Dominion helped me destress.
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I know alot of threads about Dominion are made, but I'm going to talk about it in a different way, a way that applies to me. While I find dominion immensily fun, oftentimes what I used it for was to relax from the stress of ranked and even real life. If I was feeling very down, or had to worry about some big presentation the next day, i'd just play a couple dominion games and it'd make me feel better. Nothing else on league of legends made me feel this way; this is probably the only map on league of legends that i've felt fully calm and relaxed. Here are the reasons why, and why dominion is so special and unique in its style:
-There is little to no CSing. Because of the nature of the gamemode, CSing is practically not necessary unless you are in bot. -Accelerated game speed/ leveling means there is a very brief early game. -Snowballing does not happen, if you die a couple times or if you are AFK for a bit you are definitely not out of the game. -Most importantly: THIS MODE IS FREE. Freedom is something we don't get to experience with summoner's rift or TT. You can walk wherever the fuck you want, when you want. You can't really get caught out, cause there is no warding; whoever gets to a spot first literally dominates it, whether it be a bush or a turret. The closest thing we will ever get to a total free for all. -Comebacks on this game mode are HILARIOUS. I've had to many games where it would be down to the 1 point. I mean more than you'd think, its uncanny how often a turret gets neutralized at one point and then the other team makes that comeback xD.
Now I know what you are thinkink: '70 wins isn't alot man, you aren't a real dom player'. First off, I don't actually play league games that much so chill out there. I have 400 normal wins over the last 2-3 years, and I'll be lucky if I get 200 ranked wins in a season. Now, alot of this is because I smurf on other account's alot of the time, but I also just like to play league a bit more sparingly than some. Ranked guys, has over the years given me alot of emotional issues. I've gotten very angry at this game, and it has translated into a very angry me in real life. Dominion is a sanctuary that I am provided after a ranked game to chill out, and it almost always succeeds in making me feel happier. I feel really bad for people who didn't get to enjoy dominion this way.
Now, beyond just the dominion mode itself, here are some of the custom games on crystal scar and their importance to me.
King of the Scar: For those who don't know what this is, it is kind of conceptually like pokemon. Each team sends out one person at a time, and the duel in the center area. Whichever team is left standing is the winner of that round, and they get to capture the top turret. It becomes neutralized if the other team wins a round, and thus it keeps going until one team has it captured long enough to win the game. Now, I was considered a full regular, if not even a leader on this map back in season 3/ season 4. Everyone knew me as spork, and I even made tournaments for this kind of stuff. I was the best assassin player in KoS (even though i'm now a dirty mage main), particularly with Zed. I played so many Zed KoS games that it would boggle your guy's mind, but I became a full on master with him. King of the Scar in many ways helped me through a very depression-filled time, and I would say this was the apex of my league of legends experience, playing this in season 3/ early season 4. Right now KoS is mostly dead, and for that I am very sorry, because most didn't get to enjoy it.
Hide and Seek: Everyone here knows what hide and seek is. For me, this was my first real introduction to custom games and my first real glimpse at how much fun league of legends can be outside of the summoner's rift meta game. I remember how i'd use to play janna and just go around, making hilarious AF outplays. I once just kept laughing and my parents told me to calm down lmao I was laughing so hard. I've never really had that much fun on Summoner's Rift, ever.
Riot, I know you guys do not think people value Dominion, but some of us still do. I would like for you guys to consider maybe just advertising it more so that more people play it, because I guarantee you many would enjoy it if they took the time to learn how much fun it is.
