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Why League of Legends Might Eventually Fail as a MOBA

GoodHotFreshFly·1/29/2015, 3:39:25 AM·3 votes·939 views

Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape, or form attempting to put down RIOT and having League of Legends looked down upon. These are simply my observations that are trying to prove a point. I am not trying to cause dismay in the community. I would first like to say that this IS a great game, and I do enjoy playing it. This MAY contain anecdotes of brief frustration and anger that I have experienced in my time while playing this game, only for the purpose of backing up my claims of the effects of League of Legends's faults on the community, as a member of the community myself, though I am typing this before I actually type the post itself, so that doesn't mean it WILL contain personal anecdotes. Proceed at your own risk.

THE PROS

1. Lore Edit: So apparently there isn't a lore, when there clearly is? I don't know if this is some kind of joke but it's pretty obvious what I'm talking about

Riot has truly created a wonderful Lore background with the concept of Runeterra. The many champions in this game criss-cross and intertwine in very complex yet beautiful ways. Not only that, but Riot has created unique and fun skill-sets to compliment their theme and style. The magic and kingdoms are, for the most part, astounding. from the advanced Piltover, to the stesmpunk dystopia that is Zaun, to the dark city of Noxus, to the city of justice, demacia, to the icy reaches of the Freljord; I could go on and on about the many unique locations of Runeterra. Yet there are some regions that aren't that great, such as Urtistan, but that is mainly due to the fact that Riot has not expanded upon its lore, so, hopefully, they'll attempt that in the future.

1. Gameplay

The gameplay of this game is very dynamic and interesting apart from other MOBAs. There are games lke Defense of the Ancients, which in my opinion, is very complicated and doesn't have as great a lore as League of Legends. The gameplay is very simple and centers around concepts that can be easily learnt by MOBA rookies and gurus alike. Another thing, which I honestly think is overlooked, is the interface and HUD. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but they have a certain charm to them, unlike most other MOBAs. The controls, for the most part, are quite smooth, especially with the different kinds of targeting systems. I feel like the animations of each champion make them feel more fluid and theme-defining, for example, Malzahar as he smoothly, yet slowly, glides along the battlefield, since he floats in the air. Overall, the gameplay of this game is very well done.

THE CONS

1. Community Intervention

This is probably the BIGGEST con of all. One of the most important factors of any MOBA, actually, cross that out, ANY online game is the community, for the developers literally thrive off of them, since they are constantly trying to please them, one of the HARDEST things to do, since you can't please everyone. The first problem in this intervention is support. Need help? The only people you can really go to and have contact to are player support. Most of the time if you have something that has to do with technical difficulty, they send a link to a page of troubleshooting and say "Hope this helps." Then there are those other times where you feel like you were unfairly given a penalty, yet despite if your side of the story is the right and just one, player support simply says "We can not do anything about it." First of all, it doesn't seem like they actually consider your side of the story. Second of all, they CAN do something about it, otherwise, they wouldn't be, well, player support. The second major problem I see in this game is the Tribunal and Leaverbuster. I can sum of the problem in one, three-word sentence: They are automatic. That is NOT how a disciplinary system should work. There is no criminal justice system in this world that works automatically, seriously, we're not THAT technologically advanced. If that were the case, this world would be chaotic and unjust. Algorithms and Artificial Intelligences mostly do not make the right decisions. Only rational human thought and logic make right decisions. These automatic process is why League of Legends has one of the worst communities ever. I'm not insulting you, because keep in mind, I'm part of that community! It's just that we are more free to act in negative ways, and we're just so used to seeing it, that we all do it. Don't even tell me that you've never had a negative social experience in League of Legends, I'm sure you've had plenty.

2. "Currently Busy

Busy busy busy, that is all an online game is, constantly testing and updating their content. And guess what, I'm completely fine with that. What I'm not completely fine with is what "priorities" RIOT is busy with. One example is the LCS. Yes, the LCS. I am not ridiculing anyone who follows the LCS and esports. In fact, I'm happy that you enjoy those kinds of things. Personally I don't, but I still respect that there are people who support that. But, if RIOT thinks that the LCS is more a priority than the community, that's... insulting. Oh, and I'm not talking about the LCS, I'm talking about other things that they could be busy with. I'm not going to list those example, since I'm sure you can figure some things out, because RIOT has a lot to be busy with. As an online game, their first priority should be: us. Not the LCS, not game development, but us. Again, there's another problem in that: We kind of tie into those things, so they kind of HAVE to work on those things. This mistake of not taking care of these things as a priority before the less important things is one of RIOT's BIGGEST mistakes. Though, I don't blame them. I really don't! Making and developing and updating an online game is EXTREMELY (SO much emphasis on "extremely") hard. I even feel bad for them, not in a looking-down-upon-them way, but in a faithful way.

TL;DR

So what is it that might make League of Legends fail as a MOBA? It's not League of Legends itself, its ironically RIOT. Notice that my two pros are about the game, yet my two cons are about RIOT. I am not saying that League of Legends is the worst and that no one should play is, no, not at all. In fact, League of Legends is my favorite MOBA. I just really wish that they could've done more to improve experience for the player, instead of improving the game. One final time Making, developing, and constantly updating an online game is EXTREMELY hard, especially since this is a competitive game. there are so many things that could go wrong. What makes League of Legends "below" other MOBAs is mostly the negative community as a result of RIOT's mistakes, and RIOT has to develop this game based on the negative community. Seriously, in my expereince, I have not seen a MOBA community as negative as League of Legends, unfortunately.

Hopefully I made my point clear. I greatly apologize if a fact (not an opinion) I said was "wrong". I also apologize if I've had an indifferent serious tone. One of the reasons I made this was because I just came from a few games containing negative players, further iterating my point of the negative community.

See you on the Rift!!!

5 Comments

TheKingDodo1/29/2015, 4:11:10 AM1 votes

Lol, lore... had a good laugh

Subject 51/29/2015, 4:15:55 AM1 votes

Stopped reading when you failed to realize that League of Legends does not actually have a lore at the moment.

AdderTude3/29/2015, 10:09:56 PM1 votes

I'd have to agree about the lore. They set it up beautifully, and then turned around and said "the lore doesn't matter for the Game, so there isn't any." Why does the Game exist, then? It seems like every year, the Game just gets worse and worse.

I miss the days when the Tribunal was actually community-driven instead of being an automated piece of shite. LeaverBuster is also highly unreliable, right up there with APB: Reloaded's system.

You've got the biggest point with the community. As far as any online community goes, this game's got one of the absolute worst. Yeah, we're all competitive at some point but most people take winning far too seriously to have any sort of sportsmanship altogether. I still play the Game, but I don't consider myself a part of the community any longer, for the reason that I'm frequenting other MOBAs more than League. This Game's balancing and community (especially) has pretty much alienated my good self from really putting any more time like I used to a few years ago. Everything is catered to LCS and the pro scene, which is one of the worst business decisions, in my opinion. Focusing on such a small group of people has the devs missing the bigger picture.

I therefore agree that League of Legends will eventually collapse and give way to other titles out there.

ZephyrDrake3/29/2015, 10:26:06 PM1 votes

so a game should not be worked on other than to fix bugs after release is what i am getting from this... is this supposed to be before 2010? you do know that almost every, if not every single one, online game keeps adding new content and fixing gameplay issues all the time? this is not a Riot special this is a staple because otherwise people will get bored of the game and just move to a new online game that has new shiny things. Companies don't want to make "X online game 2" unless it's absolutely necessary due to new technology allowing them to do stuff they cannot do with their old technology.

People like to exaggerate the "toxicity" of the game just to make the game look worst than it really is. People seem to want everyone to have this Dora the Explorer mentality where everything is sunshine and rainbows and can't handle someone saying even the slightest that isn't a pure positive comment. the simplest way for you to avoid any sort of negative backlash is to not reply back when someone is being negative, simply ignore them and mute them if they don't shut up. More often than not you are just making the situation worst by replying back to those type of people since you will either come up as a massive douche, an annoyance or just as negative as the other since you are not helping the situation. People have bad games and people have bad days in general and the last thing people want when they are having a terrible day is have some random person critic them on something. If they don't take your advice in a kind manner the first time then stop trying to communicate with them unless you want to have an argument