Boards›Tips & Tricks

Need Some Help...Advice

Tearin True·12/19/2014, 5:35:13 PM·4 votes·3,220 views

Before I get to my question a little background. I will be 42 soon which means I am probably not the demographic for this game. I started playing because I heard something about it on NPR and I really enjoy RTS, MMORPG's, and PvP, and thought I would give it a go. Granted I do not have a lot of time in life these days and it has been awhile since I played an RTS....

I have advanced past playing against bots and I prefer PvP. My first champ purchase was Thresh and I can make skill shot. I can also play other champions that have range attacks, but struggle with melee champs

I play on a macbook air 11" (small screen)

Question #1 My main problems happen during group fights or in melee fights because I loose my guy. I think I am in one place, but it turns out I was looking at another hero and my guy is getting destroyed. This is why melee fights get difficult for me because when the champs close I don't know if I am looking at my champ or the champ im trying to hit. Is this just a learning curve or is age getting the better of me? Is there a way to change colors of the HP bars or is there other tricks to help me differentiate my champ from the other 9 that could be in a fight.

Question #2 I have seen this other places, but WOW the zoom really needs to go out just a weeee little bit. I do not stay locked in my hero because that is lame in and RTS, but the constant readjusting of the camera is just adding to the difficulty I am having finding my guy. Is there anything I can do here?

Goal: I am not trying to go pro or anything, I just don't want to be the weak link on my team, and I am sure if you play in a blind queue you don't want me as the weak link either. :)

Thanks for any help

9 Comments

RiotRiot MechaMoose12/19/2014, 6:41:08 PM6 votes

Activating Colorblind mode can really help keep your champion distinct in a teamfight. You'll be the only yellow health bar. But things often do happen quickly in teamfights, and it takes a lot of time and practice to really get good at quickly sorting out the chaos in your mind. But don't worry! It will slowly come in time.

As for the camera thing, as someone mentioned a quick tap of the space key will center the camera on your champion. It will not lock it unless you hold space down, so if you find that you got lost just hit space and you'll be in the middle. :)

o LazyFrog o12/19/2014, 5:46:25 PM2 votes

It seems like you really have one question. When I started playing, I had this issue a lot as well.

What I do is I constantly keep my thumb hovered over the space bar, which will CENTER your champion in frame. This makes it easier to locate your champ in team fights. I am not saying HOLD the space bar the entirety of the fight. But Tap the space bar maybe once every 2-3 seconds as if it had a cooldown, to keep readjusting the camera. Its a mexhanic you might have to get used to, but I noticed it helped me with positions a bit when I first started.

CupcakeTrap12/19/2014, 6:53:35 PM1 votes

I am significantly younger than you, and I have the same problem. I'm just slow to visually parse things in-game. Especially when everybody's got crazy skins, I sometimes get confused as to who's who in those critical fractions of a second.

The colorblind health bar helps a lot. But it's mostly a sort of Zen thing: you've just got to remember to breathe and focus. If you panic, the teamfight's often over before you really understand what's happening. Part of the game is learning to stay coolheaded when everything goes crazy.

The Chin12/19/2014, 7:47:58 PM1 votes

Everyone has this problem when they start playing, don't worry once you get more experienced with the game it will fix itself. Spacebar seems like the obvious solution but I never use it

Tearin True12/19/2014, 9:02:32 PM1 votes

Awesome suggestions everyone THANKS! I thought I was just mentally losing it so it is good to know that those younger than me are dealing with the same issues. I will try color blind mode and the space bar and see how it goes.

Leti the Yeti12/20/2014, 8:51:02 AM1 votes

As I read this on my Macbook air 11'' I'm wondering how the hell you are playing the game on this thing can it even handle the game? I'd imagine it would heat up this little thing like crazy

Tearin True12/20/2014, 4:24:34 PM1 votes

Its not too bad at all, and doesn't even heat up too bad as long as I close background processes. I wish I had a bigger screen! Now civ 5 heats up pretty bad!

Orangutanguin12/20/2014, 7:33:42 PM1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Tearin True,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=UPeJIktN,comment-id=,timestamp=2014-12-19T17:35:13.741+0000)

Question #1 Is this just a learning curve or is age getting the better of me? Is there a way to change colors of the HP bars or is there other tricks to help me differentiate my champ from the other 9 that could be in a fight.

It's never too late to start playing! If you're having issues, I would certainly suggest activating Colorblind mode, as this will give things a little bit more of a distinguishment. However, it turns into a cluster mug really fast more often than not and it's part of the learning curve. It happened to me, too. This ALSO relates to question 2, however, so I will move on.

Question #2 I have seen this other places, but WOW the zoom really needs to go out just a weeee little bit. I do not stay locked in my hero because that is lame in and RTS, but the constant readjusting of the camera is just adding to the difficulty I am having finding my guy. Is there anything I can do here?

In the case that you're losing your character, it may be helpful for you to have Character Lock on, ALL the time, while you're learning the mechanics and gaining some mechanical ability with actually playing the game. I know it's lame but, it may be helpful for you. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do to zoom out more than you can in League. Though, you MAY find it helpful to scale down the UI once you're comfortable with the champions you are playing, as that will allow you to squeeze out a bit more room for your clicking!

Good luck, and have fun! -Cap'n Crayon

40ozToFreed0m12/19/2014, 5:53:18 PM1 votes

Hit the ESC button on your keyboard once you are in game and you can turn colorblind mode on. It will turn your HP bar yellow and be a lot easier to see yourself in teamfights.

You cannot do much about the zoom, I played a ton of bot games and never locked my screen. It really helped to get used to it. It is difficult at first, but now I never lock my screen. Use spacebar to center the camera on your champ if you start running off screen or the camera gets out of position.

FYI- When you are hitting the enemy tower, make sure to have your screen in a position so that you can see when the enemies come back into lane. That is one thing that a lot of "lock screeners" fall victim to.