Posts Tagged ‘lol’

A Quick Look at Bloodline Champions

24 February 2011 | 2 Comments » | Ronix

Hello and welcome to a short preview of Bloodline Champions – an arena-based PvP game, where you actually have to aim your attacks and spells in order to hit an opponent. The game is published by Funcom and developed by a Swedish company called Stunlock Studios. Today, we are going to play a quick match, as well as take a look at the game’s cash shop.

For those of you who don’t know what Bloodline Champions is, think of it as a DotA-type game, without the actual features of DotA such as creeps, and farming for loot and equipment in order to stay competitive. In the places of those features, add a dash of Diablo-style combat mechanics and you get a game that is actually skill-based and much more PvP-orientated.

Warning: the force is not strong with this one.

Please keep in mind that (for some weird reason) my cursor was not shown in the final footage. Also, warning you now about the mic quality, so no complaints :) As a result of this, I’ve decided to leave the last two minutes of the video (that covers the cash-shop of the game) without narration. Its pretty straight-forward though, so you’ll be able to judge for yourself what the item-mall is like.

Riot Games: Online Jerks to be Judged by Own Peers (LoL) – Updated

14 January 2011 | 9 Comments » | iTZKooPA

Internet jerks have ruined many games for me, and likely all of you. In fact, I rarely play Xbox Live outside my circle of friends and mature groups specifically for this reason. Toxic communities are but one scourge to competitive gaming. The other, and the one that really gets my goat, AFKers and leavers. There’s nothing more soul crushing than seeing a teammate leave during the heat of battle (RRRAGEQUIT!) or AFK because she’s thirsty ten minutes in to a match.

In first-person shooters it is annoying to lose a teammate during a balanced match, but not devastating. In RTS titles like StarCraft II or DotA contests like League of Legends, it’s routinely insurmountable.

Riot Games hopes to change all this by taking a page out of Survivor’s book. In the upcoming months, a Tribunal system will be instituted that allows select gamers to be the judge of infractions. The judges will be handed the bulk of community complaints, which tally “10s of thousands of complaints a day,” according to Steve ‘Pendragon’ Mescon. The player-judges, soon to be known as “pludges” (Copyright LoreHound.com), will receive cases ranging from harassment to ragequitting (leaving out of disgust over one’s team, persona, or opposition’s play). Chat logs and game information, but no game replay (still), will be made available as part of the report.

By following a set of (undisclosed) rules created by Riot Games, the tribunal members can punish or pardon the alleged players. These judges will themselves be ranked via a points system, likely giving more weight to their decisions the higher they themselves are heralded.

Being bad at the game is not a punishable offense (so sign up today!).

Hit the jump to read the specifics of the system, including combat of possible abuses, how it can be applied to other communities and a requested filtering feature.

Continue Reading

Questing: Schnottz’s Cultural Hilarity

21 December 2010 | No Comments » | iTZKooPA

Questing is a column dedicated to highlighting the best quests in MMOGs. We’ll slog through all the horrible “Kill 10 rats,” FedEx and slow escort quests to bring you a collection of the funniest, best-designed, story-rich or original quests that companies have to offer.

It’s widely known that Blizzard loves poking fun at or being inspired by popular culture. Heck, Chris Metzen ranted about the subject for 15 minutes at BlizzCon 2010. Surely the geeks at Blizzard drop The Simpsons quotes and interject “That’s what she said!” in to casual conversation as much as the rest of us. But they’re uber-geeks. This enables them to one-up us all – jerks – by not-so-subtly referencing various cultural tropes in products played by millions of people.

On my journey to level 85, which I capped off last night, no single NPC made be bust out laughing more than the perfectly-accented Schnottz.  Schnottz is an arch-nemesis of Harrison Jones, everyone’s favorite Uldum archaeologist. The references to Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark are blatant for those that have seen it (everyone?), but there’s so much more in his multiple chains. Blizzard needs to win some sort of award for putting me in stitches with its parade of Nazi jokes, among the other parodies that were stuffed in this line.

Absolutely classic.

Other Lore Hounds have already written about their love of Uldum. If you’ve skipped the zone, or haven’t finish it, be sure to tackle Zhe Chommandar’s tasks. It kicks off with The Desert Fox.

Thoughts From a Newbie League of Legends Player

6 December 2010 | 5 Comments » | Amatera
Nasus -- my current Champion of choice.

Nasus -- My current Champion of choice.

Cataclysm‘s less than a day away, and this is the time I decide to start playing League of Legends?! Why, you ask? Well, I do have some personal reasons, but let’s say I was tired of having my chilled face pressed to the glass of the DotA community. I wanted in! With several highly popular variations on the basic formula out there already, and even more to come, now is the time to make my mark! Plus, there was some goading by iTZKooPA.

Now, this isn’t my first time at the rodeo. I did meddle around with the WarCraft 3 mod in its prime, but shied away due to the high barrier of entry. Like many online games, the competitive collective had already achieved such an impeccable level of skill that I figured it wasn’t worth my time to match them. Coincidentally, I had also played League of Legends… when it was in beta. Despite having already popped my DotA cherry, I still feel shamefully virginal. Needless to say, plenty has changed since then, and my memories are fuzzy, but I did maintain some understanding of the fundamentals.

Each map is made up of several “lanes” and a few intermediary areas with pre-fab monster squads to farm. It’s along these lanes where most of the combat takes place, as you attempt to slowly chip away at your opponent’s defenses and destroy their core. Both sides spawn the same waves of “creeps” — groups of automated minions — at regular intervals, which can generally be used either as a defensive buffer or part of your siege force. If the game were left to its own devices, it would probably exist in a perpetual state of stalemate, neither side ever gaining ground. The whole affair of reminiscent of that old sci-fi/fantasy trope where two equally-matched opponents are firing balls of energy at each other that do nothing more than cancel each other out.

That’s what League of Legends is like; well, until you throw the Champions in. And that — the strategy — is what I still needed to learn. By my estimates, LoL currently has about 65 characters, each with varying stats, abilities, backstories (yes, there’s lore, and lots of it), skins, and difficulties to master.  Though the game attempts to pigeonhole each Champion into a set of “roles,” no two play exactly the same, which is what gives the formula its incredible depth. Think of it as more of a sport, and you’re halfway there. The field will always be the same, but the skill and ingenuity of the players is what makes it so much fun to play (and watch). Continue Reading

Thoughts From a Level-capped League of Legends Player

3 December 2010 | 6 Comments » | iTZKooPA

Why yes, the recent patch did get me thinking…

Due to this job of mine, it’s rare for me to play a game over the course of an entire year – MMOGs not included. Not because nothing pulls me in, but because I am often forced to move on by the ever-flowing stock of video games the industry creates. Once a formidable FPS player, my skills are sorely out of touch. A 4X player with hundreds of unconquered scenarios. An above average RTS player with atrophied micro muscles.

I played the crap out of StarCraft II, Medal of Honor and BlOps during their respective release windows. Only to put them aside, I give them a sideways glance now and then. Yet, somehow, League of Legends, a F2P game, continues to see my attention week in and week out. Through my personal experiences as a normal and ranked player, discussion and research, the game still has a few feature requests to address from its hungry playerbase. Continue Reading

League of Legends Season One Is Upon Us (Want $100,000?)

14 July 2010 | No Comments » | iTZKooPA

Click to make me more epic!

Anyone that’s been following the MMOcast since the beginning can probably name the one non-MMO title that I’ve been playing, League of Legends.  While I may be “doing it wrong,” Riot Games, the developer of the free-to-play DotA clone, has done everything right.  It has drawn in hundreds of thousands of players and produced new content, including maps, modes, skins and numerous champions on a near-weekly basis.  During this incessant patching, be it balance or content, Riot Games has kept a laundry list of upcoming features on its website.  Yesterday, it crossed off a big one, perhaps the biggest of them all, the introduction of Ranked Games and Season One.

Feature-wise, the Season One patch adds these major changes: ranked games, ladders and a draft (to ranked games only).  The first two are self explanatory.  The draft adds that little bit of extra strategic decision making to the pre-match that has been promised for sometime.  All ranked matches enable each team leader to ban two champions from use.  After four champions have been banned, the teams begin picking their chosen warriors.  Unlike normal or practice games, the choices are exclusive, a champion can only be represented on the field of battle once, and their viewed by the opposing team.  It’s not a roll of the dice, “I hope our team is constructed better” guess.  Players, smart players, can counter a selection to form a team with a smidgen of advantage.  Strategic bliss begets tactical victory. Continue Reading

League of Legends: You’re Doing It Wrong

25 May 2010 | No Comments » | iTZKooPA

I’m sure most WoW players have at least heard of Defense of the Ancients (DotA), if not dabbled in it themselves. The Warcraft 3 mod is a popular post- and pre-raid activity for many guilds. The popularity of the mod, combined with the limitations of the WCIII engine lead numerous companies to create their own DotA clones. League of Legends is the current champion of the bunch (Heroes of Newerth just released), wooing critics and fans alike. Now that we have the pre-cursor information complete, we can jump into the true discussion. Playing the game versus how you’re supposed to play the game.

Any game that attracts a ravenous community is plagued by this issue. Players become so entranced by the depth that each and every detail is scrutinized. StarCraft players build their bases to the pixel, fighting game champions know when to counter at the exact frame between animations, and WoW players reverse-engineer the mathematical formulas that drive characters. These players, to put it mildly, take gaming to the extreme.  The problem arises when these “facts” become the standard, neigh, the required way to play in the eyes of the community.

The design of LoL incorporates randomness into play through item choice, the timing of the items created, ability builds and summoner specialization (a spec tree that’s persistent). This is why Riot Games labels characters with multiple build adjectives. Taric can be an effective tank, Ashe can be a carry toon (useless until late game), Udyr can be DPS, a tank or a carry.  Any character created in any of the labeled variables can be effective on the field of battle. It all depends on how they’re built, which items are chosen and who they are facing.

Perhaps more important than that short list is team synergy. The ability for a team to work together. I don’t mean well-timed ganks and sticking close late game. I am referring to a combination of champions that are built with the specific purpose of complimenting each other to the fullest. For instance, if playing on a tank-heavy team, then Ashe as straight DPS is recommended. However, if the arrow queen is on a DPS-centric team, then she should be specced in her carry build for the added benefit of stun spamming.  Keeping everyone on the same page, with the same expectations is crucial, making communication a key component to team synergy.

Don’t get me wrong, each character has its optimum build, but League of Legends, and games like it, are far closer to fighting games than the franchise they spawned from. Optimum does not lead one to a victory. Players cannot rely on the template they read online and expect their win column to climb. The randomness means we need to learn on the fly. We have to react to the situation. Refinements need to be made throughout the match, from the loading screen and the discovery of the opponents to late lane pushes. Victory is a string of choices. Focus on making them smart. Don’t worry if “You’re doing it wrong.”

Above all else, play whatever way makes League of Legends  enjoyable.