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The New Player System Needs an Overhaul

CausticDeceiver··5 votes·1,344 views

Hello everyone,

Very recently, I decided to make a smurf in order to see what the game was like for those just staring out, and what could be done to enhance their experience. I'm here to share my results, and perhaps share some changes that could help out those new to the game.

This is my main, for anyone interested: http://www.elophant.com/league-of-legends/summoner/na/52706680

Now, I by no means claim to be skilled, or even decent, as I'm only level 24 on main, but I have everything needed down, such as last hitting, building, roles, etc.

While playing on my smurf, it was staggering how many players had NO idea what to do. This can come down to five main factors that I belive can/should be revised.

  1. BY FAR the biggest problem, shopping. Many times, my level 5 or below teammates would walk out of base with nothing, and end up dying over and over to bots, eventually quitting. I saw Garen with 6 boots of swiftness, Veigar with Hydra, and other ridiculous nonsense. There needs to be a dedicated tutorial to the shop and building items. When I first started, I did not have a firm grasp on shop mechanics until around level 10. The shop tutorial needs to also cover basic mechanics such as what AD, AP, and other vital stats are. Instead of just slapping on a recommended items page, actually show "Ashe is a ranged damage dealer, she should start doran's blade, annie is a mage, she should start ring, garen is a tank, he should start shield, etc.".

  2. Lack of explanation on jungling. MASSIVE problem. bots going duo top shows that riot expects new players to just assume jungle is not a role. There needs to be an IN DEPTH jungle tutorial, and this would also teach why you should last hit (doesn't push lane and leave you vulnerable to ganks). The main problem lies in the fact that jungling is VERY hard without runes, so stress this fact!

  3. New player free champs. My god, who's idea was it to put Kha'Zix, one of the highest skill cap and complicated champions as a new player champ!?!? To make matters worse, he has jungle items as his recommended. I was shocked when a Kha'Zix started machete and went top, then realized that this is seriously flawed. Such a high skill cap champ like Kha'Zix should NOT be given to new players.

  4. Teaching the metagame. This will be controversial, but Riot NEEDS to provide new players with a basic idea of where certain champs play. There would be less Yi's going bot, ADC solo mid, etc. Teach new players that ADCs role is to provide consistent sustained damage, and that they usually go botlane with a support to get them into late game.

  5. Last hitting. I recall when intro bots were added, Riot decided to not include last-hitting as one of the skills covered, HUGE mistake. Last-hitting is one of the basics of the game, and it should be explained in depth (eg. farming makes sure your lane is not pushed and you get gold for items).

  6. Summoner spells NEED to be explained in depth. The amount of people taking smite in lane was seriously depressing. TEACH people what summoner spells are useful for, in fact, remove the level cap for them! Let's be honest, flash is on everything, it may as well be introduced at the start!

Thanks for reading! I feel these changes could smooth out the learning curve and make it so fewer players drop LoL in frustration. If any Rioters could give some feedback on these ideas, it would be much appreciated.

11 Comments

Omnipherious3 votes

I agree that new players need more guidance and good tutorials are the way to go. I even made a post detailing how I believe the new tutorials should be structured for effective teaching.

Couple of problems with the points you brought up though.

(1) Shopping + Stats The primary lessons are a) buying component items & b) combining components. Secondary lessons are (a) unique passives + actives & (b) stat explanations. Primary lessons must be taught first, what they buy in order to learn this isn't relevant; optimizing item builds is not something low levels need to concern themselves with as they still have plenty to learn. The secondary lesson should be mentioned in a basic tutorial but you do not need to be in-depth about them. We are trying to teach them to fish, not what fish to catch or where/when to do it. Enforcing role-based items is a bad idea, we do not some smartass low level bashing some other because of inefficient item builds. These are things they need to learn from experience and other players when they are ready to ask.

(2) Jungling Should there be a jungling tutorial? Yes. Should duo tops be discouraged? No. Once again, they are beginners. They do not need to be familiar with the intricacies of the meta. As they level up, they will encounter teams with junglers anyway. They will experiment with jungling when they are ready. Our job is not to enforce the necessity of jungling, we just need to provide resources for them to learn how appropriately.

(3) Free champions Your argument here is quite flawed. If you don't include some complex champions, when are new players going to learn that champions play differently? You can't say that X champion is hard and therefore shouldn't be available for new players, that's pretty bullshit since not all new players can't handle it. Some are starcraft or dota veterans who are just unfamiliar with league. Why should players be unable to access certain champions because they are hard? There are plenty of complaints as is about new players needing to adjust going from beginner to intermediate bots due to encountering different opponent bots. Limiting their champion pools will only exasperate the problem.

(4) Metagame No, absolutely not. New players who want to learn about the metagame have plenty of pro games to watch, high level games to spectate. They do not need a tutorial shoving the meta down their throats. Also, the only 'meta' you can reasonably teach is that teams usually run 1 jungler. There is no justification for teaching the new playerbase that you MUST have a solo mid, or you MUST have a solo top, etc because these things aren't meant to stay the same forever. The meta changes and smart players try new things all the time. We do not need something that stifles innovation among new players.

(5) Last-hitting The only important lesson here is last hitting as a source of gold. That is the only lesson a new player needs about last hitting and why it is important. There needs to be more emphasis on this in tutorials I agree, but only in relation to earning gold. All this nonsense about lane control is irrelevant to new players. Once again, players that want to learn lane control will find ways to learn it. If a tutorial were to be included it would be an advanced tutorial anyway. There are gold ranked players who know absolute jack about lane control, I doubt new players need this information.

(6) Summoner Spells Explanation about effects? Yes. Removing level cap? Maybe, not terribly important.

TL; DR: You are confusing making the game more accessible with enforcing the 'correct' way to play. Teaching new players the importance of certain concepts so that they can have fun playing the game is completely different to what you are saying in most of your post which is, "They should be taught to play meta."; this isn't the right way. Players who want to learn will seek knowledge, it just needs to be available, not enforced.

TehNACHO1 votes

Good post, +1.

TehNACHO1 votes

See the problem is that many smurfs are actually paired up with other smurfs, at least if Riot is to be believed. What you view are new players failing to comprehend things may just be smurfs dicking around.

Like, to be frank, that 6 Boots of Swiftness Garen was probably me.

TehNACHO1 votes

Okay, time for my serious answer.

  1. Screw it.
  2. New players trying to get into top lane are going to be massively screwed over by the bots being programmed to go duo top if their teammate goes jungle. Keeping Jungling behind closed doors is going to be the best bet to making Top Lane not the least wanted role in early levels.
  3. Ashe, Garen, Ryze? Free week champs are not just for the new players, it is for every player alike. MAYBE, there could be an entirely different tab for level 1-15 players for example, but the free week selection is fine as is.
  4. Haha, no. Give the player in question some pointers like that top laners need to be able to take care of themselves and/or teammates, or that you generally want somebody for support, but enforcement of the metagame is quite a big no no for many cases. For example: Yasuo ADCs can't go mid?
  5. Yeah, last hitting is important.
  6. Aaaand no.
Alpharite1 votes

I wasn't referring to the free week rotation everyone gets, players levels 1-6 have a special static pool consisting of champions such as Kha'Zix, Jinx, and Varus.

And when I said ADCs mid, I meant Marksman, not melee off carries such as yasuo, riven, etc.

And making a bot jungle ai would be quite benficial.

Lastly, instead of saying "screw it" and "aaand no", could you actually provide some explanation as to what is wrong with those ideas?

TehNACHO1 votes

http://i.imgur.com/NyIo9lQ.png ? http://i.imgur.com/leiLYob.png ?

I see Varus in the level 1 account, where is Jinx and Kha'Zix?

Ahh, someone explained it to me. Yeah looks like a bad system then.

There are many AD Caster type ADCs. Please tell me I don't have to explain to you what that means.

It would, but that's a different problem altogether. For now while the Jungle has yet to be solved, inviting Junglers in too early games is just not gonna go well.

Items, especially tank or utility itemization, are more or less effective in case by case situations. You know how there are a lot of people who will make fun of you for using a Mobafire guide? Imagine that happening with League's actual itemization options. For low level players, a general approach is much easier to digest, far easier to enforce, and far better to get through the basics with.

And, here's a question for you. Do you know why Summoner Spells are gated and not all given to you right off the bat as a new player?

TenSlashTen1 votes

I feel like alot of this stuff is common sense though and just new players refusing to explore their HUD the right way to understand what it does/what it all means... I also think tooltips when hover over XX should appear. Intro mode is there.

TenSlashTen1 votes

I feel like alot of this stuff is common sense though and just new players refusing to explore their HUD the right way to understand what it does/what it all means... I also think tooltips when hover over XX should appear. Intro mode is there.

When I remember starting I don't remember ever having an issue with the HUD, i found it very clear. But then again I didn't just hop into the moba genre as league being my first ever played moba.. so yeah... Thats the real issue, league is the gateway to moba's... Its kind of gross in that aspect lol. But thats what happens when you get popular.. So now is the time to really hand-hold new players with a tutorial explaining alot of things. I think the only way to do it right is to bombard the player with alot of info(tooltips on things they hover over.. mechanical tips if they're taking alot of damage based on how they're taking damage/why they are and how to fix it to improve their play...)... riot has alot of work to do. But it can be done right the first time, just requires no laziness.

MrSc0tty1 votes

Here's how you fix the new player experience:

  1. choose 1 free 450 champ to start with. Have separate tutorials for each.

  2. make 3rd tier runes free, remove stupid level based mastery system. Why is this even a system in the game that gives in game advantage to higher leveled players. Players should get to experiment with rune/mastery setups as they improve in skill rather than "oh boy I leveled up I get an extra .05% attack speed woooo."

  3. include tutorials for ALL aspects of the game. Optional videos would do.

Jinxed Amulet1 votes

These are all really good points. I recently made a smurf too and thought the tutorial was OK - but could of course have improvements (such as when/how to last hit, what items to purchase, etc). I'm too tired to expand on your list, but I think you brought up great points that would make the new player experience better.

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