Loving League of Legends

I'm always so late to pick up new games. League of Legends (LoL) has been out for almost a year and only now am I finally giving it a shot. Thankfully, there's still tons of people playing it so games spawn quickly. I took SynCaine up on his offer to join Inquisition and the result has been lots of fun team matches and helpful advice.

I won't try to explain what the game is here because there's just too much to say. You'll get a better understanding by reading this article. What I do want to talk about is why I love League of Legends.

It's Free

Seriously, how many online multiplayer games this good are actually free? They have a cash shop but I haven't felt the urge to buy anything yet. Real life money will buy you RP (Riot Points), which can be spent on experience and influence point (IP) boosts, new champions, and champion skins. Alternatively, champs can be bought with IP only, which is earned from playing games. Each week the developers rotate in 10 different "free to play" champions, so you'll always have something new to play even if you don't buy them.

Progression

For me, LoL has just enough MMO elements to satisfy my progression itch without all the nasty side effects. You have an overarching progression game for your "summoner" account and each game you play as a champion has its own progression elements.

As an account holder you're known as a summoner who brings different champs into battle on the Field of Justice. Your champions start at level 1 with 500 gold each time you begin a new match. The goal is to level up your champ during the match, which lets you train up special abilities. Gold you earn throughout the match is spent on gear from your team's merchant. Some pieces of gear are stand alone, while others can be combined to create "epic" gear as the game enters its later stages.

Each match you play awards your summoner XP and IP. You can train a mastery (think WoW talent trees) with each new level and there are 30 levels and three mastery trees. Each level also unlocks a rune slot and runes are purchased with IP. Runes are special bonuses (e.g., +1% DPS, +2% stun length, etc.) that are applied to each champion you summon. Finally, you unlock new spells at certain levels too (e.g., ghost, ignite, flash, etc.).

Variety/Customization

The coolest part? You can customize your masteries, runes, and spells before each match to suit the particular champion you plan on summoning and how you want to play him. LoL is great for those that love experimenting with different builds.

As for champions... want to play a healer? Tank? Melee or ranged DPS? Crowd controller? Pet class? Hybrid? Take your pick from a whopping 60 unique champions! As I said, each week 10 new champions are rotated into the free to play system, so you can always try before you buy. You aren't locked into playing any one champion... ever! It's great for those with alt-itis.

Team Play

This is where it's at for me. Most people play 3v3 or 5v5 games (though you could also play 1v1, 2v2, or 4v4). No one summoner will be able to dominate alone against an opposing team, so it's extremely important you work with your allies and coordinate your offense and defense. This is a game where you really need to be paying attention to team chat, scanning your minimap, and/or using ventrilo.

I won't lie, some games you'll get to the point where you might as well just surrender because you're not coming back. However, because champs max out at level 18 in each match you can eventually catch up and almost level the playing field (they probably have slightly better gear if they're tromping you). With smart teamwork you might even be able to bounce back. I've experienced several come from behind victories for us and against us!

ELO Rating System

LoL uses the ELO Rating System to match players against each other. I won't lie; I don't fully know all the math and theory behind ELO, but I'm generally aware of it. Basically, it's a statistical function of you and your teammates' records and vs. opponents' records. Generally, this results in creating some fairly even matches.

Of course, there are certain influences that might adversely affect ELO, namely someone creating a new lowbie account even though they're quite skillful and the fact that there are a finite number of people playing at any given time, which means there might not be a "perfect" combination of available opponents.

Still, at least the system aims to match opponents fairly, and I give them huge props for that. When the system works, it's amazing, and when it doesn't, at least it doesn't create worse matches than a non-ELO system.

So that's why I love LoL right now. I'll probably write about my favorite champions in a future post. Ta ta for now. If you'd like to gank me or gank along side me, my summoner ID is "Snafzg."