Ranked or Normal?

Posted on by

Per previous posts, I had set off on a humble mission to reach Bronze in Ranked but after about 4 or 5 games I am reconsidering. For one, I could use some more Normal games under my belt in certain roles, particularly solo top and jungle. I am really weak on both as was evidenced by my miserable showing on Irelia as solo top and my to date wildly unsuccessful jungle attempts against bots.

The second reason is that folks take Ranked way, way too seriously IMHO. It would be one thing if I were in a higher tier but I’m down at the bottom with all the other ranked noobs. I expected there to be some slack within that group but there is always, it seems, at least one person who will moan and gripe the entire game. What is unfortunate is that Normal isn’t all that much better, so a part of me wonders if I shouldn’t just go for Ranked anyway as it’s not like I avoid the trash talk in Normal.

I am pretty good at ignoring idiots but there are those days when it gets under my skin as much as I try not to let it. League player behavior is definitely the topic du jour. It isn’t hard to find long discussions on the problem (a good one is here) and PAX East is even devoting a panel discussion to the topic.

I love the game too much to stop playing for sure, but am curious to see how I weather the griping in Normal and Ranked. Bots at least keep their mouths shut (oh wait, no they don’t anymore! ;)). And on a side note, one thing I actually really, really love about Dominion is that there is hardly ever any serious complaining, even in PvP. I think part of this is the extremely fast pace of the gameplay…you bitch, you die, and in short order.

Lovin’ Quinn

Posted on by

I broke down last night and loaded some RP on my account to buy the Phoenix Quinn bundle. I haven’t played her in Classic yet but she is a total blast in Dominion! Her Vault move on E is perfect for defending your towers and she gets great movement speed boosts from W. Curious to see how she will play in Classic.

Catch a Quick Game

Posted on by

Been a lovely weekend for the most part. A bit rainy here in Seattle yesterday but today the sun made an appearance and got out to the park for several hours with the youngest. He is now enjoying Lego Star Wars III on the Xbox while hubbie and oldest do the weekly grocery shopping so I am going to get in a game of League before heading to the 5th Avenue theatre tonight to get the scoop on the 2013-2014 season. Life is good.

I Surrender For Now

Posted on by

My fourth attempt at jungling – another custom game versus bots with Lee Sin – and I am failing miserably!! You know you are f***ed when you are recalling at level 1. Right now I don’t have the desire to settle into jungling videos and how to forum posts and instead, am going to jump into a Ranked match and see how I fare. If that doesn’t go well, I am stepping down into a Classic Bots games with a champ likely to net me a nice slew of total kills to bolster my battered and trampled ego. Huzzah!

Under Everything

Posted on by

Lee Sin was ready and I jungled for the first time tonight. Had my Summoner’s Rift map with all the jungle mobs identified sitting next to me on the couch for reference (super geek, she’s a super geek, yaw yaw).

I played two custom games then joined a beg bots game. I did pretty well in one of the 2 custom games against bots, which doesn’t count for much, but unlike the other 2 games, I wasn’t underleveled and gold starved. Will have to check out proper jungle builds and runes and generally figure out how to level up as quickly as my mates in lane. Not certain why that 2nd custom game was so much better but I think it was because I was successfully ganking, providing me with the kills I needed to stay on level with my team.

What I do like about jungling is it is a new challenge. One of the many things I luv about League is that there is layer after layer after layer of learning possible. Fun, fun, fun!!

Lee Sin On Sale

Posted on by

So I am a total sucker for sales and League is no different. I almost always check out the sale items in the store immediately after log on. And who happened to be on sale tonight but Lee Sin, a supposedly solid S3 jungler. Like I would know, since jungling is theoretical only at this point for me, but so says StonewallRoG and many others.

And whaddya know? His Acolyte skin was on sale, too. [ching ching – the sound of more incoming cash to Riot]

Off to a bots game with my jungle map in hand. Look away now, it won’t be pretty.

Forum Post’ll Make You Smile

Posted on by

So as I embark on my Ranked adventure (whoa, I’m all of 2 and 3, watch out!), I realized two things: 1) I don’t know the jungle well enough and 2) well, I’ve never jungled! ACK!!

An internet search ensued for “jungling 101 lol” and up pops a post from January 2011 from someone on the EU servers. I am only a few paragraphs into it, but it is so funny!! This guy has no lack of hyperfrenetic writing energy and his story of how he learned English cracks me up. I quote:

I apologize in advance for my faulty english….totally derives from insulting other guy´s moms and random forum-flaming. Digital era rocks.

I have no idea yet whether the jungling info in the post is any good but the post is IMHO, well worth at least a scan if not full out read: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=471041&highlight=

Embarking on Ranked

Posted on by

So I’ve avoided ranked play for ages now but have played my first two ranked solo games and managed to win both of them. Playing Sona support but likely gonna jump on a normal game to brush up on Nami who I adore as well. So far so good. Haven’t gotten yelled at, played pretty decently, slowly learning the mid game mechanics. Someone today was doing a great job of posting the game time for heading to baron and seemed to know the exact respawn times for dragon and others. My brain just ain’t that good so was glad to have the awesome help.

Loong Way To Go

Posted on by

So a neighbor who’s now in college was online last night and through chat asked “wanna play a game?” I said “sure” and before I know it, I’m in the ranked queue for the very first time with an entire team where each has at least 300 to 400 ranked wins under their belt. GULP.

Needless to say I was way out of my league (no pun intended) but did have a great time. Played Sona support, which is my only marginally comfortable role in Classic so far. It was a super close game the whole way but we ultimately lost. We likely would have won if I could have held up my role better but they were awfully nice to me and I now have the itch to play ranked.

I am bummed that there is no ranked Dominion…or do I just not know how to get into it? In truth, I’ve played Classic PvP enough times that I have no idea how the Ranked Solo/Duo queue evaded my notice until last night, but it did.

After my extremely humbling experience with players faaaar better than I, I did queue up Solo Ranked again, placing me in a team with a similar lack of experience, and to my relief we handily won at 33 minutes. So going forward, I have a new goal. Going for Silver in Classic Ranked!