League of Legends Game Nights/Season 2 League

I'll be there on Friday bringing up the rear.

I'll agree with being in separate vent channels. Unless Squee is on, nobody says anything because they don't want to let on what they're doing. When you've only got about a minute to plan your team composition, talking is much more efficient than typing.

One vent channel is fine for when we're just goofing around though.

I fully agree, separate vent channels would definitely help the teams feel more like teams.

Yes, it was way too quiet and there were times when I both wanted to communicate but couldn't use Vent, and missed things because I wasn't watching the chat all that closely.

Also, MUMBLE.

Different channels is fine. Same channel was never a rule it's just sort of what we always did for inhouse games.

I really would prefer we not do blind pick.

Again, draft mode isn't really possible unless we exclude people who don't have enough heroes. I'd rather not do that.

Both times I was there last night it was last second picks with no thought to team make up. Hence battle soraka.

Battlesoraka was completely planned, that's why I told Crinkle to go top lane Kennen.

And my last second change to kogma or me going singed since we had no tank or solo top with an ash, ryze, Annie and jax. And then I get scolded that singed was a horrible choice.

I didn't "scold" you for playing Singed. You seemed very unhappy about getting rolled in lane and then not being able to do anything and I explained to you why it happened. Heroes like Singed get shut down hard if they get shut down early. Swain is the kind of hero who shuts people down and keeps them down.

What is the point of competition as teams if our team is not setup or acts like a team, instead its just random play with the good players trying to do whatever and us not so good players not knowing what is going on.

I have said this multiple times before and don't know how to make it any more clear. These game nights are exactly that, game nights. Just game nights for our regular, fun inhouse matches. The league point system is something that's behind that just to make it a bit more interesting. The final match at the end is what is competitive.

I joined late last night so hopefully Friday will be more organized and not a one sided slug fest.

I'm not really sure what you want. Some games will be onesided, it happens. I'm happy to hear proposed solutions which don't exclude people.

Happytime Harry wrote:

We need to get out of being in 1 channel, all 3 of my games 2 people picked within the last 5 seconds, and none were really optimal. If we're going to take this seriously(ish) then we should probably be in separate vent channels so we arent typing to our team.

I agree with this. Part of my last pick problem was that I was waiting to see who Falcawnkayck was going to pick and, I assume, he was doing to same with me. A little communication would have solved that problem quickly.

I have laned against game night dyni, last night was serious face turret diving dyni, or drunk dyni.... They can be similar.

I know that we can't do draft, but us in different vent channels will allow us to at least call out and think about which character we are going to choose hopefully.

And I was told last night that people will be playing seriously for this, so don't know if that is the feeling of everyone or just the person who piped in last night. My opinion is the fact that we want different channels means we are at least somewhat seriously competing.

But hey, I am probably wrong.

You aren't wrong, really.
The point is these are just game nights for GWJ inhouse games. Understand that I want to keep the rules for these games low because I feel that restricting them too much ruins the spirit of these games. The general feeling I get playing with GWJers is that most people just want to play and don't want to be told how to play.

It's a team based game so matches will always be a bit competitive. If a team wants to strategize, they'll do that, if a team wants to mess around they'll do that. Maybe one time everybody will be in SWAT team mode and go into seperate channels and strategize. Maybe another time people will be in drunken euphoria mode and yell at each other in the same channel. Maybe one time people will make well thought out, smart picks. Maybe another time everybody will insta-lock random heroes.

Point is I don't want to have too many rules and restrictions around these game nights. If somebody wants to make a more competitive league that's great but this is how I'm running this one.

If it makes it easier we could even drop the whole league thing and I could just do game nights, I'm not very experienced with this sort of thing so I wouldn't be offended if you guys think somebody else could do it better.

Sorry if none of this made sense, I'm speed typing it at work.

Also, we could do blind pick mode but do a draft while in lobby. That would be easy enough to manage, I think. Just have people do bans and picks through custom lobby chat.

FedoraMcQuaid wrote:

You aren't wrong, really.
The point is these are just game nights for GWJ inhouse games. Understand that I want to keep the rules for these games low because I feel that restricting them too much ruins the spirit of these games. The general feeling I get playing with GWJers is that most people just want to play and don't want to be told how to play.

It's a team based game so matches will always be a bit competitive. If a team wants to strategize, they'll do that, if a team wants to mess around they'll do that. Maybe one time everybody will be in SWAT team mode and go into seperate channels and strategize. Maybe another time people will be in drunken euphoria mode and yell at each other in the same channel. Maybe one time people will make well thought out, smart picks. Maybe another time everybody will insta-lock random heroes.

Point is I don't want to have too many rules and restrictions around these game nights. If somebody wants to make a more competitive league that's great but this is how I'm running this one.

If it makes it easier we could even drop the whole league thing and I could just do game nights, I'm not very experienced with this sort of thing so I wouldn't be offended if you guys think somebody else could do it better.

Sorry if none of this made sense, I'm speed typing it at work.

Also, we could do blind pick mode but do a draft while in lobby. That would be easy enough to manage, I think. Just have people do bans and picks through custom lobby chat.

I am for whatever you decide. I think it was just a bad experience on my part with the teams feeling slung together and then the impressive gameplay of dyni beating me into submission until Stockholm syndrome made me wonder if that was a bad thing. I personally love having some structure, the random game nights sometimes had structure with our ARAM and such, but other times was just lvl 30s hit random. The lvl 30s hit random wasn't one of my favorites because it meant I had to try to learn a character i might not know against someone who could be playing their main (squee)ze and just dominating my face or I could be practicing against someone else practicing a character so we were both learning and having fun. So I look forward to friday night to see if maybe my bad luck was just in that game, or if my bad luck will follow me to my character's repetitive death.

I think that's more of a natural effect of the game than issues with team balancing. Lanes can snowball out of control a lot in this game and it's hard to avoid that sometimes.

On Friday we'll give the lobby draft a shot and see how that goes.

Complex, as my dad used to tell me after he got done paddling my butt: I only spank you because I love you

I'm in this to have fun with a bunch of friendly like-minded folks, and gain a better understanding of the game. The win-tracking competition just makes it a bit interesting.

FedoraMcQuaid wrote:

Maybe another time everybody will insta-lock random heroes.

That actually sounds like a lot of fun, and a good team challenge.

Dyni wrote:

Complex, as my dad used to tell me after he got done paddling my butt: I only spank you because I love you ;)

STOCKHOLM SYNDROME!!!!

I am sensing two different currents in the waters of this thread.

On one hand, it's not competitive enough. For a competitive league, we should be in seperate vent channels, we should be playing draft mode, and everyone should be at least lvl 30 if not all have fully mapped out rune pages.

On the other hand, the scoring system is causing people to play their best characters, stomp people in the face, and be a little more intense/frustrated/"angry" with their own team mates. Although I doubt anyone is being outright mean, it may be a little more serious than what people expect out of their GWJ league time.

Proposed Solution Short Version: Drop the scoring system.

Proposed Solution Long Version: We either need to be playing casually, or playing competitively, not competitively tracking how well we play casually. Once we are in seperate vent channels, what's the point of playing against each other? We might as well be in a ranked 5s match as a GWJ team (represent woot!) playing against strangers who we don't feel a twinge of regret for when we stomp their faces in. There is some learning value in being able to get your opponenet's point of veiw after a win or a loss, but I don't think it's worth it.

A 5v5 all GWJer match, for me, is a time for fun, to learn, relax, be drunk or sober at your own discretion, and have a good time. I'm all for more of that. If we decide to go competitive, I'll join the GWJ team sure, and have fun too, but I prefer the more relaxed 5v5 inhouses.

Shout out post.

Strewth wrote:

I'll agree with being in separate vent channels. Unless Squee is on, nobody says anything because they don't want to let on what they're doing. When you've only got about a minute to plan your team composition, talking is much more efficient than typing.

I choose to interpret this as complimentary.

Complex wrote:

The lvl 30s hit random wasn't one of my favorites because it meant I had to try to learn a character i might not know against someone who could be playing their main (squee)ze and just dominating my face or I could be practicing against someone else practicing a character so we were both learning and having fun.

I see what you did there, I approve. Did I top solo Blitz against you my first night in the GWJ games?

No problem, I'll back out. Have fun, guys.

NSMike wrote:

No problem, I'll back out. Have fun, guys.

No, see this is the exact sort of thing I want to avoid. There is no reason you or anybody else should feel the need to back out.

Either people aren't reading my posts or my posts don't make any sense because it seems like only a few people are understanding what this whole thing is.[quote=merphle]I'm in this to have fun with a bunch of friendly like-minded folks, and gain a better understanding of the game. The win-tracking competition just makes it a bit interesting.

merphle wrote:

I'm in this to have fun with a bunch of friendly like-minded folks, and gain a better understanding of the game. The win-tracking competition just makes it a bit interesting

This guy knows what's up.

Anyway the easy way to clear up confusion is to drop the league all together and just have game nights; however, I'm too stubborn for that. I'm going to keep it going AT LEAST until the 1st final match then if I determine it's too problematic I'll drop it.

I'm going to be a detriment to whatever team I'm on and I don't want to be resented for costing people points. Nope, I'm out.

I think it's worth trying to do further in it's current form. As long as the teams are randomized and people have a chance to rotate in, the balance issues will work themselves out. One or two bad losses in a row can upset you in LOL, people just need to step back and breathe about it.

No no, you don't understand, I'm not good and I'm not improving. I jumped the gun getting into something competitive in the first place. I'll stick with the people I normally play with, who already know what they're taking on when I'm on their team.

NSMike wrote:

I'm going to be a detriment to whatever team I'm on and I don't want to be resented for costing people points. Nope, I'm out.

I really don't think anyone is going to resent you for sucking it up a little bit. I think sending the lower level players to lane against each other worked just fine and was pretty funny.

I honestly think that splitting up the teams in vent would fix a lot of the issues people are having with the set up. It actually feels more competitive when we're all in the same channel because everybody gets really quiet (except for Squee ;)) for fear of giving away information to the other team, myself included.

For Friday, let's try separate vent channels. If we end up with 10 people that can do draft mode, let's do it. If we have lower level players, blind pick works just fine. This shouldn't be a dramatic event. It 4 FUN!

Dyni wrote:

For Friday, let's try separate vent channels. If we end up with 10 people that can do draft mode, let's do it. If we have lower level players, blind pick works just fine. This shouldn't be a dramatic event. It 4 FUN!

4 fun? Fedora promised me 5 fun.

While I do support the idea of separate chat channels for team coordination (rather than the silence we get most of the time when we're all in one channel), I personally don't see these qualifiers as all that competitive. Good players are going to stand out regardless of the win/losses, I'm sure. People will have a general idea of people they may want if they are the drafters by the time we get there, the win/loss record is just to help fill in the gaps in memories or teams.

Honestly there is no prize for all of this, so I personally don't mind my ultimate standing in the rankings, and I'm certainly not going to look down on anyone for costing me a non-existent prize.

NSMike wrote:

No no, you don't understand, I'm not good and I'm not improving. I jumped the gun getting into something competitive in the first place. I'll stick with the people I normally play with, who already know what they're taking on when I'm on their team.

Welcome to League of Legends where everyone sucks and no one gets better.

Maybe it's right for you to decide you want to opt out of the more competitive days or whatever, but please don't retreat from LoL Goodjerdom in general. We play plenty of stupid, just for fun games. Hell, if I want to care about winning, I'll jump in ranked games. I'll jump in these 5v5 games and play my normal sh*tty stuff. I may not play my super sh*tty characters (twitch being the worst offender), but I'm not going to feel compelled to bot lane support every game like I do in ranked.

If only my League skills had the reputation my vent presence does...

I'm down to try anything twice, so sure, let's try seperate vent channels and see what happens. I think a "let's experiment" attitude will be good for the next couple nights we do this.

Everyone keeps mentioning how they're only in it for the fun, and I agree with that to the max.

So I guess talking and coordinating with your team, and using this to possibly win, is now mutually exclusive with "having fun"

carrotpanic wrote:
Dyni wrote:

For Friday, let's try separate vent channels. If we end up with 10 people that can do draft mode, let's do it. If we have lower level players, blind pick works just fine. This shouldn't be a dramatic event. It 4 FUN!

4 fun? Fedora promised me 5 fun.

Fedora lied to you. There are only 4 fun

Happytime Harry wrote:

So I guess talking and coordinating with your team, and using this to possibly win, is now mutually exclusive with "having fun"

sarcasm detected!

I think this is the primary disconnect. Should be an easy one to prove or fix.

Ok, can we stop quitting before we even have a system down?

Look, growing pains here, over the next few nights and weeks we'll figure out how this will work.

Let's use separate vent channels. There's nothing wrong with trying to win and we should be talking among our own teams. In fact, not talking actually prevents people from getting better since there's no way to learn.
Let's keep matching inexperience v inexperience in lane (though that does limit what our junglers can do since that's not a lane we can gank but I think that's a fine trade-off)
Let's keep scoring and tracking points, at least for now.

We'll see where we are and how we feel after a few more nights.

Just remember, this is FOR FUN (and for some of us it's an opportunity to get better, which is why I'm all about it). It's also a work in progress and we can adapt as we go.

Let's be honest, our 10-12 best players will make the 2 real teams, that's fine. We should all be using this time to get better with champs we're unfamiliar with and team balance will work itself out. Hell, we might even say something like "every other match is random lock if you're level 30" and rotate between that and drafting teams. Our new players would rotate into the random game.

We do need to find a balance between playing serious to get better and screwing around to help others. Just bear with us and we should be able to do both.

I'm not level 30 and I'll require no less than 7 months to get there. I don't bring much to any team I'm on other than feeding the opponents. I'm fine with not playing. I'm pretty sure I can convince everyone of these facts were I to show up on Friday.