Runes, summoners, and masteries. Why are these things locked so hard behind level? Why can't you use smite until level 10? Why don't we get flash at level 1? Why are keystones locked behind getting to a high level? Why are rune pages limited to a number of runes you can have on them locked behind level?
Erractic Eick14 votesThe way it was explained to me, there are two reasons for the delay. The unlocked summoner spells are a sort of prolonged tutorial, the reason runes are hidden behind a wall is because it creates a sense of accomplishment, and masteries are sort of a combination of the two.
Spacesuit Spiff29 votesThis, and that most of the things that are locked make it easier for players to kill each other. Am i the only one who remembers starting out and being confused as to why it was hard to actually finish kills on bots? Riot doesnt want newbies snowballing on each other, since whoevers getting farmed probably isnt gonna enjoy the game. Having everyone run around with heal/barrier/no base stats is a good way to do that, since its a given they arent gonna be masters of strategy or itemization.
TheSnacken12 votesThat's actually pretty insightful. S+ Comment.
rtbf2216514121 votesThat's actually pretty insightful. S+ Comment.
More informative than lying and being misleading.
Next time quote rather than trying to be sneaky.
TheSnacken5 votesI was being genuine, but I'll try to make that mote clear in the future. I can see how that could be misinterpreted. My bad!
JuhnChan5 votesI don't see it. Guy's just being disagreeable out of the blue as far as I can tell.
Spacesuit Spiff1 votesIm gonna assume guy didnt have conversation view on. Idk what else explains that
Oelyk1 votesI remember trying to kill people as Annie... for the first 5 games I could not get a single kill against bots, because I had no idea how her passive worked, sometimes the enemy champs would suddenly stop moving randomly if I used a spell on them. Man I was such a noob.
3TWarrior1 voteslol, I remember playing against real players for the sake of that they were easier to play against than bots that actually coordinate XD
: I push a few buttons and they die (though I can't remember which it was, players or bots XD)
: hey, hey you! get back here! (this was probably the bots as the bots will usually reposition when they get low unless they have something to give them the edge in the fight )
Spacesuit Spiff2 votesExactly. Bots just turn and run if they get bursted too hard, so until we realize how to finish them with a cc they're gonna escape (very different situation with a levelled account obviously).
Amuses me because the other thing i remember about pre30 is being unable to fathom why mobility spells might be useful. I used ghost to get to lane faster, and assumed that was also the point of flash
50000000000000001 votesI remember doing the math and deciding that flash was so inefficient that it's not worth taking.
Kilanost12 votesHonestly, you should be happy you can't smite till level 10 in this game. No one wants a player fresh out of the box jungling for them. Think of all the executions...
Ark Sorcerer14 votesThinking... thinking.... thinking... I'd rather have the scuttle crab on my team.
Slythion11 votesat least scuttle is experienced enough to know to go to honeyfruit
Ark Sorcerer1 votesWhen I saw that for the first time, I was wondering why Scuttle was getting the fruit. I think it is so when you leave 1 or 2 left, it has a way of disappearing but still... True enough.
Skins Project2 votesno....
It goes for it because it's starving....
Think about it...
Every game skuttle wanders the river....
Every game he is denied...
Skuttle is immortal but always a coward.... It's like that old greek mythology story of the man who was punished to spend eternity under an apple tree, the fruit forever out of his reach.
OMGSoAnnoying1 votesYeah, the Tantalus myth. The guy cursed to spend eternity in a pool of water that would recede whenever he leaned to drink, and a fruit tree that would move away if he reached for it... all while eternally thirsty and hungry.
He was cursed for killing his own son and serving him as a meal to one of the gods.
Interestingly, it's the root of our current word, "tantalize." Fitting.
Skins Project1 votes#Saveskuttle
Chembaron Yamada12 votesAnd scuttle has sick dodging skills.
Stand in my X1 votesi know right? whenever i play karthus its really annoying to kill scuttle unless i want to activate e and use half my mana or more
Chembaron Yamada3 votesOn the other hand 
.
He is designed to be the beginner jungler. Try to get executed as that guy. It is nearly impossible.
Glory ln Death1 votesJust turn off the "automatically attack" option.
Who is Taliyah1 votesNo one wants a player fresh out of the box jungling for them. Think of all the executions...
considering it's pre 30, their whole team should be new players so everyone is bound to make mistakes. If some older player decides to smurf and level up then he shouldn't even care about things like new player being bad at jungle. I have made 3 smurfs so far in the 4 years I'm playing league and I have always met other smurfs calling out noobs for being bad at the game, like that's not even a bad thing, instead of thinking about bad things that can happen, try to explain the game to them.
NekoniClaws7 votesOne good reason is discourage people from just spam-signing up multiple accounts and completely obliterating the newbies for entertainment.
Y'all're thinking too hard.
RenownedWheat426 votesJust so you're aware, EVERYONE playing at the same level will be locked behind the same issues, save like two or three levels depending on how the matchmaking works. It's not really that bad.
A level 5 won't queue up against a team of full 30s unless he's a smurf playing with high-leveled friends, or the 30s just suck THAT bad (and even then, this is still extremely unlikely).
Summoner spells are locked so you don't have everything thrown at you at once. It's like, "hey, let me practice with what's available to me." Then when you've learned some basic stuff, now you're 10, and can hit up the jungle! Neat.
Keystones are also not a very basic thing and, having helped new players progress, I've seen a LOT of people not even understand them until a level or two after they're able to take them. For example, I had a friend take Colossus on Lucian because "The shield will give me better sustain." :/
Players of similar level are grouped together. It really isn't unfair.
Heckin Support1 votesI understand this, but I also feel like it takes away from the experience. Keystones, flash, ignite, smite, runes, etc.
Ark Sorcerer2 votesThink of it this as well: All these players will grow and learn in a short time after lv 30 and get something for each of these and join in with everyone else having nothing to do for the summoner level.
Also, unless you are child, taking time to read this stuff and understanding is not hard; it is the application of these effects that takes time. Simply playing the game will help them understand this.
Slythion1 votessave like two or three levels depending on how the matchmaking works. It's not really that bad
I think you underestimate the power level difference between a summoner that has flash available to them vs. someone who doesn't. Same goes for those with keystone masteries and a team with someone who can run smite
these are all pretty substantial power jumps that can easily win or lose games if some lanes have these available to them and some don't
RenownedWheat423 votesFlash in low elo means almost nothing. Unless the player is a smurf, it won't help him perform better than someone who just has heal + ghost. Even if the player WAS a smurf, he'd be in a low-level elo with OTHER smurfs.
rtbf2216514121 votessave like two or three levels depending on how the matchmaking works. It's not really that bad.
You said save IP boosters, paying for champions, paying for rune pages, and etc wrong.
Zephyrous X1 votesJust so you're aware, EVERYONE playing at the same level will be locked behind the same issues, save like two or three levels depending on how the matchmaking works. It's not really that bad.
A level 5 won't queue up against a team of full 30s unless he's a smurf playing with high-leveled friends, or the 30s just suck THAT bad (and even then, this is still extremely unlikely).
Summoner spells are locked so you don't have everything thrown at you at once. It's like, "hey, let me practice with what's available to me." Then when you've learned some basic stuff, now you're 10, and can hit up the jungle! Neat.
Keystones are also not a very basic thing and, having helped new players progress, I've seen a LOT of people not even understand them until a level or two after they're able to take them. For example, I had a friend take Colossus on Lucian because "The shield will give me better sustain." :/
Players of similar level are grouped together. It really isn't unfair.
well if someone is level 16 playing against someone who is level 18 they are at a pretty huge disadvantage because of keystones
9Wly9oMl026 votesRunes: because new players will blow A LOT of IP on random tier 3 runes and waste their IP. Now, if they do it, the tier 1 and 2 runes are extremely cheap.
Summoner spells: no low level player is going to be good enough to jg. They will get killed by the monsters every 45 seconds.
Masteries: it's easier to know that you have a mastery tree and you should put points in it if you get 1 every level. If they just had it from the get go, people wouldn't necessarily think to go looking for it and think about what it does.
Serge THE GREAT4 votesThis is why in all my years of playing League I don't genuinely recommend it to people.
They say to me "Is it fun?"
And I say:
"I mean, it's kind of fun for me because I tortured myself collecting all the runes and champions I wanted. But getting there isn't fun, no."
Teridax684 votesI think a lot of this comes from Riot's original marketing system, back when the game was still small and they needed to pad out play in order to get players to stick around for a little longer. There wasn't such a heavy mastery difference between newer and veteran players back then, so the barrier to entry wasn't quite as huge either. Now, though, the game is so chock-full of meaningful content and replay value that, even if literally every champion, rune and mastery were handed to you from day 1, you'd still have enough diversity to last for years, and that's not counting the game's regular cycle of additions and updates.
My opinion on this, though, is that it's clear that the new player experience in League is abysmal, in part because it's still made artificially more difficult than it already is through archaic legacy features. Not only do newer players start with a stark difference in mastery, in a game that punishes you harshly for making mistakes and not knowing a broad body of information, they also enter matches with significantly less raw power than the average level 30 player, meaning they're essentially set up to fail over and over again. That's not particularly encouraging, especially to someone who's on the fence about committing more time to League on their first run. Ultimately, I think part of the answer should involve getting rid of runes and masteries, which used to be standout features, but are now obsolete and far more trouble than they're worth, but even now there's a lot that could be done to lower the barrier to entry, or at least avoid punishing players for making the "wrong" decisions, such as removing Tier 1 runes, giving players a starter pack of "essential" runes, better tutorials, including specialized tutorials for jungling, etc.
grug3 votesusing the mmorpg addiction model of levelling n shit, you build mental attachment if you feel like you've accomplished milestones via the levelling system.
its to enforce addiction and habituation.
the base game is also pretty fun with or without all those progression locks.
Lexyy2 votesBecause you need to learn the basics first.
Doctor Fillgood2 voteslol new players...we don't get new players, just smurfs.
New players know better then to come to this game.
If they do more then 10 minutes of looking around and whatnot, they find that if they aren't in LCS they don't really matter.
Most of us play this because we've become invested in it. Other MOBA's don't try any more.
It's the reason Riot gets away with the shit they do...new players will (hopefully) know better then to invest themselves into a game where it's hard to draw the line on which is worse; The community of trolls and smurfs or the company that could give a damn less.
...or you know, they could play to 30 and get into ranked/work for anything THEN realize how it is. Then become trolls for Riot.
EazyMakaveli21 votesthey should remove levels imo. start placements at bronze 5 mmr
SwiftKitten881 votesthey should remove levels imo. start placements at bronze 5 mmr
they need a lvling system to train people.. but i agree it isnt implemented well. also bronze 5 absolute trash.. a brand new player who has never touched the game is proably bronze 4 and by the time they hit thirty they SHOULD be at bronze 3 skill lvl if they bothered to learn anything.
i agree that new player should NEVER rank directly into silver... but bronze 5 is the worst of the worst.. no one would ever want to play if they were placed with noobs that bad
Arcus Diabolus1 votesThe proposed reason was to teach people the value of those spells. Its a shitty reason, but there it is.
It innately creates a tier list for summoner spells, though, and thats not ok. I should feel just as temped to run revive or cleanse as much as flash. This tells me the balance is all out of wack.
only zhule1 votes[{quoted}](name=Arcus Diabolus,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=N6yfyd9o,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2017-04-24T02:15:08.639+0000)
The proposed reason was to teach people the value of those spells. Its a shitty reason, but there it is.
It innately creates a tier list for summoner spells, though, and thats not ok. I should feel just as temped to run revive or cleanse as much as flash. This tells me the balance is all out of wack.
You argument has a ton of holes. Like honestly, how does one make spells like revive and cleanse on par with stuff like Flash / exhaust / etc...?
Arcus Diabolus1 votes[{quoted}](name=only zhule,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=N6yfyd9o,comment-id=00030001,timestamp=2017-04-24T17:46:22.376+0000)
You argument has a ton of holes. Like honestly, how does one make spells like revive and cleanse on par with stuff like Flash / exhaust / etc...? By balancing them? By either buffing Revive and the rest and/or nerfing flash?
only zhule1 votes[{quoted}](name=Arcus Diabolus,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=N6yfyd9o,comment-id=000300010000,timestamp=2017-04-24T18:41:28.999+0000)
By balancing them? By either buffing Revive and the rest and/or nerfing flash?
Your answer is to vague. what are we talking like revive can be used as an on demand 
? How does one nerf flash more, i mean the only step i can think of that doesn't just throw it in the dumpster is to make it so you can't flash over walls (or places you don't have vision of). But that basically makes the spell worthless since that's half or more of it's power budget.
Arcus Diabolus1 votes[{quoted}](name=only zhule,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=N6yfyd9o,comment-id=0003000100000000,timestamp=2017-04-24T19:17:56.448+0000)
Your answer is to vague. what are we talking like revive can be used as an on demand
You could simply mess with the cooldowns of the spells so players feel just as tempted to take one as another, rather than going as far as mess with their actual numbers, although that isn't off the table either.
Acheron161 votesI think it runs even deeper.
How is a new player supposed to know how to play against an Yasuo, for instance? How does he know his ult is activatable by any displacement? How does he know Windwall blocks projectiles but nothing else?
How does he know what Sona auras do besides being "good for you"?
How does he know that Maokai's W is guaranteed and follows you?
This game has a huge knowledge burden upon players. If you never have faced a certain champion, you are SIGNIFICANTLY more likely to lose against it, something that Riot stated years ago to be against.
SkZ DoPe1 votesIt's just stupid how many games you need to grind with (in my opinion) bullshit champions for 450 IP just to buy one of the "newer" champions ... all of my main champion cost atleast 4800, most 6300 so I need to play like every damn game with 
on new accounts, not even saying how screwed you are if you have only 2 rune pages
SirΤeemο1 votesit's called MONEY MAKING MULTI BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS
-riot games 2009-2017+
UnboundCreator1 votesAll players had to deal with this boohoo.
Boompenguins1 votesTBH I still dont understand why they halved the exp needed to level up to 30, it just decreases friendliness to the game. You have a bunch of actual level 22-23 players rushing into ranked with 16 champs right away with no runes and masteries, and once they get better/wiser in a year or two, they realize what a mistake they've made and how late it is to change it.
They should revert the leveling system back to the way it was before.
jadelink1 votesIt would be nice to just at least have beginners compensation in stats for the missing runes and masteries, might let them not die so easily. Also, just having one tier of beginner runes rather than 2 (just let them have t2 runes from scratch), seems less fiddly purchasing now they don't need to be an ip sink.
The summoners I understand. Masteries...i would rather see them unlocked in one shot at lvl 15 or something like that, and give begginers stats in compensation before that. It's annoying having to assign meaningless points in ways that you never would otherwise, as it's all about keystones, and you cant reach those till lvl 18.