An advantage of hanging inside and keeping an eye on Twitter while gaming, despite the amazingly beautiful sunshine…free League game codes!! A million thanks to the PMS Clan. I now own Graves and the Riot Graves skin. Suw-weet!
Monthly Archives: March 2013
Thought I Caught ‘Em All
I have been on a long quest to obtain all the female League champions and today I purchased what I thought was my last – Elise! Super stoked to play her (and gonna here in just a sec) but then my dear oldest son reminded me that Anivia is female. Aaargh, I don’t have the brain-like-sponge super memory that he does. But once he reminded me I recalled the lore and yes, of course, he is right.
So before I go on thinking that I now have only one more female champion to purchase, is there another that I am forgetting?!?
Lazy Afternoon
It is a gorgeously sunny and clear day in Seattle. And where am I? Inside playing League with my oldest who has been at home due to cough and fever for the last couple of days. He is luckily feeling better now and we are enjoying some solo game time together. My youngest is out at the park with a friend – at least he is getting his dose of Vitamin D!
It’s Karma, Baby
Woo hoo! My ever up-to-date oldest let me know about Karma’s update as I came back from a trip to the post office. Got right into a intermediate bots match to give her a whirl…and aawwww….someone picked her right away! But her updated skin looks great (though it doesn’t show during summoning yet??) and I like the changes they have made to her moves and play style. Looking forward to my first match with her.
NOTE: OK, I get it. Her old default look is a “new” skin aka Traditional Karma. I am assuming that if you had Karma prior to the patch (like myself) that this becomes a skin you have for her in addition to the updated default. I was confused though seeing it during the summoning phase when someone else was playing her.
Great Blogger
Here is another Leaguer’s thoughts on how to improve the current Honor system. Excellent ideas centered around making it possible to grant honor while in game (when it is top of mind) and improving the associated rewards. And btw, Travis posts a lot of great articles in general, including his thoughts on “Zen Mode” for leveling up in Ranked. Wow! Gonna have to follow this guy’s blog from now on.
Improving the Honor Initiative
From Silver to Platinum in 3 Weeks (psst….it’s all about Zen Mode)
Boo Hoo
So here I am, all stoked to play for the first time in a while, and here’s what greets me post patch and log in:
At Long Last…
I have not played much recently due to work and sick kiddos though that is not entirely true. I actually have played quite a few beginner bot matches with my son and/or my son and husband in the evening after the youngest is in bed. But I find myself in a bit of a quandary about League. I am too busy and distracted to contemplate a Normal match, much less Ranked, the Dominion PvP queue is still usually far too long (boo! I adore Dominion), and intermediate bots are fine for honing your gameplay on a new character but don’t hold much challenge any more. Sigh. But I’ll queue for a quick intermediate bots match before I start dinner as that is about all I can risk with the potential for interruption from kiddos or phone or animals or other. At long last…even if it isn’t exactly the gaming fix I would hope for.
Just One More…
Logged in just a few moments ago and Patch 3.04 downloaded. I always head straight to the store after a patch to see what champions and skins are on sale. To my surprise, Sejuani was on sale so I bought her. I am lacking only Elise in my quest to have all the female LoL champions!
New Competitive Ladder?
As I noted in my last post, I have been inspired to write down some of my own burgeoning ideas about improving the overall experience of playing League after reading a fellow bloggers post here. I will try to make sense as I write, as these ideas are not yet fully formed in my own mind. Have patience and bear with me!
I happen to be a highly competitive person. I always, and I mean always, play to win, whether it is a video game or board game or card game or sports game. Just ask my family and friends. I am a brutal opponent in that regard. But while I am serious about winning, I do not enjoy winning at the expense of overall enjoyment and for me, enjoying a game is equal parts doing well as an individual and (this is the important part) having a shared experience of joy and fun with the people I am playing with. Ergo, when one of my teammates is ranting at me for my gameplay, I assume they are no longer having fun, thus destroying the shared experience that is so important to me. I don’t mind folks calling me out when my play is not up to snuff, such as “geez, Sarah, you are totally off your game today!”, and I really appreciate it when folks try to lend a friendly hand, like “hey, why don’t you try this?”. But when I can see that my play is destroying their fun, well, I can no longer have fun either.
So this is the question that continues to pester me, given my own personality and gaming quirks – how can you keep the overall game competitive but in a way that equally awards good sportsmanship and friendly team behavior? How can you ensure that the fun of the game doesn’t disappear just because one or more players don’t make exactly the right decision in every single moment? Right now, Normal and Ranked matches have you progress solely on winning (at least that is my rudimentary understanding – feel free to correct me!). I would personally like to have a separate competitive ladder that is based on both winning and overall good sportsmanship and team play, perhaps some magical blending of the method for awarding honor ribbons plus the traditional ELO system. Note that I am not suggesting replacing the current system. I say that because for many players, they really do care most about winning. I respect that. There should be a place for that. But for me, knowing that my teammates are enjoying the game as much as I am is as important to me and my game experience as winning and I want to play with others who feel the same. And to do that, I don’t see how that is possible without there being a separate competitive ladder for me and other like-minded players.
So in a nutshell, that is my crazy idea. Curious to know what you think.
Great Post
I thought this was an excellent post on a topic near and dear to my heart – namely improving the overall League playing experience – so pressing it as a post to my blog as well. As I told TwoHP (@twohp2few) in my comments, the post has inspired me to write down some of my thoughts in this regard as well. But in the meantime, hope you enjoy the post as much as I did.
Making Our League Better: Starting a Conversation by TwoHP (@twohp2few)
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