Which MOBA is Right for You? League of Legends!

We couldn't really start this series without starting with the most popular MOBA out there. Odds are that if you have friends that play video games then at least one of them play League of Legends.

League of Legends is one of the MOBAs that follows the standard format set by the Warcraft 3 mod Defense of the Ancients. There are three lanes constantly spawning enemies (or creeps) and a jungle full of enemies. Both teams of five players try to push up the lanes and destroy the enemy turrets and, ultimately, their base. Whichever team destroys the enemy base first wins.

Each player picks one character and boy are there a lot to choose from! League of Legends is sitting around 120 characters now with plenty more on the way. This would normally seem daunting to new players but when you just start out your character selection is restricted somewhat. There is a small portion of the roster available for "Free" each week. The rest of the roster is locked unless you buy them with in-game money, which you get by playing matches, or by paying actual money for a different in-game currency. If you like a character you played during their free week but don't have the in-game money to buy them by the end you'll either have to pay real money to keep playing as them or wait until you can get enough in-game currency. Some people see it as a way to force people to spend money. Others see it as Riot limiting selections so that people don't get overwhelmed by the sheer number of champions. It's really your call on what you see it as.


Games can be pretty lengthy, averaging 40 minutes. So it's definitely not the kind of game where you can expect to get a quick one in before you go to work. But honestly the game length doesn't impact the fun factor that can be had from this game. But now let's get into the meat of the discussion: Why should you (or shouldn't you) play League of Legends?

You Should Play League of Legends If:

You are new to MOBAs! 

League of Legends is by far the easiest MOBA to pick up out of all the ones I'll be covering. A pretty well done tutorial is presented to the player at the start of the game. Players also have the option to play matches against the computer to perfect their skills, but every other MOBA I will be looking at offers that as well. Probably one of the biggest boons for LoL is that it has the largest number of characters that are easy to pick up and play. Most characters don't deviate from the standard four abilities and one passive layout. On top of that it's very easy to transition between characters. A good Ashe player should be able to pick up one of her other damage dealing counterparts, Caitlyn. This holds true for a lot of League's characters so the player should be able to build a good stock of champions to play very quickly. This isn't to say that there aren't some complicated characters, but a new player is more likely to play a less complicated character if they simply pick based on looks or at random.

You want to find matches quickly!

League is afforded many advantages by being the most popular MOBA out there. ANd one of those advantages is a very short queue time. Waiting more than a minute to find matches is a very rare occurrence. So if you're looking to get into games quickly and don't want to wait then LoL is going to give you the quickest transitions from menu to play that you could hope for.

You Should Not Play League of Legends If:

You want to make new friends!

Out of all of the MOBAs I've played on this list LoL easily takes the cake as the one with the most hostile community. It unfortunately doesn't help even if you are a low level player considering a lot of veteran players will make second accounts to artificially increase their win percentage. But even moreso it seems as though your average LoL random is hostile right out of the gate. Players will berate you for not doing well, berate you for doing well if they consider the kills you got "theirs" and sometimes simply berate you to make themselves feel better. It's a tough community to get along with and there have been many newer players I've tried to get in the game that have left simply because of the community. But if you have a thick skin when it comes to people on the internet and/or a lot of friends that already play you can potentially just ignore the toxic players and keep on going. other times they'll go out of their way to ruin your game for you. It varies.

You don't want to "pay" for stat boosts!

This is actually the one area I take issue with the most in LoL and that's the Rune system. There are two ways to customize your characters. You can use masteries, which are trees of different ability buffs. Points are rewarded to you as you level up and once your account hits level 30 you can invest all of the points you wish to customize your hero. 

The other way is runes. Runes can only be acquired by spending IP, the currency that is given to you after simply playing games. You can spend IP to purchase runes and further add boosts to your character. For some people this is great. But to me it seems pretty flawed. See, you can also buy Boosts which will give you more IP after finishing matches. These you can only get with real money. Say you really want to buy a character. Great. But you won't be able to maximize that character's full potential unless you buy runes with that same IP. So you either need to invest more time into the game to get runes or simply pay money to spend less time getting runes. This presents the problem that players who have runes, regardless of the way they got them, have an inherent advantage over other players. Add to that the fact that some runes are rather expensive (some costing as much as a single character) and that there are lots of "junk runes," runes that are useless, and you find a bit of a problem. New players won't know which runes are junk and which aren't, so they can end up spending IP on something that is pretty bad. Throw on top of that the fact that players only get a limited number of rune pages and the only way you can buy them is with a ton of IP (more than any single character) or money and there's a recipe for a system that masquerades as something free but encourages the player to invest money into it to maximize their gains faster. I feel it imbalances the game on not only a monetary level but on a mechanical level as well and the fact that a lot of other MOBAs forgo any systems similar to this entirely is a big tell for me.

And that's a wrap!

Well guys that's my look at League of Legends! Stay tuned to take a peek at some other great MOBAs in the coming days. Hopefully I can help you all find which MOBA is right for you.

Which MOBA is Right for You?

Sorry about the lack of activity recently. But a lot of it has to do with this post!

It's no secret that the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena if you were curious) is one of the hottest genres of gaming out there right now. This has obviously led to a huge amount of MOBAs being produced in recent years. There are so many that it's hard to know where to begin!

While it is very important to play games that your friends also play we won't be taking that into account with this next series of posts. Over the course of the next week I'll be taking a look at four of the most popular MOBAs out there. Strengths, weaknesses, communities, styles of gameplay, etc. I'll be touching on everything I can about them. Hopefully, by the end of this series you readers will be able to use this little guide to find a MOBA you truly enjoy. Maybe it's the game you already play. Maybe it'll be a new MOBA I've touched on that you'll try and fall in love with. Or maybe it won't be any of them at all. Regardless I hope this series helps you all to find the MOBAs that are, or aren't, for you!

No Need to Import Save States! Praising the Keep.

It's no secret to anyone following the gaming press that Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of the most anticipated games of the year. After the lackluster performance of Dragon Age II (which I really did like) people seem poised to either see Bioware bring those fans back to the fold or to see them fail on a truly massive scale. Inquisition has a lot riding on it and a lot has been promised. But the question is: will Bioware live up to those promises? I think they have the potential to and that they're heading in a good direction with the title right now. I'm a very huge fan of one of the features they had announced early on in development.

Dragon Age Keep is going to be a new feature that integrates with every copy of Inquisition on every platform. It will ensure the player can construct save states that they are comfortable with to ensure that their Inquisition experience shows events that pertain to exactly what they chose in all of the other Dragon Age games. The Keep will make it so that no matter what platform every player has played on that they will be able to have the Dragon Age experience that they want. This seems like a great feature but some people are a little up in arms about it after a post from the official DA Facebook page yesterday.

Here's a screenshot of that post. If this is taken as fact then there will be no simple importing of saves into Inquisition. All of the world building will need to be done through the Keep. Some people are up in arms about this, claiming that they'd rather just import their saves and that this could lead to things like no support for bringing your saves into Inquisition far later down the line once the Keep goes down. But here's the thing. People have been constructing and sharing saves for these titles for years. There are entire sites dedicated to preserving and sharing save files to give players different experiences. There are those that constantly make claims that one of the reasons Dragon Age: Origins is so great is because of the fact that it's great for modding. If this is the case then isn't it safe to assume that modders will find some way to preserve and share save states? Even when the Keep goes down very far into the future I have no doubt that people will be able to craft their ideal Dragon Age experience even ten years from now.

What do you guys think? Is the Keep an excellent idea? Do you feel cheated by not being able to import your saves or are you content with the options Bioware has given you? Are you excited for Inquisition or do you feel like Bioware will drop the ball? Hit me up in the comments and I'll catch you all next week.

The Three States of the Video Game Protagonist

Welcome back everyone! Sorry about the lack of a post last week. I had this particular one all finished and then the file got corrupted. It's a damn shame but no worries, I've brought the post back for you!

So I've started playing the absolutely lovely Dragon Age: Origins again. I lost all of my previous save files and now need to ensure that I can adequately construct the world I want in Dragon Age: Inquisition. But as I've been playing through this and looking back on The Witcher, Dark Souls, Tales of Xillia, etc. I've started to think more and more about the general outline of the video game protagonist. And I've put this little article together about what I believe the three most commonly presented forms of the protagonist are. It's not just how the character is presented but also how the player is expected to interact with the world and deal with the obstacles in their way that influenced these categories. So, let's jump right in.

The Player as the Protagonist

Found in: Dragon Age: Origins, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Dark Souls, Knights of the Old Republic

This seems to be one of the most common trends from the last console generation. The player is given a protagonist to mold and construct as they see fit. They create their character's appearance, fighting style, voice package, etc. and are sent off on a grand adventure. Over the course of the adventure there are events that are out of the player's control yet they are given plenty of reign to act as they see fit. Maybe the player can kill NPCs and lock out certain parts of the game as a result. Maybe certain options are only available if the player has met certain requirements with how they built their character. Usually this protagonist is not actually referred to by name or referred to by a nickname. And the character is generally silent. This way generally allows the player to have greater influence on the story. But in many of these games the story has a high chance of suffering as a result. Making all of those branching pathways is time consuming and in order to allow that freedom there are times where the story can't be very tightly written. If someone is looking for freedom with little to no restrictions this will likely be their favorite option for a protagonist.

The Player Influences the Protagonist

Found in: The Witcher, Dragon Age 2,Mass Effect, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, The Walking Dead

A trend that has been emerging in games is the offering of limited choice to the player. The player is given a set protagonist with their own goals, dreams and motivations and the player gets to decide exactly how they will achieve those goals. Much of the story will likely be set in stone with a few areas here or there where the player can influence the outcome. The player will have some input regarding the players actions and interactions with the world but if the protagonist wouldn't do something, say slaughter a bunch of helpless villagers for example, then the player will be unable to carry out that action. Certain areas and options in the game may also be locked based on the player's actions, just like in the previous choice. This option tends to allow for a tighter story but less freedom. Players that are looking for a good balance of the two will likely favor this option.

The Protagonist Leads the Player

Found in: Tales of Vesperia, The Final Fantasy Series, Tomb Raider, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Metal Gear Solid

Called the "Linear Option" by some in this type of game there is no way for the player to influence the story or the attitude of their character. The protagonist is a fixed person with their own motivations and goals and the player has no input on what those are. The challenges that stand in the player's way will be solely gameplay related: combat, puzzle solving, etc. The story in this type of setup is fixed and its outcomes cannot be changed. There is little to no freedom in this kind of game but it tends to offer players the tightest and most well-written story telling experience. Players that don't care about having an impact on the story and simply want to sit down to a solid narrative and good gameplay will likely favor this option.

When it comes down to it I really don't have a preference. Each option has its pros and cons and can influence the gameplay and narrative in plenty of unique and interesting ways. But what do you guys think? Is there a certain style of protagonist that you find that you favor? How important is choice to you in a video game? Let me know in the comments and I'll see you next time.

Technical Difficulties

There is no post this week due to technical difficulties that caused me to lose the entire post. Such a shame! I'll be back next week and hopefully my luck will be better.

Hearthstone: Finally, a TCG to Call Home

I've been playing Hearthstone for a few months now and I've really been enjoying it. It seems like I finally have the collectible card game I have always wanted. I play a few collectible games in my spare time, most notably Magic: The Gathering and Heroclix. Hearthstone has given me the hope that high-level play would actually be able to be something I could do. I haven't had this feeling with Magic or any other collectible card game in the past. I'm here today to tell you all why I have this feeling and why Hearthstone has given me the enthusiasm that Magic, Yu-gi-oh! and other TCGs simply cannot.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy my time with Magic. I enjoy it so much that I looked into doing competitive play for it. Unfortunately my dreams of any competitive play were dashed. It wasn't a matter of player skill at that point. I didn't even have an opportunity to try to suck at competitive Magic play. Simply put, I couldn't pay the entry fee to try and be good.

See Magic has something that Hearthstone does not. That something is the opportunity to buy single cards. Rather than sifting through countless packs hoping that the thing you want is in there to make your deck that much better you can simply buy whatever card you need to beef up your deck. Now, this wouldn't be a problem is card prices didn't range from well that's a little steep all the way to that is absolutely outrageous. This paywall causes a huge problem for a lot of people. Many times it doesn't matter if someone is better than their opponent because that opponent paid more money to have stronger things than the player with higher skill. In the end it becomes pay to win in its purest form. Can't pay the hundreds of dollars to get in with the big dogs? Well no competitive play for you. Enjoy getting trounced again and again because you don't have as much money to devote to this hobby as the other guy.

Hearthstone doesn't really have this problem. You can't buy single cards. You can craft cards by giving up cards you don't need in hopes of something better. You can also pay money for packs like anyone else. But all buying packs does is give you more opportunities to get good cards than somebody else. It doesn't guarantee that a player that hasn't sunk as much money into the game as you will lose. You also have the option to not pay money at all. The game gives you so many opportunities to get cards for free. You can get packs just for winning games. You can get packs for playing a certain type of deck. Decks even get cards awarded to them just by the player choosing to use them. Hearthstone gives players a wonderful feeling as they play. It gives players the sense that the game is simply rewarding them for playing it. You get access to more content by simply playing the game. And that is something I feel every game should strive for.

So what do you guys think? Does the fact that Hearthstone won't let you buy single cards contribute to the game or hinder it? What are some of your experiences with collectible card games? Hit me up in the comments and I'll catch you next time.

No Post This Week

Hey guys there won't be a post this week because I'll be out of town. Have a happy 4th everyone!