The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

League of Legends is a really weird thing for me.

I mean, here is a game that is almost purely versus other people. It requires actual teamwork with your team to be anywhere near effective: you can’t lone wolf. People playing video games on the internet are still people playing video games on the internet, so you’re often fighting assholes.

Yet I do keep coming back to it. Sure, I take long breaks, but man, I come back, and it’s still fun. I wish I knew what about it made me care more than other very training and skill-based multiplayer games, but I do rather enjoy trying to improve and do well at the game.

Recently, I’ve been realizing how I kind of force people I play with to pick certain champions, because I only pick support characters, like Sona or Soraka. I wanted to expand my base, but my problem was that, well, I only want to play characters that I like the look of and man, I just kind of like support in general. I’ve been trying to eye people who are kind of support-like, but fill other roles, and try them.

First I tried Lux. I like Lux. She’s a caster/damage dealer of sorts, only her attacks all have some sort of movement interruption to them. Her little beam will stun enemies for awhile, and her little light field slows champions that walk into it. Thus, she can support people by holding people back for others to kill, as well as potentially using her little shield to save a friend. What I like most about her, though, is her laser gun. Her ultimate has a really short cooldown, and it’s this laser with a huge range that hits everyone in a straight line. It’s so satisfying picking off a nearly-dead champion with it, and you can really clear a lane of minions if needed with it as well. Plus, since it has such a short cooldown, you’re using it often, unlike some ultimates.
My problems with her is that I just don’t feel like I’m building her right. I mean, I focus on some cooldown reduction, so I can use the laser more often, and she needs some ability power if she’s ever going to kill, but I never feel like I’m really doing enough with her. I also find her shield mostly useless, though I’ve heard it’s great. Since it has to be aimed away from Lux to go off, I have trouble activating it in time to save myself, which would be one of the best uses of it. I feel like I’m still missing some things with her.

Next, I tried Alistar. He’s a healer-tank type who can take some damage, but also has a stun and can do this charging punch that both deals a good amount of damage and also knocks a champion back in the direction you hit them, potentially letting you smack people into other attacks. He has a little heal, too, but it’s never going to be too powerful because I doubt you’re going to be pumping up his ability power. His ultimate ups his attack damage, but also breaks him out of stuns and slows so he can escape, which is nice.
I feel like I could like Alistar, but I really am having trouble. His heal has shitty range, making it hard to heal friends with it, which everyone seems to expect me to do when I play as him. His stun, as well, has really finicky range. He smacks down in front of him, but it never seems to show up exactly where I expect, and I whiff with it quite often. His charge punch is fantastic for finishing people off, but I can’t seem to master the “stun and then knock into a tower” combo I’ve seen people do with him. My aim is always off, and unlike Tristana’s big shot, which you can still get use out of as a defensive measure to knock back people chasing you if you can’t use it offensively like that, Alistar’s punch can’t really be used defensively very well. I really do feel like I could like him, but I have a long, long way to go with him.

I also have my eye on Galio, as he seems like a tank I could get behind, but I haven’t picked him up to try yet.

Yeah, I’m working with things, and it is interesting. Compared with Aesa and Jonathan and such, I still have a long, long way to go, but at least I’m having a good time with it. It continues to be fun, shocking even me.