League of Legends - do we do this? We should do this.

Lol is a free* team co-op battle in the style of DoTA/Heroes of Newerth. It is basically the best thing, like I was kind of skeptical at first but it has 100% blown my mind. Lately I've gotten into the habit of watching tutorial videos as I fall asleep, and I wake up pouring these great gushes of LoL-related nonsense out of my mouth, like "Ashe ranged carry dps gank ultimate gangplank baron mwarrrg"

*: Everything that confers gameplay advantage can be bought through a currency you get ingame at a pretty reasonable rate, though you can certainly pay to shortcut this.

Was waiting for the Mac version to come out before giving it a shot... but Dota2 might come out first at this rate

Been on the LoL train for a few weeks after a friend visited and insisted I try it. I'm not sure why it works, as it's a pretty straight-forward concept (on the face of it). So satisfying when you're on a team of randoms that just 'clicks'.

I play on my mac! The 'beta' mac client actually works perfectly and gets all the patches, so...

So are "all" of you on the Euro or USA servers? I'm Euro (UK), and kinda hating the server but not pinning my hopes on the split actually making a difference. Last night I set my computer to start logging in, 1hr queue. At the end of that queue it just issued an error and quit. Until it gets to the stage where I can reliably play a match of an evening, I can see my patience dwindling. </bitching about free game>

Craig, I'm a UK-ite too. When the queue is over 10m, I go play on the US server instead - if you're in GB that's actually p.doable from a ping standpoint. Plus, an extra 'first win of the day'!

Gravel, where you can you pick up the Mac beta? Do you have to sign up first?

You have to sign up to play, so you might as well anyway - but it's not on the official site. Instructions about how to download it are set it up are here: http://community-eu.static.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?s=33d1b28e3971e7f7ea187f7a660078e9&t=132051

This site has the download link that the above guide doesn't mention: http://www.insidemacgames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=41328

A friend of mine suggested using the USA server, but I have no idea how to do that from here? I tried creating an account through my work proxy, so I have a USA account, but it still looks like LoL is trying to use the Europe server when I start it up and get stuck on the "Busy" screen for a while. Or can I use my regular account on the USA server via some jiggery-pokery?

I'm mostly playing as Kayle, as she was free the week I started playing then was cheap to purchase.

Playing on the USA server: yeah, you need a separate account, but you don't need proxies or anything, just use this: http://www.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?p=8549159

What's your username?

We should still do this.

I probably will eventually, but I have got a crazy backlog now due to the recent Steam sale and getting an Xbox

Yeah, I dl'd and installed and then got distracted by all the other stuff I've picked up recently.

Although I'm not sure this is going to be my cup of tea anyway.

What's your username?

My bro will cuss me out for stealing one of his usernames (was in a rush, and couldn't think of something), but I'm "misterfusion".

My friend that got me into this was over at the weekend, and yesterday we scooped 7 wins and 2 losses, which wasn't bad! People keep stealing Kayle (as she's free this week), but that forced me to start using Swain a bit, who seems handy.

Damn it. Since the Kayle rebuild I'm on an 8 game losing streak (3 as Kayle, 5 as Swain where I'm trying to get used to him). This game gets depressing when you're getting whooped every game. It's weird though, I don't think it's because I'm playing particularly bad. Maybe I'm just at a level now where I'm playing against 'good' players more..

I lost a ton of games and now LoL is easy and fun again, I'm playing against idiots like me.

so should i play this thing?

Yes!

It's better than Glitch, anyway.

Give it a whirl, Mordy. It's free, so nothing to lose, right?

I finally ended my dry spell with a good win with Swain, so I'm less grumpy now. Btw, Gravel, did you add me? I got a random friend request the other week, just after I posted my username here, but no idea who it is. I accepted anyway because I am naive like that :)

Haha - that's probably me, yes! I'm gpallis.

it's free, but since i'm on a mac i'm gonna have to screw around w/ the beta stuff to get it working, so there is gonna be an investment of time + energy to try it out.

Well, what are your reservations? Playing a team ILX would be totally awesome imo.

A warning though - this game is insanely deep - like it's totally brainless fun if you want it to be, then you watch pro commentary games are you're, like, how are you even able to think like that.

i guess my reservation is that it seems like it's gonna be some work getting it to work. i'm gonna see if i can't set it up tnite tho.

Best of luck! Let me know if you need a hand.

Also, there is a character named after you:

http://i537.photobucket.com/albums/ff331/hadoland/Mordekaiser_Splash_0.jpg

so i gave this a try last night. i played the first tutorial -- it seemed very simple and the controls felt a little jerky. i definitely didn't give it enough time or attention tho bc the baby started crying and i turned it off after the tutorial ended. i went to play just now and the server is down! does that happen often?

I don't really know anything about the US server! In Europe it was kind of dicey until they split it into EU West and EU East, it's been perfect since then.

I actually played a couple games this afternoon and got more into it. I can definitely see how this could become very exciting. Is there an ilx US league?

I'm not sure we have anyone except CraigG and myself! Would be happy to make up a five on whatever server if we got that many - I guess we could play a 3v3 game!

so is there a newbie guide anything? like good starting builds to learn the game on?

Well, I'd try to learn of the roles first, then branch out to the others. Pasting a really good dude on the Mefight thread:

- Ranged DPS (a squishy "glass cannon"; stands way in the back and deals lots of damage with regular autoattacks)
- Tough Melee DPS (needs to be right in the middle of the fight; typically a tough fighter who can both deal damage and take damage)
- Mage (also squishy; usually focuses on burst damage -- dash in, unload all your spells on one enemy, and dash back out)
- Tank (initiate teamfights, soak up damage, disrupt their team's squishies, protect your team's squishies)
- Support/Utility (generally help your teammates in a variety of ways)

Ranged DPS: Ashe!, Tristana!, Vayne
Tough Melee DPS: Xin Zhao, Warwick, Jarvan IV
Mage: Annie!, Vladimir, Malzahar
Tank: Malphite!, Amumu, Nunu
Support: Sona!, Taric, Janna

I chose these champions because one or more of the following is true for them:

1) They're intuitive and have a low skill floor. (The obvious thing to do is usually the right thing to do. You don't need a very particular rune/mastery/summoner-spell setup to do well with them.)
2) They have a strong laning phase. (They can last-hit, harass, mitigate enemy harrassment, escape ganks, etc.) Don't underestimate how important this is -- I think many games at the low level are decided by the laning phase.
3) They teach you good habits for your role. (They're closer to the "archetype" of their role, so learning to play these champions will help you understand how to play other champions in the same role.)
4) They have a pretty high skill ceiling. (You can see all of these champions at the very highest levels of play; they're not just "cheesy/gimmicky/pubstomper" champions that only work against inexperienced players.)

I ended up learning Ashe first, and playing according to this guide: http://leaguecraft.com/strategies/guide/7330-high-end-ashe-guide-by-kopfkondom.xhtml - there are lots more at that site.

I also really like Sulla's videos, they're very clear and instructive: http://www.garath.net/Sullla/leagueoflegends.html

Sulla from civ iv!

Yes! I was going to mention that he's that guy, but I thought no-one could possibly care except me - IT IS TOTALLY THAT SULLA

ok, i'm definitely getting into this. i've played a few of the beginner v. bot matches and we keep losing but now i'm pretty much #1 or #2 for the humans (generally highest level, highest minion kill count, least deaths, most buildings, etc), which goes a long way to explain why i keep losing -- total newbs shouldn't be the best player on the board. i'm actually wondering if i'd have an easier time playing against other humans who may be worse than the AI bots.

I'm pretty sure the matchmaking vs bots actually matches you with players of a similar level/ELO, so that'll definitely get better as you play, but that said you might as well go for other humans when you feel up to it. The matchmaking is really pretty decent - you'll seldom play people too much better or worse than you - and you won't build bad or unrealistic habits from playing bots.

So I've kinda been loving this. When I'm playing when ppl on or above my level, we tend to dominate the AI bots. Every few matches tho I get thrown with ppl who are somehow even worse than me, and it's just a slaughter. Like you see these ppl with 0 kills and 18 deaths and it's incomprehensible.

Yeah, when you first start out and you end up in games where you're the best player it seems crazy, because you've only played a handful of games, how can you possible be the 'best' on the team and expected to carry these duds who keep running into towers and getting lasered down. But it happens. You'll be calling people NOOB through the chat in no time.

lol, I got banned for a day for quitting a terrible match midway through. who could blame me tho? i was at 3-0- and the next best player in the match (against AI btw) was 0-8. I was not willing to waste the next 30 minutes of my life losing.

Mordy, yesterday:

http://shirtoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/mr-rage-quit.jpg

lol http://www.splitreason.com/Product_Images/c0798bd528f5-xl.jpg

oh, yours loaded. double lol.

i wasn't angry really. it was just late and i didn't feel like wasting time.

http://i54.tinypic.com/97iqmg.jpg

Played this awesome game last night - vs intermediate bots with my wife (she was Morgana, me Gangplank) - our Annie player was playing his second ever game, went 0-2 inside a minute, and quit. So it was 4v5.

ONE HOUR LATER, she reconnected, still level one. Somehow that made all the difference - we got her to buy wards and put them everywhere, and the AIs kept chasing her into ambushes.

lol, that's amazing

Gravel, can u explain buffs to me? I've been playing as Ashe and I never know if/when/which buffs I should try to get.

Red buff essentially turns your normal attacks into Frost Shots (and adds some damage over time to them) - it doesn't stack with Ashe's existing slow on her Q so it's better for someone else on your team to get it. If you're playing another character who chases people down to kill them it's awesome though.

Blue buff gives you mana regen and cooldown reduction, teammates should be cool with Ashe getting it, because hey more crystal arrow.

Red buff comes from killing the 'Lizard Elder' - there's one at these locations:
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110304014624/leagueoflegends/images/thumb/0/01/582px-LizardElderLocation.png/454px-582px-LizardElderLocation.png

Blue buff comes from killing the 'ancient golem' - there's one at these locations:
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110304014856/leagueoflegends/images/thumb/3/34/582px-AncientGolemLocation.png/454px-582px-AncientGolemLocation.png

The general answer to 'when to get them' is 'when you're in the area and at a slight loose end'. In theory, taking the 'enemy' buffs (the ones on their side of the river) is a swag move - it means they won't get them - in practice no-one ever get buffs in bot games, so just grab whichever you feel like. The monsters in question scale with the level of the highest-level player - Ashe is a pretty bad killer of neutral monsters (none of her skills are really designed for it, and you won't be taking Smite) so even if you're the highest level player, you probably won't be able to solo them until you get some decent items.

There's also baron buff - you get it from killing the big green bastard. It takes at least four of you, and you need to be level 18. It basically makes your whole team super-awesome for four minutes - a standard thing in higher level player is to win a big fight in middle and then go and do baron uncontested, get the buff and then basically win. He's a big enough deal that trying to do baron with the other team nearby is a horrible idea - they'll come and start a fight while he's still attacking you, and you'll lose horribly as a result.

What about the dragon?

Oh! Dragon is really important. It doesn't give you a buff, but it gives everyone on the team 190 gold, which is kind of a lot - it's considered to be worth about 2 champion kills. There's also only one dragon, so only one team can kill it, and once it's dead, it's dead for exactly six minutes. It's a good idea, when you kill the dragon, to post the time it'll next come up again - it helps your teammates to know, and it helps you remember too! I can't find a map of it but it's about halfway between mid and bot, along the river - the mirror image of where baron is.

Assuming you've got someone good to tank it (someone with very high HP, or with lifesteal) you can kill the dragon with three of you from about 10, and with two of you from about level 12. If you really want, you can solo it as Ashe if you take Bloodthirster and put a few minion kills on it, but you shouldn't have to - just say 'dragon' and ping until your teammates get the idea. Don't like denude your lanes totally though - Dragon's worth a bit less than a tower.

Played 30mins of a game 4vs5, til Blitzcrank finally reconnected (water in his basement, he says). Like the story above, somehow this cripple makes all the difference in spite of the fact we're all level 14 or something. 70minute game, we got the win.

I'm still not too clear on the buffs - I generally play very mana heavy characters, so hit the blue buff up every now and then so I can go wild without caring about it for a while. :)

TSM are currently bashing everyone at Intel Extreme Masters with a strategy of building Wriggles Lantern on three of their five characters - with the passive they're getting dragons and barons loads earlier than anyone is used to and the ward protects them from being ambushed while they do it - it's way above my level but it's awesome to see this kind of metagame-changing stuff happen live.

some guy picked Ashe (my go to) so I went with Annie -- I had never played a match with her before (or maybe I had played one v bots). anyway, the moment we get in, the Ashe + another guy quits, so the entire match is 3v5 and I end up kicking so much ass with Annie (plus another guy on the team who plays amazing) that we win anyway! so exhilarating!

i was fucking with this a little last night, gonna look into it some more this weekend. think my username is beastcrunchasaur. runs reasonably well on my piece of shit old macbook with integrated graphics card.

Sent you a friend req.

(I am Bran Mak Muffin on the us server fwiw)

Downloading this even as I'm about to go back to school in a month, name's DolorousLeee

So did you guys set up an ILX team thingy?

I'd love to: i think my name is ilxmordys -- i'll double check next time i login

it's ilxMordy

I've created an 'ilxor' room, so people can join that and see who's on.

Oh dear:
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/04/league-of-legends-will-shut-down-its-mac-client-tuesday-so-play/?icid=joystiq-iphone-url

fuckers

woof. i just got through the tutorial last week. oh well...

Oh hey mac users - http://euw.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=132051

woooo!!! motherfucking PC bitches ain't ever gonna bring me down!!! (or at least not until the next patch)

Yeah - if Dominion is what breaks this it'll be some srs 'only love sprung from my only hate' stuff

eh, i'll just wait for DoTA 2 at this point. or maybe jump to the other one that has mac support..

Dominion's pretty fun/frantic, and seems less forbidding for people new to DotA style games (no laning/last-hitting/calling MIA) sort've stuff.

Can't say I'm a big fan of Dominion. Only played a couple of games though, and that was during the beta - no-one, myself included, seemed to really know what they were doing and it was all over the place. Maybe it's supposed to be played recklessly, though. I like LoL for the slow, tactical play, so I think I'll mostly be sticking with Classic.

Finally got sick of nobody buying any wards, and started playing Twitch. First game: twenty nine kills.

How'd Twitch work out for you last night? I would have tried to get a game with you, but I was off and on yesterday. Next time I see you online we should try and get a game; I think Swain and Twitch would make a good combo.

Got my gf to play at the weekend, and she was really enjoying it until our 4th game (read: we won our first 3 games) when a couple of my higher-level friends joined in. We got dominated by a Xin who was crazy good and, sadly, started out in our lane too so we bore the brunt of his early punishment. Think it's slightly put her off, but I think a few more wins and I can bring her round again. She likes Fiddlesticks because he runs funny... it's as good a reason as any I guess.

Twitch always works out well.

My wife plays a little too! She's level 11, mostly against bots 'cos she finds humans scary for that kind of reason. Her username is 'fluttershyrulez', mostly 'cos she initially assumed she'd hate it.

(btw Mordy Mac client still working fine!)

been trying this. i am very bad. feel like 75% of the game is running away.

Are you playing with people you know or just jumping in with randoms? Also, against bots or humans? I know I would have found it super intimidating to just jump in and try to figure it all out myself - I had a friend walk me through some bot games, before making me jump in against real people, etc. That was definitely a big help having him advise me what items to build next, etc.

My main account is nearly lvl 28 now, which means I've played a depressing number of games (I think circa 250 on that account alone - I also have a lvl 15 and a lvl 10). I was going to write something for C&P about how this game has sapped all my time from playing other games, but then I got distracted by LoL...

i'm confused about why you would ever have more than one account in LoL?

i think its so you can go back and pwn noobs.

I read you are supposed to bot until level 10 to stand any chance. I am at 4 or 5.

I don't get how they make money off this? Is it just that people want to have constant access to more champion characters?

i think like all these micro-transaction models they make money from a very small percentage of the playerbase that buys a lot; champions, skins, other stuff.

I have my main account, then one of my friends wanted to play so I started a low level account - when you play against people it matches you with like-levels. So it would be a shame, on your first match, to have the levels of the opposition skewed because your buddy who's showing you the ropes is a super high level. So I created a wee account.

Then I wanted to try new characters without being yelled at for being a 1st timer with some character when I have a high level account, so created a dummy account for that.

I wouldn't bot all the way to level 10, personally. When you're consistently winning against Beginner bots, try intermediate bots for a few games then jump in against humans. The earlier you play against real people the more likely you'll play against other noobs. Once you roughly know an item build path for your character, and know not to turret dive when there are no minions, you're ready for 'real' games, imo.

very dumb question - do you actually have to equip things or does just buying them at the shop upgrade you?

buying them upgrades you

what should i expect in playing people and not predictable bots? do people just run around the boards more? is that what "jungling" is?

Nah, jungling is where some jerk goes off into the woods to fight the woodland creatures for the whole game, leaving someone to solo a lane (usually top). The person in the 'jungle' wanders around, getting experience from killing golems, etc - often getting killed themselves, inviting lols from the opposition - and occasionally popping out to kill steal. The idea is that with a jungler the opposition never know where he is, and he can pop up, say, in mid to help out, kill the mid-laner and push the turret before slinking off into the bushes to kill more golems, and maybe pop up elsewhere on the map.

You can usually expect people to know what they're doing a bit more in PvP battles - both on your team and on the opponents (e.g. bots normally turn back when you run away for long enough, even if you only have a smidgen of health - players might not be so forgiving.

There's also more of a 'structure' I would say when playing PvP. Like, you'll maybe have 2 bottom, 2 top and 1 mid, or 2 bottom, 1 mid, 1 top and 1 jungler. There'll be a 'laning phase' which normally lasts until some turrets drop, after which everyone is levelled up a bit and starts roaming more out of their lanes. Then you end up with lots of big team fights, and pushes when teams lose a couple of champions, etc.

In bot fights they tend to roam loads so once one person gets a push on a turret, with a couple of bots dead, all the bots swarm that one person leaving the other turrets exposed. This doesn't really happen in PvP unless your team are really guff.

I should point out that in really high level games jungling is really important. But it is silly in almost every other game.

Yeah, true. When on littler accounts there's always someone who's learning to jungle, wanders off into the bushes to get humbled by the blue buff and never pops out. They forget that an important part of jungling is actually surfacing once in a while to help your team... But man, when you get a good Shaco jungling who comes out and tears a lane apart it's good. I have never tried to jungle, and probably never will.