What makes League of Legends good?

[Deleted]

Hey guys, I come from a background of FPS games (Counter-Strike/CoD/BF) and a bit of MMO/RTS to a lesser extent (World of Warcraft/CoH/AoE) and I see how alive LoL is compared to nearly every game out right now and I find it crazy! I've played about 10 games of LoL and I just don't see what makes the game so appealing to people. These days I play a bit of casual Counter-Strike:Source and Global Offensive public and Smite Arena and the occasional 5's on conquest with friends. I play League of Legends and the clicking pattern of movement seems SO limiting compared with using WASD, does anyone feel that? The actual game has poor graphics (I don't mind them much, I much prefer gameplay over GFX), boring movement method (IMO) and an awful community. I play Smite and it feels like a MUCH better game, I love the camera angle, the WASD movement and how fresh it feels game play wise to be honest.

What is appealing in the game for you guys that makes you feel like playing it continuously?

[Swampfox2223]

I play it because I like it.

I used to play Dota in WC3 hours upon hours a day so I already like those kinds of games. I like the uniqueness of the champions and abilities, I find RIOT to be a decent company, it's free, it's competitive, and I like watching the pros play it.

[Deleted]

nice time dump.
Lots of different things to do (heck even if i do play Sivir/Sona/Amumu EVERY TIME --- if i dont i suck haha ;P)
Have nice friends to play with, even tho were shite.

Its a good fun game .....
WASD would make the game stupid, clicking is the best option. Especially considering most skills, like Sivirs Boomerang, or Amumus Bandage require you to aim your cursor, if you used WASD, it would not be typically easy to control.

however downside is

"REPORT AMUMU CUS HES JUNGLING"
"REPORT KILLSTEALING"
"REPORT SWEAR OMG"

Etc.... spoils the fun half the time
oh and people using Ziggs and getting Ravenous Hydra......

[Lemons]

I think League of Legends, really the entire MOBA genre, just takes all the things that are great about the RPG genre and super-condenses them. You've got leveling, gearing up, learning new skills, but instead of that stuff taking weeks like in a normal RPG it only takes the space of a single game.

[Deleted]

I think that the clicking thing puts a lot of people off. Some people simply will never get into that style of gameplay/movement. If that is your main issue then it is something entirely subjective and personal and no amount of people telling you why it's awesome will help you with the fact that you prefer the camera angle and movement options of smite. I'm the opposite, I actually played Smite before League and I far prefer league because although I thought smite was a good game and I did enjoy playing it, I really clicked with leagues movement, art style and camera much more.

You mention that the graphics are poor - I see that complaint from a lot of people but I don't really see it. The new map, howling abyss, has extremely good textures, animations and effects for example. The new champion art design and in-game models have been consistently high quality. I don't really understand the concept of saying league's graphics are "poor" and then saying that you prefer smite. I do not want to turn this into a game v game debate at all; but I'll just say that MOBAs are never going to be on the cutting edge of graphics by any stretch - they are designed to be accessable to the greater population, but can still have good textures, models, maps and artwork.

As for awful community, it does - but so does every other multiplayer pvp game I've ever played.

I play league because I love the skill range (even someone as special as me can find one champion I can manage to play!), the champion range, I love the art work and the design, I enjoy the gameplay, the depth of the strategy, the amount of theorycrafting. I like the staff and their upkeep of the forums, I like the fact that they post a lot, interact with the community on both the official forums and reddit. I love the esports team and the fact it's so easy to follow a team and watching tournaments. I like my friends (sometimes) and playing with them. I dislike the ragers, the trolls, the immature people. I hate losing a game because someone decided they couldn't be bothered playing and AFKed, or decided it would be amusing to feed, or spent the whole game sending abuse at someone else (even if it wasn't me, I don't like reading it). But that is not the games fault, it is the community. The community is definitely the lowest point of League, but it is the lowest point of every multiplayer PvP game I've ever played. So that's why I continue playing, the good far out weighs the bad for me, the bad I strongly believe that I can't escape on the internet.

If you prefer smite or any other moba, or any other game, don't over analyse or worry about it. People are different and like different games. Some people will never get into league, no matter how many tens of millions of people play it and there's nothing wrong with not enjoying something and saying it's not for you.... but try and find some low level friends and hop into some real pvp games (if you've just been playing bot matches), you never know, it might grow on you

[Henako]

Working on team synergy with my friends and constantly driving myself to improve my play.

[kynthrus]

The amazing inviting community of League is why most people join. Everyone is so helpful and tolerant of others because we all have different backgrounds and often come from different areas of the world. It truly is the people that bring this game together.

[Deleted]

WASD is not used because the MOBA genre started as custom game in an RTS. Since WASD is not used in RTS, the players got used to clicking.
It would also feel weird to me. WASD is something I expect in First or Third Person games, where the camera is locked to the character. Controlling a LoL champion with it would feel clunky, I believe.

I can only guess why it's so popular, it was probably there at the right moment with the right audience. It's not a bad game and maybe it's because it's more simple than Dota2 or HON (no denying). That does not necessarily make it more easy, it's just like WoW was more simple than EverQuest etc. and became popular. HON also used to cost something, so that was probably a reason, too and Dota2 is quite new.

To me LoL is something fun to play with friends. Most of my friends don't like RTS, so we can't play them together, everyone plays a different MMO (if they even play), maybe one or two friends occasionally play FPS, so those also aren't an option.
LoL is well suited to play with friends because it's free, so even someone who was not too interested in it might try it out.

[Bluesftw]

idk...its free..? guess thats it

[Kuthe]

The strategy that goes behind it.
The high skill-cap.
F2P.

[Athael]

OP, it's entirely a matter of opinion. You like first-person games with keyboard-based movement, so yes, a game/genre that doesn't have those things is going to feel weird to you. If that's a dealbreaker, you should probably also avoid Starcraft, Age of Empires, Civilization, Diablo 3, and all the other games out there that feature mouse-based movement and a top-down view.

Personally, LoL feels very natural to me and I hate games with WASD (I specifically hate MMOs with WASD, because keyboard turning is almost universally inferior to movement with your mouse in WoW and games like it. It's just a noobtrap).

Again, just a matter of preference.

As for LoL's popularity - It's a number of factors. The developer, Riot, is responsive to the community and supportive. I'm director of content for an esports organization that deals entirely with LoL and the amount of support our organization has gotten from Riot has been really tremendous. The game is free, and the cash shop is not Pay2Win, so it's easy to get in and not feel like you have to pay anything.

It's also a damned good game with some clearly talented game designers working on it.

[Rucati]

League got big because it made an easier version of an already popular game, and also made it free. It was the only free MOBA for quite some time, DotA required WC3, and Heroes of Newerth cost money at the time, so the only free option was League. Then once it got a big group of people playing it it spread fast, and even though DotA2/HoN are both free now people have invested too much in League to just quit. Plus League is easier than DotA/HoN, so people that try those games out get destroyed and then never play again. Likewise, however, people from DotA/HoN that go to League find it boring and usually don't stay. I sometimes play with 4 friends but I never play other than that, once every 2-3 weeks or so at most.

So it was really just a number of factors, mainly just the timing though, if DotA 2 had come out first it would be as big as LoL is right now. Though I do think DotA is starting to catch up in size.

[Sinndra]

League was never intended to be a FPS. its not intended to play like one.. its not intended to look like one. what makes it fun for me is 2 things.. first F2P. i spend money on it because i like the skins they offer, but it in no way gives me an advantage, so its completely cosmetic. secondly its the easiest time sink game to play. i can pick it up any time of the day or night.. and play one game, or 20 games. it wastes time for me with out having to really invest time to gain anything. it has wonderful replay-ability.

the community is a bit trashy at times. and there is certainly too much freedom for trolling. but Riot does have people looking at great ways to curb those attitudes. so its slowly getting better then it was for the first 2½ seasons.

[herpecin]

it is F2P without being P2W. a very hard combo so come across right now.

also it is promoted very very well. they have very large purses for the winning teams in competitions and that means that they attract the best gamers and best media coverage for the events. same reason why so many people play football in america, cause they see people doing it on TV and think its cool.

[Elexo]

It's simple fun, you can pick it up with a bunch of friends and goof around if you like, even if you have casual/baddie friends and still have a great time.
At the same time it also has a high skill cap, ranked games can provide with a real challenge.

I tried DOTA2 a few times, it's a good game, I'm sure but it just felt too convoluted for my taste.
Too much of a time sink to be able to play at a basic level.

It may just be a target audiance thing where LoL's is just much bigger.

Also, Riot is pretty cool, I like their designs options, both in gameplay as in aesthetics and they release new content quite rapidly.

[Velthy]

Its fun and easy, way easier than Dota and stuff. Graphics are nice and friendly to older PCs. You can play with your friends.
And its "free", at least they say so.

[Sj]

Easy to pick up but hard to master. Pacing of the game is good, balance is relatively good, and teamwork is rewarded. Being free and marketed well go a long way, too.

[welcome2life]

Extremely competitive game in which you can build characters differently via items, talent trees, runes and can continue to improve and find counters to other players strategies. LoL is addictive for those who enjoy pvp style content. I have played occasionally and had fun but I can't get into it hardcore like some because I'm more of a cooperative against computers type person. xD

[Ergar]

Extremely competitive game in which you can build characters differently via items, talent trees, runes and can continue to improve and find counters to other players strategies. LoL is addictive for those who enjoy pvp style content. I have played occasionally and had fun but I can't get into it hardcore like some because I'm more of a cooperative against computers type person. xD

This + it's an easy game to get into. Sure there's some learning curve, but not anything like let's say starcraft.

[MMOSam]

I like it because of the mixture of genres. There is a decent amount of action but also plenty of strategic depth when I care to take notice of it. Plenty of customisation options (in terms of champions) as well.