Well, I just tried the new Kassadin in two co-op games. I went mid against Karthus in both, so testing was pretty silly. What I need to see is how Kassadin fares against Kha'Zix and such, not how easily he thrashes Karthus. My thoughts so far...
-The shield doesn't really do much. He probably won't counter AP carries any harder than he used to.
-His damage is nerfed, but it's mostly still acceptable. Force Pulse still hits hard enough to be adequate.
-New Nether Blade kind of sucks for fighting, but the mana restoration portion actually matters now.
-He still says ,"Silence" and his joke is still about trying to silence his mother. Really, Riot?
-Riftwalking more than twice in a row is is usually either impossible or empties my mana. But this is also, I find, an acceptable nerf.
-Rod of Ages is just so good. I hate the thought of putting it off over a stupid Tear. This could make ult-chaining impossible, but being able to take a hit without shattering instantly is too important.
-This isn't so ruinous as the Sivir rework. I could seem myself still playing Kassadin. I'll have to see if he can withstand AD opponents, since they were precarious (but beatable) before, and he lost tools against them without gaining anything to compensate.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
The Kassadin Rework
Because I haven't been paying attention, I didn't realize that there's a patch happening right now and that it involves a Kassadin "rework." I won't say "Kassadin is my main" but that has been pretty close, actually. I was undefeated in Ranked play with Kassadin last season, and I can't remember the last time I lost a Normal game with him either. I've done very, very well with Kassadin for a long time. I wouldn't hesitate to call him my second best champion, at least before today. I've been critical of Riot's changes to champions in the past, although not universally so. Some changes have been necessary. I'll preface my ranting with a few points of interest...
For me, the three biggest issues regarding champion changes have been a big Karthus nerf that happened in Season 2, the Sivir rework in Season 3, and the prospect of a Sion rework (which has yet to materialize). And now there's this Kassadin rework.
The Karthus change was a big hit to his Wall of Pain. Karthus had been my main in Season 2, but I relied heavily on the magic resistance reduction from that wall. The way I was playing him back then, I maxed Wall of Pain second for its power in teamfights, shredding enemy MR so that I could more easily kill everyone and also shredding armor so that my teammates could do more damage too. I also relied on the MR reduction, spell vamp, and Zhonya's Hourglass to kill fed AD carries, even when they had lifesteal to use against me. Previous nerfs to Karthus had left his kit generally intact, but this one made the way I'd been playing unviable. Karthus was my main. He still is, but after that nerf, I dropped him for the remainder of the season. I picked him up again in Season 3 because the advent of Liandry's Torment gave him more than what the nerf had taken away. I shifted to maxing my Defile second and made other adjustments, reconnecting with my favorite champion. I've never looked back. Karthus is still #1 for me, and I have no intention to change that.
Sivir had been my second most-played champion in Ranked, and was on track to replace Singed for that title in my Normal games, although I don't have statistics for those to confirm this. In Season 2, Sivir got me my first pentakill ever. The rework fundamentally ruined everything I liked about playing Sivir. I haven't touched her since. Sivir remains dead to me. I ranted about this last year.
Sion is one of my favorite champions, but I'm always hesitant to play him because it can take me too long to get going. I consider him too risky, but I'm a big fan and would like to make him one of my primary champions if I weren't so chicken about it. In my last Ranked game of Season 3, I launched myself into a promo series (which I never completed) by turning a losing game around with a glorious Sion pentakill. Even though I don't main Sion, I desperately want to, and I'd be irritated if a rework took away the things I like about him. He's supposedly going to be reworked, and his AP crap is a mess, so it makes sense, but I'm apprehensive: I'd rather have my awkward Sion with the things I like than lose them when he's reworked.
Back in August, I composed lists of all the champions I owned, sorted by how I planned to use them in the future, in preparation for Ranked play. Kassadin was in List A, the only other mid champ in my "use only in draft because you're good enough with this" list besides Karthus. And when I did use Kassadin in Ranked, like I said, I always won. I'm more comfortable with Karthus, of course, but I'd like to think I knew Kassadin pretty well. Based on my experience, I have to admit, he was a little too good. Unless opponents were careful, he could snowball quickly and inexorably. He was recently nerfed, and I was fine with that. It was called for.
There's something in League of Legends that I'm pretty comfortable calling a trap. Maybe it's even a newb trap, although that doesn't seem quite accurate, since experienced players fall into it a lot. The trap is called "Archangel's Staff." Karthus and Kassadin are two of my best champions and I always seem to hold my own with them. I rush Rod of Ages and don't go anywhere near Archangel's Staff in my item builds for them. I see other people do it all the time. And I see them do poorly, but they think they know what they're doing. They don't. They're bad and they should feel bad. Of course, the item isn't always a trap, but it's a very big trap when it is a trap, and people fall into it surprisingly often. Archangel's Staff is great on Ryze, who needs maximum mana for his damage output. I rush Tear of the Goddess (and eventually build it into Archangel's Staff) on Anivia all the time because she works best as a glass cannon that sits back and blasts enemies from behind her ult, so mana and AP are her biggest needs. Kassadin though? No.
I think that trap is partially responsible for my Kassadin success in the past, in a roundabout way. That's because Tear rushes on Kassadin were so popular that my opponents may have gotten used to them. Then, when they think because they're playing an AD champion and can counter Kassadin, they fail to account for the fact that my Catalyst rush is way more robust than a Tear rush. I faced champions like Talon, Zed, Kha'Zix, and Pantheon as a Kassadin mid, and I won lane against all of them. Talon can reliably silence Kassadin and hit him with his full combo before Kassadin can retaliate, but I won anyway. I usually started with a Sapphire Crystal so I'd have enough mana to play my spells, but I'd also get health potions and I'd keep a stock of health potions for the whole laning phase. I couldn't avoid the spells of enemy AD casters, so I'd wait until I had Force Pulse, then wade in and take those spells to the face, retaliating with my own. It would be a losing battle, but with my early emphasis on health potions, it became more of a stalemate. If enemies were cautious, I could farm. If they got greedy, which they almost always did, I killed them. And since Kassadin's AP scaling would eventually surpass the damage output of other assassins, I could afford to be cautious myself, because I knew I'd keep getting stronger.
Kassadin was the most banned champion in draft games. Riot was quick to point that out in addressing the need for this rework. But it's more complicated than that. Kassadin's sheer power and snowballing were only part of the reason he was banned so much. There was another reason, and I think it may have really been the more important reason. After all, I almost always banned Kassadin myself when I was captaining teams, and I knew exactly what my reason was. It wasn't because Kassadin was OP. It was because I wanted to play Karthus, and Kassadin counters the crap out of him. There are very few champions I hate facing as Karthus. Mordekaiser can push through me if my jungler doesn't help. Fiddlesticks forces me to push (and risk being ganked) or face a gradual, painful fate of being harassed to death under my on turret. Veigar punishes me for building AP and can outscale my damage. But none of those counter me outright because I know Karthus' capabilities too well. Kassadin's another story: I've said that I could get countered even by totally inferior players if they were piloting Kassadin. So yeah, I never picked Karthus in draft if Kassadin was open. It was a rule I made for myself that I never broke. Karthus might be an extreme case, but I'm not even sure about that. Kassadin is a hard counter to almost any true AP carry. If the mages that can do the most for teams are countered so badly by a champion, of course players are going to want to ban that champion!
With that out of the way, I'll examine what Riot has to say about the Kassadin rework...
For me, the three biggest issues regarding champion changes have been a big Karthus nerf that happened in Season 2, the Sivir rework in Season 3, and the prospect of a Sion rework (which has yet to materialize). And now there's this Kassadin rework.
The Karthus change was a big hit to his Wall of Pain. Karthus had been my main in Season 2, but I relied heavily on the magic resistance reduction from that wall. The way I was playing him back then, I maxed Wall of Pain second for its power in teamfights, shredding enemy MR so that I could more easily kill everyone and also shredding armor so that my teammates could do more damage too. I also relied on the MR reduction, spell vamp, and Zhonya's Hourglass to kill fed AD carries, even when they had lifesteal to use against me. Previous nerfs to Karthus had left his kit generally intact, but this one made the way I'd been playing unviable. Karthus was my main. He still is, but after that nerf, I dropped him for the remainder of the season. I picked him up again in Season 3 because the advent of Liandry's Torment gave him more than what the nerf had taken away. I shifted to maxing my Defile second and made other adjustments, reconnecting with my favorite champion. I've never looked back. Karthus is still #1 for me, and I have no intention to change that.
Sivir had been my second most-played champion in Ranked, and was on track to replace Singed for that title in my Normal games, although I don't have statistics for those to confirm this. In Season 2, Sivir got me my first pentakill ever. The rework fundamentally ruined everything I liked about playing Sivir. I haven't touched her since. Sivir remains dead to me. I ranted about this last year.
Sion is one of my favorite champions, but I'm always hesitant to play him because it can take me too long to get going. I consider him too risky, but I'm a big fan and would like to make him one of my primary champions if I weren't so chicken about it. In my last Ranked game of Season 3, I launched myself into a promo series (which I never completed) by turning a losing game around with a glorious Sion pentakill. Even though I don't main Sion, I desperately want to, and I'd be irritated if a rework took away the things I like about him. He's supposedly going to be reworked, and his AP crap is a mess, so it makes sense, but I'm apprehensive: I'd rather have my awkward Sion with the things I like than lose them when he's reworked.
Back in August, I composed lists of all the champions I owned, sorted by how I planned to use them in the future, in preparation for Ranked play. Kassadin was in List A, the only other mid champ in my "use only in draft because you're good enough with this" list besides Karthus. And when I did use Kassadin in Ranked, like I said, I always won. I'm more comfortable with Karthus, of course, but I'd like to think I knew Kassadin pretty well. Based on my experience, I have to admit, he was a little too good. Unless opponents were careful, he could snowball quickly and inexorably. He was recently nerfed, and I was fine with that. It was called for.
There's something in League of Legends that I'm pretty comfortable calling a trap. Maybe it's even a newb trap, although that doesn't seem quite accurate, since experienced players fall into it a lot. The trap is called "Archangel's Staff." Karthus and Kassadin are two of my best champions and I always seem to hold my own with them. I rush Rod of Ages and don't go anywhere near Archangel's Staff in my item builds for them. I see other people do it all the time. And I see them do poorly, but they think they know what they're doing. They don't. They're bad and they should feel bad. Of course, the item isn't always a trap, but it's a very big trap when it is a trap, and people fall into it surprisingly often. Archangel's Staff is great on Ryze, who needs maximum mana for his damage output. I rush Tear of the Goddess (and eventually build it into Archangel's Staff) on Anivia all the time because she works best as a glass cannon that sits back and blasts enemies from behind her ult, so mana and AP are her biggest needs. Kassadin though? No.
I think that trap is partially responsible for my Kassadin success in the past, in a roundabout way. That's because Tear rushes on Kassadin were so popular that my opponents may have gotten used to them. Then, when they think because they're playing an AD champion and can counter Kassadin, they fail to account for the fact that my Catalyst rush is way more robust than a Tear rush. I faced champions like Talon, Zed, Kha'Zix, and Pantheon as a Kassadin mid, and I won lane against all of them. Talon can reliably silence Kassadin and hit him with his full combo before Kassadin can retaliate, but I won anyway. I usually started with a Sapphire Crystal so I'd have enough mana to play my spells, but I'd also get health potions and I'd keep a stock of health potions for the whole laning phase. I couldn't avoid the spells of enemy AD casters, so I'd wait until I had Force Pulse, then wade in and take those spells to the face, retaliating with my own. It would be a losing battle, but with my early emphasis on health potions, it became more of a stalemate. If enemies were cautious, I could farm. If they got greedy, which they almost always did, I killed them. And since Kassadin's AP scaling would eventually surpass the damage output of other assassins, I could afford to be cautious myself, because I knew I'd keep getting stronger.
Kassadin was the most banned champion in draft games. Riot was quick to point that out in addressing the need for this rework. But it's more complicated than that. Kassadin's sheer power and snowballing were only part of the reason he was banned so much. There was another reason, and I think it may have really been the more important reason. After all, I almost always banned Kassadin myself when I was captaining teams, and I knew exactly what my reason was. It wasn't because Kassadin was OP. It was because I wanted to play Karthus, and Kassadin counters the crap out of him. There are very few champions I hate facing as Karthus. Mordekaiser can push through me if my jungler doesn't help. Fiddlesticks forces me to push (and risk being ganked) or face a gradual, painful fate of being harassed to death under my on turret. Veigar punishes me for building AP and can outscale my damage. But none of those counter me outright because I know Karthus' capabilities too well. Kassadin's another story: I've said that I could get countered even by totally inferior players if they were piloting Kassadin. So yeah, I never picked Karthus in draft if Kassadin was open. It was a rule I made for myself that I never broke. Karthus might be an extreme case, but I'm not even sure about that. Kassadin is a hard counter to almost any true AP carry. If the mages that can do the most for teams are countered so badly by a champion, of course players are going to want to ban that champion!
With that out of the way, I'll examine what Riot has to say about the Kassadin rework...
I agree that there was a problem, but I don't agree that this describes it. For one thing, he didn't have "strong disables." He had silence and a moderate slow. The slow was useful to secure kills, but wasn't as extreme as other slows in the game. His mobility (and burst damage) did make counterplay problematic, but nonexistent "strong disables" weren't a factor. It's completely inaccurate to say that "increasing his cooldowns means he just needs to wait longer before blowing somebody up." That's stupid. It's not how cooldowns work, not on anyone. In Kassadin's case, the main limitations were the cooldown on his ult and the need to charge Force Pulse. Increasing either of those wouldn't let him just "wait" and then blow enemies up. That's not how the game works. Waiting means that they escape. He's an assassin. People aren't going to stand still while he waits for his spells to cool down.
Old Kassadin's combination of high mobility, strong disables and high burst damage left his victims with very few to no options against him (other than banning him in every single ranked game), especially when he snowballed ahead. Our focus here is to introduce more counterplay to Kassadin's kit, something we couldn't do with number tweaks alone. For example, lowering Kass's damage doesn't make for an interesting gameplay interaction (it just means you can turn around and smash him in the face if you survive the burst), while increasing his cooldowns means he just needs to wait longer before blowing somebody up.
In the end, we opted for a full-on kit rework to reinforce his core theme as an anti-magic assassin with unrivaled mobility. These changes mean Kassadin must rely on his mobility to pick fights while finding opportunities to dive in and out of combat to take out targets. It's worth stressing: these changes are to make Kassadin less of a "blow someone up when you can" champion and more of a mobile attacker who wants to get in to fight while using Riftwalk to stay safe. Obviously, this is a significant change, so we'll be watching his performance very closely.
So now he's an assassin that can't kill people? I play pretty conservatively. Ask anyone who's ever played with me. I prefer to stay safe and let opponents overextend, rather than going all-in on kill attempts. And yet, I can say that diving in and going for the throat was the whole thing that made Kassadin rewarding. One doesn't "get in to fight while using Riftwalk to stay safe." Kassadin is a freaking assassin. He kills people. He gets kills. That's what makes him fun. There are other assassins. They can do that too. If Kassadin is just a "mobile attacker" and not someone that kills people, players will just switch to using a different assassin because a "mobile attacker" that doesn't kill is not a viable concept.
I'll skip the next paragraph, which just summarizes the changes, and get to the details of the rework.
Attack Range increased from 125 to 150
I guess that makes Nether Blade a bit better, but it's not a big deal.
Void Stone now has Kassadin ignore unit collision, but loses its attack speed boost
This is also pretty minor. It makes Nether Blade a bit worse, but the attack speed increase was negligible anyway. Ignoring unit collision is also not a big deal for Kassadin, since he's ulting to move over everything anyway. So far, this is fine, but uninteresting.
Null Sphere loses some of the flat portion of its damage. Down from 80/110/140/170/200 + 0.7 AP to 80/105/130/155/180 + 0.7 AP
Well, that doesn't hurt his bad early game and doesn't cripple him later on, so I'm fine with this.
Null Sphere now grants Kassadin a shield for 1.5 seconds that absorbs 40/70/100/130/160 (+0.3 Ability Power) magic damage
So now he'll counter AP mages even harder! I thought lack of counterplay was the problem we were trying to solve here, but I guess not.
No longer silences, instead it interrupts channel spells
And now his Q is useless against AD casters. His passive was already useless against them and their kits usually let them harass him a lot. They took away the part of his Q that was useful against AD opponents, and gave him something that's even stronger against AP opponents. That's not counterplay; it's just a crappy counterpicking game where Kassadin beats AP and loses to AD by default.
New version of Nether Blade. Its has a passive portion that adds 20 + 0.1 AP magic damage to autoattacks. Its active costs no mana, has a 6-second cooldown, and makes Kassadin's next basic attack deal 40/65/90/115/140 + 0.6 AP magic damage and restore a percentage of his missing mana (4/5/6/7/8% normally and 20/25/30/35/40% against champions). It also resets his autoattack.
A bit worse than his old W, really. It might make farming minions a bit easier at some point, but I'm not sure. Not a big deal, either way.
Flat damage on Force Pulse has been reduced. It's down from 80/120/160/200/240 + 0.7 AP to 80/105/130/155/180 + 0.7 AP
This one makes his terrible laning phase even worse. I always, always, always maxed my E first, so I could have some decent damage before I built up enough gold to buy Rod of Ages and Rabadon's Deathcap. This is a pretty severe nerf even by itself.
Riftwalk loses its freaking AP ratio and gets a maximum mana ratio instead (2% of maximum mana instead of 0.8 AP)
No! Dammit. He's Kassadin, not Ryze. Why would he get mana scaling? This encourages building Archangel's Staff on him, and that was the stupid trap people were falling into already. I hate this.
Riftwalk's stacking damage is changed from 50/55/60 to 40/50/60 and the 0.1 AP ratio is replaced with 1% of maximum mana
The flat damage change is consistent with changes to make it harder for him to snowball the middle of the game, but the mana scaling crap is horrible. Give me back my AP scaling, you monsters!
Riftwalk stacks four times instead of ten
This makes some sense. Being able to ult on my way to a fight, during the fight, and then while chasing someone down so that my fully stacked ult obliterated them was kind of silly and needed to be stopped. I'm fine with this, although in conjunction with the other nerfs, it does weaken Kassadin too much.
Riftwalk now doubles its mana cost with each stack instead of increasing by 100 mana
That sounds harsh by itself, but it fits with the previous change and the change to Kassadin's W. Fair enough.
Riftwalk no longer refunds mana on hitting enemy champions
A nerf, but a reasonable one. To be honest, this doesn't matter much either way. Most Kassadin ults don't hit enemy champions and I wouldn't rely on mana reimbursement anyway. I forgot this was even a thing.
Riftwalk starting mana cost reduced from 100 to 75
Well, since it doubles with each stack up to four times, that helps. It's still going to cost 1,200 when fully stacked, though. That's a lot. He might really need Archangel's Staff, and I hate that.
Riftwalk stack duration increased from 8 seconds to 12
I interpret this part as a buff, not a nerf. It can make him mana-hungrier, but if his ult still does damage, stacking it in fights is important for his damage output.
Riftwalk cooldown decreased from 7/6/5 seconds to 7/5/3
Wow. Um, that does make him more mobile. They weren't kidding about that part.
I'll know more once I've tried the post-rework Kassadin, but right now I'm unhappy about these nerfs, especially the part where Null Sphere has no utility against champions using physical damage. Potentially forcing Kassadin into building Tear of the Goddess while also taking away his silence seems like it will make him every AD mid's bitch.
And how can you take away Kassadin's silence, anyway? It's part of his identity. He tried to silence his mother once!
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Team Builder takes forever
I'm still playing League of Legends, but Team The Eschaton is on an indefinite hiatus. Nick is too busy for now and I haven't been playing Ranked games at all, hence the lack of Going for the Gold updates. Landing in Bronze V for the beginning of the season has probably only played a minor part here. I wouldn't be playing much Ranked even if I'd landed in Silver. I said I'm still playing League of Legends, but really, I'm pursuing other interests for now, so I haven't even been getting one game in per day, which is almost a record low of inactivity for me. Mostly, I've been getting first win of the day against bots.
I was looking for advice when I landed in Bronze V, and the only person who offered any told me that I should start trying to climb the ladder right away, rather than taking a break. I guess I rejected that advice, although in other circumstances it may have been good advice and may have worked out. I'm not giving up, but I'm also not actively working on this right now. I play League of Legends for three different reasons, and even though they're mutually compatible, they're almost never simultaneously aligned. My reasons:
It's not that I'm burned out. Not at all. It's that I've had other priorities. Beta-testing The Elder Scrolls Online, something that cut into time I'd normally have spent partially on League of Legends, reminded me of the cool things I wanted to do in Skyrim. So I started playing Skyrim more again. I also got some Magic cards for Christmas and bought myself some more in January, and I've been more focused on Magic lately, even though I don't have a playgroup. More importantly, I've had to step up my job search. After however many months it's been, I've received exactly one rejection letter and heard nothing whatsoever regarding other jobs I've applied for. It's frustrating, but I have to keep at it. Finally, the biggest contributor of all has been that I've gotten more addicted to reading fiction again. A lot of the times when I might have played League of Legends, I've been reading a book instead. Given all this, when I do think I'd like to play a match or two, it's usually co-op games because I just want to have fun and don't care about improving my skills (they're rusty) or advancing my rank.
I haven't given up on PvP matches, but I have cut back on them. Actually, despite being rusty, most of my Normal games have gone quite well. And today, I checked out the Beta version of Team Builder that's available (until tomorrow morning). As the title says, it takes forever. But it did get me doing something I haven't been doing lately: I played three Normal games today. I've long thought League of Legends needs something like Team Builder, but I'm not convinced they're taking the right approach for it. The main problem in my sampling of the system is that, well, it takes forever.
Blind pick and draft pick modes have their own issues. Team Builder potentially addresses some of the issues in Blind pick, but at too steep a cost. I don't want to pick a champion, lock in, and then have some moron type, "mid" into the chat and whine about having called it. That's annoying, but how much am I willing to pay to avoid it? Is the answer ten minutes? Fifteen? I don't think it would be. And that's, apparently, what Team Builder demands. While the team is being set up, I can't leave my computer to do other things. I have to be ready because I might get kicked or the team might get assembled and I'll need to click a button. So I have to sit at my computer the whole time, waiting. Oh, and I'm not exaggerating. I tried Team Builder three times today and I think all three had wait times over ten minutes. That's too long. And this was Beta testing, so the mode had novelty. That won't sustain itself. If the mode goes live like this, people will lose interest and the wait times will become even longer, which will cause even more loss of interest and the whole thing spiral out of control.
I did win all three games, so that was nice. I got fed in all three, actually, first as Karthus, then as Kassadin, then finally as Karthus again. I joined games for the first two, but opted to initiate team-building myself for the last one. It occurs to me that having those two things as separate options for solo queue players is just weird. There are ways to make it so that this isn't the case. Anyway, despite my reservations and annoyance at the ridiculous wait times, I'm hopeful. And the reason for this is quite weird, but to state why it's weird, I need to explain something else first...
When people ask me what role I want, I'm quick to defer or fill. "Oh, I can play any role," I tell them. I say that I don't really care. And I think I mean it. After all, I have practice in every role. I'm adaptable. I'd rather have other people on the team take the roles they're best at than be greedy and make them play where they might do worse. Maybe in some sense I think I'm being magnanimous about this. In reality, I do know that not all roles are equal for me...
I was looking for advice when I landed in Bronze V, and the only person who offered any told me that I should start trying to climb the ladder right away, rather than taking a break. I guess I rejected that advice, although in other circumstances it may have been good advice and may have worked out. I'm not giving up, but I'm also not actively working on this right now. I play League of Legends for three different reasons, and even though they're mutually compatible, they're almost never simultaneously aligned. My reasons:
- For fun.
- As a social experience if I have friends that play, generally chatting with them on Skype while we play, sometimes about things that have nothing to do with the game.
- When I'm really into it. That is, playing the game becomes an end unto itself and I'm focused on improving my skills and picking up wins.
It's not that I'm burned out. Not at all. It's that I've had other priorities. Beta-testing The Elder Scrolls Online, something that cut into time I'd normally have spent partially on League of Legends, reminded me of the cool things I wanted to do in Skyrim. So I started playing Skyrim more again. I also got some Magic cards for Christmas and bought myself some more in January, and I've been more focused on Magic lately, even though I don't have a playgroup. More importantly, I've had to step up my job search. After however many months it's been, I've received exactly one rejection letter and heard nothing whatsoever regarding other jobs I've applied for. It's frustrating, but I have to keep at it. Finally, the biggest contributor of all has been that I've gotten more addicted to reading fiction again. A lot of the times when I might have played League of Legends, I've been reading a book instead. Given all this, when I do think I'd like to play a match or two, it's usually co-op games because I just want to have fun and don't care about improving my skills (they're rusty) or advancing my rank.
I haven't given up on PvP matches, but I have cut back on them. Actually, despite being rusty, most of my Normal games have gone quite well. And today, I checked out the Beta version of Team Builder that's available (until tomorrow morning). As the title says, it takes forever. But it did get me doing something I haven't been doing lately: I played three Normal games today. I've long thought League of Legends needs something like Team Builder, but I'm not convinced they're taking the right approach for it. The main problem in my sampling of the system is that, well, it takes forever.
Blind pick and draft pick modes have their own issues. Team Builder potentially addresses some of the issues in Blind pick, but at too steep a cost. I don't want to pick a champion, lock in, and then have some moron type, "mid" into the chat and whine about having called it. That's annoying, but how much am I willing to pay to avoid it? Is the answer ten minutes? Fifteen? I don't think it would be. And that's, apparently, what Team Builder demands. While the team is being set up, I can't leave my computer to do other things. I have to be ready because I might get kicked or the team might get assembled and I'll need to click a button. So I have to sit at my computer the whole time, waiting. Oh, and I'm not exaggerating. I tried Team Builder three times today and I think all three had wait times over ten minutes. That's too long. And this was Beta testing, so the mode had novelty. That won't sustain itself. If the mode goes live like this, people will lose interest and the wait times will become even longer, which will cause even more loss of interest and the whole thing spiral out of control.
I did win all three games, so that was nice. I got fed in all three, actually, first as Karthus, then as Kassadin, then finally as Karthus again. I joined games for the first two, but opted to initiate team-building myself for the last one. It occurs to me that having those two things as separate options for solo queue players is just weird. There are ways to make it so that this isn't the case. Anyway, despite my reservations and annoyance at the ridiculous wait times, I'm hopeful. And the reason for this is quite weird, but to state why it's weird, I need to explain something else first...
When people ask me what role I want, I'm quick to defer or fill. "Oh, I can play any role," I tell them. I say that I don't really care. And I think I mean it. After all, I have practice in every role. I'm adaptable. I'd rather have other people on the team take the roles they're best at than be greedy and make them play where they might do worse. Maybe in some sense I think I'm being magnanimous about this. In reality, I do know that not all roles are equal for me...
- I have less practice as a solo top and I have few champions that I can play adequately in that role. I tend to get too isolated from the overall flow of the game if I go solo top. There are also some champions I'm not comfortable laning against up there.
- I'm too conservative as a jungler and tend to fall behind. I'm not the worst jungler, but it's never been my strong suit. I prefer to lane and only jungle if I have to.
- I have a very methodical approach to playing as an ADC, and sometimes it takes too long to reach fruition. If the game is one where my playing passively will work out, then that's fine, but not every game is like that and I sometimes think that my passive play is making things hard on my lane partner.
- When I support, I feel like I'm relying on my teammates to do what I think they should do. I've made great plays as a support and it's cool when that happens, but I've also gotten really frustrated when my lane partner made a stupid move and fed. Coordinating in a duo lane isn't my favorite way to play the game anyway.
- I have some mid champions that I'm very experienced with, and I almost always hold my own in mid.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
And now for something completely different...
Elder Tokes: noob enemy team
Elder Tokes: Report them unskilled
DiaBahlical: Will do.
Valkos: LOL THOSE WERE BOTS NOOB
Elder Tokes: Lol whatever man
Elder Tokes: You wish
Valkos: LOL IS THIS KID FOR REAL?
Elder Tokes: Fuck you
Elder Tokes: You suck at the game
Elder Tokes: uninstall
Valkos: YOUR FUCKING KIDDING ME
Valkos: THIS KID THHOUGHT HE WAS PLAYING REAL PEOPLE
Elder Tokes: Im bro cmon
Valkos: LAWL
Elder Tokes: Is this your first game nub?
Valkos: MY MAIN IS PLAT, IM JUS PLAYING AROUND
Elder Tokes: Look at their names it doesnt say Ziggs bot nub
Valkos: kid lawl kid
Elder Tokes: bro lawl bro
DiaBahlical: LOL You guys probably duoed.
Elder Tokes: I would never duo with this trash
Valkos: I DONT KNOW THIS KID
Valkos: I SOLOED
Valkos: noobcake
Elder Tokes: I always solo
Elder Tokes: I dont need a team 1v5 every game
Valkos: ONLY THING YOU SOLO IS URSELF LEL
Elder Tokes: Bro do you want to 1v1
Elder Tokes: I swear I will rek you
Valkos: ILL 1V1 UR MOM LOLO
Elder Tokes: Ill 1v1 ur granny lawl get on my level
Valkos: Yolo
Elder Tokes: Nolo
Valkos: such a fucking kid
Elder Tokes: Omfg I am ur new God
Valkos: LOL GOD IS FAKE, UR FAKE
Elder Tokes: Whatever god is not fake
Elder Tokes: Who make the heavens and the earth? NOT SCIENCE
Valkos: LOL THIS KID
Valkos: SUPER FAG
Elder Tokes: lol this bro
Elder Tokes: Someone settle this
Elder Tokes: WHo is nub?
DiaBahlical: Neither of you!
Valkos: THE GUY WHO FUCKED UR MOM LOLOL
DiaBahlical: You're both beautiful and unique snowflakes.
Elder Tokes: Nope
Elder Tokes: This guy is sleet
Elder Tokes: I am beautiful snowflake he is nub
Valkos: ^ IM LIKE A BREATH OF AIR
Valkos: FRESH
Elder Tokes: Im like fresh oj at sunrise
Valkos: UR LIKE ROTTEN MILK LAWL
Elder Tokes: No I dont
Elder Tokes: You are lie
Valkos: NO ONE WANTS YOU
Valkos: GET IN THE TRASH
Elder Tokes: You smell like trash
Elder Tokes: Food trash
Valkos: IM LIKE
Valkos: SUPER ORGIONAL
Elder Tokes: You are super nub
Elder Tokes: I am origional
Valkos: NO TIME
Valkos: IN DAT MUMS PUSS
Elder Tokes: No my mom just made breakfast, where are you hunh?
Elder Tokes: Not here
Valkos: IN DAT PUSS
Elder Tokes: Listen I will fight you in real life if you dont stop I swear to god bro
Valkos: KID, I PROB MADE U
Elder Tokes: Tell this guy he is more nub than me
Valkos: UR PROB A SKINNY LITTLE BITCH
Elder Tokes: I am king of you
Valkos: YOUR KING OF MY DICK
Elder Tokes: No you are homo
Elder Tokes: You are so homo
Valkos: YO DIA
Elder Tokes: so
Elder Tokes: homo
Valkos: NOT WHAT UR MOM SAID
Valkos: WHEN I WAS IN DAT PUSS
Valkos: U HEAR THE WALLS CREEPIN IN?
Valkos: DATS ME
Valkos: YO DIA
Valkos: YO DIABAHLICAL
DiaBahlical: Yo.
Valkos: YO DAWG
Elder Tokes: I am rubber you are glue
Elder Tokes: Every thing you say bounces from me and makes you homosexual
Valkos: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS NUBCAKE
Elder Tokes: Tell this bro I am his king
DiaBahlical: Sounds like some fabulous rubber.
Valkos: DATS WHAT UR MOM SAID LAST NIGHT
Valkos: LOLO
Elder Tokes: Tell this guy I am king of his house and his mom his my wife
DiaBahlical: Oh hey, I think Elder Tokes wanted you to be informed that he is apparently your king.
Elder Tokes: Tell him Dia
Elder Tokes: See I win
Elder Tokes: You are more nub
DiaBahlical: Apparently there has been a coup?
Valkos: LOL TELL THAT NIGGER HE ISNT NOTHING BUT A LITTLE BITCH
Valkos: JUST LIKE THAT
Valkos: THE ONLY THING HE RULES IS HOMOSEXUALITY
Elder Tokes: Tell him I am his King so he is gay
Valkos: YOLO
DiaBahlical: I don't know whether he is king or queen then.
DiaBahlical: That's too confusing.
Valkos: KING OF HOMOSEXUALITY
Valkos: SEE
Elder Tokes: I am King of you
Valkos: YOU LOOSE LITTLE GIRL
Valkos: KID, CRY, BLANKET, AND BED
Elder Tokes: Uh, well thats where you wrong I am boy
Valkos: 4 WORDS 4 UUUUUUUUUUU
Elder Tokes: I will tell you 4 words
DiaBahlical: But the part about being loose and the blanket and stuff?
Elder Tokes: I am your King
DiaBahlical: Was that still true?
DiaBahlical: Or is that also wrong?
Elder Tokes: No I am not a loose or a blanket
Valkos: NIGGER, HE IS A BLANKET
Elder Tokes: I am not a blanket I tell you again
Valkos: I GOT SOME SHADES
Valkos: THESE SHADES TELL ME URS A HOE
Valkos: BRO, I GOT SUPA FLIGHT
DiaBahlical: I am in doubt that a blanket would be able to type messages into this chat.
Elder Tokes: Yeah thats what I say
Elder Tokes: I am no blanket
Valkos: DIA, STOP PLAYING A DUMB BITCH
Valkos: I NEVER SAID NUTHIN ABNOUT A BLANKET
Valkos: HES A KID
Elder Tokes: Tell Valkos I am king and he is dirty peasant
Valkos: KIDS LIKE BLANKETS
Elder Tokes: I AM NOT A BLANKET
Valkos: ELDER TOKES SOME DICK YOLO
Elder Tokes: You take that back right now
Valkos: BRO, U WANT THE NEXT LEVEL?
Elder Tokes: I am next level
Elder Tokes: You are not
Elder Tokes: I am
Valkos: WELCOME TO THE BIG LEAGUE
DiaBahlical: Tokes dick?
Valkos: DATS RIGHT
DiaBahlical: That is some voodoo shit right there.
Valkos: GAIS LIKE HIM AMKE IT HAPPEN
DiaBahlical: Does he sever the dicks first, or just toke them while his poor victims are still attached?
Valkos: DIA TELL HIM I WIN
Elder Tokes: Dia you tell him I am league King
DiaBahlical: OK, OK.
DiaBahlical: I think I've got this.
Elder Tokes: Who is win?
DiaBahlical: Valkos, Elder Tokes is league king. Elder Tokes, Valkos win.
Valkos: nope
DiaBahlical: Did I get it right?
Elder Tokes: But which is best, league king or win?
Valkos: U DONE FUCKED UP
DiaBahlical: Damn.
Elder Tokes: Tell him I am best
DiaBahlical: Sorry.
Valkos: TELL THIS SMELLY KID IM BEST
DiaBahlical: Let's see, so...
Elder Tokes: I am transcendance
DiaBahlical: Wait, which one is the smelly kid?
Elder Tokes: Valkos
Valkos: ELDER
Valkos: ELDER TOKES A DICK
Valkos: YOLO
Elder Tokes: You take that back
Elder Tokes: I am not dick, or loose, or blanket
DiaBahlical: "Transcendence" is a big word for a little kid.
Elder Tokes: I am league king
Valkos: SHIT DAWG
DiaBahlical: Are you guys sure that Elder Tokes is a kid?
Valkos: HE HAS GOOGLE
Valkos: SEE
DiaBahlical: Ah.
Elder Tokes: I am no kid
Elder Tokes: Kid cannot King
Elder Tokes: I am king
Valkos: Aurantiaceous
Valkos: I CAN DO DAT TOO
Elder Tokes: King elder tokes not fit so I just assume all know
Valkos: KING OF DICKS YOLO
DiaBahlical: So I'm supposed to use Google to find out which of you wins?
Elder Tokes: I am literally King of San Marino
Valkos: LOL DAT AINT EVEN A PLACE
Valkos: KIDS MAKING UP SHIT
DiaBahlical: Oh, it's a place.
Elder Tokes: Uh no
Valkos: A GOOGLE PLACE
Valkos: LOLO
Elder Tokes: Uh google is bad corporation I use bing for search time
DiaBahlical: What?
DiaBahlical: Oh, hell no.
DiaBahlical: Valkos wins then.
Elder Tokes: No
Elder Tokes: I win you both
Valkos: BOOM
DiaBahlical: No, you lose, you Bing-loving blanket-child.
Valkos: THIS KID DONT EVEN KNO
Elder Tokes: You take that back immediately
Elder Tokes: I am king
Elder Tokes: I am transcendance
DiaBahlical: You can't be transcendence. That's not even possible.
Elder Tokes: Google take 7 dollars from my bank account
Elder Tokes: Its not much but it principle
Elder Tokes: So now I destroy google
Valkos: YO FUK U DIABHLICAL
Elder Tokes: Tell me your IP DIa
Valkos: STEAL KILLING THUG
Elder Tokes: I will find you and kill you rape your family
Elder Tokes: I am king your are dump trash
Elder Tokes: I am transcendance
DiaBahlical: OK, OK.
Valkos: YALL KNO MY FIGHT
Valkos: IS LIKE
DiaBahlical: 192.168.1.1
Valkos: WOW
Elder Tokes: Wrong ip
Elder Tokes: That home for all
Elder Tokes: Give me real ip you scare
DiaBahlical: LOL
DiaBahlical: What are you talking about?
Elder Tokes: I fuck you
DiaBahlical: Yeah?
Elder Tokes: Yes
Valkos: LOL DIA U GETTING PUNKED
Valkos: HE GOT U BY THE BALLS
Valkos: LAWL
Elder Tokes: Tell me you Ip
Elder Tokes: I tell you mine
Elder Tokes: We meet in middle
Elder Tokes: And I fuck you
DiaBahlical: 192.168.1.1
Elder Tokes: No
Valkos: ROLFCOPTOR
Elder Tokes: Dont play coy with me spaceman
DiaBahlical: Why, whatever are you talking about?
Valkos: DIA U GETTING PUNKED SO HARD DAWG
Elder Tokes: I TALK YOUR MOTHER
Elder Tokes: I TALK YOUR GRANDMOTHER
Elder Tokes: I TALK YOU
Elder Tokes: MY DICK
Elder Tokes: I AM TRANSCENDANCE
DiaBahlical: Sorry, I don't know what you mean by "I TALK YOU MY DICK."
Elder Tokes: Take a picture it will last longer
DiaBahlical: Would you like me to do a web search for it?
Elder Tokes: and then i fuck you with it
Valkos: DIAS UR RESPONSE IS MAKIN U LOOK LIKE A LITTKE BITCH
Elder Tokes: I put harness on your grandma
Elder Tokes: Ride her like camal
DiaBahlical: Wait, you'd fuck me with a picture?
DiaBahlical: How would that work?
DiaBahlical: What are the details?
Elder Tokes: You will see
DiaBahlical: No, tell me now!
Elder Tokes: WORLD OF PAIN
Elder Tokes: I SAY YOU FIND OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Valkos: YO DIABAH
Valkos: A/S/L?
Elder Tokes: YOU ARE SO STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DiaBahlical: 28/M/Seattle
Valkos: UZE A BITCH
Elder Tokes: Seatlle hahahahaha
Elder Tokes: You are gay boy
Elder Tokes: Nothing from Seattle but steer and queer you farmer HAHAHAHA
DiaBahlical: Well yeah.
DiaBahlical: But I thought you were too!
DiaBahlical: After all those times you promised to fuck me.
Elder Tokes: I am King of san Marino
Elder Tokes: NO
Elder Tokes: NOT FUCK YOU LIKE WOMAN
Elder Tokes: FUCK YOU LIKE JAIL MAN
Valkos: HES KING OF QUEER, AND LOOKS LIKE UR HIS QUEEN LAWL
Elder Tokes: TAKE YOUR DIGINITY AND LIFE FORCE
DiaBahlical: I'm afraid I don't follow.
Elder Tokes: I AM TRANSCENDANCE
DiaBahlical: Yeah, you've said that.
Elder Tokes: I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID
Elder Tokes: YOU SAID YOUA RE GAY
Valkos: LOL YOU'VE SAID THAT IS INCORRECT
Elder Tokes: I WIL KILL YOU I SWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Valkos: YO EVAN
Elder Tokes: Youa re from seattle
Elder Tokes: You are Frasier Crane
Elder Tokes: I am Carl jung
Elder Tokes: You suck my dick now
Valkos: I AM SIGMUND FRUED
DiaBahlical: Whoa, but Carl Jung is dead...
DiaBahlical: You guys are both dead?
Elder Tokes: It was fake
DiaBahlical: I didn't know ghosts played League.
Elder Tokes: I got tired of being celebrity hunk
Valkos: I GOT YOUR PSYCHOANALYSIS THEORY RIGHT HERE
DiaBahlical: Wait, so Carl Jung faked his own death?
Elder Tokes: Yes I did
Elder Tokes: And become King of San Marino
DiaBahlical: But he'd be dead by now anyway.
Elder Tokes: DO YOU NOT LISTEN?!?!?!?!?!
Elder Tokes: I AM TRANSCENDANCE
DiaBahlical: So by doing this transcendent dance, you've managed to live for over 130 years?
DiaBahlical: Tell me more!
Elder Tokes: OVer 1,300 years
DiaBahlical: Not that kind of more!
Elder Tokes: If I tell you I have to kill
Elder Tokes: Which I will do already
DiaBahlical: So, what's the problem then?
Elder Tokes: I hate you
DiaBahlical: Aw.
Elder Tokes: I found your IP
Elder Tokes: Big mistake
Elder Tokes: I AM KING
Elder Tokes: I AM TRANSCENDANCE
Elder Tokes: PREPARE TO DIE
DiaBahlical: Aw, he left.
DiaBahlical: Well Valkos, despite your antics, I'm still awarding victory to you.
DiaBahlical: So congratulations.
Elder Tokes: Report them unskilled
DiaBahlical: Will do.
Valkos: LOL THOSE WERE BOTS NOOB
Elder Tokes: Lol whatever man
Elder Tokes: You wish
Valkos: LOL IS THIS KID FOR REAL?
Elder Tokes: Fuck you
Elder Tokes: You suck at the game
Elder Tokes: uninstall
Valkos: YOUR FUCKING KIDDING ME
Valkos: THIS KID THHOUGHT HE WAS PLAYING REAL PEOPLE
Elder Tokes: Im bro cmon
Valkos: LAWL
Elder Tokes: Is this your first game nub?
Valkos: MY MAIN IS PLAT, IM JUS PLAYING AROUND
Elder Tokes: Look at their names it doesnt say Ziggs bot nub
Valkos: kid lawl kid
Elder Tokes: bro lawl bro
DiaBahlical: LOL You guys probably duoed.
Elder Tokes: I would never duo with this trash
Valkos: I DONT KNOW THIS KID
Valkos: I SOLOED
Valkos: noobcake
Elder Tokes: I always solo
Elder Tokes: I dont need a team 1v5 every game
Valkos: ONLY THING YOU SOLO IS URSELF LEL
Elder Tokes: Bro do you want to 1v1
Elder Tokes: I swear I will rek you
Valkos: ILL 1V1 UR MOM LOLO
Elder Tokes: Ill 1v1 ur granny lawl get on my level
Valkos: Yolo
Elder Tokes: Nolo
Valkos: such a fucking kid
Elder Tokes: Omfg I am ur new God
Valkos: LOL GOD IS FAKE, UR FAKE
Elder Tokes: Whatever god is not fake
Elder Tokes: Who make the heavens and the earth? NOT SCIENCE
Valkos: LOL THIS KID
Valkos: SUPER FAG
Elder Tokes: lol this bro
Elder Tokes: Someone settle this
Elder Tokes: WHo is nub?
DiaBahlical: Neither of you!
Valkos: THE GUY WHO FUCKED UR MOM LOLOL
DiaBahlical: You're both beautiful and unique snowflakes.
Elder Tokes: Nope
Elder Tokes: This guy is sleet
Elder Tokes: I am beautiful snowflake he is nub
Valkos: ^ IM LIKE A BREATH OF AIR
Valkos: FRESH
Elder Tokes: Im like fresh oj at sunrise
Valkos: UR LIKE ROTTEN MILK LAWL
Elder Tokes: No I dont
Elder Tokes: You are lie
Valkos: NO ONE WANTS YOU
Valkos: GET IN THE TRASH
Elder Tokes: You smell like trash
Elder Tokes: Food trash
Valkos: IM LIKE
Valkos: SUPER ORGIONAL
Elder Tokes: You are super nub
Elder Tokes: I am origional
Valkos: NO TIME
Valkos: IN DAT MUMS PUSS
Elder Tokes: No my mom just made breakfast, where are you hunh?
Elder Tokes: Not here
Valkos: IN DAT PUSS
Elder Tokes: Listen I will fight you in real life if you dont stop I swear to god bro
Valkos: KID, I PROB MADE U
Elder Tokes: Tell this guy he is more nub than me
Valkos: UR PROB A SKINNY LITTLE BITCH
Elder Tokes: I am king of you
Valkos: YOUR KING OF MY DICK
Elder Tokes: No you are homo
Elder Tokes: You are so homo
Valkos: YO DIA
Elder Tokes: so
Elder Tokes: homo
Valkos: NOT WHAT UR MOM SAID
Valkos: WHEN I WAS IN DAT PUSS
Valkos: U HEAR THE WALLS CREEPIN IN?
Valkos: DATS ME
Valkos: YO DIA
Valkos: YO DIABAHLICAL
DiaBahlical: Yo.
Valkos: YO DAWG
Elder Tokes: I am rubber you are glue
Elder Tokes: Every thing you say bounces from me and makes you homosexual
Valkos: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS NUBCAKE
Elder Tokes: Tell this bro I am his king
DiaBahlical: Sounds like some fabulous rubber.
Valkos: DATS WHAT UR MOM SAID LAST NIGHT
Valkos: LOLO
Elder Tokes: Tell this guy I am king of his house and his mom his my wife
DiaBahlical: Oh hey, I think Elder Tokes wanted you to be informed that he is apparently your king.
Elder Tokes: Tell him Dia
Elder Tokes: See I win
Elder Tokes: You are more nub
DiaBahlical: Apparently there has been a coup?
Valkos: LOL TELL THAT NIGGER HE ISNT NOTHING BUT A LITTLE BITCH
Valkos: JUST LIKE THAT
Valkos: THE ONLY THING HE RULES IS HOMOSEXUALITY
Elder Tokes: Tell him I am his King so he is gay
Valkos: YOLO
DiaBahlical: I don't know whether he is king or queen then.
DiaBahlical: That's too confusing.
Valkos: KING OF HOMOSEXUALITY
Valkos: SEE
Elder Tokes: I am King of you
Valkos: YOU LOOSE LITTLE GIRL
Valkos: KID, CRY, BLANKET, AND BED
Elder Tokes: Uh, well thats where you wrong I am boy
Valkos: 4 WORDS 4 UUUUUUUUUUU
Elder Tokes: I will tell you 4 words
DiaBahlical: But the part about being loose and the blanket and stuff?
Elder Tokes: I am your King
DiaBahlical: Was that still true?
DiaBahlical: Or is that also wrong?
Elder Tokes: No I am not a loose or a blanket
Valkos: NIGGER, HE IS A BLANKET
Elder Tokes: I am not a blanket I tell you again
Valkos: I GOT SOME SHADES
Valkos: THESE SHADES TELL ME URS A HOE
Valkos: BRO, I GOT SUPA FLIGHT
DiaBahlical: I am in doubt that a blanket would be able to type messages into this chat.
Elder Tokes: Yeah thats what I say
Elder Tokes: I am no blanket
Valkos: DIA, STOP PLAYING A DUMB BITCH
Valkos: I NEVER SAID NUTHIN ABNOUT A BLANKET
Valkos: HES A KID
Elder Tokes: Tell Valkos I am king and he is dirty peasant
Valkos: KIDS LIKE BLANKETS
Elder Tokes: I AM NOT A BLANKET
Valkos: ELDER TOKES SOME DICK YOLO
Elder Tokes: You take that back right now
Valkos: BRO, U WANT THE NEXT LEVEL?
Elder Tokes: I am next level
Elder Tokes: You are not
Elder Tokes: I am
Valkos: WELCOME TO THE BIG LEAGUE
DiaBahlical: Tokes dick?
Valkos: DATS RIGHT
DiaBahlical: That is some voodoo shit right there.
Valkos: GAIS LIKE HIM AMKE IT HAPPEN
DiaBahlical: Does he sever the dicks first, or just toke them while his poor victims are still attached?
Valkos: DIA TELL HIM I WIN
Elder Tokes: Dia you tell him I am league King
DiaBahlical: OK, OK.
DiaBahlical: I think I've got this.
Elder Tokes: Who is win?
DiaBahlical: Valkos, Elder Tokes is league king. Elder Tokes, Valkos win.
Valkos: nope
DiaBahlical: Did I get it right?
Elder Tokes: But which is best, league king or win?
Valkos: U DONE FUCKED UP
DiaBahlical: Damn.
Elder Tokes: Tell him I am best
DiaBahlical: Sorry.
Valkos: TELL THIS SMELLY KID IM BEST
DiaBahlical: Let's see, so...
Elder Tokes: I am transcendance
DiaBahlical: Wait, which one is the smelly kid?
Elder Tokes: Valkos
Valkos: ELDER
Valkos: ELDER TOKES A DICK
Valkos: YOLO
Elder Tokes: You take that back
Elder Tokes: I am not dick, or loose, or blanket
DiaBahlical: "Transcendence" is a big word for a little kid.
Elder Tokes: I am league king
Valkos: SHIT DAWG
DiaBahlical: Are you guys sure that Elder Tokes is a kid?
Valkos: HE HAS GOOGLE
Valkos: SEE
DiaBahlical: Ah.
Elder Tokes: I am no kid
Elder Tokes: Kid cannot King
Elder Tokes: I am king
Valkos: Aurantiaceous
Valkos: I CAN DO DAT TOO
Elder Tokes: King elder tokes not fit so I just assume all know
Valkos: KING OF DICKS YOLO
DiaBahlical: So I'm supposed to use Google to find out which of you wins?
Elder Tokes: I am literally King of San Marino
Valkos: LOL DAT AINT EVEN A PLACE
Valkos: KIDS MAKING UP SHIT
DiaBahlical: Oh, it's a place.
Elder Tokes: Uh no
Valkos: A GOOGLE PLACE
Valkos: LOLO
Elder Tokes: Uh google is bad corporation I use bing for search time
DiaBahlical: What?
DiaBahlical: Oh, hell no.
DiaBahlical: Valkos wins then.
Elder Tokes: No
Elder Tokes: I win you both
Valkos: BOOM
DiaBahlical: No, you lose, you Bing-loving blanket-child.
Valkos: THIS KID DONT EVEN KNO
Elder Tokes: You take that back immediately
Elder Tokes: I am king
Elder Tokes: I am transcendance
DiaBahlical: You can't be transcendence. That's not even possible.
Elder Tokes: Google take 7 dollars from my bank account
Elder Tokes: Its not much but it principle
Elder Tokes: So now I destroy google
Valkos: YO FUK U DIABHLICAL
Elder Tokes: Tell me your IP DIa
Valkos: STEAL KILLING THUG
Elder Tokes: I will find you and kill you rape your family
Elder Tokes: I am king your are dump trash
Elder Tokes: I am transcendance
DiaBahlical: OK, OK.
Valkos: YALL KNO MY FIGHT
Valkos: IS LIKE
DiaBahlical: 192.168.1.1
Valkos: WOW
Elder Tokes: Wrong ip
Elder Tokes: That home for all
Elder Tokes: Give me real ip you scare
DiaBahlical: LOL
DiaBahlical: What are you talking about?
Elder Tokes: I fuck you
DiaBahlical: Yeah?
Elder Tokes: Yes
Valkos: LOL DIA U GETTING PUNKED
Valkos: HE GOT U BY THE BALLS
Valkos: LAWL
Elder Tokes: Tell me you Ip
Elder Tokes: I tell you mine
Elder Tokes: We meet in middle
Elder Tokes: And I fuck you
DiaBahlical: 192.168.1.1
Elder Tokes: No
Valkos: ROLFCOPTOR
Elder Tokes: Dont play coy with me spaceman
DiaBahlical: Why, whatever are you talking about?
Valkos: DIA U GETTING PUNKED SO HARD DAWG
Elder Tokes: I TALK YOUR MOTHER
Elder Tokes: I TALK YOUR GRANDMOTHER
Elder Tokes: I TALK YOU
Elder Tokes: MY DICK
Elder Tokes: I AM TRANSCENDANCE
DiaBahlical: Sorry, I don't know what you mean by "I TALK YOU MY DICK."
Elder Tokes: Take a picture it will last longer
DiaBahlical: Would you like me to do a web search for it?
Elder Tokes: and then i fuck you with it
Valkos: DIAS UR RESPONSE IS MAKIN U LOOK LIKE A LITTKE BITCH
Elder Tokes: I put harness on your grandma
Elder Tokes: Ride her like camal
DiaBahlical: Wait, you'd fuck me with a picture?
DiaBahlical: How would that work?
DiaBahlical: What are the details?
Elder Tokes: You will see
DiaBahlical: No, tell me now!
Elder Tokes: WORLD OF PAIN
Elder Tokes: I SAY YOU FIND OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Valkos: YO DIABAH
Valkos: A/S/L?
Elder Tokes: YOU ARE SO STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DiaBahlical: 28/M/Seattle
Valkos: UZE A BITCH
Elder Tokes: Seatlle hahahahaha
Elder Tokes: You are gay boy
Elder Tokes: Nothing from Seattle but steer and queer you farmer HAHAHAHA
DiaBahlical: Well yeah.
DiaBahlical: But I thought you were too!
DiaBahlical: After all those times you promised to fuck me.
Elder Tokes: I am King of san Marino
Elder Tokes: NO
Elder Tokes: NOT FUCK YOU LIKE WOMAN
Elder Tokes: FUCK YOU LIKE JAIL MAN
Valkos: HES KING OF QUEER, AND LOOKS LIKE UR HIS QUEEN LAWL
Elder Tokes: TAKE YOUR DIGINITY AND LIFE FORCE
DiaBahlical: I'm afraid I don't follow.
Elder Tokes: I AM TRANSCENDANCE
DiaBahlical: Yeah, you've said that.
Elder Tokes: I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID
Elder Tokes: YOU SAID YOUA RE GAY
Valkos: LOL YOU'VE SAID THAT IS INCORRECT
Elder Tokes: I WIL KILL YOU I SWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Valkos: YO EVAN
Elder Tokes: Youa re from seattle
Elder Tokes: You are Frasier Crane
Elder Tokes: I am Carl jung
Elder Tokes: You suck my dick now
Valkos: I AM SIGMUND FRUED
DiaBahlical: Whoa, but Carl Jung is dead...
DiaBahlical: You guys are both dead?
Elder Tokes: It was fake
DiaBahlical: I didn't know ghosts played League.
Elder Tokes: I got tired of being celebrity hunk
Valkos: I GOT YOUR PSYCHOANALYSIS THEORY RIGHT HERE
DiaBahlical: Wait, so Carl Jung faked his own death?
Elder Tokes: Yes I did
Elder Tokes: And become King of San Marino
DiaBahlical: But he'd be dead by now anyway.
Elder Tokes: DO YOU NOT LISTEN?!?!?!?!?!
Elder Tokes: I AM TRANSCENDANCE
DiaBahlical: So by doing this transcendent dance, you've managed to live for over 130 years?
DiaBahlical: Tell me more!
Elder Tokes: OVer 1,300 years
DiaBahlical: Not that kind of more!
Elder Tokes: If I tell you I have to kill
Elder Tokes: Which I will do already
DiaBahlical: So, what's the problem then?
Elder Tokes: I hate you
DiaBahlical: Aw.
Elder Tokes: I found your IP
Elder Tokes: Big mistake
Elder Tokes: I AM KING
Elder Tokes: I AM TRANSCENDANCE
Elder Tokes: PREPARE TO DIE
DiaBahlical: Aw, he left.
DiaBahlical: Well Valkos, despite your antics, I'm still awarding victory to you.
DiaBahlical: So congratulations.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Going for the Gold Part XVIII: Ladder Reset
After playing League of Legends for over two years and accumulating
over a thousand normal games, I finally entered ranked play. In my own,
totally objective, assessment, I am skilled enough for Gold. My
placement matches disagreed, and threw me into Bronze II. This is the
story of my attempt to prove them wrong. This is Going for the Gold.
The ladder rest happened. I knew it was coming, but somehow there was enough of a delay and no real warning until it was too late, so it took me by surprise and I never finished that promo series. I knew going into this that I had a second chance of sorts. Doing placement matches again, I might end up starting out higher in Season 4 than I'd ever been in Season 3. There was also the possibility that I could end up even lower, and that was so daunting that I hesitated to even start.
Ultimately, it was the prospect of playing with Nick that got me motivated to get back to Ranked play. My first eight placement matches were done in a duo queue with him. Nick was team captain every time and I was last pick every time. In the last two games, I queued alone and was fourth pick both times.
In my first placement match, we had Zilean (mid), Nidalee (top), Tryndamere (jungle), Tristana (me), and Leona (Nick). The other team consisted of Ziggs (mid), Dr. Mundo (top), Nasus (jungle), Sivir (ADC), and Thresh (support). Our lane opponents bullied us and pushed constantly, but it didn't really matter. The other lanes fed massively and there was an early surrender, with me as the only no vote. My final K/D/A was 0/0/0. I was able to Rocket Jump to escape from some attempted kills, but couldn't salvage the game sufficiently to stop the surrender.
In my second placement match, we had Syndra (mid), Jax (top), Xin Zhao (jungle), Tristana (me), and Sona (Nick). The other team consisted of Ziggs (mid), Renekton (top), Master Yi (jungle), Jinx (ADC), and Leona (support). This game was closer than the previous one, but still managed to be another display of Ziggs getting fed. I was 1/1/1, I think, at some point, but I started to be more aggressive because I didn't want to repeat the previous game. When I couldn't pick up any kills and kept getting caught, I went back to being cautious, but it didn't matter: Ziggs and Master Yi were both fed enough that they could take any turret together by killing everyone under it. I ended up going 1/7/1 and flipping out about the feeders, which hopefully at least amused Nick.
In my third placement match, I finally got Karthus. The rest of our team consisted of Wukong (Nick), Shyvana (jungle), Jinx (ADC), and Leona (support). The other team had Cho'Gath (mid), Nasus (top), Olaf (jungle), Ezreal (ADC), and Janna (support). There is no way for Cho'Gath to stop Karthus from farming, so my lane was essentially secured. Nick also won his lane, and managed to get Olaf to camp top in the process. It didn't matter. Once again, our allies were just that bad. I went 14/5/7, but it wasn't enough, and we lost.
I'll preface the fourth placement match my noting that, as usual, I was last pick. I couldn't pick Mordekaiser because the other team had him, but I was worried that he'd be soloing top, which was the lane I'd be in. They also had Singed, so I couldn't pick him. I wasn't going to pick Swain, Sion, or Nasus against Mordekaiser, so I was at a loss. I was supposed to solo top, and none of my champions were even available. With the clock running down, I picked Cho'Gath. It turned out to be Fizz (mid), Cho'Gath (me), Fiddlesticks (jungle), Draven (ADC), and Morgana (Nick supporting) against Mordekaiser (mid), Singed (top), Malphite (jungle), Ashe (ADC), and Thresh (support). This game was like a mirror of my first three placement matches. No one on our team was particularly bad and almost everyone on the other team was. I didn't really do much, but I held top lane and killed some of them when they tried to fight me there. My final K/D/A was 3/1/3. This was the first placement match victory for me and also for Nick.
The fifth placement match was just stupid. Nick had taken the jungle and one person picked Janna as a support. Those two were fine. We also had a Malzahar and a Warwick, but the Malzahar player called top, so that left us needing an ADC, but also not having a real mid against their Cassiopeia. Nick told me to just pick Karthus. I inquired and got no response, so I picked Karthus. The Janna player said I should go ADC, so I switched to Tristana. I went bot and so did Janna, but then Warwick eventually went bot too, and continued to ignore the rest of us. With mid completely undefended, I was forced to switch. Tristana didn't stand a chance against Cassiopeia. We'd have lost for sure, but the enemy Nasus was a no-show. That left Teemo against Malzahar, me against Cassiopeia, and Janna with the useless Warwick against the enemy bot lane of Caitlyn and Sona. We were disadvantaged in every lane, but had Nick to back us up. Because it was 5 vs. 4, we could win fights, but our teammates never capitalized on that, so Nick and I did it for them. We died a lot, but we took the objectives we needed to take. Nick saved this already stupid game from being and even stupider upset, despite being too drunk to land skillshots. I went 6/7/4.
In my sixth placement match, we had Ziggs (mid), Jax (solo top), Kha'Zix (jungle), Tristana (me), and Lux (Nick supporting). Nick was already whining about me picking Tristana. He'd wanted me to go Karthus mid, which I'd wanted too, but I was last pick and didn't get it. We were up against Heimerdinger (mid), Garen (top), Lee Sin (jungle), Caitlyn (ADC), and Lulu (support). Our lane didn't go too well and Lee Sin wrecked everyone while our jungler didn't help us at all. Our Ziggs fed Heimerdinger and the whole thing looked to be a disaster. Eventually the game ran long enough that we started coming out ahead in fights. I got full build and still couldn't pick up kills without dying, but we were coming out ahead, so whatever. Ultimately, we won. I went 9/9/7. This took me to a neutral record in my placement matches, which made me feel a bit better. I was still pretty annoyed that I couldn't have a single good Tristana game. I'd been dominating with her before this season.
For my seventh placement match, Nick first picked Nidalee "fill." We had Kayle (mid), Gangplank (top), Xin Zhao (jungle), Tristana (me), and Nidalee (Nick supporting) against Teemo (mid), Pantheon (top), Vi (jungle), Twitch (ADC), and Lulu (support). Despite Vi's exclusive focus on me, our lane went pretty well. We were losing overall, but I thought things would work out. I started picking up kills. I got another one. And then Pantheon leapt onto me and instantly killed me. I joked to Nick, "Who fed Pantheon? His damage is crazy." Then I looked at the scoreboard and saw that Pantheon had twelve kills. Oh. We tried, but yeah, can't carry feeders, I guess. It sounds so cynical, but it seems pretty applicable as far as this game went. My final K/D/A was 8/6/3.
In my last placement match with Nick, he first picked Nidalee "fill" again. This was the one where a teammate whined about Nidalee being a bad support. Nick responded, "So pick a better one." No one else wanted to support, so Nick was Nidalee support again. Nick's critic jungled as Xin Zhao, but spent more time flaming Nick in the chat than actually playing the damn game. We had Ashe as an ADC. Our fourth pick took Mordekaiser. I asked if I was going mid or top. The Mordekaiser player offered to take either, and so did I, so the decision ended up being Mordekaiser mid. I took Swain as my top, then the Mordekaiser player switched to Renekton and went top. Dammit. That left me with Swain against LeBlanc mid. Renekton laned top against Pantheon. The enemy team had Miss Fortune and Leona for their bot lane and Aatrox as their jungler. LeBlanc couldn't kill me, but Aatrox harassed me and kept me from winning my lane. Eventually, they'd all just let me free-farm mid until I was forced to push or retreat, then they'd send three or four people after me. Renekton trounced Pantheon, but Xin Zhao didn't help the team (too busy raging about Nidalee support) and our Ashe was completely clueless. Nick thought that he was matched up with a new player. It seemed to be the case. We had too many competent foes for a starved Nidalee support, a Swain who'd been bullied by multiple opponents for most of the game, and a Renekton to deal with. Xin Zhao and Ashe were usually dead weight. Our team was destroyed. I went 3/8/4. I did what I could to distract the enemy team, but we had no DPS to actually make that a viable tactic.
Nick had lost two placement matches before I joined him, so that match placed him in Bronze III: Syndra's Shadows. I still had two more. I figured if I could win just one of the two, I'd be have more placement match wins than Nick, and be placed higher than him. Even if I lost both, I'd still be tied with him, so maybe we'd be placed in the same division.
For my ninth placement match, everything but bot lane was picked by the time it was my turn. Again. So it was Gragas (mid), Renekton (top), Nocturne (jungle), Tristana (me), and Kayle (feed) against Fizz (mid), Teemo (top), Syvana (jungle), Lucian (ADC), and Thresh (support). Despite not actually having a support (Kayle made no attempt to support me whatsoever, opting instead to wander around, get killed, and steal CS), I held my lane. All four of my teammates fed, although all but Renekton also managed to kill enough while doing so to mitigate that, at least for a while. As usual, I didn't have time to carry before our nexus was swarmed and destroyed. I went 7/3/9.
I had one more chance. And this time, I got mid, so I had my Karthus. I was with Malphite (top), Udyr (jungle), Varus (ADC), and Leona (support). The other team consisted of Ziggs (mid), Aatrox (top), Hecarim (jungle), Kog'Maw (ADC), and Nidalee (support). As usual, I got farmed and fed. We were winning for a while, then it came to teamfights. They had far superior poking power. In theory, this could be cancelled out with Malphite and Leona to initiate for us. And that was my hope, right up until the end. Malphite and Leona had other plans. Those plans all involved being poked to death and didn't involve anything other than being poked to death. So of course, we lost. I went 12/3/8.
My placement matches have thrown me into Bronze V. I knew there was a possibility that I'd end up lower than I'd started after my first placement matches. I honestly didn't think, not even for a moment, that I'd ever end up at the bottom of Bronze V. I don't know what to say about this right now.
The ladder rest happened. I knew it was coming, but somehow there was enough of a delay and no real warning until it was too late, so it took me by surprise and I never finished that promo series. I knew going into this that I had a second chance of sorts. Doing placement matches again, I might end up starting out higher in Season 4 than I'd ever been in Season 3. There was also the possibility that I could end up even lower, and that was so daunting that I hesitated to even start.
Ultimately, it was the prospect of playing with Nick that got me motivated to get back to Ranked play. My first eight placement matches were done in a duo queue with him. Nick was team captain every time and I was last pick every time. In the last two games, I queued alone and was fourth pick both times.
In my first placement match, we had Zilean (mid), Nidalee (top), Tryndamere (jungle), Tristana (me), and Leona (Nick). The other team consisted of Ziggs (mid), Dr. Mundo (top), Nasus (jungle), Sivir (ADC), and Thresh (support). Our lane opponents bullied us and pushed constantly, but it didn't really matter. The other lanes fed massively and there was an early surrender, with me as the only no vote. My final K/D/A was 0/0/0. I was able to Rocket Jump to escape from some attempted kills, but couldn't salvage the game sufficiently to stop the surrender.
In my second placement match, we had Syndra (mid), Jax (top), Xin Zhao (jungle), Tristana (me), and Sona (Nick). The other team consisted of Ziggs (mid), Renekton (top), Master Yi (jungle), Jinx (ADC), and Leona (support). This game was closer than the previous one, but still managed to be another display of Ziggs getting fed. I was 1/1/1, I think, at some point, but I started to be more aggressive because I didn't want to repeat the previous game. When I couldn't pick up any kills and kept getting caught, I went back to being cautious, but it didn't matter: Ziggs and Master Yi were both fed enough that they could take any turret together by killing everyone under it. I ended up going 1/7/1 and flipping out about the feeders, which hopefully at least amused Nick.
In my third placement match, I finally got Karthus. The rest of our team consisted of Wukong (Nick), Shyvana (jungle), Jinx (ADC), and Leona (support). The other team had Cho'Gath (mid), Nasus (top), Olaf (jungle), Ezreal (ADC), and Janna (support). There is no way for Cho'Gath to stop Karthus from farming, so my lane was essentially secured. Nick also won his lane, and managed to get Olaf to camp top in the process. It didn't matter. Once again, our allies were just that bad. I went 14/5/7, but it wasn't enough, and we lost.
I'll preface the fourth placement match my noting that, as usual, I was last pick. I couldn't pick Mordekaiser because the other team had him, but I was worried that he'd be soloing top, which was the lane I'd be in. They also had Singed, so I couldn't pick him. I wasn't going to pick Swain, Sion, or Nasus against Mordekaiser, so I was at a loss. I was supposed to solo top, and none of my champions were even available. With the clock running down, I picked Cho'Gath. It turned out to be Fizz (mid), Cho'Gath (me), Fiddlesticks (jungle), Draven (ADC), and Morgana (Nick supporting) against Mordekaiser (mid), Singed (top), Malphite (jungle), Ashe (ADC), and Thresh (support). This game was like a mirror of my first three placement matches. No one on our team was particularly bad and almost everyone on the other team was. I didn't really do much, but I held top lane and killed some of them when they tried to fight me there. My final K/D/A was 3/1/3. This was the first placement match victory for me and also for Nick.
The fifth placement match was just stupid. Nick had taken the jungle and one person picked Janna as a support. Those two were fine. We also had a Malzahar and a Warwick, but the Malzahar player called top, so that left us needing an ADC, but also not having a real mid against their Cassiopeia. Nick told me to just pick Karthus. I inquired and got no response, so I picked Karthus. The Janna player said I should go ADC, so I switched to Tristana. I went bot and so did Janna, but then Warwick eventually went bot too, and continued to ignore the rest of us. With mid completely undefended, I was forced to switch. Tristana didn't stand a chance against Cassiopeia. We'd have lost for sure, but the enemy Nasus was a no-show. That left Teemo against Malzahar, me against Cassiopeia, and Janna with the useless Warwick against the enemy bot lane of Caitlyn and Sona. We were disadvantaged in every lane, but had Nick to back us up. Because it was 5 vs. 4, we could win fights, but our teammates never capitalized on that, so Nick and I did it for them. We died a lot, but we took the objectives we needed to take. Nick saved this already stupid game from being and even stupider upset, despite being too drunk to land skillshots. I went 6/7/4.
In my sixth placement match, we had Ziggs (mid), Jax (solo top), Kha'Zix (jungle), Tristana (me), and Lux (Nick supporting). Nick was already whining about me picking Tristana. He'd wanted me to go Karthus mid, which I'd wanted too, but I was last pick and didn't get it. We were up against Heimerdinger (mid), Garen (top), Lee Sin (jungle), Caitlyn (ADC), and Lulu (support). Our lane didn't go too well and Lee Sin wrecked everyone while our jungler didn't help us at all. Our Ziggs fed Heimerdinger and the whole thing looked to be a disaster. Eventually the game ran long enough that we started coming out ahead in fights. I got full build and still couldn't pick up kills without dying, but we were coming out ahead, so whatever. Ultimately, we won. I went 9/9/7. This took me to a neutral record in my placement matches, which made me feel a bit better. I was still pretty annoyed that I couldn't have a single good Tristana game. I'd been dominating with her before this season.
For my seventh placement match, Nick first picked Nidalee "fill." We had Kayle (mid), Gangplank (top), Xin Zhao (jungle), Tristana (me), and Nidalee (Nick supporting) against Teemo (mid), Pantheon (top), Vi (jungle), Twitch (ADC), and Lulu (support). Despite Vi's exclusive focus on me, our lane went pretty well. We were losing overall, but I thought things would work out. I started picking up kills. I got another one. And then Pantheon leapt onto me and instantly killed me. I joked to Nick, "Who fed Pantheon? His damage is crazy." Then I looked at the scoreboard and saw that Pantheon had twelve kills. Oh. We tried, but yeah, can't carry feeders, I guess. It sounds so cynical, but it seems pretty applicable as far as this game went. My final K/D/A was 8/6/3.
In my last placement match with Nick, he first picked Nidalee "fill" again. This was the one where a teammate whined about Nidalee being a bad support. Nick responded, "So pick a better one." No one else wanted to support, so Nick was Nidalee support again. Nick's critic jungled as Xin Zhao, but spent more time flaming Nick in the chat than actually playing the damn game. We had Ashe as an ADC. Our fourth pick took Mordekaiser. I asked if I was going mid or top. The Mordekaiser player offered to take either, and so did I, so the decision ended up being Mordekaiser mid. I took Swain as my top, then the Mordekaiser player switched to Renekton and went top. Dammit. That left me with Swain against LeBlanc mid. Renekton laned top against Pantheon. The enemy team had Miss Fortune and Leona for their bot lane and Aatrox as their jungler. LeBlanc couldn't kill me, but Aatrox harassed me and kept me from winning my lane. Eventually, they'd all just let me free-farm mid until I was forced to push or retreat, then they'd send three or four people after me. Renekton trounced Pantheon, but Xin Zhao didn't help the team (too busy raging about Nidalee support) and our Ashe was completely clueless. Nick thought that he was matched up with a new player. It seemed to be the case. We had too many competent foes for a starved Nidalee support, a Swain who'd been bullied by multiple opponents for most of the game, and a Renekton to deal with. Xin Zhao and Ashe were usually dead weight. Our team was destroyed. I went 3/8/4. I did what I could to distract the enemy team, but we had no DPS to actually make that a viable tactic.
Nick had lost two placement matches before I joined him, so that match placed him in Bronze III: Syndra's Shadows. I still had two more. I figured if I could win just one of the two, I'd be have more placement match wins than Nick, and be placed higher than him. Even if I lost both, I'd still be tied with him, so maybe we'd be placed in the same division.
For my ninth placement match, everything but bot lane was picked by the time it was my turn. Again. So it was Gragas (mid), Renekton (top), Nocturne (jungle), Tristana (me), and Kayle (feed) against Fizz (mid), Teemo (top), Syvana (jungle), Lucian (ADC), and Thresh (support). Despite not actually having a support (Kayle made no attempt to support me whatsoever, opting instead to wander around, get killed, and steal CS), I held my lane. All four of my teammates fed, although all but Renekton also managed to kill enough while doing so to mitigate that, at least for a while. As usual, I didn't have time to carry before our nexus was swarmed and destroyed. I went 7/3/9.
I had one more chance. And this time, I got mid, so I had my Karthus. I was with Malphite (top), Udyr (jungle), Varus (ADC), and Leona (support). The other team consisted of Ziggs (mid), Aatrox (top), Hecarim (jungle), Kog'Maw (ADC), and Nidalee (support). As usual, I got farmed and fed. We were winning for a while, then it came to teamfights. They had far superior poking power. In theory, this could be cancelled out with Malphite and Leona to initiate for us. And that was my hope, right up until the end. Malphite and Leona had other plans. Those plans all involved being poked to death and didn't involve anything other than being poked to death. So of course, we lost. I went 12/3/8.
My placement matches have thrown me into Bronze V. I knew there was a possibility that I'd end up lower than I'd started after my first placement matches. I honestly didn't think, not even for a moment, that I'd ever end up at the bottom of Bronze V. I don't know what to say about this right now.
Going for the Gold Part XVII: I forgot to publish this one about a month ago...
After playing League of Legends for over two years and accumulating
over a thousand normal games, I finally entered ranked play. In my own,
totally objective, assessment, I am skilled enough for Gold. My
placement matches disagreed, and threw me into Bronze II. This is the
story of my attempt to prove them wrong. This is Going for the Gold.
These games are old news, but apparently I forgot to publish a post for them. I guess I thought I'd play Ranked again and maybe get a few more games in before posting this and letting the ladder reset happen. That didn't happen. The following is what I'd typed in late December...
And that was it. After my favorite Ranked game ever, I took a break. I stayed right where I was, at the top of Bronze II and needing to complete a promo series to get back into Bronze I, up until the ladder reset. It's a dumb, anticlimactic way to conclude the first season of my Ranked journey, but it's what apparently happened.
These games are old news, but apparently I forgot to publish a post for them. I guess I thought I'd play Ranked again and maybe get a few more games in before posting this and letting the ladder reset happen. That didn't happen. The following is what I'd typed in late December...
In what I hope is the beginning of a second rapid ascension out of Bronze II, I just played a Karthus game. I second-picked Karthus, although third pick had called mid. Our third pick didn't complain and proceeded to take Diana top. Our team ended up being Karthus (me), Diana (top), Lee Sin (jungle), Varus (ADC), and Alistar (support) against LeBlanc (mid), Rengar (top), Shyvana (jungle), Sivir (ADC), and Taric (support). LeBlanc is a dangerous opponent, and is thought, by some, to counter Karthus. I've found that she's actually worse at preventing Karthus from farming than some other burst champions. My hope was to keep her occupied without dying, knowing that I'd become more powerful as the game went on. LeBlanc couldn't kill me, but thwarted my plan by roaming extensively and picking up kills elsewhere on the map, which I couldn't stop. Well, not at first. Fortunately, my CS allowed me to keep up. I picked up some kills, then intercepted attempts to gank Lee Sin and Diana, who both helped me pick up even more. My final K/D/A was 11/2/10. This win has earned me 16 LP, bringing me to 91, albeit still in Bronze II.
Well, I'm crazy. Or maybe I just stopped giving a fuck. I'm finally taking my Sion into Ranked play. I'm typing this part while the game loads. We needed physical damage from a solo top, and I'm really not well-versed in any AD tops. I've almost always played AP when I've gone top. I initially chose Kayle, then switched to Sion because I'm stupid. We'll see how this goes...
It went pretty well. Specifically, it went so well that I got a pentakill. I mean, we were losing pretty badly and I was only barely able to turn the game around, but I did turn it around. To start out, we had Swain (mid) Sion (me), Amumu (jungle), Miss Fortune (ADC), and Blitzcrank (support) against Yasuo (mid), Jax (top), Jarvan IV (jungle), Lucian (ADC), and Sona (support). Jax didn't show up right away, so I was able to get more early CS than normal. I don't think it mattered in the end, though. Their Jarvan bullied me to help Jax get caught up, and Amumu didn't do me much good in the laning phase. Swain, playing aggressively, managed to both feed and to get fed himself. But most of his deaths went to Yasuo, who snowballed massively. I'm still not sure what to think of Yasuo as a champion, but he really can snowball. As always with Sion, I had to take breaks to clear waves and keep my health growing, which potentially costed my team some fights. Jax and Yasuo both got fed. With Jarvan to tank for them, they seemed unstoppable. I became tanky enough to hold them off for a while, but it wasn't really preventing us from losing. Probably everyone in the game thought it was coming to a close, 40 minutes in, when they grouped up to push into our base. Amumu ulted their team, then Sona ulted our team. I came in chopping away. Miss Fortune, having been forced by Jax to circle around the fight, avoided the Sona ult and arrived to use her own ult, which dropped Jarvan, Jax, and Yasuo low enough them. I took Jarvan out as Yasuo killed Blitzcrank, then rushed Jax and killed him right after Yasuo caught and killed Miss Fortune. With Jax dead, Swain escaped toward our nexus. Yasuo took Amumu down, scoring a triple kill. Yasuo stayed to try finishing me off next, so Lucian and Sona remained right behind him. I dropped Yasuo, then caught Sona as she ran past me. Lucian was the only one left on their team, so I popped my Ghost. He used Flash to escape, but then turned around and shot at me as I stunned him, then killed him for my second Ranked pentakill ever and my first pentakill with Sion. From there, we won another fight, this time while contesting Baron Nashor, and proceeded to win the game. My final K/D/A was 10/5/12. My final health was 4,020. This match has qualified me for a promotional series. I'm still a bit sore about the whole demotion thing, but this match has left me quite pleased. I took a big risk bringing Sion into a Ranked game. This time, it worked out. I'll have to think about when I want to try it again.
And that was it. After my favorite Ranked game ever, I took a break. I stayed right where I was, at the top of Bronze II and needing to complete a promo series to get back into Bronze I, up until the ladder reset. It's a dumb, anticlimactic way to conclude the first season of my Ranked journey, but it's what apparently happened.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Going for the Gold Part XVI: Merry Christmas, Matchmaking
After playing League of Legends for over two years and accumulating
over a thousand normal games, I finally entered ranked play. In my own,
totally objective, assessment, I am skilled enough for Gold. My
placement matches disagreed, and threw me into Bronze II. This is the
story of my attempt to prove them wrong. This is Going for the Gold.
This is a very special post. It's finally happened. That's right...
It means little, but since this is such a special occasion, I want to point something out.
Me: 4/1/0
Lulu: 0/4/5
Vi: 3/5/3
Sion: 0/7/3
Zed: 3/5/1
There are all sorts of obvious reasons why K/D/A isn't a measurement of how well one actually plays. But I want to point out, because I haven't really stressed it in these updates, that this is a recurring circumstance. In fact, the discrepancy here is considerably less extreme than it is in my typical Ranked Karthus loss. And I have 20 of those. It keeps happening.
When my friends found out that I had, almost immediately after my placement matches, risen out of Bronze II into Bronze I, they were encouraging, telling me that soon I'd probably be in Silver. Maybe they were just being polite. I've also had total strangers in my games compliment my skill, and express surprise that I'm in Bronze. Several people have told me that if I kept playing, they thought I'd make Gold by the end of Season 4. Maybe they too were just being polite. I don't know. But one thing no one told me, when I first got promoted to Bronze I, was, "You'll probably play a hundred or so games here, then get demoted back down to Bronze II." Demotion has been so close for such a long time now that I was halfway to expecting it, although I held onto the hope that I'd be wrong. Only now that it's finally happened, I find myself wondering, "What the hell?" I've spent so much time on this. And that's what I get for my effort? "You have been demoted in Solo Queue to Hecarim's Elementalists, Bronze II."
I've seen a lot of criticisms of the ranking system in League of Legends. I've had some thoughts of my own. But right now? All of that pales in comparison to whatever flaws in the system have taken me in this hundred-game loop back to where I started. If it wasn't for one little detail, I really believe that I'd give up right now.
This is a very special post. It's finally happened. That's right...
League UpdateFor now, that ends my griping about how close I've constantly been to demotion. I got into a Ranked lobby. I was last pick. We had Zed (mid), Sion (top), Vi (jungle), Tristana (me), and Lulu (support) against Lux (mid), Lee Sin (top), Olaf (jungle), Caitlyn (ADC), and Thresh (support). I had a very tough lane. Lulu gave up an early kill and didn't play very well, while Vi never showed up bot. Ever. I was behind and had no help from my team, but I farmed while I could and managed to pick up a few kills too. Zed left. As they were invading our base, Vi ragequit. Two leavers.
You have been demoted in Solo Queue to Hecarim's Elementalists, Bronze II.
It means little, but since this is such a special occasion, I want to point something out.
Me: 4/1/0
Lulu: 0/4/5
Vi: 3/5/3
Sion: 0/7/3
Zed: 3/5/1
There are all sorts of obvious reasons why K/D/A isn't a measurement of how well one actually plays. But I want to point out, because I haven't really stressed it in these updates, that this is a recurring circumstance. In fact, the discrepancy here is considerably less extreme than it is in my typical Ranked Karthus loss. And I have 20 of those. It keeps happening.
When my friends found out that I had, almost immediately after my placement matches, risen out of Bronze II into Bronze I, they were encouraging, telling me that soon I'd probably be in Silver. Maybe they were just being polite. I've also had total strangers in my games compliment my skill, and express surprise that I'm in Bronze. Several people have told me that if I kept playing, they thought I'd make Gold by the end of Season 4. Maybe they too were just being polite. I don't know. But one thing no one told me, when I first got promoted to Bronze I, was, "You'll probably play a hundred or so games here, then get demoted back down to Bronze II." Demotion has been so close for such a long time now that I was halfway to expecting it, although I held onto the hope that I'd be wrong. Only now that it's finally happened, I find myself wondering, "What the hell?" I've spent so much time on this. And that's what I get for my effort? "You have been demoted in Solo Queue to Hecarim's Elementalists, Bronze II."
I've seen a lot of criticisms of the ranking system in League of Legends. I've had some thoughts of my own. But right now? All of that pales in comparison to whatever flaws in the system have taken me in this hundred-game loop back to where I started. If it wasn't for one little detail, I really believe that I'd give up right now.
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