League of Legends Now Available!

[Evil Avatar]

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Riot Games sends along word that their new online battle game, League of Legends, is now available.

Riot Games, an independent developer and publisher of premium online video games, has launched the League of Legends "Pre-Season" for the highly anticipated multiplayer online battle arena game for Windows PC. League of Legends is rated "T" for Teen and now available for free via download at www.leagueoflegends.com. A Collector’s Pack is also available for $29.99 via download at www.leagueoflegends.com and at retail outlets nationwide through Riot’s retail campaign partner THQ Inc.

League of Legends will operate in seasons to help facilitate the best in competitive gaming and communities. The League of Legends “Pre-Season” will allow time for players to learn the game, build teams, as well as develop advanced strategies and tactics, when Season One begins in the first half of 2010. Players can also look forward to the addition of clans, teams, tournaments, ladders, draft mode, as well as additional content such as new Champions and maps, between now and the start of Season One.

The League of Legends Collector’s Pack, containing exclusive items such as 20 Champions, a selection of Runes and $10 worth of Riot Points, is now available for download at www.leagueoflegends.com. The retail League of Legends Collector’s Pack available at all major retail outlets for $29.99, additionally includes an exclusive poster-size fold out map of Valoran with detailed champion portraits and bios on the other side, a $10 pre-paid game card for in-game purchases and an exclusive champion skin.

In celebration of the launch of the game, Riot is unlocking all 40 champions for immediate play on October 27 for a limited time. During the launch celebration, Collector’s Pack customers will get an experience boost, allowing them to level quickly. After the Launch Celebration ends, the in-game store will go live and owners of the Collector's Pack will continue to have access to the exclusive items packaged in the collector's edition. All players will be able to unlock exclusive items and content through the in-game store by using Influence points earned by playing during the Launch Celebration and after, or by purchasing Riot Points.

A player in League of Legends takes on the role of a Summoner – a gifted spell caster who has the power to bring forth a champion to fight as his or her avatar in Valoran’s Fields of Justice. As the Summoner controls the champion in combat, it also influences the outcome of the match through the use of spells, masteries and runes. Once a match is over, the Summoner gains Influence Points and Riot Points that can be used to assist their champions in future battles. Influence Points will be earned by simply playing the game, while Riot Points will be available for purchase with real money.

League of Legends offers endless permutations of builds, strategies and combinations that make the game extremely competitive and interesting for those focused on competitive play.

For more information about League of Legends, visit www.leagueoflegends.com.

[Sasori the Medic]

I've been playing the open beta for a week and can attest to this being a really fun game.

[Jack9]

I played for a week and can attest it wasn't fun for me (or my DoTA friends who tried it on my comp). So this is a game for people who would like something like DoTA but aren't playing DoTA.

The installation process is clunky (running inside Adobe AIR, really?), the gameplay is lacking, the game is not very responsive. All in all, skip.

[RossCoBrit]

From the beta LoL seems great fun, and lacks the savage noob bashing that Dota/HoN suffer from.

Of course its success depends on how the paid content pans out, if it cant imbalance the game it should be ok.

On the other hand if you are a massively experienced DotA veteran it will probably just fill you with rage due to its simplified approach (most DotA veterans are permanently filled with rage anyhow, so its all even).

[Sasori the Medic]

I never got to try out DotA so maybe that's why it seems like a good game to me. I'm not sure I would pay more than 15-20 bucks for it though, as sometimesit can be pretty frustrating and I see myself uninstalling it in a fury one day soon.

[Ka_Feosh]

I never got to try out DotA so maybe that's why it seems like a good game to me. I'm not sure I would pay more than 15-20 bucks for it though, as sometimesit can be pretty frustrating and I see myself uninstalling it in a fury one day soon.

The only frustration I've found with it is there doesn't seem to be a good way to practice new champions. A practice game against AI bots is nothing like a game against live foes and not knowing what you're doing in the first ten minutes of the game can doom your whole team for next half hour of the game, which makes you look like a total bastard to everyone else. Even after trying to fine-tune a strategy with several other characters I still can't seem to be effective with anyone but Blitzcrank, the steam golem.

[Sasori the Medic]

You can join practice games with other people. There's no records for your wins and losses when doing practice games so you can play crappy with new champs and not worry about anything. I get tired of clueless teammates though so I do normal games and have amassed the wonderful record of 2 wins and 9 losses with 1 leave. The problem is you still get clueless people in the normal games.

That's the frustrating thing to me: having people that just don't contribute anything but feeding the enemy experience in a game or those with crappy computers or connections that leave 1 to 2 minutes in and leave you with a 4v5 for the rest of the time. If you try to surrender there's always one or two dipshits who don't want to, so you waste a fucking hour of your time because if you just leave that will show up on your record and you won't be able to play another game until the current one ends. There really needs to be some type of rudimentary AI that takes over for people who lose their connections or quit and they need to really stop penalizing people who don't have a lot of time to waste in frustrating 4v5s or having to carry people who just don't get it and never will.