I set out to hit 200/180 or better – and I did, so there’s some geek pride for you.  Usually, whenever I get up 18-20, the matchmaker starts putting me with teams that are obviously worse than me (which is saying a lot), or a bunch of leavers – it wants you to be about 50/50.  Kind of.  What it wants is for each team to have about a 50% chance of winning – which is a good thing.  Really, as many complaints as I have about the matchmaker, I haven’t seen anything this good in another game yet.

So yeah, almost 400 games in and I’m still having fun.  The free-ness is a nice perk too (although I do buy some of the new champs and skins when they go on sale).

Note: If anyone ever gets tempted to try the game via something I said here, please do so through my referral link – we get some tiny goody when someone we refer hits level 10.  Crazily, at least one guy has done this 1500 times already.  I don’t even know how that is possible – did he pay a bunch of gold farmers to do it or something??

The referral system seems to have boosted the number of quality youtube videos – tutorials and the like, so I’d say it’s a succeeding probably far and above what the marketing dept. might have guessed when they thought of the idea.  You can check out tons of videos for any champs you may be interested in before you buy – not to mention pick up some pointers that might not come through in a text guide.

If you enjoyed the pvp aspect of Warcraft III, I think you’ll like this.
If you especially enjoyed the hero-centric portion of WC3 pvp, I think you will really like this game:

League of Legends

Evidently the whole thing is based on a Warcraft 3 mod (hence being so similar….) which is evidently “the shit” and “hugely popular”.  I think it’s called Defense of the Ancients.

It’s online only, pvp only – although your pvp opponents CAN be bots, you don’t have to play against real people, but it is set up the same way.  So, if that’s not your boat, then hey, let that shit float on by.  Or somesuch jazz.

The gameplay is pretty basic at its core:

• Two teams, 5 players, each player controls a hero
• Heroes have 4 activated powers (things you click) and 1 passive (it’s always on).  They can “power up” one power each time they gain a level (hero levels max out at 18).
• You control your hero and your hero only
• Heroes can wear equipment that affects their stats.
• Equipment is purchased with gold, which accrues slowly over time, or which is gained from getting the “last hit” (ie killing blow) on an enemy minion or hero.
• The computer controls the “base” and non-hero units, and controls them pretty much exactly the same every time – the minion (as the non-hero units) and turrets (base defense things that do heavy damage) AI behavior is part of the strategy.  You KNOW what they will do, so you play around that.
• The goal is to destroy the enemy’s base.  To do that you usually need to destroy a number of their towers.
• That’s it.

So yeah, pretty basic gameplay, but it is lots of fun.  Lots of options as far as how to spec (choose your powers) your character, and what equipment to use.  Not to mention how to play with your various teammates and against certain enemies.  There are at least 30 hero options right now, and a ton of equipment as well.

It’s totally free to download and play, forever basically (until they run out of money or the servers get shut down, etc.).  You earn points for wins or losses that can be spent in the store to unlock new heroes, or add funky little options (minor stat tweaks) to your base hero thing (ie it applies to whatever hero you use).

THE CATCHES:

• You start with no heroes.  There are 10 “free” heroes that you can choose for a game, but they rotate every week or so, so if there’s a hero you really like, you’ll need to unlock that hero with points (either bought with real cash money money, or with points earned from playing games: ~60 for a loss, ~100 for a win).
• You need (sorta) little rune things as you level your account up that affect your stats in minor ways, and those things cost points too – these can only be purchased with the points from playing games though (a VERY nice touch IMHO).

So, not real serious catches at all are they?

The only thing you can’t unlock with game wins is skins – ways to make your avatar look different, palette/color swaps basically.  They have no functional effect on the game.

If do feel like sending them some money (and it seems like they deserve at least some, the game is a ton of fun to play) and you want to get a good deal as far as time/money investment goes, you can pick up their Digital Collector’s Pack for $30. It comes with heroes and 1 skin – unless you are very good & have a lot of free time, I think it would take several weeks to unlock all those heroes, so it’s worth it from that angle.  BUT STILL – there is no pressure, you do not need to buy anything. If you keep playing, win or lose, you will eventually be able to unlock all those heroes.  It would take about ~60wins for the most expensive heroes, 4 for the cheapest – and expensive does not mean “better” – usually those have the potential to be quite good, but require extra skill to play).

A game lasts a minimum of 10 minutes (no rewards for a shorter game), and can run upwards of 40 so.  Winners get extra points for a fast win and losers get extra for a slow loss.

The characters are all pretty unique, well designed, and some are quirky/cute as hell – one of my favorites is Amumu “the sad mummy” (pictured above).  I still suck with him early game, but I really enjoy him late game (level 10+).

Sounds simple, but tons of nuance, lots of fun.  VERY engaging – you cannot afford to just sit around, or you will fall  behind.  The developers did a great job here.  I recommend at least checking it out, if you are into pvp strategy gaming or anything like that – it’s not like it costs you anything.

I’d say play at least until level 5 – there is a lot to learn & the more I do the more fun it is.  Also, try as many heroes as you can – not only to find the ones you like – also to find out how to play against the others.

UPDATE:  They’ve added a pretty sweet referral rewards program.

SO, if this review convinces you to try the game, please sign up and create your account through this link – I’d really appreciate it.

Basically, every 3 people that you refer who make it to level 10 (about a week or two of playing) will net the referrer a nice in game reward.