For the most part I think LoL is in a pretty good spot. The game has at least a semblance of balance, by which I mean I feel pretty free to play a wide variety of toons to some degree of success. That said, there’s still a bit to be desired, and some features have me more interested than others.

I’m most looking forward to Season One. I could desperately use an ELO reset at this point, and having an option for ranked matches that accounts for one to two-man premades differently than four or five man will be really nice. From what the reds have said on the forums, Season One should also bring more stats to the game, which is something I’ve been dying for since my first game. The stats at lolbase.net are great, but they’re voluntary. I’d like to see something that compiles results for all of my games, regardless of whether or not I upload my logs.

I also like that I’ll have a place to goof off without worrying what it will do to my ELO. As it stands, I use a smurf account to mess around and play games with random champions and strange builds. I’d love to be able to do that on my main, which Season One should afford. I’ll screw around in normal games and save my tryharding for the ranked matches.

What are you guys most excited for?

ByronicHero dropped by the forums today to give us a sneak peak at yet another hero: Ezrael. I’m much happier about another hero release knowing that Twisted Treeline is heading to matchmaking soon. Also, Ezrael is ranged, which adds another hero to the short list of toons I choose from when my team goes all melee. Does that happen to anyone else as often as it happens to me?

Here’s the text from the official post:

As you may have noticed, we’ve been releasing some champions that really challenge existing gameplay paradigms. And this next one is no exception. In addition to a haircut that defies the very laws of physics, the latest and greatest from our design team is sporting some pretty edgy magical abilities. Meet Ezreal the Prodigal Explorer, a champion who breaks new ground – in both gameplay and fashion – here at the League of Legends. If you’re feeling rather passionate about skill-shots these days, start getting excited, because this particular gentleman should really scratch that itch.

So far so good. I am a pretty big fan of skill shots, though I don’t think they’re necessary for a hero to be fun. There is no official word on the ability list, but someone on the EU forums dug up a screenshot of his potential abilities, presumably from the test realm.

Mystic Shot (Q) – Ezrael fires a bolt of energy dealing 40 + 100% of his attack damage as magic damage. Ezrael’s cooldowns are reduced by 1 second if Ezrael hits a target.

Essence Flux (W) – Ezrael fires a fluctuating wave of energy that only hits champions. Enemy champions: deals 75 magic damage and reduces attack speed by 20% for 5 seconds. Allied Champions: heals 75 health and increases attack speed by 20% for 5 seconds.

Arcane Shift (E) – Ezrael teleports to a target nearby location and fires a homing arrow at the nearest enemy unit dealing 80 magic damage.

Trueshot Barrage (R) – Ezrael channels for 1.2 seconds to fire a barrage of missiles dealing 300 magic damage to each unit it passes through. It deals 10% less damage for each unit it hits (minimum 30%).

He’s definitely an odd character, though I wouldn’t quite say he breaks character paradigms. To me he’s like a mix of every “unique” character out there. He’s got a bit of TF, a bit of Nidalee, and a bit of Jax. I can see him benefiting from Guinsoo’s in a big way, and I’m willing to bet a lot of people will build him as a hybrid.

My guess is that we’ll see him live as early as next week. The Mordekaiser preview came just a week before he released.

There’s a nice discussion happening on the forums about Pantheon’s position in the game. I’ve included my response below, but be sure to check out the entire post. After a few weeks, what do you think? Does he need some buffs? Some nerfs? Is melee DPS just not fun enough?

I think he’s in a great spot – definitely some of the highest utility of any melee DPS champ while churning out solid damage. Unfortunately, a lot of people try to build attack speed and don’t scale like they think they should. An early bloodthirster is easily the best thing you can do for yourself. The damage puts Heartseeker through the roof, making attack speed practically unnecessary (everything dies in 3 hits). Once you have that you can pick up some survivability and a little attack speed for later in the game.

I will say, I don’t care for his passive. Yes, it’s a nice laning tool and the only passive counter to Deceive and Parrrley (it’s also saved me from a few Blitz crits), but I feel like I get very little use out of it once you get past level 13 or so. From there on that shield just doesn’t save me often enough to care about it. I have not played many high survivability builds with him, so it’s hard for me to say if it’s better when you have some more health. I’ll give it some serious testing and post some thoughts if I remember.

He definitely struggles late game as most melee DPS does. Again, I have to test some survivability builds to see what I can make work.

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