I know I’ve flip-flopped a bit on TT in the past – excited to frustrated and back again – but my final verdict was that it’s a fun map, but only until you get sick of seeing the same few characters. Well let me say, with the release of draft mode and the ranked 3v3 queue, TT is back to being fun.

I was particularly curious about the 3v3 draft games because it’s where I’ll likely spend most of my time in the ranked team queues. I never have five people consistently playing with one another, but three is much more manageable, and with draft mode it’s a lot more fun. I like that I can remove Shen/Jax/Shaco from the equation and see where people end up. Granted, there are still quite a few toons that people consider top tier for TT available, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the variety I’ve seen. Hopefully that will continue as my ELO continues to rise.

I also just noticed today that you can’t ban toons that the other players can’t pick. If they haven’t unlocked everyone, you’ll only have the toons they’ve unlocked to ban (plus the week’s free rotation). It’s nice that you can’t then waste a ban on something your opponent would never have anyway.

Where are you guys spending your time? Solo, 5v5, or 3v3?

Since the launch of Twisted Treeline I’ve gone back and forth about playing on the map. For a while, I was in love with it. While people were still learning the faster playstyle, it was easy to pick up some quick wins. After a bad losing streak, I swore off TT, though it was hard for me pinpoint exactly why.

I’ve since gotten back into TT and been mostly successful, but it hasn’t been without frustration. I think I finally have a bead on the design behind TT that makes a loss there so much more frustrating than on Summoner’s Rift. The problem behind TT, or more appropriately, the design dilemma, is that the map has to encourage more fighting to produce a quicker game. It isn’t enough that the lanes are shorter, the towers less durable, and the gold generation quicker. The map has to produce confrontation, and the way Riot chose to do that was by heavily prioritizing the two major jungle creeps, Grez and the dragon.

This is actually why TT is so frustrating in comparison to Summoner’s Rift. On SR the buffs are definitely important, but the map is much larger, so sacrificing position in order to acquire buffs can mean the difference between defeat and victory. Teams that ignore buffs can still win the game if the opponent focuses too much on the buffs without thinking about positioning.

Twisted Treeline, on the other hand, is small enough that you can get the buffs without stepping out of position, especially since many of the stronger heroes on TT have ways to get over the walls. The big problem, then, is that players play TT just like they play SR – getting buffs when its convenient but not prioritizing them. This puts the team at a huge disadvantage, so big, in fact, that I’d say you don’t have a chance of winning if you lose those buffs three times in a row. The buffs not only increase your team damage output, they provide enough experience and gold to set your team way ahead, in both level and itemization.

The problem, at least in my mind, is that the importance of the buffs is discreet. Everyone knows that buffs are good, but most players don’t know how good. One way to fix this would be through some sort of spotlight on map basics. Another potential balance change would be to offer bonus gold for killing the wearer of the buff. It wouldn’t have to be the full amount, but something to help a team that either doesn’t know how important the buffs are or hasn’t been able to properly control the map catch back up. It would significantly slow the snowballing effect that is such a problem on TT.

Have you guys seen the same trouble on TT or is something else typically the cause for your loss?

I’m actually dumbfounded by this bit of news. It’s hard to believe it’s possible, but a player has managed to reach 1000 referrals, netting him a permanent place as a part of the actual game. The player, who plays under the name Grez, will have the lizard on TT named after him.

Just so you understand how difficult a feat this truly is, consider that Grez had to get 1000 friends to not only sign up, but to play until level 10. I have a smurf account that recently hit level 10, and let me say, it took some time. It’s not that I don’t think the game is good enough to get friends – it is – but in my experience, it takes someone really enjoying a game to get as far as level 10 can take.

Grez must have been bombing the whole of the internet with his referral link. Whatever the case, congrats to Grez on his success. You can find a full list of possible referral rewards at the referral instructions home page.

A couple weeks back I decided I was going to take a long break from Twisted Treeline. I like the map, but when I wasn’t playing in a full premade the huge variation in game quality was frustrating. One game my team would win in 18 minutes, the next my team would feed for 18 minutes. I assumed people just didn’t know the map and needed more time to learn.

I made my foray back into the winding woods yesterday and quickly remembered why I had quit. My first game had a feeding Nunu so we lost. The next I had the same Nunu on my team, and though we won (which took far too much “can we please group up” from my end) it was a long and arduous process. The next several games were leaver after leaver, feeder after feeder, save the one game in which I was paired with a duo that had beaten me the game before. I got one leaver who had 10% of his wins in leaves. There should be some pretty harsh penalties for that crap.

Despite my long losing streak from a few days back, I had turned things around. I was back up to 68 games above .500 and winning a decent mix. The TT experience took me down to 61 games but created an even bigger problem. My ELO has now dropped to the point that I’m playing with some seriously inexperienced players. My most recent game was host to a TF that was 0-6 at 15 minutes and a Jax that had 8 creep kills by 20 minutes. There is just no way I can possibly carry that game.

I’ll be spending my time in game over the next week or so trying to get my ELO back up in the hopes of playing with some decent teammates once again. It’s been a rough few days.

When Twisted Treeline first released I was thrilled. I loved the smaller map size, the emphasis on fighting and ganking, and the importance of map control. I thought it would be a great map to learn with the two friends with whom I play most often and a good way to get comfortable with a faster paced game.

Some of those things came true, but as people have started to figure out the map I’ve seen the same teams over and over again. It’s always some combination of Shen/Mundo/Jax/Poppy/Mordekaiser with the occasional Warwick/Shaco/Singed thrown in for a little variety. Mostly, though, it’s the first five, and I’m tired of it. The great part about this game is the variety, which that map limits in a big way. It’s not that three-tank teams can’t be beat, just that they require you to play near perfectly for the beginning of the game. If they get up in any way, or even if they keep pace with you, you’re going to have a very hard time beating them.

People have been asking for fixes to the problem – map specific items, global buffs or debuffs to reduce the effectiveness of three-tank teams – but I think the solution is much more simple. We need draft mode. If each team can ban two heroes and no one can pick the same toon it makes the game much more interesting. You can bet most people would ban Jax/Mundo right off the bat, likely followed by Poppy/Shen or maybe Udyr if the other team has a good Udyr player. Whatever the case, I really miss draft mode from DotA and I love the fact that it gives players the opportunity to filter out some of the more overpowered characters that haven’t received their respective nerfs/remakes.

Riot’s said multiple times that draft mode is in the works but there’s still no ETA. As with the Flash remake, I’m hoping it’s sooner rather than later.

I decided to stay up last night and grab a few solo queues on TT to see how I would fare with Kennen. The first game went pretty well. I was holding my own, not necessarily dominating (they had a Shen/Poppy/Warwick so it was tough to burst a target down) but I wasn’t dying and I was picking up the occasional kill. Our own Shen wasn’t using his ult early enough, though, and we ended up losing a long game after some intense teamfights. Overall it was a lot of fun.

Unfortunately that kind of game isn’t the norm for Treeline. Most games I see are landslides in either direction, even if they take 30-40 minutes to finish. It’s a problem I think will be hard to balance if only because 3v3 is much less forgiving to players prone to making mistakes. In the next game my opponents weren’t nearly careful enough with me early game. Only one had cleanse and the others were short on CC.

You can see the results in the screenshot I posted. Take a look at Fiddle’s farm compared to my own. He was so far behind by the time I had 4 kills that there was just no coming back.

Since Twisted Treeline launched in matchmaking I’ve been able to spend most of my time in game learning the new map. I feel pretty comfortable with the general mechanics but there’s something I have yet to master. As much as I try to fine tune my comps, I find myself overwhelmed or outmatched often on TT and its usually for very different reasons.

As a for instance, I had a game earlier in the weekend in which a Singed/Nidalee/Ezreal completely rocked my world. Both DPS were packing flash and would flee while Singed poisoned my team to death. Granted, our own Nidalee was hesitant to participate in fights to the point of basically losing us the game, but that actually made me realize what’s so tough about TT. The new map exacerbates any weakness in your team, whether it’s the player or the comp. Because the fights are smaller you can afford very few mistakes.

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen on TT, and one I keep making myself, is a lack of preparation against your opponent. A lot of teams tend to be very tanky on TT, so it’s important to have a large healthpool yourself, even if it means gimping your DPS a bit. A full-on damage farm doesn’t mean anything if you get bursted down in a blink. By the same logic, you better be able to rip apart those escapable toons. If they’re constantly able to get away you’ll find yourself frustrated and level-gapped from the constant running.

If you’re having comp issues, make sure you’re packing enough DPS. Champs like Mundo and Poppy are popular because they mix high survivability with excellent damage output. Get your squishiest DPS to bring cleanse and hopefully you can make it out of TT with a few wins.

I’ve spent all of my game time over the past two days getting to know Twisted Treeline. It’s a very different playstyle, different enough that I don’t feel like I’m even close to mastering it. I’ve been playing with the same friends I played with on Summoner’s Rift, and while some of them have been successful, others have struggled to learn the map and the new game.

A red post on the forums answered the question most people have been asking: will Treeline have a separate ELO? The answer is no. The two maps will share the same ranking system. For now, I can’t say this makes sense. I’m not saying we should start back at ground zero – the first few months would be a total mess. Instead, why not take the current 5v5 ELO and apply it to Treeline and let it update independently of the 5v5 system.

From what I’ve seen, some people will pick up Treeline very quickly. Others are going to take a very long time. I’ve seen so many ridiculous comps it makes me wonder how we’re at the same ELO. Granted, I solo queue a ton, but I’m more than 60 games above .500. The best explanation I see is that the game is completely different in a 3v3 setting. People who quickly migrate between those systems shouldn’t be matched against players that think Fiddle/Gang/Anivia is a strong comp.

I haven’t had a ton of time to spend on Twisted Treeline so I’m just going to give you my initial impressions. Treeline is a very different experience from Summoner’s Rift. It’s much faster, much more combative, and for me, a lot more fun. It does have its setbacks, though. The list of potentially successful champions is pretty short and certain team comps just don’t stand a chance.

For now, the strategy on TT seems to be buff control at the two major buff locations, lizard and dragon. The buffs provide large amounts of gold to the controlling team and some welcome DPS boosts for all of the early game ganking. When building your composition, be sure you have the ability to rip down those neutrals fairly quickly. I played a game today against an Annie/Kayle/Ryze comp. They struggled, to say the least.

Other than that you need your basic CC along with early killing power. Mundo does extremely well, especially if he gets enough regen. Sion is another great choice, as is Ryze, Shaco, Jax, and Gragas. Early game burst is key to your gold generation and helps you free up the map for pushing. Towers have much lower health in TT so they’re easily pushed. You need to be aware of a team’s pushing potential and try to defend. Leaving your inhibitor turrets undefended for even a short period of time can be the difference between a win and a loss.

Really, TT is all about teamwork. That Annie/Kayle/Ryze comp was brutal at level 6. We’d open up on a target, Kayle would ult, and we would almost always die instantly. As the game progressed, though, we had enough MR to withstand the initial burst and they didn’t have much left. It was just a matter of time before we aced them repeatedly and pushed straight to the nexus.

I got a nice surprise when I logged in for a quick game over lunch – 3v3 matchmaking is LIVE! Yes, the long awaited Twisted Treeline has finally entered live play. It’s going to be a strange new world in the tiny map. This really does change the dynamic of the game in a big way.

If you haven’t played on Treeline, you’re in for a bit of a surprise. Melee toons do very well, to the point that most think Mundo and Mordekaiser are severely OP. It’s really a matter of selecting a team that’s durable enough to withstand some damage and still dish out enough to wipe three people.

3v3 is where you’ll find me for the next couple weeks, testing out different characters and comps. First project – Heimerdinger.