I should I try out LoL?

[VinceVega]

Im almost scared to ask this.

One streamer I have been watching suddenly started playing LoL and has been doing so for a while now. I had not even seen the game before that, but I did spend time playing HOTS when it was still relatively new. I was never very good at it, but I liked trying out stuff and stay at my extremely casual level.

So yeah, I got that moba itch back. I hear LoL is extremely toxic, but if I go in knowing that, Im not sure I care much about it. I'm actually considering getting the game.

... Or should I just give up on the idea and get as far away as possible?

If you like MOBAs you should play Dota, Lol and Hots at least once for a month or so.
Then you can decide for yourself if you like it or not.
I don't think lol is more or less toxic than anything that is played online anonymously. In rated games one mistake can loose you the game in higher levels so emotions run high sometimes.
If stuff like toxicity in games gets to you... well i would say do NOT play any game that has random group ups with people you never meat again.

Imho Lol is better than hots and hots is better than dota. Dota has annoying mechanics that riot decided lol doesn't need. Rightly so.

All three are F2P... so... why not?

[Fkiolaris]

So after playing about 150 games against AI I decided to give normal modes a run. So I queued for ARAM only to get 9 (semi) pros and me, and my team lost at least in part because of me. I tried 3 games, it was the same story so I gave up. Then I tried SR normal blind. Again, the same story, 9 (semi) pros and myself and we eventually got spanked because I got utterly destroyed at my lane. I know it's only a handful of games and no, there was nothing "toxic" in those games, but it was quite disappointing to see that beyond the AI games a casual noob has no carefree (so to speak) pvp mode with a level playing field, as much as that is possible to achieve.

[Fitsu]

So after playing about 150 games against AI I decided to give normal modes a run. So I queued for ARAM only to get 9 (semi) pros and me, and my team lost at least in part because of me. I tried 3 games, it was the same story so I gave up. Then I tried SR normal blind. Again, the same story, 9 (semi) pros and myself and we eventually got spanked because I got utterly destroyed at my lane. I know it's only a handful of games and no, there was nothing "toxic" in those games, but it was quite disappointing to see that beyond the AI games a casual noob has no carefree (so to speak) pvp mode with a level playing field, as much as that is possible to achieve.

Sadly this is the way of games these days, gone are the days of new genres and uninformed players.

The base skill level is so much higher than it used to be. Back when I started league people (myself included) didn't even know what CS was let alone how to farm it, didn't know what items to build, skill orders, jungle routes, how to control waves etc. But now all of this is basically known by 99% of the playerbase so if you don't know this your going to have a rough time. Honestly your best bet is to watch some streams and then maybe play some jungle (as in this role your not constantly under the thumb of another player) until you get a grasp of the game.

Same goes for every game. I remember in WoW everyone pre-1.8k was a keyboard turner who I am fairly certain played with their feet. You could solo up to 1.8k. But now? 1.4k feels like 2.6k did back then, with everyone utalising all their abilities, controlling, pillar hugging, chain CCing, bursting etc. And games like Apex where you have to bind forward to mouse wheel down and do a collection of button inputs along with scrolling to tap strafing and literally EVERYONE can do it.

Then you look at what the pros can do, it's crazy how good people are at games these days.

[Dalinos]

Sadly this is the way of games these days, gone are the days of new genres and uninformed players.

The base skill level is so much higher than it used to be. Back when I started league people (myself included) didn't even know what CS was let alone how to farm it, didn't know what items to build, skill orders, jungle routes, how to control waves etc. But now all of this is basically known by 99% of the playerbase so if you don't know this your going to have a rough time. Honestly your best bet is to watch some streams and then maybe play some jungle (as in this role your not constantly under the thumb of another player) until you get a grasp of the game.

Same goes for every game. I remember in WoW everyone pre-1.8k was a keyboard turner who I am fairly certain played with their feet. You could solo up to 1.8k. But now? 1.4k feels like 2.6k did back then, with everyone utalising all their abilities, controlling, pillar hugging, chain CCing, bursting etc. And games like Apex where you have to bind forward to mouse wheel down and do a collection of button inputs along with scrolling to tap strafing and literally EVERYONE can do it.

Then you look at what the pros can do, it's crazy how good people are at games these days.

Basicly what this guy said. Remember back in Ye Days of Olde League where Lee-Sin Ward-Jumping was considered a pro move you see in tournaments only? I've been to a League of Legends tournament. I've seen a packed event room chanting "LEE SIN LEE SIN LEE SIN" after an amazing ward-jump-ultimate that decimated the opponent. But nowadays? Any Lee-Sin playing in GOLD rank, not even Platinum, fucking GOLD, can ward-jump without even thinking. It's muscle memory by now for every casual Lee-Sin player. And this is just ONE, ONE example. Of ONE champion and ONE interaction. Multiply that by what is it, 150+ champions nowadays? Yeah, the standards are WAY WAY higher than what they were back then.

Edit: Another that just came to mind is Tryndamere + Whirlwind + animation cancellation + autoattack. Back in the day, a series of inputs known by 5 players in the world or so. Nowadays? My mate Theodore who's 36 years old and is basicaly a retired casual gamer can pull that shit off without thinking. In Silver ranks mind you.

[Fkiolaris]

Sadly this is the way of games these days, gone are the days of new genres and uninformed players.

The base skill level is so much higher than it used to be. Back when I started league people (myself included) didn't even know what CS was let alone how to farm it, didn't know what items to build, skill orders, jungle routes, how to control waves etc. But now all of this is basically known by 99% of the playerbase so if you don't know this your going to have a rough time. Honestly your best bet is to watch some streams and then maybe play some jungle (as in this role your not constantly under the thumb of another player) until you get a grasp of the game.

Same goes for every game. I remember in WoW everyone pre-1.8k was a keyboard turner who I am fairly certain played with their feet. You could solo up to 1.8k. But now? 1.4k feels like 2.6k did back then, with everyone utalising all their abilities, controlling, pillar hugging, chain CCing, bursting etc. And games like Apex where you have to bind forward to mouse wheel down and do a collection of button inputs along with scrolling to tap strafing and literally EVERYONE can do it.

Then you look at what the pros can do, it's crazy how good people are at games these days.

I know what you mean, but I am not asking for WoW Arena or ranked games, just something that is the equivalent (level-wise) of random BGs in WoW. Last time I played that game in retail it was back in Legion and it was never a case of, for example, getting a WSG with 19 gladiators and myself. Yes, some players where very skillful and you also had some premades as well, but it was mostly casuals of different levels of skill while the outliers were people of high skill, not the other way round.

Anyway, I appreciate what you say and I will give a go a few more times to see how it goes, hopefully there will be a few more noobs joining and we can have fun together

[Dalinos]

I know what you mean, but I am not asking for WoW Arena or ranked games, just something that is the equivalent (level-wise) of random BGs in WoW. Last time I played that game in retail it was back in Legion and it was never a case of, for example, getting a WSG with 19 gladiators and myself. Yes, some players where very skillful and you also had some premades as well, but it was mostly casuals of different levels of skill while the outliers were people of high skill, not the other way round.

Anyway, I appreciate what you say and I will give a go a few more times to see how it goes, hopefully there will be a few more noobs joining and we can have fun together

Custom games bro. Custom. No ranking. No stakes. Non-serious games because there ARE no stakes/no ranks/no points to think of. That's the mode you're looking for. The moment you decide to queue for RANKED content, the stakes appear. And games with stakes are serious business. Not for fun. That's what unranked is for.

[Fkiolaris]

Custom games bro. Custom. No ranking. No stakes. Non-serious games because there ARE no stakes/no ranks/no points to think of. That's the mode you're looking for. The moment you decide to queue for RANKED content, the stakes appear. And games with stakes are serious business. Not for fun. That's what unranked is for.

I was under the impression that Normal Blind is unranked? Because the Ranked ones are specified as Ranked and are not available for me because I don't have 20 champions unlocked. Same for ARAM, I thought it's casual unranked mode, which is why you get access to all of these very early (like level 3 I believe). Do correct me if I am wrong, I would appreciate it

[Fitsu]

I was under the impression that Normal Blind is unranked? Because the Ranked ones are specified as Ranked and are not available for me because I don't have 20 champions unlocked. Same for ARAM, I thought it's casual unranked mode, which is why you get access to all of these very early (like level 3 I believe). Do correct me if I am wrong, I would appreciate it

Are you saying your literally being queued against Master players? As if that's the case then something is wrong. Or are you just assuming they are really good because they are wiping the floor with you?

If it's the latter I am sorry to say what your asking for is what your getting, these players aren't good. These are your random BG tier players that would get destroyed by your average gold rank player. I was Diamond back when I played which is only above average, nowhere near "semi-pro" and I would roll my way through unranked games 5v1ing by the end.

The problem with League is it's very snowbally, so if you don't know what your doing and your against someone who's marginally better they can just farm you and then because of those +4 levels and +5000g it's like there a level 70 in WoW dueling a level 60.

[Julmara]

no the community is more salty than every salt mine on earth
pros and better players constandly make new throwaway accounts to crush noobs and feel better about themselfes
if you wanna play it just play against ai

[Dalinos]

I was under the impression that Normal Blind is unranked? Because the Ranked ones are specified as Ranked and are not available for me because I don't have 20 champions unlocked. Same for ARAM, I thought it's casual unranked mode, which is why you get access to all of these very early (like level 3 I believe). Do correct me if I am wrong, I would appreciate it

Oh snap. You don't even have access to Ranked modes yet. All this is happening in Unraked? Damn. In that case, what @Fitsu said. These ARE your "Random Battleground" pugs. Perhaps watch a coaching session on lane theory, "freezing" the wave, what Creep Score is, etc. You got some studying to do my man. A DECENT (not GOOD, simply decent) League player can turn a 500 gold and 1 level difference into an insurmountable mountain for their lane opponent.

[Fkiolaris]

Oh snap. You don't even have access to Ranked modes yet. All this is happening in Unraked? Damn. In that case, what @Fitsu said. These ARE your "Random Battleground" pugs. Perhaps watch a coaching session on lane theory, "freezing" the wave, what Creep Score is, etc. You got some studying to do my man. A DECENT (not GOOD, simply decent) League player can turn a 500 gold and 1 level difference into an insurmountable mountain for their lane opponent.

Are you saying your literally being queued against Master players? As if that's the case then something is wrong. Or are you just assuming they are really good because they are wiping the floor with you?

If it's the latter I am sorry to say what your asking for is what your getting, these players aren't good. These are your random BG tier players that would get destroyed by your average gold rank player. I was Diamond back when I played which is only above average, nowhere near "semi-pro" and I would roll my way through unranked games 5v1ing by the end.

The problem with League is it's very snowbally, so if you don't know what your doing and your against someone who's marginally better they can just farm you and then because of those +4 levels and +5000g it's like there a level 70 in WoW dueling a level 60.

I don't know if they are "literally" Master players since I am not knowledgeable enough to identify them. What I did see is that vs AI you get maybe 1 or 2 players with anything beyond the basic frame and tokens while once in a blue moon they have a mastery rank as well. For the pvp games I did, everyone had at least a grandmaster or challenger token of actual gameplay (no "I unlocked that many skins or champions" ones), some even had 3, most had a fancy frame of sorts and for the SR game they all had Mastery rank 4 or 5 for their character. I remember that because the game took ages to load so I was checking them out, what that means in terms of them being actual Masters or not is beyond my understanding.

All I am saying is that those groups of players were a stark contrast to whatever I encountered in the games vs AI, at least on the champion panels and ability, that's all. If that's how it goes in pvp, even unranked, then I will keep that in mind and act accordingly - either suck it up and do even more research while keep playing or just stick to the AI games and keep trying champions for a bit of variety. Either way, thank you both for the responses, you answered my question and I appreciate it.

PS I did not see anything toxic in the pvp games. In fact, any drama I did see was in the beginner games vs AI!

[Dalinos]

I don't know if they are "literally" Master players since I am not knowledgeable enough to identify them. What I did see is that vs AI you get maybe 1 or 2 players with anything beyond the basic frame and tokens while once in a blue moon they have a mastery rank as well. For the pvp games I did, everyone had at least a grandmaster or challenger token of actual gameplay (no "I unlocked that many skins or champions" ones), some even had 3, most had a fancy frame of sorts and for the SR game they all had Mastery rank 4 or 5 for their character. I remember that because the game took ages to load so I was checking them out, what that means in terms of them being actual Masters or not is beyond my understanding.

All I am saying is that those groups of players were a stark contrast to whatever I encountered in the games vs AI, at least on the champion panels and ability, that's all. If that's how it goes in pvp, even unranked, then I will keep that in mind and act accordingly - either suck it up and do even more research while keep playing or just stick to the AI games and keep trying champions for a bit of variety. Either way, thank you both for the responses, you answered my question and I appreciate it.

PS I did not see anything toxic in the pvp games. In fact, any drama I did see was in the beginner games vs AI!

...Mastery rank 4 or 5 means absolutely nothing. Mastery rank 7-8, maybe. Ranks 4-5? You get that in Silver. Also, Masteries in League for Champions is basicly side-quests.

[Thygesen]

I have played LoL a lot, and it is one of the best games in my opinion. You never know, if you do not try. So give it a go, and see if you like it

[MisterHypocrisy]

You should always try things. I tried and got yelled at. Figured I was 15 years behind everybody else and promptly quit.

[kuroimatoo]

What a weird question, if you like games like that why not? League is a great game, it was in the top for the last 10 years not just for show.