What were my first steps in League of Legends? Is the community really as toxic as it is generally said? Read here about the experiences a noob had in LoL and why I can only recommend it to everyone.
Why League of Legends? Why did I choose a game that was released in 2009? Exactly, LoL is now 10 years old in the virtual world. Anyone who has been around in the gaming market for that long and claims to be relevant will inevitably make headlines.
I have occasionally heard about MOBAs like Dota, HotS, and LoL. The genre seems to be a phenomenon and has large tournaments with astronomical prize money. But isn’t that just in the Far East? Wrong thought.
The only LoL player I knew as an outsider: Faker. He must be some kind of demigod and the measure of all things (LoL). He is a good example of an athlete who is known far beyond the sport. Someone like Tiger Woods or Mike Tyson, you know them even without any knowledge of golf or boxing.
I read here on Mein-MMO.de that the World Championship took place in Europe. In the finals, there was even a team with European players. The guys from Denmark, Croatia, Poland, and Slovenia even made it to the finals – but in the end, it was only enough for the silver medal.
I was hooked, so I wanted to know why the wave had apparently arrived here a long time ago. Why does LoL still excite even after a full decade? Read in this post how my ruthless self-experiment went.
Every beginning is hard
Do I have prior experience with MOBAs? I am a complete beginner when it comes to League of Legends. I don’t even spend much time on the PC. My gaming home is the console. Most of the time, the rule is: The computer is my workhorse. The mouse clicks in text documents, and the keyboard does not unleash abilities via hotkeys, but rather turns letters into words.
When I was younger, I gained experience with Age of Empires 2 on the PC, but other than that? Okay, I’ll be honest, in school, I played a couple, maybe three rounds of Dota with friends. I at least know the principle of ‘last hitting’ and know: you storm a base together with minions.
But that was at least a decade ago and was limited to a weekend (playing was never done during the school week). So I checked out some beginner guides to LoL. Now I know the basics and at least know that it is currently pre-season. This is supposedly a good time to start in LoL.
Here’s how my first steps in-game looked: As a beginner, I looked for the tutorial. Fortunately, there is such a mode in LoL. I bravely completed the handful of missions. Here, the fundamental game principles against bots (AI-controlled opponents) are actually taught.
I now know how to push one of three paths (eng. Lanes) and that on the way to the enemy base, nasty turrets can make life difficult. If you have managed to establish yourself on your lane against all odds, it is time to tear apart the opposing nexus, the heart of the base.
All no problem at all. Left click here, right click there, and my character cuts everything in its path down. I was even told that I can buy powerful items in my own base. Equipped with that, my tutorial opponent quickly threw in the towel.
Which champion should it be? In League of Legends, you choose a champion before each round. That’s the one you control and fight alongside four allies against five enemy heroes. At this point (15.12.19), there are nearly 150 of these champions.
So I scrolled through the enormous list of 146 unique champions. It can’t be that hard; after all, I know all 151 original Pokémon. And as always, the one that looks the coolest is also the coolest for me.
I found the design of Osiris and the mythical Egyptian references interesting in Destiny 2. In Warframe, I explore the universe with Inaros, the lord of desert sands. Therefore, I chose Azir.
But my decision took a hit. The chosen champion Azir is classified as ‘hard to play’ in-game. Additionally, he also costs some blue resources. As a newcomer, I am of course chronically broke and need to earn that stuff first.
So I first stuck with my free hero: Master Yi. He is a swordsman and resembles a traditional Chinese warrior. The only fact that he wears seven headlamps confuses me. But I’m sure there’s a backstory to that.
But with this guy, I eventually took the whole tutorial apart. I was very confident, and my journey continued.
Now it gets serious – The 1st real match
This is how my first match went: It was time. Now it’s finally getting serious and in League of Legends, that’s called: Summoner’s Rift. This refers to the mode and the map in 5vs5. There are other modes, and recently also the summer phenomenon Teamfight Tactics, but I want to experience the heart of LoL.
Quickly, a game against real opponents was found. In the chat during the character selection, mysterious words like jungler or AD carry were mentioned. Whatever, I wished everyone a good game. Little did those poor souls know that they would soon be sliced up by Master Yi.
A small correction to my previous sentence: Master Yi was sliced up. No matter who I attacked, I constantly got hit. Either I was ganked or was smashed into the ground in a fair duel with just one attack. In Destiny, my aggressive playstyle works quite well, but not really in LoL.
The game just didn’t want to go as it did in the tutorial. Although I played much more cautiously after the first setbacks. In the end, my KD/A, my kills, deaths, and assists, was still not so impressive.
What did my teammates say about it? I want to keep the text youth-friendly, so I will tone it down a bit. But the calls to uninstall the game or jump out the window did gnaw at my self-confidence.
I tried to make the gentlemen understand to be lenient with me. After all, it was my first match. Unfortunately, that excuse didn’t hold. The fact that I still responded kindly seemed to only fuel the fire of anger.
Fortunately, they didn’t insult me but directed their hate solely towards Master Yi. “This Y is a [censored]” or “why do I always get such [censored] mates like Yi”.
When I reported my experience in the editorial office, I caused involuntary laughter. My colleague Schuhmann jokingly suggested that I should practice against bots first. But the game didn’t reveal such secrets on its own.
This is what is said about the LoL community: Even beyond the boundaries of League of Legends and the MOBA sector, the game is colloquially considered toxic. Over the years, there have always been such reports:
- Toxic streamers are freaking out.
- Due to toxicity, sometimes half a league is banned.
- LoL ranks 5th on the list of the most discriminatory online games, according to a study.
But Riot, the developers behind LoL and also other renowned gaming giants like Blizzard, have joined forces against toxic players. There is to be a more pleasant climate.
Even in the editorial office of Mein-MMO.de, the tenor is of a reformed community. I probably just had bad luck and encountered the stereotype in my first match.
Is it fun?
You never stop learning: I have continued to play. For a week, I logged in every evening and worked on loot runs. And during that time, I actually didn’t experience such a toxic game anymore. No matter how bad I or a teammate was.
Of course, there was still flaming and cursing in the chat. However, the toxicity level was in an acceptable range. Some players even left a “nice” or “gg” behind.
Although I have not yet reached my goal of Azir. I want to get familiar with all the basics first. But the relatively beginner-friendly champ Garen has given me some cool plays. Additionally, I now also know the basics of all roles and lanes, as well as techniques like ‘wave management’ – knowing does not mean mastered.
My conclusion about starting LoL: I now partially understand the fascination with League of Legends and can say from my side: Yes, it’s a lot of fun. The game is incredibly multifaceted and complex.
Although it’s not as beginner-friendly as, for example, Overwatch, the pull is enormous. Hardly a game plays out the same way; again and again, you are challenged in new or different ways. Furthermore, developer Riot is constantly working on their success game.
Sure, you have to be willing to invest time. But if even a MOBA noob like me had fun, why wouldn’t you? My main game will surely not become League of Legends. A few rounds in between when there’s a content drought in Destiny 2 are definitely possible.
And even if there are actually other things to do, taking a look at LoL doesn’t hurt. Oh what the hell, I’ll just start a game now. See you on Summoner’s Rift.
What were your first steps like? Have you perhaps not yet ventured into a MOBA? Are the rumors about the LoL community true?
