAAAYYYY back when favor points in DG meant something? Eg - remember playing games and looking forward to unlocking a favor item you wanted to try out? It's like that all the time with LoL (well, it will be for quite some time anyway). You get IP (favor points) for every game you play. You can shell out some money if you really want to buy all of the characters, etc (the temptation is always there for the quick win), but you can also just play for fun and earn enough IP to unlock a new char, etc. It's been very satisfying for me slowly earn enough IP to try out a new character, etc.
As it stands, I'm ok with 3 characters (card guy, silv, and viking pants - there are so many char it takes awhile to learn all the names). I'm ok early, decent mid game, and utter SHITE late game with my characters. It seems very diff from DG in that respect (if we are kicking ass early/mid, you can't harass like a god late game - that's gotten me killed more than a few times). There are ALOT of reasonable builds (from what I can tell). I started by trying out many diff char vs ai to learn them (that's why I'm like level 12 with "13 wins" or so). Then I learned you get more IP from playing against humans, so I just switched up.
Anyway, I think the game is fun now and I'm looking forward to the new domination mode (it's a Demigod knock off imo) that is essentially holding points to get bonuses from what I understand. Hearing about that mode is pretty much exactly why I started playing. Oh, and pretty damn close to 100% of games end because another team beat you - not because someone dropped.
Anyway, I'm going thru a learning curve. I play with folks that are "experienced" and I often think they are retarded after my impressive 40 games or so (vs their 500+ games). The strats often sound idiotic to me. But that said, I fell into line in a game with jon, paint, obi, and 2 of jon's clan mates tonight and we scored a win when i thought we were done. My biggest weakness (I think anyway) is not knowing what folks can do with their characters... I think there are like 70 char... as a new player, you have NO IDEA what each char can do until you play them or play against them enough... and that will take some time. Anyway, I'm pacov on LoL if you play and want to add me as a friend. I'm not exactly good, but I probably won't lose you the game at this point. We should organize some LoL games and some DG games. Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you.
Random off topic interrupt: give it 2-3 pages: http://fuckyeahstruttingleo.tumblr.com/
linky linky if you get a chance. Thanks!
What about everybody else that has posted like crazy here?
While I haven't posted much in here, I didn't know the thread existed until tonight (I zipped through the thread in about a half hour), I do play LoL quite a lot and I don't disagree with your preference. I too find team games, or certain kinds of team games, to be very frustrating. Particularly MOBAs (DOTA type games) tend to be one of the most egregious offenders to my levelheadedness. It's not that the game in and of itself is bad, it's that the environment that it fosters tends to bring out the worst in people.
It's a game you really can't achieve success by yourself, you have to rely on team mates and your team mates have to rely on you. If a team is doing poorly almost no individual, no one who is outspoken anyway, will assume it's because of his own deficiencies. It's always everyone else's fault, and thus rage ensues. Sometimes the individual is correct, and it is everyone else's fault, but that is additionally problematic because it results in a situation where you never want to be the best player on your team, because if you are, you'll always be disappointed by your team.
Furthermore, it only takes 1 player deliberately griefing to ruin a match. Given that there are 10 players per match, then if only 3% of the player base were griefers, then nearly one third of the matches would be ruined.
Also the game is difficult to play casually or "just for fun." If during the day, at work, I've been toying with ideas in my head for what I can do with my favorite AD carry build, I'm going to be pretty annoyed if, after getting home a queuing up, I can't play my AD carry because we already have one (or two) on the team already -- or my team mates will get annoyed at me if I ignore that fact and go with an AD carry anyway. This is a huge drawback to this style of game in general for me, because I am the type of person that wants to pick a champion and stick with it. To play to win you sometimes can't play the way you originally hoped when you started your queue. Well, you can try, but then people will get mad at you if what you're trying to doesn't fit well with the team. Players also aren't always very receptive to individuals experimenting around, even if it's a non-ranked game.
I'll admit though that most of these problems that I have stems from playing in pick up groups. Organized teams of friends generally don't have these same problem, at least not to the same extent. For me though, I don't have 4 other friends interested in playing a MOBA.
This is why I generally enjoy 1v1 competitive games a great deal more. If I lose I can only blame myself, chances of a griefer screwing my game up is lower, and I can do whatever build/strategy/etc. I want without worrying about anyone being upset at my choice.
For team games, I generally like them where one can achieve success independent of your team, or even be able to take pride in being the most significant part of your team. The kinds of games where there is a competition amongst the team mates to outdo one another. In such games it doesn't feel as bad to have newbie team mates, it gives you a chance to show off.
I do like LoL though, as I stated earlier. It often can overcome its shortcomings, or my personal aversion to pick up group games. Not sure if I will play DOTA II, as in my experience, HoN and DOTA had an even less forgiving community to people who didn't adhere strictly to the current metagame, to people who just want wanted to try stuff out and have fun experimenting.
I used to watch his stream when he solo-queued, and there are some archives here: http://www.own3d.tv/videos?search=Westrice%20Vayne of his Vayne play but doesn't seem to be complete nor does it have too much commentary, but none the less might be interesting for someone just starting out with Vayne. I also happened to see him play a lot on other people's streams, like LoCicero, because they are all in the highest of ELO brackets so when they solo queue they are often in the same game.
A lot of guides I read, and even my own playing of Vayne, tend to emphasize prioritizing W, or sometimes Q, and swearing by attack speed upgrades for silver bolts to proc. However when I watch top end players what really seems to separate them from everyone else is their amazing usage of condemn. Between tumble, final hour, and condemn you can put out an extreme amount of burst damage in the early levels. I have a hard time having the same level of success because I can't seem to land those perfect condemns with the same consistency.
Xtropy - you are welcome to play with me/us if you like. I'll even let you play vayne Just add pacov and I'll get you into some games with good folks.
I know what you mean about pugs - I typically will default to playing a tank for the team as no one else will and we'll have like 4 AP carries or some such rot. It would certainly be nice if folks in pugs were often willing to pick what's best for the team instead of dogmatically resolving to do whatever they want at any cost to the team. Thankfully, not all pugs are like that, but most are.
Yeah - when I'm tanking a galio, there is no I in team. I just play my part, but there is nothing flashy about it (well, outside of a flash + ult that is). With characters like vayne and akali (moreso vayne), I really feel like its a good opportunity to show off and compete. I find vayne to be very dangerous early game (perhaps one of the most dangerous with her q and e combo for early burst - plus its not that difficult to get get the bonus damage for slamming someone into a wall if you get position.
Thanks for the link - I'll check that out later today.
After a break for the interwebs bought to me by Charter...
I have concluded in a level-headed fashion that Dominion is a Carry Champ players playground. I hindsight, I see my pure hatred of it being that I 99% usually a tank player. Given the natural 15 and 5% penetrations...tanks have a hard time just tanking. If you build your tank aggressivly they do alright.
I did find a champ that I feel kicks ass in Dominion, tanky wise. Had some great matches personaly, team still lost but I got the mental boost I needed to not be so ragey about Dominion.
Anyhow...just my updated view.
Please feel free to find a phrase in there to make fun of LOL
That is my take as well. Glad you found a tank that can do well. I found I could use galio well enough in dominion (nice ult) and aoe, but I prefer playing with carries quite a bit more. that said, still haven't played dominion outside of the 10 or so games I played after it was released. Not a huge fan, but hopefully that will change. As it stands I'm just playing the same 5v5 map over and over. heh
I actually find the opposite. Dominion is all about tanky DPS, not your usual carries. Most usual AP and AD carries get eaten up since they need a team to protect them. Instead people use strong small sided champs that usually end up being tanky DPS (Garen, WW etc) although there are a few carry types that can be built effectively (tanky Gangplank seems to work, Akali works since she is a weird AP Carry).
Classic tanks work in Dominion, you just have to build them differently. AP Amumu is actually quite good (build AP items that give you defensive stats too, like RoA and Zhonya's). Singed is also good as is Malphite.
hmm... interesting.
Ive really only seen alot of Carries or assassins played.
Ive seen just about every tank played, Ive played most of them on Dominion. Yes, they do work. But you can not build them pure tank like in SR. That was my point of my observation.
I found even tanks need to be built for DPS. Your point of Tanky DPS is good still stands. But you cant build tank and expect to survive. Its kinda counter intuitive.
I still stand though by my observation that its a Carry playground. If I played a carry or even a good heavy hitter, I be more excited about Dominion. B/c I could join a quick game, smash some faces in and feel awesome about my 1k Crit Strikes.
Weird night of gaming - I hop on and instantly get invited to a 4 man team of folks I know. And then there is the game that we play...
Apparently, the other team wanted to play something they called "ARMA." I'm led to believe this is some sort of custom game where everyone must stay in the middle lane and fight nonstop until they die. Anyway, these goofs queued up for a normal game and then insisted that we were cheating unless we played "ARMA." Anyway, they did as they liked, I tore down the towers on the top and bottom while they putzed about the middle and 3-4 of my teammates fought with them from time to time. It was strange and annoying... that's about it. Guessing I just came across the league of 13 year olders clan (LO13YO). Anyway, I reported the lot of them. Seems like anytime I queue up as a 5 man pre with vlad and his boys, we always bump into at least 1 screwy other 5 man team. Last time was the group of roamers (where the whole team often just ran around as a pack, neglecting lanes).
Oh well - finally got the play again with cheesy, though. Think we lost 1 and won 1.
ARAM-All random all mid. It was actually one of the more fun matches I had lately. Friend got to go cdr ap ashe lmao.
OK - so I checked out the tribunal system and reviewed 10 cases. Here's what I learned:
And there you have it. Some cases I checked out were just people being whiny and there appeared to be no cause for the report, so I pardoned. Other cases are just belligerent jerks feeding and taunting their team while they do it. Anyway, fun to be a part of the nerdy process and I'll probably do a few of these daily when I think of it by iphone.
Yeah - I just found it annoying for some shites to threaten reporting if you don't play the way they want you to. I'd be willing to try something like that, but not in a normal game per se. Glad you had fun anyway; me - I just wanted to end the game as quickly as possible.
I think they were trolling when they said they would report lol.
Probably right - haven't developed my lol sense of humor just yet. Took me a long time for Demigod anyway. :/
Anyhow, all pugs tonight. Unlocked 3 armor penetration runes (for vayne mostly). Played vayne most of the night. Played 1 game solid. Was lucky enough to have decent teammates to carry me on most of the other games as I was smeh a bit. I still foolishly play 2v2 lanes focusing on one person. It sounds smart, for sure, but what I mean is that I disregard the other person... so while I'm tearing 1 up, I'm getting nuked while my teammate is too far off to help. I'll learn at some point, I'm sure. Last game I tried out riven (free this week). Riven is fun, but not exceptionally useful imo. I could easily hold a top lane v 2, That's nice (but I get that from a tank), but the damage output early is pretty weak imo and difficult to pull off any kills. That said, the guide I was semi following had me maxing my shield, so that's probably the issue right there. Anyway, I played a strong defense style and then swapped to jungle as I was with an experience singed (no jungle on team) as we were pushing. Good tactical decision, but again I had a good team that carried (even though I died 1-2 times or so).
I had a bot game (its all my work connection can handle) and me and our Garen were constantly being bitched at by our Vayne for kill stealing.
So of course I let our Vayne die while I hid in the bushes and when she got mad I told her I was too worried I'd accidentally KS again... so sorry! Then when she KSed me I pretended to get mad and told our team to report her for Kill Stealing. It was funny cause our Garen was all on board with that. Guess Pacov ain't the only one without a developed sense of LoL humor.
Its really good to know about the chat logs though!
heh. Yeah - people whining about ks's are always a bit annoying to me. Sometimes, it's clear if I get an "accidental kill" when I wasn't really needed; but my take is always just to make sure that whoever we are fighting is dead. I'm not going to risk them getting away because some idiot may or may not have landed a kill. It can be particularly annoying with vayne, though, as she has some decent range and burst to finish off folks.
Mayhaps we should make a concerted effort to get an in house 5v5 together sometime soon. There's almost always at least 10 of us around and vlad's boys are usually playing as a team anyway. I'd even be up for trying a custom on that 3v3 map so we could just break off into teams of 3 (but some folks hate that). Anyway, could be some fun. I think I'm starting to get a better handle on players skill level, so we could probably come up with reasonably balanced games.
Just saw - if you fan LoL on facebook you unlock tristana for free along with a skin.
Sarmis vs Riven = Sarmis .
Had some fun games last night as well. Got to catch up with carbon carver again, some games with sarmis, karl, doggu, and pete. Found an old buddy through from high school that plays on lol as well, so I'll likely get some games in with him.
Anyway, 1st game, sarmis and I do play doing normal mode. He plays singed and has a very good time just running around like a goof and enjoying. There are often many perks for playing with folks with fewer games (eg easy game for good ol sarmis).
We had a few games where Sarmis asked doggu you jungle fiddle. Well, doggu "jungled." It was his first 2 times using fiddle as a jungle so it didn't go so well. Ah well - gotta learn somewhere - heh, but it did not end well. My fav moment was at bottom when sarmis and I were in a 2v2 and doggu is standing in the unwarded brush out of site, ready to come in for a couple of kills. Sarmis and I push in seeing doggu there and assume its happy gank time. Doggu runs off for mid because someone pinged it without joining the battle. Sarmis gets killed, I kill 1 of the other 2 and barely make it out alive. heh. It was really funny, though, anyway. heh - I'm so going to do that to doggu sometime.
We also learned that sarmis vs riven = his doom. Anyway, I played like smeh most of the night anyway, but had some fun. Pretty sure pete got frustrated with sarmis as he started busting petes chops for some reason (or pete was just pissed at how things were going so mediocre).
Anyhow, I have short work day so I'll like be on in a few hours for some afternoon games. I think I'll work on jungling fiddle (did it a long time ago and don't remember the best sequence, so I'll prob just putz around in an ai game to get the feel for it again).
@ Pacov
Played some games with Hedgie today and he's picking it up real quick of course. It was funny, I tried to invite you to a game and our conversation went something like this:
Hedgie: Oh, are we inviting Pacov so he can get mad when I screw up?
Me: No way, that was the Demigod Pacov. For some reason, LoL Pacov is totally mellow and supportive. I totally lost a game for our team the other day, and he was extremely cool about it.
Hedgie: Hmmm? Wonder why isn't he accepting the game invite?
Me: ...
Me: [Forever Alone Face]
Edit: The above transcript may or may not be accurate for the sake of comedy.
heh - I made it my policy to always shoot a pm to anyone that invited me to a game if I was there at the time of the invite. So, if I'm actually there, I promise I'll at least say "I hate you and don't want to play with you" if I'm around.
Quick feedback after actually getting to play with hedgie - we lost over and over. Good news - wasn't his fault. He was extremely attentive if he was in lane with me and I have no objections. Odds are he will play 2-3 more games with me and I won't suggest anything for him to do as I'll likely trust what he's doing. I decided that when we were laned I'd just try to react to him snaring an enemy - if he got one, I'd rush in and try to kill. If he didn't, well I just chalk that up to inexperience.
I'm actually surprisingly (to me) relaxed with LoL. I would like to play competitively, but I've learned to gauge the strength of my teammates pretty quickly and I don't mind a loss in any normal game. Once I start playing ranked, I'm sure that old pacov that cussed you out will return, but odds are I won't try to queue with you in ranked unless I feel like we can destroy.
Oh - here's a direct link to the tribunal for LoL in case anyone that is level 30 wanted to give it a go.
http://na.leagueoflegends.com/Tribunal
Live LOL championship game with a former demigod player - wallstop.
http://esports.ign.com/ipl/tv/?starcraft2/live/ignproleague2
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