I think this'll be my third and final attempt to review League in a way that I find satisfactory.
It always strikes me as a little silly to rate esports-first games poorly because they have the capacity to make you or others mad - getting people invested in competition will always have this result at some point or another, and asserting that the toxicity present in League is exceptional in some way is strange when you can see similar behaviors playing with anonymous strangers in Mario Party or online Monopoly or what-have-you.
On the other hand, League is tailor-made for misunderstandings. Its tutorial teaches you how to cast abilities, but nothing about macro or micro goals other than last-hitting minions to earn gold, and there are SO many systems and strategies here you can use to develop/mitigate advantages that each player can develop their own playstyle that is completely incompatible with their teammates. As frustrating as it is, it's still League's biggest draw for me.
With 160+ champions, a similar number of items, and freely changeable runes to further customize your playstyle, there is likely some way for League to cater to any gameplay fantasy you like as long as it involves small-scale combat. I have seen players completely defy conventional wisdom, instead using their champion's unique strengths to invent an entirely new way to play the game. It takes a lot of time and learning to get to this point, but if you're wondering why someone would put thousands of hours into the game, acknowledge how mad it can make them, and keep coming back, this is the answer - it can be deeply rewarding to find your way to play this game, to find that champion that fits you like an old baseball glove, to find a new broken strategy that nobody is using, to find the worst/least popular champions in the game and make them viable by completely changing how the game is played. If it's stupid and it works, it ain't stupid. League does an excellent job of demonstrating the extreme strengths and extreme weaknesses afforded by PvP - you can abuse their aggression, their boredom, their lack of matchup knowledge, their inattention to the minimap, etc. Even toxicity can be turned to your advantage - it is entirely possible to win games by goading your opponent into making bad plays that they can't escape from.
Can I recommend it? No - I've got my fair share of complaints about the way Riot handles this game and their company, but even ignoring that, I shouldn't really encourage anyone to play this. It strikes me as near irresponsible to recommend something that requires this kind of time investment, knowing that those who have stopped playing it talk about it more like a drug addiction than a dropped hobby. So I'm writing this review less as an endorsement and more as an explanation of League's allure at its highest points, what keeps people coming back beyond simply "sunk costs" - to explain what piques my interest as someone who doesn't pay attention to esports or "the meta" or what-have-you.
It always strikes me as a little silly to rate esports-first games poorly because they have the capacity to make you or others mad - getting people invested in competition will always have this result at some point or another, and asserting that the toxicity present in League is exceptional in some way is strange when you can see similar behaviors playing with anonymous strangers in Mario Party or online Monopoly or what-have-you.
On the other hand, League is tailor-made for misunderstandings. Its tutorial teaches you how to cast abilities, but nothing about macro or micro goals other than last-hitting minions to earn gold, and there are SO many systems and strategies here you can use to develop/mitigate advantages that each player can develop their own playstyle that is completely incompatible with their teammates. As frustrating as it is, it's still League's biggest draw for me.
With 160+ champions, a similar number of items, and freely changeable runes to further customize your playstyle, there is likely some way for League to cater to any gameplay fantasy you like as long as it involves small-scale combat. I have seen players completely defy conventional wisdom, instead using their champion's unique strengths to invent an entirely new way to play the game. It takes a lot of time and learning to get to this point, but if you're wondering why someone would put thousands of hours into the game, acknowledge how mad it can make them, and keep coming back, this is the answer - it can be deeply rewarding to find your way to play this game, to find that champion that fits you like an old baseball glove, to find a new broken strategy that nobody is using, to find the worst/least popular champions in the game and make them viable by completely changing how the game is played. If it's stupid and it works, it ain't stupid. League does an excellent job of demonstrating the extreme strengths and extreme weaknesses afforded by PvP - you can abuse their aggression, their boredom, their lack of matchup knowledge, their inattention to the minimap, etc. Even toxicity can be turned to your advantage - it is entirely possible to win games by goading your opponent into making bad plays that they can't escape from.
Can I recommend it? No - I've got my fair share of complaints about the way Riot handles this game and their company, but even ignoring that, I shouldn't really encourage anyone to play this. It strikes me as near irresponsible to recommend something that requires this kind of time investment, knowing that those who have stopped playing it talk about it more like a drug addiction than a dropped hobby. So I'm writing this review less as an endorsement and more as an explanation of League's allure at its highest points, what keeps people coming back beyond simply "sunk costs" - to explain what piques my interest as someone who doesn't pay attention to esports or "the meta" or what-have-you.
PKMudkipz
1 year ago