The first champion to get a second major visual update and why it was a good idea

While I wasn't there at the very beginning, I started playing League of Legends in summer 2010, less than a year after the game was officially released, so I always get excited whenever one of the champions I remember from back then get an update - be it in terms of graphics or gameplay.  This time, it's League's original pirate, Gangplank, who debuted a new model and moveset on the PBE as of last week, with the changes to be released alongside the "Burning Tides" pirate event.  On the other hand, aside from a few tweaks - mostly regarding his E ability, "Raise Morale" - for all intents and purposes his abilities have largely remained the same since the game was released in October 2009.  Unlike other champions from the game's early days, his kit remains functional and conventional wisdom says not to try and fix what isn't broken.  The same could be said for his model, which still holds up next to even the newest champions.  But what about when it's not broken, just boring?  Riot has clearly demonstrated their philosophy in both art and game design in that regard - that the "fun" in functionality has to be front and center and here I think they succeeded.

Classic League of Legends champion Tristana gets a long-awaited update

Patch 5.2 is now live, and with it the Tristana visual and kit rework.  Though I can't speak as a Tristana main, at least as a Tristana fan, I love the end result for its thematic cohesion.  I haven't even played her in a couple of years but our pint-sized gunner still holds a special place in my heart.  Tristana was one of the first champions I ever played when I started League that summer four and half years ago (Season 1 in League terms).  She was also quite likely the first ADC, attack damage carry for those who know them as Marksmen, that I played back when they were still called ADCs.  The memory gave me a fair bit of investment in her champion update.

Dual-citizenship: It's OK to like more than one MOBA

DotA 2 (left) and League of Legends (right) finally duke it out.

Happy New Year, everyone.  Hope you all had a good holiday and wishing you all well for 2015.  For my last post of 2014, I thought I'd tackle possibly one of the most defining, but definitely the ugliest, aspects of the MOBA genre.  And maybe, just maybe, help bring about a change for the new year.

"Rek'Sai: Scourge of the Desert" bodes well for League of Legends lore

So lately the popular opinion of League's lore is that it is either low quality or non-existent, both because of what fans have dubbed "The Great Ret-con", when Riot's lore department removed the Institute of War from the official narrative.  The decision met with severe backlash (case in point: you'll have to click "show" to see that actual quote since the comment is below the forum's rating threshold).


With the story piece released yesterday, I think that the lore department's stated goals of expanding the world are actually beginning to show some results for the narrative as a whole.  It's ironic that they would be brought about with the introduction of League's first "true beast", who would be expected to have a fairly small story element (eat caravans, terrorize cities, burrow, repeat).

Welcome to the Jungle

Preseason for League players inspires equal measures of excitement and dread.  Excitement because this is when Riot introduces the most sweeping changes and dread for exactly the same reason.  

We as gamers can be a pretty conservative lot and change is scary.  We all wonder the same things: “will my favorite champion get nerfed?”, “will my favorite strategies still be viable?” but it all boils down to one, simple question.  

Will the game still be fun?