Author: Jeff Morgan (Page 170 of 260)

      LoL: Garen and Mordekaiser are so similar it’s silly

      April 20, 2010 /

      Garen, Might of Demacia.When I first saw Garen I thought, hey, he’s just like Tryndamere. At a second glance, though, I realized he’s actually more like Mordekaiser than any other toon, to the point that I wonder if the two champions were designed by the same person.

      Consider the following: both champions have an attack damage modifier in the Q slot. Both have damage mitigation for the W. Both have a limited AOE attack for the E, and both have a finisher for their ultimates. Now, I realize the comparisons seem a bit arbitrary since most champions skills are based on one of these systems (attack damage modification, AOE, etc.) but in terms of playstyle I think these two will be more similar than most. Both are best built for heavy health regen plus a nice dose of attack damage, and both can soak a lot of damage for a team but offer very little utility.

      The only reason I mention any of this is because it explains some of my disinterest in Garen. Mordekaiser was only interesting for a few games for me – I just don’t enjoy his playstyle – and I think Garen will suffer the same fate. I’ll likely play him in a few games, but the stand-and-try-to-deal-damage-with-no-CC isn’t really compelling.

      Development, league of legends

      LoL: Calm before the Garen patch storm

      April 19, 2010 /

      Eye of the hurricane.Sorry for the late post here today, readers. Between a couple new work projects and the iPhone 4G leak I was crazy busy today. Also, there hasn’t been much happening, but sometimes even that can be worth talking about.

      I do feel like the community has settled into a pre-patch lull over the past week or so. New champions have been coming in such a flurry that it’s nice to hit that break in between patches where there just isn’t a whole lot going on. It seems to be a result of a few things.

      First, Kennen appears to actually be in a good spot as I have suggested here and on the forums. Without many changes to the new hero people seem content to either ignore him or play him – kind of a perfect scenario. Second, Garen isn’t all that interesting. There was a lot of hype surrounding the other heroes and Garen just doesn’t have the same pizazz. I’m going to purchase him on launch and play him, mostly for my own curiosity and testing (and the fact that I have more than 10,000 IP banked and nothing to spend it on), but I doubt he’ll get a lot of playtime in my regular games. In my mind he’s a lot like Mordekaiser, with just a hair more utility from that silence. You know, I never realized how similar the two are until I wrote that (another post for the morning so be sure to check back).

      Above all, I think the calm before the inevitable storm comes from the game’s maturation. From what I’ve seen the servers have been a bit more stable over the past week or so, and I’ve actually seen my ping improve by quite a bit in some cases. I hate to make the call too early, but I think Riot may have finally hit its stride. That’s not to say the game wasn’t succeeding – it absolutely was – it’s just that the success was outpacing development for a while there and we might finally be approaching equilibrium.

      Development, league of legends

      LoL: Twisted Treeline really needs draft mode

      April 18, 2010 /

      Twisted Treeline.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.

      Development, league of legends

      LoL: Kennen finally made my Top 3

      April 18, 2010 /

      Kennen on the Top 3Kennen finally made my Top 3 list tonight after a pretty solid game that was surrendered at 25 minutes. I’m glad to see him on the list at long last and hoping he’ll continue to climb (honestly, I’d love to push TF off there – I rarely play him any more).

      My favorite part of having Kennen on the list is that I can finally do some serious stat-tracking for him. There are still a lot of people who think he isn’t viable and I still strongly disagree. Take a look at the numbers. The win-loss ratio looks decent enough, but I’m particularly proud of the KDA. If 546-172-442 shows one thing to me its that conservative play mixed with the right amount of risk can yield excellent results. With a strong early game, Kennen can easily carry.

      league of legends

      LoL: Riot’s stance on Kennen buffs

      April 17, 2010 /

      Kennen loading screen.Since Kennen’s release, a large portion of the community has been clamoring for buffs. Most of the complaints center around his AP ratios, which people think are too low. Personally, I think he’s fine. As stated in previous posts, I continue to do quite well with Kennen because of his early game strength. He definitely doesn’t scale as well as some heroes, but he’s one of the best early game champions, giving you the power to get ahead and stay there.

      Most recently, a forum poster asked why no Kennen buffs had made the new Test Realm patch. I was glad to see Riot respond this time – it’s been fairly quiet regarding the midget ninja so far. Here’s what Geeves had to say:

      I ended up buffing his AP ratios as a result of Test Realm feedback in the last patch cycle, and I think it worked out pretty well. I have seen quite a few Kennens internally do pretty monstrous in games, and I have seen some people fail with him.

      I think he currently may suffer from Master Yi/Evelynn syndrome where they are very reliant on team comp to pull off their power moves (Lightning Rush/Electrical Surge/ult is a devastating combo but he puts himself at risk to do it). I’m keeping an eye on his performance and I’m pretty satisfied with how he looks currently, but if this changes I’ll make some survivability/scaling tweaks pretty quickly.

      It makes me more than a little sad to see him compare Kennen to Yi/Evelynn. Really any character that isn’t a true initiator is going to rely on team comp for success. Certainly Yi and Evelynn are among that number, but there are plenty more.

      Development, league of legends

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 Fearless Gamer

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑