League of Legends: Setting the Scene

Um, what is this wall of text?

This is a setting-the-scene post for the many I hope to follow about League of Legends (LoL). I want to use this blog both to capture my (hopefully increasing) understanding of the game, as well as share a few anecdotes and maybe get some interesting discussion going. In terms of understanding the game, it's worthwhile trying to capture the different areas of knowledge and skill that seem to be required. (I may well refine this later on.)

I'm not a big fan of the incredible amount of cryptic acronyms and terminology surrounding the game, but it often helps in defining subtle points. I try to explain terms in plain English the first time (with the term in brackets), but then may just use the term. This will carry over to later posts. 

Pre-LoL: hungry for something

I'm going to say something that I didn't expect to be saying a few months ago. League of Legends is a very good game and I'm likely to be playing only this in my now-limited-by-family-stuff gaming time. I've traditionally preferred singleplayer games--- mainly RTS, RPGs and turn-based strategy--- though have played a fair amount of multiplayer FPS and RTS with a small group of friends (predominantly at recurring mini-LAN-parties). However, even then, we've normally played co-op versus AI opponents (bots), and I've tended not to enjoy the competitive tension when we played against each other. I wuz scared.

Things changed a bit with Left 4 Dead (L4D1 and L4D2), Battlefield (BF2 and BF:BC 2) and Team Fortress 2, where I enjoyed the human vs. human duels, though with the inevitable frustration of not playing enough to get decent, and the randomness of who you'd get thrown in with. Yet they remained somewhat one-dimensional: all twitch skill and map knowledge. (No, unlockable weapons don't count as anything meaningful :-)) I'm glad to see games like Planetside 2 attempting to add a bit of depth with persistent worlds, though I've yet to try their ilk. RTSs add a lot more strategic depth, but the multitasking demands they place on the player are often too much for me and I leave the games exhausted. (There's no denying, however, that wins under such circumstances are so much sweeter; unfortunately, losses can be equally as bitter.)

The multi-layer LoL feast-cake

League of Legends, on the other hand, hits the sweet spot with skill and strategy on an initially-bewildering number of levels, but somehow with game mechanics and player (summoner) progression that 'just works right' and continues giving a 'graded' sense of achievement; something that is more impressive given that it's free-to-play (F2P), and Riot (the developers) could so easily have crippled it through greed or incompetence. The apparently toxic community also seem fine to me (in general). Maybe that'll change if I ever play ranked games (once I reach the heady peak of summoner level 30).

There are niggles. The constant stream of new champions is kind of deflating, though I can see how that is a sensible way for Riot to secure its bottom line and the easiest (though least subtle) way to maintain ongoing interest. And there's still a lot of variation in the players you're teamed up with, though I can't really complain since most of my (few) close gaming friends are all level 30, and so playing with them inevitably means facing an experienced team and having highish expectations in ours. The lack of in-built voice chat (and options to specify required languages and use of voice chat if you want to) is also disappointing but, again, I can see the practical issues of possibly partitioning the player community. (I'm still amazed that no multiplayer game I know of has done this yet; i.e., had voice chat, with options to specify your preferences and how rigidly you want to apply them for matchmaking.) And, yes, it's rather lacking in artistic maturity with its champion stereotypes and perfectly-curvy females (though there is some great artwork in places).

(Don't play LoL for the story: the 'lore' is really just some desperately flimsy justification for the next fantasy stereotype/near-copy that they've brought in. Are there really people who care in any way about the lore?)

I still get overly involved and tense playing LoL, but that says more about me than the game. I can see how I could play in a more detached fashion. I can also see how the intensely co-op nature of the game can make players very angry at times, but that's never been a big problem for me. (It's also cleverly mediated by the way in which the early laning requires less teamwork in some cases.) I enjoy the glory of wins, but don't get too stressed by losses, unless it was largly due to just me playing shit. Even then, a bit of self-deprecation helps; as Steve Coogan's Duncan Thickett said, "I'm a right c***, me!".

OK overly-talkative bloke, what *is* a useful classification of Wot I Need to Know?

Right, here goes. I've only gone and done a proper like picture thing =:-O

Common game mechanics: this underpins everything, though some of my pretty-good-at-LoL friends couldn't tell you a lot of these, but have instead gained a feel for them just through playing. These are just the base mechanics, not the layers above such as champion roles. I'd include items knowledge here, since they are common to all champions. As well as understanding the mechanics, you also need to develop a feel for the numbers and the relative contribution of different aspects.

Champion roles and per-champion mechanics: both for playing that champion and for playing against them. This generally boils down to understanding the types of play which the champion's skills (and, to a much lesser extent, stats) lead you towards.

Masteries, runes and per-champion builds: these 'flesh out' the basic mechanics of the character, and allow you to accentuate certain possible routes. There are also various external tools that can help here (e.g., recommended item changing utilities).

Team composition and laning structures ('the meta'): this is about knowing how the individual champions and their roles can fit together into a team. It includes the picking process (blind, draft mode, etc.).

Map understanding: layout, neutral monster spawn times, distances, etc.

Map awareness and communication (via pings, chat, etc.): one of the areas that is probably most something that comes with experience, though the UI for using pings (with the radial menu stuff as well) is a concrete thing to learn.

In-lane and teamfight strategies: follows on from team composition and champion understanding, but is more about the more detailed micro-management (micro) and how this can relate to different champion play-styles.

Warding and counter-warding (map visibility): this definitely stands as an area in itself which gives the extra visibility required to improve map awareness.

Jungling and counter-jungling: probably also worth its own category since it is so different to laning. This includes strategies for the 'use' and control of buff-providing neutral monsters.

And, overarching all of these, some 'fluffier' skills to actually harness all that knowledge.

Practice: hopefully goes without saying. There is some skill in knowing how to practice effectively.

Player with others and etiquette: how generally to behave, 'do the right thing' at the right times (including handling any grief), and develop decent teamwork.

Learning from others: how best to learn from others. This thus includes knowing the various resources out there and what they're good for.

Does that sound workable, or is it an overly-intellectualised waste of time? Perhaps time will tell :-) I intend to use these categories as tags in future posts (as well as relevant champion names) so that what I'm learning fits into this 'big picture'.