The flaws of League of Legends 2011

[quote=holdthephone]Hey guys, long time LoL player here, and I wanted to engage in an analysis of the game and what the community thinks of its various aspects, and whether or not any detract from the experience. [b]Why:[/b] I write game reviews as a hobby, and I have a lot to learn about analyzing games, and more importantly -- gamers. It's just a past time but I do take it seriously, and I'm trying to become more comfortable with other genres and types of games so I can give them a fair shake. There's a lot of animosity towards journalism, I'm sure, and going by what's out there, the criticism is certainly deserved. I can assure you, however, that I'm not trying to be like what's already out there. I could link my shitty wordpress I threw together in 10 minutes, and the whomping 3 pieces of writing on it, but I'm not looking to advertise here -- just looking to learn. Since it was introduced, League of Legends has grown into something huge. Mainstream gaming news outlets certainly follow its progress, but it seems very few have yet to give it a respectful review. The ones that are out there are old, and cover a game that changes quite dramatically year to year. It has more content, it has more polish, it has new modes, new interfaces, new rules, etc... So I thought, perhaps this is a game that deserves continual analysis, much like say, how a new Madden is released each summer and treated as new software (it is, of course). It's quite daunting to me to write on a game like LoL because of how it's changed so much, but I'd like to look at just the current game -- League of Legends 2011 -- and hopefully give something consumers can look to so they can form a reasonable view of the game before they dive in. [b]What:[/b] A discussion is all I'm asking for. I'm not looking to put what anyone says into writing, I'm not looking for you to write a review for me. I want this to be a thread about what you think of LoL as the piece of software it is. [color=#ff0000]The fact that it is free-to-play is irrelevant to what it is[/color], so please don't bring that up as a way to speak positively or negatively about it. Although, you can certainly talk about the model of the game itself, however free-to-play may have effected it. [b]Some questions to help jog your thoughts:[/b] [b]1.[/b] What do you think of the game's concept of player leveling, talent trees, the implementation of runes, and how these aspects effect the experience? [b]2.[/b] Your thoughts on the roster of champions and the consistency of quality within it. Does each champion add a unique personality to a match, or are their designs more shallow than advertised? [b]3.[/b] How enjoyable is it between casual players compared to competitive ones? Is this game deep enough to remain interesting at each stage of a match, or does it plateau into a something more routine? [b]4.[/b] Production values, how are they? Do the game visuals compliment its nature? Do the character designs hold well together? [b]My thoughts:[/b] Obviously I do not have an opinion so complete as to confidently write a review as of yet, but I do find LoL to be an experience worthy of my time, an experience that offers something new within every match I play. Trees and runes observe several different ways to play the same champion, and collecting IP and getting new champions is a fun collecting game in and of itself. The variety of champions seems to be balanced enough to, at the very least, make for some fun casual play. And at most, to make for a countless amount of match ups that demand different play styles at the higher level. Now, do I "know" the higher level? I suppose I don't, and it's certainly scary to review games with obvious competitive depth. I do know that LoL is quite simple mechanically, but to know all the match ups and team strategy at higher levels is something I can never be expected to master. However, I can speak of the potential for depth. I can say a game like Street Fighter is fun to play and provides a potential for interesting play should players choose to seek it. I can suck at Starcraft, but I can fathom the idea that there is much to learn. The fact that it has depth is why it's so enjoyable even at a casual level of play. [b]Conclusion[/b] I would say my outlook on the game is pretty positive, and right now I'm having a hard time identifying any flaws worth mentioning (I could certainly name plenty of small annoyances). Is it as good as I'm thinking it might be? Let's set it straight with some worthwhile discussion![/quote]

[quote=Rozsud3k]Imo, the worst part about LoL is what happens when you or your team end up feeding (not on purpose) and the game drags on. You end up always getting killed and it feels horrible. Which is why the community for LoL is pretty garbage.[/quote]

[quote=ExamplePrime]1. What do you think of the game's concept of player leveling, talent trees, the implementation of runes, and how these aspects effect the experience? I quite like the idea however due the fact that jungling needs high levels, runes and masteries it can unbalance lower level games if someone puts the effort into learning to jungle I think that apart from that its a great idea and adds to the game. Although cheaper runes would be nicer and I think the idea of having to pay for Rune pages is plain out stupid. 2. Your thoughts on the roster of champions and the consistency of quality within it. Does each champion add a unique personality to a match, or are their designs more shallow than advertised? I think the champions are all unique and excellent. Again though I think some of the more recent champion prices are too high and throwing off lower level games where someone buys Lee Sin or the like and dominates their levels. I think LoL has done a great job here 3. How enjoyable is it between casual players compared to competitive ones? Is this game deep enough to remain interesting at each stage of a match, or does it plateau into a something more routine? The least enjoyable part of the game at the moment is new playrs. Simply put it takes too much effort and time for most people to get into LoL. They enjoy the game but realise it will take a lot of effort to get some of the better champions, runes, etc. and a lot of would-be-decent players give up because its not fun to be beaten by the person who bought Akali with hard cash at lvl 5. A lot of the pub stomping champions wouldn't be that bad if the lower IP champions has stuns etc. to actually counter the pub stompers but they don't. Riot probably needs to look into actually balancing the experience for new players and thinking about what they will/do think of the game at the moment and its balance etc. Because a lot of them are unhappy about it FOR reason 4. Production values, how are they? Do the game visuals compliment its nature? Do the character designs hold well together? This one is kinda just answered simply. Yes. Riot doesn't skimp out on new ideas and doesn't implement something immediately because it looks cool. Hell how long did it take us to get a dragon champion? Thats my two cents though. Only other thing that annoys me really is that the game seems to favour snowballing a bit too much still and seems to be against hybrids except Kat and Akali which causes major balance problems for hybrids.[/quote]

[quote=Darcurse]Nice idea, I'll try to clothe some of my thoughts in words, that sprung my mind while reading your post: 1. Regarding the headline/What you wrote about changes: "How much it changed" is exaggerated, ofc ~2 weeks a new champ/1 new game mode/patches/fixes etc can be counted as a change, but regarding the game itself, its one of those which doesnt need much changing to stay interesting. Ofc new champs are the only real regular content update, so they're needed. The only thing that really changed is, like you already mentioned, the prominence and size. Maybe I misinterpreted you, though. 2. "Free to play": Youre right, not giving it real credit, but regarding every f2p that had a huge success in the past, maybe THAT was the stepping stone they needed to get to todays status. 3. Regarding the points you mentioned: - Leveling/"equipping" runes/skilling masteries gives off this "rpg" feeling, but if you played your way to lvl30 you'll notice, that everything below it (foremost buying runes) is nothing more than some extended tutorial. - The variety of champs is great, ofc they arent as deep as some rpg class, but deep enough considering that you only have a skillset of 4(+1) abilities and 3 main play styles (caster/autohitter/tank) to choose from. - Speaking of motivation, theres enough in every match on every rank (ofc weak player in strong matches and vice versa excluded), since you arent playing against different champs, but against different players playing different champs. Theres much more to it than learning the skillset of everyone and how to counter it, mostly ending in a light psychological warfare. - The game/character design is fine as it is, LoL/DotA even HoN doesnt strike with great visuals, also they dont need to. 4. What I criticize. The team. Yep, not the game, ofc there are things which should already be implemented/tweaked, but lets brush them off as "normal game problems". What I really hate about those guys is that they never raised the niveau of LoL beyond "f2p gaming" (you know comparing sth like GuildWars with WoW for example), actually they never tried imo. Precisely, they slack off/promise everything under the sun/ etc. Just to cover the greater base: - Observer mode/Graphic patch/New map for classic to mention some things they promised WAY before they even started realizing them (Map release is a "maybe" now, grapic patch seems to be done piece by piece bginning with new champs/patching old ones). - Every time they have to manage a tournament/convention, theyre fully stretched, everything goes down the gutter until the event is over (ofc that didnt stop them shamelessy promoting things like "We raised Riot from 50 to over 300 employees/ 15 million activ accounts" <- Nope Sir, we dont have to mention that at least half of them are smurf accs...) -I guess you're playing on NA? EU: It took them ONE F***** FULL YEAR to come up with a half-assed (SPLITTING!!! the community) solution against too many ppl playing on prime time. Before that: lags/crashes/2 hours login queue/redirecting to NA server 200+ ping etc. Plus minor things like free skins only avaible on NA servers. All that while EU covers the greater deal of player base who keeps Riot alive. (Not that I want to be treated better than NA, but at least even) .. Maybe I lost it a bit at the end, but "you reap what you sow".[/quote]

[quote=mothlite]hey i am a newish lol player - level 14 - so maybe my perspective is a little different from people who have been playing at level 30. 1.It's good and bad. Good because it makes you feel like you're making progress (carrot on a stick). Bad because you end up matched against people with more spells and runes than you, and therefore are not on equal footing, which SUCKS! For example playing against someone with flash when you don't have it yet, gives them a huge initiation/escape that you don't have. Also if i play with my friend(s) who are level 30, i will most likely be up against other level 30s, who have full masteries rune pages etc. My role in this game then feels greatly diminished because my champion simply is not as effective, and this is not based on player skill, but rather on time/money investment and this is a really frustrating feeling. 2. I've not played many champs (mostly just free ones) so i can't really comment much on this one. Sometimes the voice acting is super cheeseball, but that's not a huge deal. IMO spells in general feel really underwhelming in terms of potency, and i think this is just how LoL is designed compared to other MOBAs? As a consequence of this, it feels as if summoner abilities greatly overshadow most champ abilities and even a lot of their ultimates. So instead of thinking, "oh crap i got ulted by caitlyn," it's "oh they had exhaust up again" or "sweet i have flash to escape." I do like that many champions have abilities that encourage supporting/shielding your allies so it's not all about stuns slows and so on. 3. Haven't played ranked but i think everyone already knows it's a crapshoot as to whether you get a team that can work together in solo queue. there's no metagame strategy in the games i play. people don't go for balanced team comps, nobody buys wards, etc. playing with friends is fun though. 4. aesthetically the game has a consistent theme. spell effects are nice and usually i can tell what's happening aside from really chaotic teamfights. the engine feels kinda slidey or floaty though, as if the characters are not walking on solid ground. this might be due to the animations. i like the art in general and the skins are cool, but i'm waiting to find some champs i really enjoy before buying any skins.[/quote]

[quote=Joobieo#41288]Without writing an essay the worst part of LoL hands down and I know most people will agree with me. Enter game. 5v5 Ranked. One player rages or just straight up DC's. Its not 4v5. I Lose -13 Elo. Because someone quit the game ? Really....[/quote]

[quote=Temzilla][quote=holdthephone][b]Some questions to help jog your thoughts:[/b] [b]1.[/b] What do you think of the game's concept of player leveling, talent trees, the implementation of runes, and how these aspects effect the experience? [b]2.[/b] Your thoughts on the roster of champions and the consistency of quality within it. Does each champion add a unique personality to a match, or are their designs more shallow than advertised? [b]3.[/b] How enjoyable is it between casual players compared to competitive ones? Is this game deep enough to remain interesting at each stage of a match, or does it plateau into a something more routine? [b]4.[/b] Production values, how are they? Do the game visuals compliment its nature? Do the character designs hold well together?[/quote] 1. The game has a pretty excellent implementation of mastery trees, runes, and in general, the strategy elements of counter play and burden of knowledge as gameplay mechanics. The entire game pretty much is made up of small decisions that add up to determine the end result of the game. 2. I feel that the roster of champions is infallible in that there are a vast number of champions, which are ever increasing. The consistency of quality within champions is quite good considering the amount of time between creation of some champions. I feel that every champion is unique in that none of the champions play exactly the same. Every champion has it's own unique quirk to it, and all of them play a lot differently. 3. I feel that the burden of knowledge mechanics are low enough that you can learn what to do, and what to not do against a champion in a single game, which i feel is small enough that the game is fun for casual players (Learning is actually fun!) and it doesn't make the game too easy for competitive players. I feel that the game's phases are blended together so loosely that the game doesn't fall into a routine. 4. I feel that the production levels of the game are actually very high. Models feel how they should, characters aren't just flimsy one dimensional ideas, they actually feel like real characters. The inclusion of voice acting, as well as a fairly substantial amount of background lore helps this along nicely.[/quote]

[quote=jhoijhoi][color=#008000]1. What do you think of the game's concept of player leveling, talent trees, the implementation of runes, and how these aspects effect the experience?[/color] These aspects of the game are rewards to the players that choose to continue playing. If there was no leveling, talent trees, or runes, I think LoL would not be as popular. [color=#008000]2. Your thoughts on the roster of champions and the consistency of quality within it. Does each champion add a unique personality to a match, or are their designs more shallow than advertised?[/color] My only problem with newer champions is that they all seem to have some form of gap closer, whereas earlier champions didn't. For instance, the latest 3 AD carries: Caitlyn, Vayne and Graves. Each has a "get out of jail free" card, whereas champions like Ashe and Miss Fortune don't. [color=#008000]3. How enjoyable is it between casual players compared to competitive ones? Is this game deep enough to remain interesting at each stage of a match, or does it plateau into a something more routine?[/color] LoL is at it's most fun from levels 1-29. As soon as you hit 30 it becomes competitive (you can play Ranked, you have all 30 points in your mastery tree etc), and far less "casual". I remember back when I didn't care if I lost a game, just because playing the match was so fun. Nowadays I accuse allies of failing and am on hard on myself for missing a CV, letting an enemy escape on 2HP, losing dragon etc etc etc. LoL isn't fun unless you win (when you get 600+ games into it). [color=#008000]4. Production values, how are they? Do the game visuals compliment its nature? Do the character designs hold well together?[/color] The only other problem I have with newer champions is their original skin artwork. It is much more artistically advanced, and it is so terribly easy to spot the "newer champions" in the pre-game screen, compared to the dull and often times ugly older art. I believe I would have genuinely preferred three new Soraka skins over Dominion.[/quote]

[quote=TheJohn]1. What do you think of the game's concept of player leveling, talent trees, the implementation of runes, and how these aspects effect the experience? There are few levels for the amount of players, so many times you play with people who doesnt have the same experience you have. Many times you play with a noob/feeder and against a "perfect" one. The talent tree deserves some changes. Some masteries are useless. I'm not really good with runes, but they've always been helpful. 2. Your thoughts on the roster of champions and the consistency of quality within it. Does each champion add a unique personality to a match, or are their designs more shallow than advertised? Some months ago, new champions were something unique. They were different from others of the same role. But now there are more and more tanky something that every new champion gives you that "I've already seen that" feeling. The ideas are good, but they need a better work not to look like anothers. 3. How enjoyable is it between casual players compared to competitive ones? Is this game deep enough to remain interesting at each stage of a match, or does it plateau into a something more routine? Causual and competitive players are the same. Both either suck, feed and troll or they play seriously and willing to win. Few times I really enjoyed a match, where both teams were good and you couldnt tell who was going to win. 4. Production values, how are they? Do the game visuals compliment its nature? Do the character designs hold well together? The visual part looks great, the voices are good too. But some arts are old and should be done new ones. Another thing that bothers me is that the skins for new champions sometimes look bad, I'd not spend my money buying them if I think the normal one is the best. The game is good, there are still things to be fixed. The players are terrible, I don't enjoy playing because the teams arent balanced, theres always one side that has the bad luck of having bad players and mess up. Note: 6/10[/quote]

[quote=holdthephone]Thanks for the responses guys, getting similar views elsewhere I've asked as well. I do think the 1-30 LoL experience is a lot of fun and a great way to learn before being dropped into ranked, but I also agree that it may take a bit too much time, especially when you have friends already ahead of you. Also, a lot of people are already comfortable with DotA and HoN, so the 1-30 grind can put more experienced gamers off. It really does take an obscene amount of time to hit 30. I understand some gripes with people who spend money to get ahead, but overall the game does a pretty good job of keeping that to a minimum. It's unfortunate that some champions aren't useful until you grind IP to buy runes for them (especially Junglers), but for the most part I think the game handles the Free-to-Play model rather well. As for champions, I think the variety is wonderful and rarely is there one that feels like a clone of another. However, I agree that summoner spells sometimes overshadow some the character of certain champions. Also, with the constant release of so many new champions, their designs are becoming less and less exciting. And since they are released so rapidly, Riot doesn't spend enough time testing and you have people paying IP and cash for incomplete champions that will be patched the very next week. Keep it all coming though, I like how this is going.[/quote]