Riot Games, LoL's
developer, claims more than 12 million players log on every day, with peak
concurrent global numbers reaching five million. The game boasts over 70
million registered players, 32 million of which are active every month. By
hours, it's the most played video game in the world. Those are staggering
figures that World of Warcraft could only hope to catch.
In my opinion here are 3 main differences between lol and
dota 2:
1) You have access to a limited rotation of heroes
in LoL. The game lets you save in-game rewards
to purchase a hero for permanent access, or you can purchase it instantly with
real-world currency. On the other hand, Dota 2 gives all players free access to all
heroes.
2) LoL does not allow players to destroy their own
assets. Dota 2 does let you wreck your own towers and
structures to deny enemies gold rewards.
3) When a player is killed in LoL,
they lose only experience. In Dota 2, the killed player loses gold and experience.
Overview
League of Legends falls
into the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre, with MOBA being a term
coined by Riot Games in order to break away from its DotA (Defense of the
Ancients) roots. The MOBA genre is a sub-category of the Real-Time Strategy
genre in which each player controls one character only. This character is
called a champion in League of Legends, but could be called something else
depending on which game you are playing. Creeps, or minions, are computer
controlled characters that follow a very basic movement pattern and perform
simple, predictable actions. Other computer controlled characters are called
monsters, but they are neutral.Late in
the game, the powerful Baron Nashor, the most powerful neutral in the game
serves as a cold war catalyst. You seek to kill him for the enormous stat
boosts he grants and gold.
.
The object of a MOBA
game - and League of Legends as well, obviously - is to destroy the other
team's base, or Nexus, if League terminology is to be used. There are three
paths, called lanes, that extend from each team's base. These lanes are
referred to by the player base as "top," "mid," and
"bot." Three turrets act as sentinels in each lane, followed by two
turrets that guard the Nexus. Champions in each lane are trying to shove down
the turrets, last hit (deal the finishing blow on) minions to farm gold, and
push their lane into the Nexus.
Roles:
Oh, but it's so much more complicated than it
seems. In the classic game mode, there are five players on each team. New
players will often pick whichever character they feel like playing at the given
time, but in a real game each player takes a position. The positions are
"top laner," "mid laner," "AD carry,"
"support," and "jungler." The top laner, as the name
suggests, goes to the top lane and is typically a tanky champion or a bruiser.
Because they are isolated from the rest of the map, playing top lane requires a
lot of individual skill and matchup knowledge. The mid laner, also as the name
suggests, goes to the mid lane and is usually an AD (Attack Damage) or AP
(Ability Power) caster. Both the AD carry and support go to the bot lane. AD
carry champions usually require a lot of expensive items to be effective, so
the AD carry takes all the minion kills. The support laner is the utility
player of the bunch; support players need to control vision of the map through
the placing of friendly wards (consumable items which give vision of a small
area for a few minutes) and the removal of enemy wards. The support has many
more responsibilities, but they are beyond the scope of this review.
The jungler role gets a paragraph to itself.
The jungler navigates the areas between the lanes (the jungle). Because there
is no clear objective for the jungler like there are for the laners - they just
destroy towers - it can be a difficult position to pick up. Junglers spend most of their time purging the jungle of
monster camps, only coming out to "gank" (ambush) a lane. Because of
the early game difficulty involved in defeating monsters, most
champions are not capable junglers until you are an experienced player.
Characters:
League of Legends has more than 100 champions
to choose from. One would have to play hundreds if not thousands of games to
master a single champion, and no two champions are the same. Some characters
may have similarities with others, but each is unique and plays differently
than any other. Gameplay isn't the only thing unique about each character,
though. From Blitzcrank, a yellow steam golem, to Twitch, a giant rat, Riot has
a creatively designed character for everyone.
Each character has four skills that are
assigned to the Q, W, E, and R keys. Each champion is different, but Q and W
tend to be damage skills, while E is a utility skill. R is an
"ultimate:" a champion's most powerful skill that typically has a
long cooldown.
Most characters are designed by Riot with a
specific role in mind for them to play, but often times these characters will
end up being useful in other ways. For example, many bruisers and tanks are
designed as top laners, but do well in the jungle also (and vice versa). A
support character may even end up being a suitable mid. This may not always be
the case, though. Study up on a character before using them in a game for ideal
performance.
Items:
On top of a huge lineup of champions, items
and item builds create even more diversity in each game. A lot of players will
say that DotA 2 has a larger, better, more diverse set of items, but a) I'm
reviewing the game League of Legends, not DotA 2 and b) that is subjective
information from a biased crowd. Some characters can run crazy item builds and
be successful, while others, such as AD carries, tend to have one or two builds
that are optimal. The item system could probably stand to include more items,
but it gets the job done well and is by no means an issue.
STORY :
I would be a liar if I said League of Legends
had a story, because it certainly doesn't. I'm completely okay with that,
though. I feel like eSports as a whole have advanced because of this decision
(to keep story elements to a minimum) and other small ones like it; League is really
the first game that I think has a chance to make eSports appeal to a larger
crowd.
Graphics and sound:
League of Legends gets ripped by some players for being too cartoony
and unimpressive. Instead of going for the flashiest, most modern looking graphics
they could create, Riot chose the timeless approach. They chose a cartoon style
that will age well - that is key to longevity in a game.
As for the sound, it's
just fine. There are no legendary musical arrangements to be found, but the
noises created by the game are not obnoxious (this is a very good thing, since
you hear them every game). Each character has its own set of voice-overs, and
most every skill has its own sound effects. Nothing to complain about here.
DEVELOPERS :
When it comes to online games that are
constantly being patched up with hotfixes and large updates alike, the
developers play a large part in the success of a game even after release. In my
eyes, a developer must have a good relationship with its player base, must be
open to the needs (or demands) of its player base, and must be quick to the
rescue when there is a problem. Riot Games has a history of both pleasing the
crowd and doing what's best for the game. Granted, I don't always agree with
some of their decisions when it comes to nerfing champions, but that's a minor
thing. The end result is usually for the better.
Comunity:
This has been the driving point behind all of
the low scoring reviews you see on gameFAQs, and for good reason. The League
community, for the most part, is awful. You will get flamed for doing poorly in
a game. Hard. However, judging a game based off of its community is hardly
fair, especially for a game of this size.
Here is a short preview
of the game. It is old and the game had a lot of updates since this video was
made but the basics are the same:
