This game as Sona felt pretty good and made my day.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Dealing with Losing
I've lost a lot in League of Legends. In fact I currently have a losing record. I don't feel the need to disclose my win/loss record at this time, however, I will note that a couple weeks ago I had a winning record. Over the last approximately 2 weeks, I've probably lost 10 out of 15 League of Legends games I've attempted. Yesterday, I had a pretty punishing loss when I played a game as Amumu. I played well the entire game, I kept my team alive in clutch moments and I was everywhere I could reasonably be expected to be (in Bronze I at least). I bought a ton of wards, and I built items to support my team mates. Yet somehow, we still managed to lose in the end. There were a few times I could point at that changed how the game went.
The first point where we could have changed the outcome of the game was probably after we aced the enemy team. 3-4 of us were still up with about 30 seconds left for the other team to respawn. I ran down the middle lane to begin taking down their final tower and inhibitor, but the rest of my team ran back to base to buy items. Had my team members come with me to take out the turret, I bet we would have won because of the lane advantage the inhibitor would have given us.
The last point that we lost was when I went back to buy another giant belt before the final engagement. I told my team that I'd be a second and that they should wait for me. I even pinged for them to retreat in case they couldn't read my writing. Naturally, 3 of my team members ran in to die all alone without doing any real damage to the other team. That sealed our loss. I was sad. Luckily my next game turned out to be a win. Actually, it wasn't even close in my next game. I went something like 12/2/24... as Sona playing support... How do the skill levels of ranked games get so messed up in Bronze? I lost only 2 League points for my loss, but I gained only 6 points for the win. Why can't matchmaking give me a decent match up that will be a close game and help me advance?
As far as dealing with losses, I find that my best solution is to shrug it off, and move on to the next game. Even though losing because of someone else's stupid decision hurts, and it hurts even more when that person blames you for it, I find it best to be gracious and accept responsibility for your mistakes. I guarantee that anyone that loses a game, has not played that game perfectly. You might even lose the game outright through character selection. Let us all have fun while playing, support our team members, and remember that other humans (players) all deserve respect when you interact with them.
The first point where we could have changed the outcome of the game was probably after we aced the enemy team. 3-4 of us were still up with about 30 seconds left for the other team to respawn. I ran down the middle lane to begin taking down their final tower and inhibitor, but the rest of my team ran back to base to buy items. Had my team members come with me to take out the turret, I bet we would have won because of the lane advantage the inhibitor would have given us.
The last point that we lost was when I went back to buy another giant belt before the final engagement. I told my team that I'd be a second and that they should wait for me. I even pinged for them to retreat in case they couldn't read my writing. Naturally, 3 of my team members ran in to die all alone without doing any real damage to the other team. That sealed our loss. I was sad. Luckily my next game turned out to be a win. Actually, it wasn't even close in my next game. I went something like 12/2/24... as Sona playing support... How do the skill levels of ranked games get so messed up in Bronze? I lost only 2 League points for my loss, but I gained only 6 points for the win. Why can't matchmaking give me a decent match up that will be a close game and help me advance?
As far as dealing with losses, I find that my best solution is to shrug it off, and move on to the next game. Even though losing because of someone else's stupid decision hurts, and it hurts even more when that person blames you for it, I find it best to be gracious and accept responsibility for your mistakes. I guarantee that anyone that loses a game, has not played that game perfectly. You might even lose the game outright through character selection. Let us all have fun while playing, support our team members, and remember that other humans (players) all deserve respect when you interact with them.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Sona Support Game
I've been playing some League of Legends over the past few months. Most of the games have been ranked. Last night, I played a game as Sona, and I got to support Varus in bottom lane. The game ended up being pretty fun for me, despite the times that my team members got mad at me for stealing kills according to them. It's times like this that I hate the "last hit" practice that is often used in games.
Why should one person get greater credit for a kill when clearly that event was a team effort? There are times where a kill might deserve special recognition, but I believe the vast majority of team kills should be recognized as being a kill generated by the team only. I do believe that Guild Wars does a pretty good job of recognizing true contributions to the team goals, though I need to pay more attention to describe what they do. Anyway, here is my Sona game from last night if you are interested:
Why should one person get greater credit for a kill when clearly that event was a team effort? There are times where a kill might deserve special recognition, but I believe the vast majority of team kills should be recognized as being a kill generated by the team only. I do believe that Guild Wars does a pretty good job of recognizing true contributions to the team goals, though I need to pay more attention to describe what they do. Anyway, here is my Sona game from last night if you are interested:
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Diablo III PS4 Problems
So I guess Blizzard announced that they will be bringing Diablo to the Playstation 4. I suppose it is exciting that there is support from such a big developer for such a highly anticipated system, however I can't help but feel a giant "MEH" when I think about it.
Diablo III was quite fun for me when I first got it. I played through the first time very quickly, and then rapidly began playing with a number of my friends. We quickly progressed through the nightmare and hell difficulty levels, and I had a blast the entire time (playing my monk). Then, I thought that the game was really going to pick up. I fully expected to be on the hunt for amazing drops for the next year or two. However, what happened was that I got bored of playing the game.
On inferno, the difficulty gets much greater than any of the other difficulty levels. While I'm okay with a challenge, I think it's silly that the primary challenge is obtaining better stats by collecting items with greater stats on them. Since there are only about 3-5 stats that any character cares about, you are essentially trading up from one set of stats for another, and this is the exact thing about World of Warcraft that doesn't interest me. I don't care if I get 5 more strength from and item, because it doesn't change anything about how I play the game. I want to have interesting things happen when I get new items.
I believe the only thing Diablo III really needs to make it interesting, is to provide some passive abilities, or spell effects as a part of the item system. That way we're not faced with a choice between 50 strength, and 55 strength, but instead we have to choose between 50 strength with passive icebolts, or 55 strength with passive fire bombs. I'll take cool spell effects all day over silly stat points.
Also, I should probably have something to say about console controls, but meh. Diablo has few enough buttons that it'll probably work. I just think the controller will fundamentally change the way you play the game since you won't be targeting like you do with a mouse, and will instead be aiming like you do with a controller. Good luck Blizzard and Sony. I know you will make a lot of money from this partnership, and I hope it's enough to cover your costs, but no more. We should expect better from our game developers.
Diablo III was quite fun for me when I first got it. I played through the first time very quickly, and then rapidly began playing with a number of my friends. We quickly progressed through the nightmare and hell difficulty levels, and I had a blast the entire time (playing my monk). Then, I thought that the game was really going to pick up. I fully expected to be on the hunt for amazing drops for the next year or two. However, what happened was that I got bored of playing the game.
On inferno, the difficulty gets much greater than any of the other difficulty levels. While I'm okay with a challenge, I think it's silly that the primary challenge is obtaining better stats by collecting items with greater stats on them. Since there are only about 3-5 stats that any character cares about, you are essentially trading up from one set of stats for another, and this is the exact thing about World of Warcraft that doesn't interest me. I don't care if I get 5 more strength from and item, because it doesn't change anything about how I play the game. I want to have interesting things happen when I get new items.
I believe the only thing Diablo III really needs to make it interesting, is to provide some passive abilities, or spell effects as a part of the item system. That way we're not faced with a choice between 50 strength, and 55 strength, but instead we have to choose between 50 strength with passive icebolts, or 55 strength with passive fire bombs. I'll take cool spell effects all day over silly stat points.
Also, I should probably have something to say about console controls, but meh. Diablo has few enough buttons that it'll probably work. I just think the controller will fundamentally change the way you play the game since you won't be targeting like you do with a mouse, and will instead be aiming like you do with a controller. Good luck Blizzard and Sony. I know you will make a lot of money from this partnership, and I hope it's enough to cover your costs, but no more. We should expect better from our game developers.
More Guild Wars 2 sPvP
I've done a little bit more sPvP and I wanted to check in on my blog to say that it is still fun. It is refreshing how easy it is to jump into a match, have a little fun, get some rewards, and then return to real life. Matches last at most 15 minutes, meaning you can be confident you will complete any given match within 15 minutes from the time you start it.
On top of that, the reward system for sPvP actually feels pretty good since they recognize you whether you win or lose at the end and give you points in a nice little pop-up. Most games I've played, I've even one of the top contributor awards for something. That could just happen because my team members aren't very good at standing on capture points, so I get the most credit for doing it, but it still feels rewarding and fun. This is the first MMO that I've actually had fun playing PvP modes casually.
On top of that, the reward system for sPvP actually feels pretty good since they recognize you whether you win or lose at the end and give you points in a nice little pop-up. Most games I've played, I've even one of the top contributor awards for something. That could just happen because my team members aren't very good at standing on capture points, so I get the most credit for doing it, but it still feels rewarding and fun. This is the first MMO that I've actually had fun playing PvP modes casually.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
First Impressions on Guild Wars 2 sPvP
I decided a couple days ago that I needed to give the PvP in Guild Wars 2 a try. I mean, they have daily achievements for it, and they probably give you something good in terms of rewards for participating.
It turns out that the daily achievements are super easy to complete. You just play 3 matches, which requires about 30-45 minutes of time, and they play one after the other. You get placed on a team against another team, and most of the games seem to revolve around controlling points on a variety of maps. Of course the real focus is beating up the other guys and keeping yourself from dying.
ArenaNet does a good job of keeping things balanced by upleveling all characters to 80 and giving them a full set of PvP gear that can be used only for PvP. All of your PvP items are unavailable for use outside of PvP. Somehow they manage to still offer item rewards through the use of alternate stat allocations and item runes. These additional items don't fundamentally change the balance of the game mode, but do provide additional variety and a method for rewards beyond just the stats on your profile. Overall the mode seems fun, and I feel like I should play it a lot more.
It turns out that the daily achievements are super easy to complete. You just play 3 matches, which requires about 30-45 minutes of time, and they play one after the other. You get placed on a team against another team, and most of the games seem to revolve around controlling points on a variety of maps. Of course the real focus is beating up the other guys and keeping yourself from dying.
ArenaNet does a good job of keeping things balanced by upleveling all characters to 80 and giving them a full set of PvP gear that can be used only for PvP. All of your PvP items are unavailable for use outside of PvP. Somehow they manage to still offer item rewards through the use of alternate stat allocations and item runes. These additional items don't fundamentally change the balance of the game mode, but do provide additional variety and a method for rewards beyond just the stats on your profile. Overall the mode seems fun, and I feel like I should play it a lot more.
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