Author: Jeff Morgan (Page 124 of 260)

      Autumn, weddings, torrential rain, and my terrible planning skills

      October 3, 2010 /

      Natalie Dee Ohio.Once again I’ve managed to plan a trip out of town on the week of a new champion’s release, which explains in part the absence of new content here. It’s been a little crazier than that, lately, and the rundown is kinda funny, so here you go.

      A friend of mine got married in Missouri but decided to have the reception in Ohio in the fall (which is the greatest season, don’t test me on this). My girlfriend and I were crazy excited, but planned a trip up north without knowing the following:

      1 – Our current home would get two feet of rain (yes, two feet) in just four days, be declared in state of emergency, and experience weather that would preclude going outside for anything but the most dire of circumstances resulting in somewhat spotty internet the day before a ten-hour road trip (not great when you work on the web).

      2 – Once at the reception, I would be coerced into playing a game of basketball in the dark, in bone-chilling rain, after six hours of feasting and drinking any beer that started with the word “Imperial.”

      3 – We would visit my brother – he attends our undergraduate alma mater – and spend the better part of an hour trying to find a restaurant that was open on Sunday night in a small, Ohio town. All three of us would then proceed to eat ourselves sick on grinders from the best greek restaurant on the planet (yeah, should have just started there).

      4 – We would spend almost as much time in the car at home as we would to get from North Carolina to Ohio and back again.

      And last but certainly not least, especially as far as you all are concerned:

      5 – I would be out of town until Tuesday night, unable to enjoy Swain’s launch day and give you the expeditious updates on the latest LoL patch that you so deserve.

      One of these days I’ll figure out how to plan a trip. in the meantime, spend some good time with Swain, so you can teach me how to play him when I return. As you might guess, FG LoL Mondays are off for this week, as I’m out of town until Tuesday. Until then – lane well, ward often, and above all, rage like the Hulk if you start to lose.

      Editorial

      Swain is on release notice

      September 30, 2010 /

      Swain, the master tactician.

      In another early announcement, Riot’s given us the official “champion approaches” forum post before the weekend even got started. Swain is on his way, and like I guessed, that shapeshifting skill is indeed his ultimate.

      Here’s the official skill list:
      Decrepify: Swain sets his raven to cripple an enemy. Over the next three seconds, the target takes damage over time and is slowed.

      Nevermove: Swain marks a target area. After a short delay, mighty talons grab hold of enemy units dealing damage and rooting them.

      Torment: Swain afflicts his target, dealing damage over time. During this affliction, a percentage of all damage dealt by Swain is added to the periodic damage of this debuff.

      Ravenous Flock (Ultimate): Toggle: Swain transforms into the form of a raven, during this time up to 3 lesser ravens strike out at nearby enemies each second. Swain is healed for half the damage dealt by the Ravens.

      Again, pretty pumped about this guy. I like the synergy between his skills, and it’s cool to have another shapeshifter.

      Champions, Development, league of legends

      How do you respond to losing?

      September 30, 2010 /

      Defeat screen.

      I’ve been spending less time than usual in ranked games since crossing the 1500 marker for the second time. It’s that “second time” part that’s really important, because it took me a while to make my way back up after dropping as low as 1410ish. Prior to that point, I usually jumped into a new game shortly after losing. I had this sense that I could “erase” the last match by winning another. Unfortunately, we all know the game doesn’t work that way, and more often than not the losses pile up along with the frustration.

      I’ve taken a different approach lately. When I lose a game I back off, let myself chill out from the loss before I queue again. It keeps the rage down a bit and even better, it gets me new teammates. I often feel like a losing team tends to lose when they get paired together because a demoralizing defeat just carries over into the next game.

      Occasionally I’ll play a few in a row, but it’s usually on nights that I know I’ll be okay dropping 40-50 ELO, but for the most part, I’m sticking to a one and done schedule for losing. How do you handle your losses?

      Editorial, league of legends

      The client bugs have got to go

      September 29, 2010 /

      Chat FailI’ve had a frustrating run of games recently – losses, droppers, feeders, the usual – but they’ve been made even more frustrating by the seemingly rampant client bugs.

      First, check out that chat list. Looks normal, right? Except I have six friends on line but they are nowhere in my chat list. See how the arrows all point down? That means the lists are expanded, there’s just nothing in them. All last night this was happening, and I had talked to a few people (sorry, Sannu) about getting a game in. Occasionally my notification box would light up red, but when I would click it, it would just say “No recent notifications.” Neat.

      Then there’s the lobby chat bug, wherein I don’t get to talk to my teammates about comp, to offer my services as a tank/jungler/carry/whatever, don’t get to beg the Gangplank who insisted he take mid at nearly 1600 ELO to not take it the second game I got stuck with him (and watched him feed, again). Or how about changes to your rune page not saving properly, masteries taking forever to load, champion skins not being selected properly (sorry, I want my Magnificent Twisted Fate, not PAX Fate), or the chat rooms I have set to load on start loading without a name and without me in them.

      These things seem small, but they all happen frequently enough that, when piled onto the frustration of playing with feeders, make for a bad experience. I have just as many good experiences in this game, even more, but the bad ones feel so bad it can be hard to remember the good.

      Anyone else having client issues?

      Editorial, league of legends

      Why have armor penetration runes gone unchanged?

      September 29, 2010 /

      Armor with a bullet hole.A while back, Riot was talking very seriously about nerfing all of the armor penetration runes in the game. The argument was pretty simple. They provide too good a benefit, mostly at the early stages of the game. So why have they gone unchanged?

      It may seem strange to be asking this now, but I just had a game against a Miss Fortune where I got to feel the full brunt of her lane prowess. I was playing Kennen, and positioning myself well, but it just didn’t matter. She was getting lucky bounces, and I seemed to catch creep aggro if I looked at her wrong. With a champion like Miss Fortune, armor penetration runes are particularly effective because she’s given a mage-grade nuke that can be dealt as pure damage with proper runes.

      In my particular case, I had no recourse against her as Kennen, because his magic damage doesn’t get through nearly as much resistance. As the game goes on, it becomes a bit less of an issue. Most champions have scaling armor, while their magic resist remains the same throughout. Armor penetration items tend to be significantly more useful than their magic pen counterparts. The 40 percent armor penetration item increases both the damage you deal and how frequently you deal it. The base armor penetration item grants you cooldown reduction and damage. The magic penetration equivalents only increase the magnitude of your damage (and in the case of Haunting Guise, give you a little health). Granted, part of that is a difference in playstyle, but there’s no denying the strength of physical damage as compared to magic. That’s why the physical damage dealers are considered “carries.”

      The thing is, armor penetration runes wouldn’t be such an issue if there wasn’t such an abundance of skills that make use of them these days. When it was just auto attacks, it wasn’t as big a deal. With champions like Miss Fortune, Urgot, and even Pantheon in the game, the runes need a change.

      Development, league of legends

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 Fearless Gamer

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑