Page 191 of 318

Late nights with LoL matchmaking

Garen fighting.I’m moving in about a week so my days have become increasingly hectic and I’m starting to lose sleep. It’s not that I’m worried, there’s just a lot to think about so I end up awake fairly late at night twiddling my thumbs. The obvious solution? You guessed it.

I make the distinction between night and day because night games are a very different animal. While daytime I usually expect someone on either team to know what they’re doing, nighttime that cannot be assumed. Late night games are this crazy hodgepodge of people playing toons they don’t know, crazy level one teamfights, complete and utter indifference to teammate requests for help, the same indifference toward map and buff control. I know, it sounds a lot like normal ranked games, and it is, just turned up about a hundred decibels and driving a ninety miles an hour toward a flaming brick wall. Heimer doesn’t get banned. Are you starting to see what I mean?

In a way it’s been a lot of fun. I stopped placing much stock in ranked queues a while ago, so it doesn’t bother me much that I’m seeing players go well into the double digits on kills again, or that games swing violently back and forth between one side’s advantage and the other’s. It’s been hectic in an enjoyable way.

FG LoL Mondays – 10:30PM EST

Garfield Monday.After last week’s great success, I think we should forge ahead with the Fearless Gamer LoL Mondays. Anyone and everyone is welcome to participate. If we have enough, we’ll be running in-house practice games against one another. If not, we’ll be subjecting ourselves to the fickle will of the matchmaking system.

In order to join, just head to your custom chat room finder, and type “FG LoL Mondays” into the field there. I don’t believe it’s case-sensitive, but if you’re having trouble joining, try to match the phrase exactly. I’ve got a few other things to do tomorrow evening, so we’ll be starting a bit later. The room will be open starting at 10:30PM EST, and hopefully we’ll get started shortly thereafter.

I’ll look forward to seeing you guys online tomorrow night. If you have questions, drop them here or catch me in game at “The Wiggin Boy.”

Urgot is on release notice

Urgot on TT.

Urgot has officially been given his “new champion approaches” post, which means we’ll likely see him on Tuesday or Wednesday of the upcoming week. Here’s his official ability list:

Acid Hunter: Urgot fires an Acid Hunter missile that slows the target. The Acid Hunter missile locks onto enemies afflicted with Noxian Corrosive Charge.

Terror Capacitor: Urgot charges up his capacitor to gain a shield. While the shield is active, Urgot’s physical damage is increased.

Noxian Corrosive Charge: Urgot launches a corrosive charge that damages enemies in an area and reduces their armor.

Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser (ultimate): Urgot charges up his Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser, gaining armor and magic resistance and swapping positions with his target. After the swap, his target is slowed.

Zaun-Touched Bolt Augmenter (passive): Urgot’s attacks reduce the damage that his target deals.

As a few people mentioned on my original Urgot post, the release of new champions seems a little too fast, at least for the IP cost/RP price Riot currently has in place. There hasn’t been a champion lower than 3150 in a long time, and most of the recent releases have been at the 6300 IP release. With the rune page release, I decided to try out some of the silly utility runes, I’ve spent a solid 18k IP or so over about a week and a half. Making that 6300 IP every two weeks could become a bit of a chore. And don’t even recommend I spend $10-$12 on that new guy. The new skins have been good enough that any money I spend on this game will be going toward those (when they go on sale), not new champions.

All of that said, I’m still excited about the champion. Vengeful Spirit was always one of my favorite toons in DotA. Hopefully this guy will be another fun support/tank.

Riot should let 3-man premades play 5v5 solo

Summoner's Rift early design.

I’ve been trying to spend a good bit of time in solo queue over the course of the weekend to see how things feel. There are still a lot of the same problems – bad players have been carried, good players are in brackets well below their skill level, there is so much animosity among teammates that it’s nearly impossible to organize people. My problem is that I want to see the stats that ranked matches provide, but playing the queue as a solo is painful.

I really think Riot should open up the solo queue to allow 3-man premades. There is really no reason not to. Among the queues, solo seems to be taken the least seriously. Even with three people, the chance for your other two players to be atrocious is high enough that it really shouldn’t be much different from the two man system.

I know there are normal games, but the fact that normal stats aren’t being tracked gives players too much flexibility to leave games without consequence. I still want to enjoy a competitive game with my friends on Summoner’s Rift and, unfortunately, the current system doesn’t allow for that.

Xbox LIVE Summer of Arcade Review: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

lara_croft-title

It may no longer carry the “Tomb Raider” name in its title, but “Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light” is still very much a “Tomb Raider” game, although a very different one from what fans of the treasure-hunting archaeologist are used to. Square Enix has not only rebranded the series in name, but in presentation as well, shedding its trademark third-person viewpoint for an isometric fixed camera reminiscent of the dungeon crawler genre. It’s also the first time that a “Tomb Raider” game has been released as a digital download, but if this is the future of Lara Croft, then count me in, because while “The Guardian of Light” might be a little too easy for hardcore gamers, there’s more than enough content here to guarantee that you’ll be back for seconds.

The story is as follows: After accidentally unleashing the evil spirit Xolotl from a cursed artifact called the Mirror of Smoke, Lara must team up with a 2000-year-old Mayan warrior named Totec (the titular Guardian of Light) in order to imprison him in it once again. The combat system is slick and simple, with twin-stick controls that allow you to shoot and move in a fluid 360 degrees, while accessories like bombs, a grapple hook, and a golden spear keep the game feeling fresh as you explore each level to find shortcuts, hidden artifacts and relics that act as power-ups, and unique challenges that come with their own rewards. Though co-op mode is even more fun with the addition of Totec as a playable character, Square Enix really dropped the ball by failing to support online play. (An upcoming patch will fix that, but it should have been ready on Day One.) Still, while it may not be Lara Croft’s finest hour, between the replay value of co-op and the promise of additional content in the form of new maps and characters coming soon, it’s a bright start to the series’ latest chapter and a fitting finale to the Summer of Arcade.

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Fearless Gamer

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑