YaWhateva

I've played a few games today. I was getting server busy, but if you put in the contra code it switches that to available. I guess that's a remnant from the beta still.

Edit: that only works for busy. Servers seem to be unavailable now.

__________________
“If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again.” - Bill O'Reilly

"This is my United States of Whateva!"

Jozrael

Servers are up for me <_<.

They toggle on the busy status to regulate the influx of players right after maintenance to keep the service stable.

Vaultboy

Bleh, I was shut out last night - I think the servers were full.

The new shiny client places a heavy drain on my CPU - 30% more than before. I cringe with every update these days - LoL is becoming too bloated.

__________________
"Failing tastes of bile and dog vomit. Pity any man that gets used to that taste."

Jozrael

Really? It's difficult for me to tell as I recently switched computers, but this one is really light on my system. And the servers are going through a bout of growing pains atm, should be ironed out in a day or two. Season one kicked off to a lot of excitement, so they're under really heavy load atm.

Lasereth

I had a blast last night. The servers were stable for me (had a tiny bit of lag). The new interface looks great. I love draft mode in the ranked games. I won my first 4 ranked games weeee ha ha ha ha. The fact that each champ is exclusive is AWESOME. And knowing that I don't have to go against Shen/Soraka/Shaco/Zilean as often now is refreshing.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Jozrael

Yea, I love draft. The service IS pretty unstable atm, but they've got a ridiculous number of manhours pouring in daily on it.

Zeraph

That is a pretty awesome trailer. Was picking apart some of it though.

Well season one is finally here but I'm not playing anymore and not sure if I can get back into it. They sure took their sweet time. Will you guys be getting back into it as heavily as before? I hope I'll be able to.

Vaultboy

Bugged out on the loadscreen six games in succession last night. Coupled with being shut out the night before, means I haven't been able to play ranked yet. Bleh. I'll stick to games with better service. There's always an excuse for why Riot hasn't gotten their act together yet, and I've run out of patience.

__________________
"Failing tastes of bile and dog vomit. Pity any man that gets used to that taste."

Lasereth

I never stopped!

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

YaWhateva

I am getting into it more. Solo queue for ranked games sucks though.

__________________
“If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again.” - Bill O'Reilly

"This is my United States of Whateva!"

Jozrael

@Zeraph: Yea, it took awhile, but it seems (to me at least) that the service has totally stabilized. I <3 it.

@Vaultboy: That's odd, I haven't had a single problem today :<. I think last night was the last of the problems.

@Lasereth: Ik, we need to play sometime! Mayhap not ranked (I'm pretty much only solo atm) but maybe you'll let me normal with you?

@Ya: I'm 4-1! It's not all bad! Though I've had some o-O teammates at times. In my last game I was real worried about this guy who wanted to dodge since they took ashe, and that was the only hero he'd played. He took veigar and did decently. Turns out he has over 900 games with ashe, lmao.

Vaultboy

Gave it one last try last night. No server problems, apart from intermittent spiking.

Solo queued and it was frustrating: seeing players dodge cuz their favourite hero gets banned/taken. Or ppl "try out" new heroes because the three heroes they can play are taken. Seriously (just like your Ashe, Joz), I can't fathom how these gamers can have such a high saturation point that they dont get bored of playing one hero all the time when there are 55 available. Anyway, ended the night on 2-5. I was lucky enough to have sensible teamies 30% of the time. Can't ask for more when solo queuing, really.

Interestingly every game was still mismatched (player skill with heroes, or wrong bans), but much better team balance than the blind pick normal games. The draft mode leads to longer games. Riot should perhaps revisit their fundamentals. They wanted games that are <30 mins, but the meta is pushing games to be 50+ min. I suppose the "pro-play" emerging from season 1 will give them a better idea.

__________________
"Failing tastes of bile and dog vomit. Pity any man that gets used to that taste."

Jozrael

Well, keep in mind that since Elos were reset for ranked play (you keep yours on normal), pros are mixed in with level 20 total newbs. It'll take a week or two to really settle out imo, but it's not nearly as wtfx as it was on day 1 xD. I had an eve asking me what Oracle's was in the game I lost :/. Both teams were very facepalmy that day.

As for your point about game length I wholeheartedly agree - every one of my ranked games has gone on 40+ minutes, with two approaching an hour.

Lasereth

You can solo queue ranked R with 2 people. We should do it sometime! I'm pretty sure that's the only way to raise your solo queue ranked Elo anyway...I don't see how the big wigs are already in the 1600s by themselves. They HAVE to be double teaming with someone.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Vaultboy

so basically every game i play, shaco, heimer, soraka and xin are the chars getting banned. Yet lots of ppl say that none of them are op. Sure, Soraka isn't, but she enables lane control, xp gain and ultimately opness. Any chance Riot will nerf this lot?

__________________
"Failing tastes of bile and dog vomit. Pity any man that gets used to that taste."

YaWhateva

I don't think any of them are "op" they all just add a new element to a match that makes it harder on the opposing team.

__________________
“If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again.” - Bill O'Reilly

"This is my United States of Whateva!"

Vaultboy

My question isn't whether they are op unto themselves, it is whether they will be nerfed (or even remade). If these heroes are the only ones that are consistently being banned, Riot may as well remove them from ranked play. A better solution would be to rebalance them.

__________________
"Failing tastes of bile and dog vomit. Pity any man that gets used to that taste."

Jozrael

Those 4 and shen are pretty much the S-tier right now, and Riot is aware of it. Stay tuned for next balance patch!

Lasereth

I uninstalled last Friday. Got sick and tired of being stuck in ranked games at the same Elo. My normal game Elo is 1700-1750 (I know this for a fact) and I can't get my ranked Elo above 1250ish. Ranked games are beyond fucked up.

I also think there's a lot of luck involved in ranked games which also pushed me over the edge. It's stupid that I'm stuck 500 points below my Elo because I get grouped with people who play like bots.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Vaultboy

I find Ranked better than Normal. It is to be expected that your ELO should be lower, since
a) you haven't played the same amount of games, so ELO creep hasn't happened, even if your W:L ratio is similar.
b) the counterpicking makes a difference.

__________________
"Failing tastes of bile and dog vomit. Pity any man that gets used to that taste."

Lasereth

So how do you raise your Elo then? It's infuriating that I was close to being in the top 500 in normal games but I can barely stay even in ranked games right now. I was down to 1000ish Elo at one point!!!!!!! No matter who I play (I always choose to help our team, and I know how to play all 55 champions well), I always lose because of 1 or 2 idiots that die before minions spawn or go non-jungling warwick or tank Teemo, dumb shit that just makes no sense.

How many games am I expected to play before I start climbing the ladder? Will season 1 be over before I stay over 1300 consistently??

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Lasereth

Reinstalled. LOLLLLLLL

Taking it a bit easier this time around though. Got a little too addicted last time.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Jozrael

<3.

1: How did you know your Elo before? I know a lot of people (not saying you included) thought they were 'high-mid Elo' (so much so that it's kind of a derogatory catchphrase on the forums by now and are finding out that they aren't able to achieve as high a ranking as they thought now that Elos are public.

2: Imo, play hard carries early on. Don't play tanks/supporters until you're in an Elo level that it becomes necessary. At somewhat low Elos where people are more likely to be much worse, it's necessary for you to be the pivotal player each game.

Lasereth

1. Your normal game Elo is flat out given in log files now. Just play 1 normal match, check your log files, GG. I checked yours -- it's like 1650. Mine was 1700+ when I checked it, Grooverut (the guy I play with almost always) was nearly the same. I used to be +55 wins and now I'm only +45ish so my Elo could have been close to 1800+ at one point. I also looked up every single person I've been regularly queuing with in the past 6 months and almost none of them were above 1300 in normal games. This would explain why my win ratio decreased with them -- I WAS actually better than them, they honestly were bringing me down.

2. Hard carries only carry when they get kills, and you can only get kills with decent teammates. I guess I could try playing Trist every match though.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Shauk

Eh, I just started playing this, level 9, playing tank builds with amumu and penetration/haste builds with Tristana. it's pretty fun, made the mistake of making a 5man premade with some friends who were all sub level 8, we got paird up against 30's, it was pretty much us getting rolled.

Jozrael

Sounds cool! (Except the rape part). 5 man premaking won't always be a rape job, so don't give up on it! What's your summoner name ingame?

Shauk

ShaukDotDJ

Vaultboy

hey lasereth, i feel your pain. Went on a ten game losing streak playing solo queue ranked. in all those games our carry failed and/or we had someone trying out a new hero or banning wrong champions. Halfway through i started asking people for their elo. consistently had someone at least 300 points below me in the team. my elo is looking like shit right now at 991. Never ever been sub 1000. My normal elo is still 1300ish.

But w/e.

__________________
"Failing tastes of bile and dog vomit. Pity any man that gets used to that taste."

Jozrael

Imo, play hard carries only in solo ranked until you are at an Elo level where acceptable teamplay is prevalent (as only in such an Elo will playing a tank or support have more benefit to your team than owning with a hard carry). If you're significantly better than the Elo level you're playing at, you should be able to faceroll the opponents with a hard carry.

As to carries getting kills with teammates, I disagree. In an even match this is certainly more true, but when you're trying to farm Elo (supposedly because you are underranked), you should be able to outplay your opponents singlehandedly. Caster carry if you find it easier (I do).

Lasereth

Maybe I should play Morde every match lol. 18-4-11 in ranked last match, triple killed at level 7 when 3 people ganked me (they were all full health).

Ezreal might be another good choice to try and single-handedly raise my solo queue ranked score since skill DOES matter with him.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Jozrael

I've been finding Mord quite difficult as I dabble with him lately. What's a good build?

Lasereth

Heart of Gold x2, merc treads, spirit visage, guardian angel, force of nature, randuin's omen

Go heart + boots + visage first and then whichever you need the most in order after that.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

YaWhateva

I usually go something like this:

doran's shield
regrowth pendant
boots of speed
negatron cloak/chain vest depending on who's in your lane
finish sorc boots (these are amazing on morde)
force of nature/sunfire cape depending on what I bought earlier
frozen mallet (this is amazing on morde, nobody can escape you)
usually build FoN or sunfire cape depending which I built first
usually another sunfire cape or Randuin's Omen depending how the match is going.

if the game wont end:

Randuin's Omen for strong DPS
Thornmail for heavy dps with low hp
banshee's for AP heavy teams
Guardian's Angel just to be a pain in the ass.

__________________
“If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again.” - Bill O'Reilly

"This is my United States of Whateva!"

Lasereth

Yeah frozen mallet is great on him too since it gives him at least 1 type of cc.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

YaWhateva

Yeah and if you kill someone with your ult the ghost gets the slow too, awesome if you can get a kill on a ranged hero.

__________________
“If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again.” - Bill O'Reilly

"This is my United States of Whateva!"

Lasereth

Rofl yeah. Then put creeping death on the ghost and you'll almost surely kill someone with the ghost alone. People always underestimate the strength of the ghost. Most Morde's don't know how to control the ghost though.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Lasereth

Urgot looks fun as hell but I only have 5200 something IP right now so I won't be able to try him out.

Vlad seems to be owning right now but I suck with him. I just don't get it.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Vaultboy

Vlad is the most interesting hero created in a while. Difficult to master, but super awesome.

Galio is just too easy to play - he's like a dumbed down mix of rammus and malhazar, both heroes with a higher mastery threshold.

Haven't really seen much of Urgot yet.

On another note, my solo elo was as low as 920 recently, with my 5v5 elo over 1300. Going below 1000 is a bottomless pit with no redemption - I keep on getting matched with poorer players (captains who ban whatever char owned them last), afker's, rage quitters, and just plain nubs. Hard carrying every game doesn't work.

__________________
"Failing tastes of bile and dog vomit. Pity any man that gets used to that taste."

Lasereth

I haven't been playing many ranked games honestly. I played about 50 and got sick of staying at 1250 and started playing normal games where I get paired with people who actually know what they're doing.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Lasereth

Went from 1450 ranked to 1300 ranked in 2 days. Bleh.

Grats Jozzy on the job!!!!!!!!!!!

Joz what do you think about the current metagame? People have been describing it as the tanky DPS metagame but I honestly think it's gone even further than that now. I think right now the current state of LoL is jungling. Which team has a jungler, which champ is it, if both teams have a jungler then which is better, which team suffers FB to a jungler, etc. The kiting metagame has moved on and the tanky DPS has emerged but I'm finding it directly correlated to jungling. In normal or ranked nowadays you never see a match without a jungler. Usually both teams have one! I remember 6 months ago it was rare to see a jungler period.

Maybe it's due to the fact that there are so many champs that can jungle now? People have started to abuse jungle Amumu (Dragon dead before 5 minute mark). I think the reason he's perma-banned in ranked now isn't because of his "tanky DPS" but because of his ability to jungle and what he does to the game when he does jungle.

I'm not really saying it's a problem but I'm finding a hard time grasping how to put matches in my favor. Buy 3 wards in each lane at level 1? Hell if I know! I can put a ward in the river in my lane and the jungler (who almost always has ghost) still comes out like a bat out of hell and FB. Lanes without a ward give FB every single match to the jungler.

One match I played over the weekend was decided because we DID have a jungler who kept being ganked repeatedly by the enemy team who bought wards at 1.

I'm very surprised that the community hasn't picked up on this meta shift already.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert