So I stopped playing long enough to write something..  No, that’s a lie really. Server is down for maintenance. The game is League of Legends. It’s free. Website here. Quick trailer below.

I’m going to assume that you, Dear Reader, are an experienced DOTA player, so you won’t find this to be a review. Just some of my thoughts on the deeper gameplay and how I see it as an evolution of DOTA, not just a homage (tsk tsk HoN).

- Spend less time doing boring stuff and more time doing fun stuff. Regen times on HP & Mana feel higher and items buff for more too. Means less time waiting to fight and more time fighting. Most fights are met with full bars as well, allowing for pretty intense action. Unlimited free teleports home. Cool, now I don’t spend half the game jogging home and spending money on TP scrolls.

-Less stun and bash. It’s no fun not being in control of your char at anytime. Being on the receiving end of stuns was frustrating and there seems to be much less of these skills and more emphasis on slows, dots, etc. No-one likes clicking to move your character and he won’t walk, gameplay or not, it just feels like you’re stuck.

-Ability power. This is a good new design choice. No longer are INT heroes helpless vs DPS heroes who scale better late game. We used to actually yell across the LAN cafe, “if we haven’t won by lv15-ish we’re screwed!”. That’s no fun. Now abilities can scale and grow in power with items, just as physical dmg classes could before. That makes INT or ability focuesed heroes just as lethal now late game.

-Cut the fat. Same as grenades in TF2, LoL has gotten rid of denying creeps and towers. Yeah those of us that were good at it reaped the benefits but, it stops your teammates who aren’t as good getting denied against too. It balances out. Also no gold loss on death and a simpler fog-of-war. Less time fighting the engine, more time fighting the opposition.

-Hero playstyles. Far beyond just replicating DOTA’s skills, LoL has a lot of new funtionality in many heros which encourage a variety of playstyles to suit your mood. In fact, I would go as far as saying some of them encourage a whole new mini-game inside the greater scope. EG: Nasus is rewarded by last-hitting as many creeps as possible, Heimerdiner can build sentry’s to create new choke points and many heros have skills which encourage them to soak as much damage as possible in 5v5 fights but still be rewarded without necessarily hero killing.

-Less in-fighting. While it still goes on, a much better assist system means a better distribution of wealth per kill and less whinging about KS’s. Towers are now a flat 100g to everyone no matter where you were. Less jostling for tower kills, more pushing. The new Roshan is the same with team wide XP and gold.

-Accessibility. DOTA lives and dies by how many people are playing it. You need opponents. If everyone bails, the game can’t survive. The easier entry to the game is the more players we’ll have in circulation. The new shop system is great. Very helpful when purchasing (previously a big barrier to entry was memorising all the items). The ‘Death Recount’ explains exactly who killed you with what skills and damage percentages so you can learn and progress (TF2 killcam aww yeah), rather than just being pwned and not understanding why. Reconnecting to running games you dropped from? Hella yes. Lower system specs than other games (HoN, Demigod) mean more people can play it on their puta. Equals larger potential player base. War3 ran on anything, so heaps of people could join. Lol has good visual cues, what I need to be looking at pops, and still looks pretty. Oh, and free game. Yeah.

-Beyond 5v5. There seems to be a genuine interest to progress beyond the 5v5 format from these guys. They’re already experimenting with map layouts, income rates, building/creep strength etc. The 3v3 currently implemented has a much different feel with a shorter playtime (20mins) and more intense action. Serious attention is being paid to these new map designs as well. EG: in Twisted Treeline 3v3, tanks were proving too dominant, so the map was heavily tweaked to remedy this. Check out this design article.

I know I haven’t spoken about any of the persistence of the ‘Summoner’ persona, the runes, mastery trees, orsum looking shop and skins, BUT.. you can find out about all that in a regular review anyway. I’m glad that Guinsoo is doing well with this coz i really feel his design is showing through. Someone who wanted to break out of the War3 engine mould and evolve the genre`, not just copy it again.

A very nicely done Diablo and WoW game.. comes.. a FREE game called Dungeon Runners

The voice within the game is exceptional, the movements are pretty simple, based off the WASD movement keys..

The action is very Diablo like, click click click etc..etc..

The questing seems rather easy.. just fight certain monsters at certain locations.. for rewards and exp and something new called Kings Gold. Where, upon further examination of the Kings Gold.. its like a token that can be traded for special items or upgrades.

After about 1hour of gameplay, learning the few basics.. the key strokes.. and realising that it doesn’t lag as bad as some games.. you need to RESET the instance if u want the kreeps to respawn. Also.. at the town, u have to click on join party, so other pplz in your party will be in the same realm as you. Very diablo like, where its one VS the creeps.. or .. pplz in a party VS creeps..

The inventory is a pain, very much like making things in D2 fit together.. so u can increase the capacity of your inventory.

It would prove to be better for you to PAY 2 PLAY.. for the extra items and minor server issue’s, however, i’ll be happy with the Free2Play version..

Hmm.. makes me wanna grab out my D2 and play that again!!
*~Yells~* Baal Run 021.. lets go!!! *~Yells~*

oh.. happy days!!

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Rusty Cog Archive: 30/08/07

So you’re sick of playing the same MMORPG’s?.. where there’s no story, and you run around grinding levels until.. well, until you get sick of it.

No more excuses from you people. Think you can do better?.. then do it… here.

This shit is scary… the potential something like this has to take off. Thousands of people, DM’ing thousands of dungeons and worlds for us to play in. The company claims the editing tools are as simple or complex as you want them to be. And while people are exploring your scenario, you can be in there triggering traps, or providing the shopkeeper with a more ‘human’ voice. No more, “Welcome to Corneria.” :D The ability to create, play, and watch your own MMORPG story unfold, and share it with others.

Could the Free Trial hold back this MMORPG Scenario Editor’s wider appeal though?.. The trial only allows for selection from a palette of lower level creatures, and you may only test drive the scenario yourself. I could turn off some people from trialling it at all…

“Power to the players”?… shit, power to the DM’s! ^.^

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Rusty Cog Archive: 24/10/06

Xp, more Xp…. and then some.

Myth Wars reminds us that all good munchkins do have somewhere to go… which keeps them out of our games. ^_^

Still, its got good potential for a BETA. Using beautifully hand-drawn backgrounds with animated sprites over the top. Battles are done the old Final Fantasy style, running around until you get randomly drawn in, and even use a similar ATB battle system. Plethora of skills, stats, numbers, pets, and who-knows-what-else. @_@

A good option for people on lower spec comps. Not so graphic intensive, and given that battles aren’t in real time, a slower connection won’t kill you.

Go on.. join the dark side. The dark… number crunching… side. (-_-)

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Rusty Cog Archive: 12/10/06