In a fairly quiet release, Riot has set Dominion live on its servers. That’s right, it’s live. On a Monday, no less. Unexpected? Absolutely. Even the unexpected I was expecting would have been Tuesday morning, so today was certainly a pleasant surprise.
If you’re looking for a way to spend your Monday, consider jumping into some games of Dominion. It’s a blast.
I’m hesitant to write this post, mostly because I have a bad feeling I will be proven wrong, but I think we could actually see Dominion release this week. Dominion’s beta availability continued through this weekend, with limited hours available each day. From what I can tell, Dominion is a completed project. All that remains to be determined is whether Riot’s hardware can handle the surge in players and/or the different game modes.
There are also two quotes from Tamat on a recent rant about Dominion availability.
Beta has been successful so far, we’ll have a launch date announcement for you next week.
Also:
Expect the unexpected. All I’m going to say.
It’s the second one that really has me hopeful but also concerned. I’m concerned because we’ve heard that so many times it holds absolutely no meaning anymore. I’m hopeful because if I take that sentiment to heart, Dominion will be out this week. This week is the only week that would be unexpected. The following week is October, and that’s far from unexpected.
Now that Dominion has been live for a few days, I’m sure people are settling into some comfortable champions and team compositions. I’ve actually been taking the opposite approach, picking a new champion in nearly every game. I’ve doubled up in a few places, but for the most part I’ve just been trying to see what works (note: Veigar is awful).
There is one champion I’ve been enjoying above the rest, even though I think I’ve lost every game in which I’ve played him: Sion. Sion has always been a little bit of a letdown for me on Summoner’s Rift. He’s great at pubstomping as an AP toon, but by late game he’s really hurting for damage. Attack damage Sion never seemed to cut it, mostly because of his movespeed, attack range, and the sprawling nature of most teamfights on Summoner’s Rift.
On Dominion, though, attack damage Sion has been a blast. Like I said, I’m pretty sure I’ve lost every game I’ve played with him, but they have been so much fun I don’t really care. Attack damage Sion is one of the few champions in the game that can legitimately overturn situations that are stacked against his team’s favor. With enough damage, his ultimate starts to heal for massive amounts, even with the debuff on the Crystal Scar. Thanks to the early and consistent gold gain from Dominion, Sion can reach that point fairly quickly.
Who has been your go-to pick on Dominion? Have you been jumping around or sticking with one champ?
Dominion was just enabled on live North American servers for the third day in a row, this time for an unspecified amount of time. I spent a lot of time with the new map yesterday during the extended beta window, so I’ll probably only play a few games today.
I’m really curious about Riot’s release strategy for the new map. At this point, Summoner’s Rift has sort of lost its luster. I’m sure I’ll want to play the old map here and there, but with something new in front of my face, it’s hard to justify spending 20-30 minutes farming up so I can have 10 minutes of teamfights. I’d much rather have 20 minutes of solid action to enjoy.
The problem, now, is that I’m currently on my third day of Dominion. On my live account. With all my champions. On the same servers I would otherwise be playing on. That’s not really a beta. And now that I’ve been exposed to Dominion for extended periods of time, I kinda want to stick with it. The times that it isn’t on Live just make me frustrated that it isn’t available. Basically, the “limited beta” feels more like a soft release. Even though the word “beta” has been used, the client and even the champions remain the same, so it just feels like a released game that I can only play some of the time.
That said, I know the reasons for the downtime are stability related, and I’d much rather see Dominion release to a stable platform than release and get 12 hours of server downtime for 12 hours of uptime. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the release is bittersweet – I’m really enjoying Dominion, but I’d love for it to be available all the time.
It is now 1:30 in the morning and my head is still buzzing from the Dominion beta. Though the beta was supposed to end today around 4:30PM EST, it was extended until sometime after midnight. I can honestly say I spent most of that time playing the Dominion beta. It was a total blast – addictive in a way very few games that last only 20 minutes can be. It’s like a shooter, but with the bonus appeal of unique characters, character progression, and the complications that come with team composition. I think it will be nice to talk for a minute about just how much good Riot has done with this game mode and why I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on it again.
Let’s get one thing straight: Dominion is Riot’s best product to date. I will stand by that until I see a strategy so infuriating that I’m ready to call it quits. Until that time, though, Dominion rules. Playing League of Legends on Summoner’s Rift was always a lot of fun, but in the MOBA world it was the evolutionary equivalent of a tadpole growing flippers. Those flippers were shiny, but the MOBA tadpole could already swim pretty well.
Dominion is the proper, get-out-of-the-water-and-start-breathing-oxygen step in the process. This is the kind of battle arena I’ve been looking for. It is fast paced. It is incredibly active. It is as physically thrilling a game as I’ve played in a very long time.
For a while, I wondered if Dominion was the right play for Riot, especially if it released next to so many other high profile games. The release window is actually what makes Dominion a fantastic product. Riot knows it can’t keep our attention. Riot knows we will be playing Diablo 3 and Battlefield 3 and DotA 2 and SWTOR. It seems Riot also knows that we will want a break from those games, too, and the 20-minute Dominion matches fill that role perfectly. Dominion can easily become the default wife-is-in-the-shower or got-a-few-minutes-before-class game.
Now it all boils down to release. I’m so impressed with Dominion that I don’t really care how it happens. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if Riot just flipped the beta switch and left it on tomorrow. I’m relatively certain that won’t happen, but the fact that it was running for a majority of the day leads me to believe we’ll be seeing it soon. I mean soon as in the actual definition of the word. Like probably early next week. I know, it feels so far away, but honestly, Dominion is worth a few days wait.
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