The open diary of a newbie: Levels 1-10
Dear Diary,
I'm a player who stopped playing a while ago only to return and begin the process of working my way toward level 30. I figured, every 10 levels, I'd share about my journey in doing so. The thought behind this is shedding some light upon, in detail, what new players go through in hopes of the community being able to possibly find some remedies to help the situations I discover. Each entry will cover 10 levels ( levels 1-10, 11-20 and 21-30 ) that will be written upon reaching the first level of the next set. I'll be posting links to the other two future entries on this page after I write them. I hope you enjoy what I have to offer.
Levels one to five: I had just returned to League of Legends and I had a game plan: reach level four playing Co-op vs. A.I. so I could play support in PVP with the Exhaust spell I would soon earn. I tried different champions during that period, so did many other players. At those levels there were no real issues because everybody was either new or a level that was still low enough to not warrant bragging about in a bot game. There was no flaming because everybody either seemed to be learning or just demolishing their counterparts. During this time I validated my e-mail for the IP boost and would later find out ( and then later confirm ) that doing so would cause my level to unsynchronize with the boards. I filed a ticket and continued playing.
Upon reaching level four I managed to enjoy some PVP games but it was as if the culture had suddenly shifted. People seemed more uptight; almost angry. It was daunting but I began muting those who would have made me tilt when talking with them wouldn't work. Eventualy I met two very nice "smurfs" that were high silver and began playing with them. They wern't the best players ( maybe better than me as I was re-adjusting to the game ) but they were very nice and tried pretty hard to not only win games but enjoy them. We grouped via Skype and began working our way towards level 10 as a trio, losing a good number of our games. I eventually was able to buy Fiddlesticks who I used as a support well ( I thought ) considering my small experience.
Levels five to eight: As I continued leveling at a slower pace I began using Fiddlesticks more and more as a support. A lot of times I would out-preform my carries ( sorry guys! ) and get their kills either by accident or when they weren't able to secure them. It was easy to gank other lanes with my ult ( Giving my teams the kills wasn't ) and I felt pretty good that I was getting mostly S ranks and felt like I was contributing to my team. My teams seemed to feel similarly when we were winning. One of my silver smurf friends introduced me to some of their friends.
Playing with their friends wasn't a great experience. I'm sure they were perfectly nice kids but I noticed ( as I was in skypecall with them ) they put goofing around over actually winning and it did wind up costing matches. One of the players seemed about as new as I was to the current state of League of Legends and really didn't care if he died or not. Teamwork was sloppy and, as nice as they were and/or are, I started to find I wasn't enjoying myself as much. At times they could be on tilt if they weren't doing well and that attitude is catchy. One game I caught myself being particularly negative towards others after having played with that team the day before and I honestly wanted to report myself after I realized how I was acting in that game. I began playing more games as a solo player as opposed to joining with a party as a result.
The match making system also began to be less consistent: I'd either be placed on teams where I was either much better than the other team ( and a lot of my own team mates ) or where I was far below their skill level ( and well below the skill level of some of my team mates ) and would be stomped. The number of negative players also began increasing. The way things were feeling in these levels wasn't particularly great but I was still able to have fun most of the time even though I had to focus on being super competitive to avoid being flamed. I don't believe Normals should have this sort of vibe but because it is simply the culture of the game I went with it; trying not to be like the flamers yet wanting to call shots for my team and point out their mistakes: a tight-rope act I don't think I handled well. As I write this I've come to the realization that trying to tell others how/what/when to do ( as so many of what I believe to be smurfs are doing, believing their experience entitles them to do so ) won't work and suggesting things may be a better option.
_Levels eight to eleven: Riot's update with Jhin broke things: Players not being able to connect to games ( it has happened to me twice, one time today ( 02/02/2016 ) and I was asked to type "I agree" in regards to "not leaving games" after the first incident where I had to reboot the client to continue loading into the game. Other times ( including today ) I was against teams still suffering from the issue with their team mates asking us to report their player(s) for not connecting. Things also grew more toxic as people became rage-filled and would disconnect and/or flame and/or troll because somebody ( sometimes myself ) didn't know something or didn't do something right. Playing games without the issues was rare ( and I'm not even sure if it will be possible as I continue to level ) and I find myself a bit apprehensive as to whether or not I really want to keep playing. I will, of course, simply because I want to reach level 30 so I can say I gave the game a fair shake, but am starting to enjoy the game less and less. Fights have even begun breaking out in the game lobbies over roles/positions: people saying they will "This or FEED" or people locking for the same spot while having no flexibility. I've begun playing the Jungle role instead of support simply because, at my level, very few people want to jungle and it just makes things less of a fight in the lobby increasing the chances of being on well-rounded team.
I actually tried to play the new Draft Pick system only to find I would never get a game. The estimated times were always under 3 minutes but I'd usually wind up waiting at least 15 minutes before returning to the toxic mess that is Blind Pick. This made me sad because I think eliminating Blind Pick would make things so much easier for new players: They would learn league terminology such as the roles people play, where they play them, etc. in a nice way as opposed to having it placed into your head by the toxic masses saying that you have to play here with little or no explanation. I'm hoping when I hit level 11 I'll be able to be done with Blind Pick for good. I won't kid myself and say I'll never have a game with toxic players after leaving Blind Pick behind but I'm certain I'll at least be able to eliminate almost all of the pre-game hostility that results from the "I CALL _____" mentality of Blind Pick.
My future with this game... My future with this game is still unknown. I want to play till I at least hit level 30 to say I gave the game a fair shake but I'm not sure I'll have the tolerance to do so, especially seeing how the game can, at times, bring out the darker parts of me. I'm looking forward to getting to know ARAM better and learning the new Draft Pick system. I'm looking forward to possibly meeting players ( like the two silver smurfs ) that are normally kind/mild mannered although I would hope that they would have more of a desire to win their games and not tilt when losing.
Dated 02/02/2016, Aiden McCary
"Hello all; I'm Aiden McCary and I'll be aid'n me carries from the [ insert position here ] this match. GL;HF."
