MOBA games are among the most notorious for being overly complex, with a relatively dense ruleset and an extremely steep learning curve. As one of League of Legends’ new players, it can be very tempting to pick whoever you think looks the coolest and jump straight into a match, but here’s why that might not be the best idea.
League newbie, Malicharo, has been quick to bemoan the on-boarding of new players, saying he and a friend jumped into the blind pick game mode – one of the very few available to new players. For those that don’t know, when you create a new account of League of Legends, most of the competitive game modes are off-limits until you level the account up. Blind pick has the same objectives as a regular game of Summoners Rift, but the pre-game phase is a bit more… chaotic. Nobody is assigned a role before the game starts, with people nabbing roles by typing in chat what they want (this isn’t always upheld, or even understood by new players). Everybody picks their champion at the same time, with the ability to have multiple versions of the same champion, unlike the regular draft pick mode.
From here, the user’s experience seemed to degrade pretty quickly. They go into how their first game had a leaver within the first 4 minutes, and how the enemy team had someone smurfing with 20 kills by the 12-minute mark. Their second game then has yet another leaver, as well as what what sounds like a bot – a Teemo that just followed the user around the whole match.
The rest of their games allegedly went in a similar fashion, each one seemingly impossible to win, especially for a new player, and none were without controversy. Trolls, flamers, bots, AFKers – this new player ran the entire gamut of sportsmanship in their first five games.
“So in less than 2 hours or so we had 5 terrible games as our first ever 5 games. How is this in any way or form accepted? This has to be straight up the worst experience I’ve had in any online game.”
Below the post, a few helpful League of Legends veterans chimed in with some tips on how to ease yourself into the MOBA in a less painful way. It mainly involved completely avoiding the blind pick competitive mode – it’s a fiesta of new players and those users with slightly more nefarious objectives, ELO de-rankers and trolls are rife in these free-for-all games. They suggest the most pleasant way of leveling your account is to play against bots initially, and then move on to the ARAM gamemode.
ARAM (All-Random, All-Mid) is a decent way for new players to learn the mechanics of League, and for existing players to expand their current pool of champions, as your selection is randomised before the game. Playing as champions you aren’t used to is a great way to expand your own knowledge and as a new player, potentially find something that fits your newly-developing playstyle.
I’d personally suggest that playing with a few friends is the way to go, I know that I personally wouldn’t have stuck with League of Legends without someone there to guide me. I also leaned heavily on watching seasoned veterans and reading up as much as I could about the champions I enjoyed playing. Guides like the best League of Legends champions for beginners are invaluable for new players trying to find their place on the Rift. It also doesn’t hurt to read up on the latest patch notes (LoL patch 12.15); knowing what’s changing in the game might give you an advantage over someone who isn’t as up to date.