Author: Jeff Morgan (Page 28 of 260)

      Public Beta Environment is now live

      October 13, 2011 /

      The League of Legends Public Beta Environment went live this week, starting with email invites to summoners who had been active members of the forums (and yes, a Rioter did confirm that the invites were based on summoners who had made posts in recent months that had been well received by the community). I wasn’t lucky enough to get an invite, being that I avoid posting on the forums as much as I can, but I was still able to create an account through a signup link one of the invitees was kind enough to spread on the forums.

      It’s tough to say just how helpful the PBE will be. The first couple hours were bug-riddled, and if just anyone could sign up for a beta account I would imagine the realm is going to be fairly flooded. Of course, maybe that’s what Riot is after. Maybe it’s more about load testing the patches with the added benefit of catching bugs via the scattershot method – throw enough testers at the problem and someone is bound to find it.

      I’m mostly hopeful that the PBE will bring back instantaneous champion releases on patch day. I’m not sure why I’m so bothered by it, but I really don’t like that the patch launches and the champion launches later in the day. Oh, I should also point out that the PBE has no NDA, so people can talk about whatever they see on the realm. That also leads me to believe that there wont’ be serious content testing going on.

      Were any of you able to secure a PBE account?

      Development, league of legends

      Champ of the Week: Playing a cutthroat

      October 12, 2011 /

      I thought it might be nice to give some mid-rotation thoughts on Talon while I’m working to gather footage for his wrapup video. I’m not sure if there are some high-ELO streamers playing him these days or if he just shines enough in Dominion to make him worth trying on Summoner’s Rift, but I’ve been seeing a lot of Talon lately. I’ve also been seeing him banned, and though I think there are better bans than Talon, I can understand why he’s on the list for some players.

      Part of what makes Talon interesting is the way his ultimate works. He can use it to produce a lot of damage, but most of the Talon players I saw in the weeks after his release were using the skill to get out of a fight or run away before a fight even started. In my experience, though, it’s best to save his ult for when you’re already in the fight and the skill can hit both on its way out and on the way back in.

      That’s a mechanic I didn’t really pick up on in the Champion Spotlight (even though Phreak said it) partly because the tooltip is a little unclear on just how the blades deal damage. Shadow Assault has the potential to deal damage twice: once when the blades expand and once when they collapse. In most cases, that means you want to ult while you’re standing right on top of someone. When the blade go out they hit and then even if your enemy flashes the blades will likely land on the return. It took me a while to figure that out, but now that I’ve got it I find it fairly easy to burst down a champion.

      I’ll have more thoughts on Talon later in the week, including the wrapup video. Keep checking back and let me know if you have any questions.

      Champ of the Week, league of legends

      Graves skill list announced

      October 12, 2011 /

      Graves in-game.

      The skill list for Graves was officially announced in a post that also included some in-game screenshots. I’m really excited for Graves. His in-game model looks absolutely awesome, his skills remind me of Dwarven Sniper from DotA, and I think his skillset looks to be somewhat interesting. I think my big concern is that he’ll have to be too close to deal real damage and he won’t have the survivability to keep up.

      Let’s take a look at the skillset:

      Buckshot: Graves fires three bullets in a cone damaging all enemies in the projectiles path. Enemies at close range can be hit by multiple projectiles, but each one beyond the first will deal reduced damage.

      Smokescreen: Graves fires a smoke canister at the target area that deals damage and creates a cloud of smoke. Enemies inside the smoke cloud have reduced sight range and movement speed.

      Quickdraw: Graves dashes forward gaining an attack speed boost for several seconds. Attacking enemies lowers the cooldown of this skill.

      Collateral Damage (Ultimate): Graves fires an explosive shell dealing heavy damage to the first target it hits. After hitting a champion or reaching the end of its range the shell explodes dealing damage in a cone behind the target.

      True Grit (Passive): Graves gains increasing armor and magic resistance the longer he remains in combat.

      I can’t say that Graves has the most original skillset in the game, but it does seem to synergize well. He can dash to get in close, use Smokescreen and Buckshot for some AoE damage, get in a few attacks, and probably dash back out depending on the cooldown for Quickdraw. His ultimate seems to be focused around an AoE metagame. I’m not thrilled about the way the skill works – there are a nearly infinite number of reasons the AoE splash will miss, even if you’ve taken the time to line up your target, but hopefully it will at least be enough bonus damage to bring down the occasional secondary target.

      I’m curious to see how Smokescreen works. My guess is it will be a slightly limited version of Nocturne’s ult, which is kind of interesting. I’m not in love with the mechanic when it’s a global cast, but as a limited range skill that can affect just one or two targets it actually sounds nice.

      Reviews

      Xerath skins to catch an update

      October 10, 2011 /

      Runeborn Xerath.

      I was hesitant to say much about Xerath’s skins on his release, mostly because I didn’t really get a chance to see them in game. After looking at some of the screenshots, though, I’m not sure I would have known if he was skinned or not.

      Recent champion releases have been pretty good – there is usually at least one skin with a slightly different model and design – but the Xerath releases were basically recolors. I think part of that has to do with his model; it’s kinda tough to make that model look like more than a recolor without dramatically altering it (maybe he needs a hat).

      Riot has heard the community feedback and has plans to make changes to the skins to make them a little more interesting. I’m glad to see them willing to make a change, though I’m sure it will still be frustrating for people who passed on a bundle because the skins were so underwhelming. Maybe the skins will go on sale to account for the updates.

      Champions, league of legends, News, Skins

      Win a DotA 2 beta key from Gamersbook

      October 8, 2011 /

      DotA 2 splash.

      Ever since the announcement that DotA 2 would be releasing “as soon as possible” Valve has been leaking beta keys to various websites for giveaways and to fuel the hype machine. A site called Gamersbook got in touch with me because they thought you guys might be interested in their giveaway and, frankly, I agree.

      They have 4 keys, all set to release over the course of the upcoming week. One key will go out on each of the following days: Sunday October 9th, Tuesday October 11th, Friday October 14th and Sunday October 16th, all at 18:00 CET (Central European Time).

      The rules for entry are simple enough. You have to make an account at Gamersbook.com and add DotA 2 to your list of played games in the player profile. You’ll also need to hook up with Gamersbook on Facebook or Twitter and do some sharing, liking, or retweeting. Last, you need to suggest a new feature for Gamersbook.com related to DotA 2 or come up with a new slogan for the site.

      For the complete set of rules, head over to the Gamersbook contest page. Like I said, the rules for entry are simple enough. If you’re serious about DotA, I’m sure you’re willing to spend the 5 minutes it might take to get a shot at a beta key.

      DotA, News

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