League of Legends, developed by Riot Games, is one of those tricky games to classify: It's a tournament style strategic PvP game with persistent elements of an MMO. Today, new writer Joseph Sanicky gives our readers a terrific overview of the game that is particularly handy for those who may have wondered but never actually tried League of Legends. Read on!

(W)hat if I told you that the very same fast-paced, heated, competitive PvP action you crave from your favourite MMO was available in a more stream-lined, condensed, and controlled environment? Would you be willing to take the plunge into the universe of Runeterra and join the League of Legends with all the millions of players who play it?

Read more of Joseph Sanicky's League of Legends is Massive.

More maps please!

"League of Legends, developed by Riot Games, is one of those tricky games to classify: It's a tournament style strategic PvP game with persistent elements of an MMO. "

No.. it's not hard to classify, It's a multiplayer arena with a playerbase. You can't say it's an MMO because you buy weapons and level up during each match... Diablo 2 isn't considered a MMO neither are any FPS arenas with levels. I feel it belongs here, due to playerbase but it's not an MMO just because the only way to play it is online. Maybe OA should be a new acronym... Online Arena.

it already has genre - MOBA. Multiplayer Online Battle Arena.

anyway i dont get where does 'tournament style' game fit in here.

Originally posted by Tailz2k7

"League of Legends, developed by Riot Games, is one of those tricky games to classify: It's a tournament style strategic PvP game with persistent elements of an MMO. "

No.. it's not hard to classify, It's a multiplayer arena with a playerbase. You can't say it's an MMO because you buy weapons and level up during each match... Diablo 2 isn't considered a MMO neither are any FPS arenas with levels. I feel it belongs here, due to playerbase but it's not an MMO just because the only way to play it is online. Maybe OA should be a new acronym... Online Arena.

Did D2 have any persistent elements outside of the instanced content?  I never lliked D1 or D2, so I couldn't tell you honestly.

Also the term MOBA is horribly non-descriptive as is.  If you had never heard of Dota or LoL or HoN before, and I told you "Hey I got this MOBA game here, wanna check it out?" what would you think I was talking about?  A game where you play in an online arena with other people....techincally could describe any instanced multiplayer games (shooters, RTSs, sports games) because techincally those multiplayer activities take place in areanas of sorts.

When I say "FPS"  you know what kind of game I'm talking about, you know what kind of gameplay you can expect, etc.  With MOBA, outside of HON/LOL/DOTA, the games that comprise the genre have different set-ups.  BC has no items or neutral creeps or objectives.  I've seen ads for other new MOBA type games that say things like "NO MANA THAT IS DUMB" and "ALL ABOUT SKILL NO ITEMS" and so forth.  The genre is relatively new and doesn't really have a solid identity yet.

Eventually LoL will have most of the persistent content of a typical PvP MMO sans sitting around in cities together waiting for ques to pop.  Once it gets guild support it'll basically be on par, and once it gets spectator mode and replays, it will actually have more tools than most arenas and battlegrounds have in them.   Why can't it be an MMO when there are millions of people partaking in its instanced PvP content and also sharing the persistent effects in the LoL client itself and on the forums?

As they all get compared to DotA, which at least started the trend, if not the whole thing, why don't just call the genre "DotA"? At least until DotA is not the comparision factor anymore. Once DotA has achieved a status like Quake, Doom, Unreal, or Dune/C&C/Warcraft, as the one who started it, but not the one to compare everything to, it may be time for a real genre name, though MOBA is really not that descriptive. But for now, i think DotA is just fine.

It is basically a pay to win piece of crap.  Let's not try to make it something more than it is.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

It is basically a pay to win piece of crap.  Let's not try to make it something more than it is.

Clearly you have never played League of Legends.

What about it is pay to win exactly?

I wasn't aware you needed skins to win.

Everything apart from skins, xp/rp boosts and name changes, can be unlocked simply by PLAYING the game.

How is that pay to win?

Originally posted by Ozmodan

It is basically a pay to win piece of crap.  Let's not try to make it something more than it is.

 

Riot has a strict policy that they will not sell power directly to the player like other pay to play games.  The only thing RP saves you is time farming in game currency and skins.  

Originally posted by Ozmodan

It is basically a pay to win piece of crap.  Let's not try to make it something more than it is.

 

I'd love to hear you elaborate on that point. A level 30 who has never spent a dime on the game is just as competitive as someone who has spent hundreds of dollars on the game. There isn't a single thing in the store that will give you an advantage over other players.

Team Conquest Arena game. Its doesn't have any community aspect to it unless you think a friends list and forums are all it takes to have an mmo/community game.

Ive been playing the game for a long time, it's great, but the community is one of the worst I've seen in any game. It's rive with flamers, cryers, trolls and generally unpleasant people. It's really the thing that's killing the game for me.

Originally posted by Abdar

More maps please!

 

and modes for normal game pls..

I must Riot is doing a decent job with LoL.. the sales are good and every 2 weeks new champions are things that you can always look forward to.

Just wish they would increase the speed of newer content.

Originally posted by Tailz2k7

Originally posted by Ozmodan

It is basically a pay to win piece of crap.  Let's not try to make it something more than it is.

 

{mod edit}

 

I agree LoL is far far far from a pay to win. You can get EVERYTHING from playing the game. The only thing you pay for is new skins that ADD NOTHING but cosmetics. LoL runs an Influence Point system. With IP you can buy heroes and runes (Actually the only way to buy runes is with IP) and the way you get IP is from playing a free to play game...

{mod edit}

" you are granted a rating (called ELO) based on your team’s performance "

ELO have nothing with the teams performance. If you win , you get ELO if you loose you loose ELO.  You almost always gets the same ELO rating from winning games so its have nothing based on team performance, you can win a game for your team and get the same amount as you would have gotten by a really good team.

"League of Legends, developed by Riot Games, is one of those tricky games to classify: It's a tournament style strategic PvP game with persistent elements of an MMO"

I cant understand how people cant classify what kind of genre some games have ; LoL, HoN, DotA,BLC. etc

Its all MOBA games. Multiplayer online battle arena. or if you speak about LoL and HoN you can say DotA clone to,  they are not mmo games since Its only elements of a mmo is that your "summoner" levels up and you get points. there is no persistent world, neither is it a very social games. You can join chat rooms but they are just like the rooms in WC3 and WC3 is not an MMO either. 

HoN is better. LoL = easymode

I've been playing this game for over a year now and it's still a fun game.   You can not beat the value for the price, and this game has lasted far longer in my guilds vent than any MMO in the last 6 years.

Originally posted by Paragus1

I've been playing this game for over a year now and it's still a fun game.   You can not beat the value for the price, and this game has lasted far longer in my guilds vent than any MMO in the last 6 years.

Paragus, your blog is the reason I tried LoL...

At first I thought it was a really stupid game. Then I got hooked. Now I try to play atleast a game every day. Singed is my favourite champion :)

I'm glad you like it man.   Feel free to hit me up with a friends request if you'd like.  My LoL name is "Paragus Rants".