League Of Legends

[MSTRshenanigans]

This is another DotA-esque game I have been playing recently.

The difference between it and all the DotA knock offs out there is this is not so much a knock off but a different game with similar principles.

Secondly its made by 2 of the first DotA developers including the guy who created the allstars variant "Guinsoo" which has an item fondly named after him and also "Pendragon" who made the dota-allstars website.

The first thing that wow'd me is its entirely free... you can practically unlock everything if you win enough. The second thing is if you want to unlock all the heroes straight up you can pay to do so.

So 1.9gig later I have it installed and loaded up.

You as a player have to setup your "Summoner" or avatar that controls the "Champions" or heroes on the game maps. Basically you choose 2 spells that you can cast regardless of the hero you are using PLUS you have 3 WoW like tech trees to put "focus" or talent points into which all effect the gameplay of your Champions in one way or another.

Champions can also have their skins changed if you have unlocked them. Randomly too they alternate which locked heroes you can play aside from the main ones to give you a taste of these other ones. A mate bought the game at EB for $40 and got a heap of heroes with the latest copy of the game.

Let's talk about graphics - its done cartoon anime style and the spells are real pretty. At first all the colours can bee a bit bother some but once you get used to the spells they are not so bad.

The gameplay is a bit different to dota basically it has a heap of different shaped maps but essentially the goal is the same. Differences being there is no Roshan but there is a massive f**k off beast that needs 3-5 heroes at max gear and levels to kill as if you leave it alone for a moment it regens like a beast. Runes are found off creeps and if you kill someone with a rune it transfers to you. The jungle is way different there is now weird mazes and grass everywhere. Grass blocks vision so it stops wards a bit but you cant be seen when standing in the grass unless an enemy is also in it so great for ambushes and juking. The towers also aim a beam at their targets so you know who they are aiming and if you get a "purple inhibitor" which is RAX in this game they regen over time to end your super creeps. Also any hero has free no cooldown TPs back to base or the Nexus.

Let's go back to heroes. Basically stats are less important. Items for them have certain bonuses on them: Spelldamage, Manaregen, Health, Mana, Damage, Healthregen, Armor, Criticalstrike, Consumable, Attackspeed, Lifesteal, Movement, Spellblock. Each of these make the bonuses on your hero better or worse. Armour, crit change and lifesteal make up a big part of this high speed game. In your summoner tree there are talents that will effect these bonuses on your heroes. One example is ABILITY POWER which can enhance any of your 4 skills you have. Each hero also has a normal skill which is always in affect. This means heroes are always effective thus no more early, mid, carry heroes. Also you can only buy items when at the shop no more stash but you dont lose money when you die and if you dont have space you choose the top item and it will buy all the components needed to complete the item AND tell you the price.

None of the heroes are knock offs of dota heroes but you will see some familiar skills.

Another great thing is if you leave you cannot join another game until the one you were in has finished, its really funny when you see people rage quit only to rejoin 1-2 mins later.

You have ranked play and premade team ranked play which is good. Pings are about the same as HoN.

Also when towers are kills you get money and exp no matter if you are dead or alive. Denies are no longer a part of the game, only last hitting creeps.

In all its a very polished game but its not suprising with the guys making the damn thing.

http://www.leagueoflegends.com

look me up in game Nuk3sTA if you are bored and wanna try a fresh look on the dota idea.

Lol I know it sounds like a plug for it but I didn't think much of the game reading about it and watching it but as soon as I played 1 game I was hooked.

[R31Nismoid]

I'll give it a crack over the weekend then

Probably on Sunday arvo or something if you're about i'll sus you out!

[MSTRshenanigans]

No worries dude, I'll be on all sunday pending kicking out the girl =) so midday lol

[R31Nismoid]

Didn't get that far... was busy

Maybe this weekend coming, although im flat chat again... lol.

[MSTRshenanigans]

Just add me as a friend and if you see me on send me a msg =D

[R31Nismoid]

ok finally downloaded/installed last night (well, early AM this morning)

Will give it a belt tonight when i get home from work!

[MSTRshenanigans]

No worries, if you checkout the forums there are a heap of aussies that play... their group on facebook is League of Legends Australia or something like that

[R31Nismoid]

just had a quick belt... not overly impressed yet.

i like the WC3 system much better with the ability to block and so on. The games of DOTA i play with mates has all sorts of fun blocking and hiding in around tree's etc.

Graphics are nice, much improved of course over a 10yr old engine... but... gonna take a while to impress me i think.

Honestly don't think ill like it that much.

[MSTRshenanigans]

You can still block in it, just takes some practise to get used to doing it right, like HoN...

WC3's engine is so flawed for the game style though. click whoops deselected.

You can block heroes too they cannot walk through you. Have a bit more of a play and get used to the collision boxes and stuff. Better yet, jump on when a few of us a playing =)

[R31Nismoid]

The collision really is not there though... you can 'kinda', but the allocation blocks are pretty small.

It is a heavy part of the way myself & a couple mates play in wc3 actually. I never realised it until i tried LoL haha

The fact i cant de-select my hero is f**king annoying TBH

Not sure if i missed something else - but you cant select other heros, see items etc?

[MSTRshenanigans]

Shop you can open from a button on the HUD... allied heroes appear up the top left beside your team portraits.... enemies appear down the bottom right so you can have 1 ally and 1 foe selected at the same time... The only time you can deselect a hero is if you have a summon

Items appear below their portaits when selected... buffs you can normally see on the hero