Little things about Intro Bots

BLU Medic·Dec 31, 2014·1 votes·776 views

I know it sounds dumb, talking about intro bots on a (recently new) level 30 account, but I've always been curious about what was different, so I gave it a try on a new account, pretending I was a brand new player.

Alright. Thing the first. My choice of champions currently are: Ashe, Garen, Jinx, Lux, Ryze, Varus, Shyvanna, Wukong, Lissandra, and Kha'Zix. A couple of champions seem out of place on that list. Is Kha'Zix really a good choice for new players? To clarify, since not everyone has recently been level 1, you DO NOT get the normal free week rotation champions until you reach level 6, instead you are given 10 'easy to play' champions.

Thing the second: Matchmaking is weird. I was matched with a level 2, a level 11, a level 15 and a level 30 player. My new account was level 1. Surely there's enough under level 20 people around to make whole teams?

Thing the third: How comes starting items in Intro Bots is so different from that for other SR modes? What's a better set of recommended items, the ones for intro bots or what?

Thing the fourth: Enemies don't appear until 3 and a bit minutes in. That's just weird. A better idea would be to have them appear but they passively farm up until 3 minutes in, then they'll slowly start to harass you.

Thing the fifth: How comes Alistar, Ezreal, Nasus and Galio don't appear in Beginner bot matches? Why are those champions deemed suitable for intro matches but not beginner bots, only to be reintroduced for Intermediate bot games?

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Being a really poor player who could do with learning from scratch, I imagined, I dunno, something a bit better for intro bots.

6 Comments

the Anarchit3chtDec 31, 20141 votes

1.) wtf are you talking about? The champions are available are those you own and those on free rotation. It's always been that way.

2.) Matchmaking has very little to do with your summoner level, especially in bots.

3.) They teach you with basic items as opposed to the best items so you get a hang for it. If you're first starting out you won't know what AD or AP is or any of that the items teach you this.

4.) This is so you get the idea of farming. You can make them passively farm, but if I see an enemy champion my first instinct is going to be to kill them.

5.) This is entirely irrelevant.

The Annie ChristJan 1, 20151 votes

actually I believe for lvl 3 and under, kha and jinx and such are the champs your allowed to pick from for bot games. and the ones you own ofcourse.

BLU MedicJan 1, 20151 votes

In reply to your arguments:

Between level 1 and level 6, you don't get the free champion rotation, you get a collection of "beginner champions", mostly easy to play ones, alongside any champions you decide to buy. But characters like Lissandra and Kha'Zix aren't the best choice when it comes to newbie friendly champions.
In your first few games, do you really want to be paired with a level 30 player who has Flash and everything and goes 30/0/10? Because that's what often happens in these games.
There should be consistency here. Why, with intro bots, am I being told to build, for example, Bloodthirster, when Blade of the Ruined King is recommended to me in normal matches?
You get the idea of farming, you can see enemy bots farming. Making the bots leave base late means they'll always be a level or so behind you.
It is kinda relevant. What makes Alistar good enough for intro bots, too hard for beginner bots then brings him back for intermediate bots?

the Anarchit3chtJan 4, 20151 votes

And why not? They fulfill basic archetypes and are prime candidates to represent the style of play they have.
I played intro bots on both my main account and my smurf. I was the only level 30 across both games. I've also played intro bots a few other times a while ago and that hasn't happened once to me.
It's intro bots. They aren't trying to confuse people with the myriad of different items you can build. They are going simple. Champions that use AD build AD items. Champions that use AP build AP items. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen new players building items that offer no beneficial stats. The idea is that once they realize what stats are good for what class of champions, they can then begin looking into more complex items.
And so what? Like I said, if I see an enemy champion my instinct is going to be to attack them. And that will end poorly when I have no farm/don't know how trade. They can passively farm but once you attack them they will fight back.
It has nothing to do with the champion but the code used for they how to respond to various things.

ƒæµJan 1, 20151 votes

[deleted]

BLU MedicJan 1, 20151 votes

That's unnecessarily rude, but oh well. There are quite a few bots available to play against, but I find it unusual that the beginner bots and intro bots have so little in common.

Bots also don't mirror players. They generally start grouping up after they've lost their first tower, and will divert each other to the lane with the most turrets destroyed. They'll also group up to target the champion with the most kills, often leaving the player with the least kills free to push towers.

It is important to make sure that your tutorials work because it's these tutorials that teach players the very basics. Bots ensure that brand new players at the very least know how to move, last hit and where to go. If you don't teach them from the start and just throw them into the deep end, they'll find it much harder to learn and become good players.