League of Legends is One of my Favorite Games of All Time

I'm a gamer. And that generally means that I like to play games, especially new ones as they come out. I bounce from game to game, and I am also a very dedicated console gamer. League of Legends and Hearthstone are the only two PC games I have ever played with any sort of regularity or consistency, but League is good enough to keep me coming back.

I like the graphics. The constant updates to the map, the attention to models and texture updates, the splash art updates, all the beautiful icons and interesting skins. It makes it feel like the game is constantly changing and I have spent plenty of money on skins alone.

I like the gameplay. I hate the laning phase, but it's okay because I can jungle. I hate ganking, but it's okay because all I have to do is farm until team fighting. Team fighting is what I love about this game. People complain that tanks die too fast, or that melee characters aren't viable because ranged tops or whatever. Screw that. I build as close to full tank as I can and I charge right in the middle. Landing a sick full channel Absolute Zero on three people is the highlight of my day. Team fights are knock-down, drag out brawls. Riot has criticized top lane as being a noodle fight, but I think melee vs melee combat is an important and exciting part of team fights. When you're actually both beefy enough to be a threat to one another, one wrong move or one slightly lower CD is all it takes to tip the scales in one favor or another.

I've played this game consistently for four years now! And I can see myself improving, slowly. I feel comfortable at the rank I am now, I enjoy the game even though I surrender about 30% of them. The thing is, I don't quit the game because I hate it, I quit the game because I know there's a chance the next one will be way better and more fun.

This game has me coming back to it on an almost daily basis. Thank you, Riot, for making and maintaining this game for free for those who choose to play it free. Despite the community, despite the balance flaws, despite the questionable censorship and the creation of champions solely for competitive, I still love League. And I refuse to let my problems with the game be the only thing I express about it.