... and now comes the hard part in figuring out how this would work mechanically ;).
My initial response was: "just copy existing MtG formats like Two Headed Giant and/or Emperor". The more I thought about it, though, the less I like this because:
From a software prospective, its a huge ask. Maybe as a new feature they introduce ~1 year into the game to reinvigorate fans, but for now I think it's better to focus on launch.
Along the lines of the above: it will be extremely painful both on mobile, both in terms of for Riot to implement and for players to play. I really want LoR to rush deploying mobile; its my preferred platform but also I think it's a huge asset that will boost the playerbase and therefore the game's success--especially when the only other significant CCG on mobile is HS. MtG Arena and Artifact were fools to leave this untapped IMO.
"Just copying" is usually bad. The things I love about this game are novel things it does differently than HS and MtG, so if they did do a multiplayer version I'd want them to take a whack at something novel there too.
The things I've enjoyed about 2HG and Emperor have been the camaraderie with the other players, but its really hard to bond when there is no in-game communication other than emotes. If this mode is just strangers e-grunting at me, and each round now takes 2x to 3x longer, I don't think I'd enjoy it at all.
Interesting deck, but unfortunately 2x Katarina is too rich for my blood.
What are your thoughts on running 2/2/2 champions versus 3/3?
Sidenote: I have to say, as much as I like the gameplay, I have been disappointed so far at the amount of deckbuilding options for my F2P / 3 hours a day approach. I didn't expect to get as much as paying players and/or hardcore players, but I was hoping to have more options for budget construction at this point. Hopefully that will change Tuesday. :-)
In general: the champions' Level Up effects are instantaneous--i.e., "faster than burst". A good example of this is the Jinx + Rummage combo: if I have 4 cards in hand including the aforementioned, I can play Jinx, then at any time I can play the Rummage spell at burst speed. Even though the latter action will end with me having 2 cards in hand, because there was an instant halfway through the spell where I had 0, Jinx flips. Other significant Level Ups including Darius, Teemo, Lucian, and Thresh.
Side note: I'm still not convinced that the above is a good combo, as Rummage is unplayable without at least 2 other cards in hand so there are a lot of times when its a super awkward topdeck (i.e., when your Jinx is already flipped and you just want to burn your entire hand every turn), but I have 3 Jinx right now and not a lot of other support cards so I'm running it.
We have 3 free Expedition entries? I thought we got only one token.
1 token is redeemable for 3 individual runs, and each run has 2 trials so its up to 6 attemtps total.
EDIT: OK I would have sworn when I popped my token it said something about having 3 Expeditions, but no--it is 1 per token. Sorry everyone for the false information.
I recommend you to play all(3) Expeditions until Tuesday to be able to collect champion cards. It will be also wiser even you don't like draft mode because it costs only 4000k Shards which Champion Wildcards is also same cost and it is guaranteed to get a champion card even you lose your drafts and Expedition runs will give you bonus experience points when you finish them.
Its ok if I don't do all 3 Expeditions by this Tuesday, right? I've tried, but they take so long and I'd rather take my time and enjoy myself than grind to squeeze every drop of XP possible.
Yeah, barrier in general is weird. It's worded like it gives immunity for 1 turn, but it acts like HS divine shield but without preventing "strike" effects. I too wish they were more clear about this.
Do you get any sort of bonus to the starting region that notices you after the prologue rewards are finished or is it just the one you get from using most of their cards??
It's more like: during the prologue, your XP always goes towards 1 shorter progression path that rewards random card from all 6 regions but afterwards, but then afterwards there are 6 longer paths in parallel that only reward random cards from the corresponding region so you can target which types of decks you want to improve. The "notice you" thing is just a gimmick to get your attention; they are all valid and all have identical tiers so just go in and pick which ever region you want more cards for.
- Can you expect to build a full deck within reasonable playtime ? I usually play 2 class at most in a CCG (since LoR is "dual classes" with regions I expect to play from 3 to 4 of them). I'd prolly be satisfied with 2 serious deck and 3-4 meme decks.
"Reasonable" and "serious" are relative terms, but I'll hazard to answer regardless: Yes, but probably not the specific decks you originally wanted to play. E.g.: you ask about Karma, but unless you get very lucky with your rewards it will probably be a lot of playtime and consumables to make the proper deck around her. Jinx is a slightly different story, since you'll get 2 of her and a lot of support in your starter decks. Long story short: if you tailor your plans around what cards you randomly open, you'll get much better mileage than if you try to force a specific champion/decklist.
I wasn't in the closed beta, but I did spend last night playing and I'm in a similar frame of mind as you (been playing HS almost daily since Boomsday, F2P except for buying the adventures, curious-yet-reluctant to explore other games), so maybe you'll find my opinions useful.
I will admit that ~3 hours in with $0 spent, I am disappointed that I haven't been getting the cards I originally wanted. I envisioned fielding a ephemeral deck, and I can see how many cards I'm short now and it's not even close. That said: its somewhat apples and oranges. Whereas in HS it is EXTREMELY painful when you're fielding weak decks, I've been perfectly happy playing the starter decks in LoR so far. Granted, that might change as the meta matures and other players unlock more cards, but it seems fine now. Also: I HAVE been gaining cards, they just weren't the ones I originally wanted--and unlike in HS, there aren't a lot of "pack filler"; the cards are consequential I just haven't figured out what to do with them yet. Finally: whereas HS gives most rewards for constructed play, LoR gives most rewards for draft play, so you don't get that "feed the beast" loop of being stuck at low ladder because your decks are weak, but your decks are weak because you're stuck at low ladder. Success in LoR just doesn't seem to depend on the size of your collection like it does in HS.
Long story short: if you're happy with HS it probably won't replace HS, but if you're looking for something in addition to spend your time gaming I'd say this is at least worth checking out. What do you have to lose?
I'm worried that I might be breaking etiquette using emotes... I get that Braum is like "greetings", Jinx is surprise/amazed, Darius is face-palm/mistake, Heimerdinger is thinking, and poro is sad/disappointed, and I think Shen is well-played, but I don't know. Is he supposed to be more like a threat? Have all my attempts to respectfully acknowledge my opponents at the end of the match actually been misconstrued as childish taunts? Am I just overthinking all this?
I've been totally ignoring my rewards and just grinding XP, but I figure at some point I'll need to understand and optimize my consumable resources. From what I can gleam:
"Coins" are the in-game exchange for real-world cash; they can be converted into other resources
"Wildcards" have a corresponding rarity and can be converted into any desired card of that same rarity
"Expedition Tokens" can be redeemed for 3 Expeditions runs, which in turn reward shards, wildcards, and random cards
"Shards" are the baseline currency which can be converted into Wildcards and/or Expedition Tokens.
Is that all of it? Are "capsules" not a thing any more?
To confirm with the scenario above. Is the only way to deal damage to the enemy nexus requires you to have more cards on the field than the opposing team so the "extra" cards attack the nexus directly with the attack/defense only localized to the opposing card?
As others have pointed out, technically there are other ways to damage nexus (overwhelm, spells) plus ways to make your allies harder to block (elusive, fearsome), but realistically most games will come down to board control and value-trading. For instance, in the scenario you described, you still have a 5/3 in play while your opponent has lost his ally. Now on the next round, he has to be careful who he attacks with, because you can trade very favorably. Say for instance they attacked with a 5/5 without quick attack: you could block it with so that both died, and then your opponent lost 2 allies for your 1.
In general: try to focus the combination of making your army strong and their army weak. If you do that, you'll whittle away their resources to the point where they don't have anything left to block with, and then you'll just crush their nexus.
It seems a bit...let's say "odd"...if the only way to add friends is to have 2 pieces of information, one of which could only be distributed outside the game client.
Looking forward to trying this tomorrow but I don’t really know anything. I understand you get rewards geared towards specific regions. My question is, what region would be a good place to start
I asked the same thing before I started, and it prompted a big long discussion. Here's the thing I discovered last night, though:
You need to go through the Prologue, which gives you cards from all regions, before dedicating yourself to a specific region
After the Prologue once you are dedicated, you can change you mind at any time--i.e., if you open some good champions for Demacia tomorrow, you could switch
You can also adopt a strategy of switching regions as soon as you level (will net you the most total cards but they'll be common quality) versus focusing a single region (fewer cards total, but you'll get higher quality including more champions)
Each level requires multiple games, so you'll have PLENTY of time to figure out what regions / decks you enjoy playing and how best to adjust your plans
I got 7 wins in my first trial. From everything I can find it seems like the second trial is simply a redo and your better result is counted, but has anyone come across that not being the case? (eg. Trial 1 6 wins, Trial 2 5 wins giving a higher reward than Trial 1 7 wins, Trial 2 retire). I like exhibition but would rather play constructed as I find it more fun, so I don't really want to play the second trial if it's for no benefit collection wise.
I assume you mean "Expedition". ;-) My understanding is that you are correct and there is no advantage to doing a 2nd trial if your first had 7 wins (or its almost Tuesday and you haven't played all 3 Expeditions yet, because having 3 complete sub-optimal expeditions is better than having 1-2 optimal)--however I'm a newbie too so I'm interested to hear if someone more knowledgeable can answer better.
EDIT: see FortyDust's comment above. I started writing mine before they posted but finished afterwards 'cuz I'm slow like that. :-P
Shouldn't we level regions to 7 instead ? The champ reward seems to be at this level (I did get Yasuo but it was on an epic loot so dunno).
You will eventually get all regions to max (20?); its just a question of where you want to be putting your XP each day. I think the best choice for that depends entirely on your preferred playstyle(s), how much you want to play, and what cards you open. Almaniarra obviously is having fun playing a lot and experimenting with everything, so for him it probably is best to hit every region to ~5 because that will net him the most cards. For context: I played last night for ~3 hours, and I only got through the Prologue and ~Level 3 on my first region.
I haven't played this game, but it certainly is odd how the cards are worded. Writing in this first-third person makes it more verbose, which seems more confusing - why would the design team have chosen to do that? It doesn't always seem to be the case, as well.
It depends. Consider a card like Lucian: if he was HS or MtG, his text would read something like "If any Lucian card has been is in play while a total of either 4 or more friendly minions or 1 friendly Senna died, level it up immediately". Instead, he says "Level Up: I've seen 4+ allies or an allied Senna die". The first person and the verb "seen" make it clear what the criteria is and reinforce the flavor: he's increasing in power to avenge his fallen buddies and/or lover. It also makes it crystal clear to both players: if you play 1 Lucian, then 2 allies die, then the 1st Lucian dies and afterwards you later play a 2nd Lucian, his progression will be at 2/4 because that's exactly how many allies his character has "seen" die. Sure, as CCG aficionados we're so used to the latter that we can mentally parse it and understand it immediately, but remember that they're hoping to lure a lot of LoL players to this game who might not be as fluent in "cardspeak".
My initial response was: "just copy existing MtG formats like Two Headed Giant and/or Emperor". The more I thought about it, though, the less I like this because:
Interesting deck, but unfortunately 2x Katarina is too rich for my blood.
What are your thoughts on running 2/2/2 champions versus 3/3?
Sidenote: I have to say, as much as I like the gameplay, I have been disappointed so far at the amount of deckbuilding options for my F2P / 3 hours a day approach. I didn't expect to get as much as paying players and/or hardcore players, but I was hoping to have more options for budget construction at this point. Hopefully that will change Tuesday. :-)
In general: the champions' Level Up effects are instantaneous--i.e., "faster than burst". A good example of this is the Jinx + Rummage combo: if I have 4 cards in hand including the aforementioned, I can play Jinx, then at any time I can play the Rummage spell at burst speed. Even though the latter action will end with me having 2 cards in hand, because there was an instant halfway through the spell where I had 0, Jinx flips. Other significant Level Ups including Darius, Teemo, Lucian, and Thresh.
Side note: I'm still not convinced that the above is a good combo, as Rummage is unplayable without at least 2 other cards in hand so there are a lot of times when its a super awkward topdeck (i.e., when your Jinx is already flipped and you just want to burn your entire hand every turn), but I have 3 Jinx right now and not a lot of other support cards so I'm running it.
1 token is redeemable for 3 individual runs, and each run has 2 trials so its up to 6 attemtps total.
EDIT: OK I would have sworn when I popped my token it said something about having 3 Expeditions, but no--it is 1 per token. Sorry everyone for the false information.
Its ok if I don't do all 3 Expeditions by this Tuesday, right? I've tried, but they take so long and I'd rather take my time and enjoy myself than grind to squeeze every drop of XP possible.
Yeah, barrier in general is weird. It's worded like it gives immunity for 1 turn, but it acts like HS divine shield but without preventing "strike" effects. I too wish they were more clear about this.
It's more like: during the prologue, your XP always goes towards 1 shorter progression path that rewards random card from all 6 regions but afterwards, but then afterwards there are 6 longer paths in parallel that only reward random cards from the corresponding region so you can target which types of decks you want to improve. The "notice you" thing is just a gimmick to get your attention; they are all valid and all have identical tiers so just go in and pick which ever region you want more cards for.
"Reasonable" and "serious" are relative terms, but I'll hazard to answer regardless: Yes, but probably not the specific decks you originally wanted to play. E.g.: you ask about Karma, but unless you get very lucky with your rewards it will probably be a lot of playtime and consumables to make the proper deck around her. Jinx is a slightly different story, since you'll get 2 of her and a lot of support in your starter decks. Long story short: if you tailor your plans around what cards you randomly open, you'll get much better mileage than if you try to force a specific champion/decklist.
I wasn't in the closed beta, but I did spend last night playing and I'm in a similar frame of mind as you (been playing HS almost daily since Boomsday, F2P except for buying the adventures, curious-yet-reluctant to explore other games), so maybe you'll find my opinions useful.
I will admit that ~3 hours in with $0 spent, I am disappointed that I haven't been getting the cards I originally wanted. I envisioned fielding a ephemeral deck, and I can see how many cards I'm short now and it's not even close. That said: its somewhat apples and oranges. Whereas in HS it is EXTREMELY painful when you're fielding weak decks, I've been perfectly happy playing the starter decks in LoR so far. Granted, that might change as the meta matures and other players unlock more cards, but it seems fine now. Also: I HAVE been gaining cards, they just weren't the ones I originally wanted--and unlike in HS, there aren't a lot of "pack filler"; the cards are consequential I just haven't figured out what to do with them yet. Finally: whereas HS gives most rewards for constructed play, LoR gives most rewards for draft play, so you don't get that "feed the beast" loop of being stuck at low ladder because your decks are weak, but your decks are weak because you're stuck at low ladder. Success in LoR just doesn't seem to depend on the size of your collection like it does in HS.
Long story short: if you're happy with HS it probably won't replace HS, but if you're looking for something in addition to spend your time gaming I'd say this is at least worth checking out. What do you have to lose?
I'm worried that I might be breaking etiquette using emotes... I get that Braum is like "greetings", Jinx is surprise/amazed, Darius is face-palm/mistake, Heimerdinger is thinking, and poro is sad/disappointed, and I think Shen is well-played, but I don't know. Is he supposed to be more like a threat? Have all my attempts to respectfully acknowledge my opponents at the end of the match actually been misconstrued as childish taunts? Am I just overthinking all this?
I've been totally ignoring my rewards and just grinding XP, but I figure at some point I'll need to understand and optimize my consumable resources. From what I can gleam:
Is that all of it? Are "capsules" not a thing any more?
As others have pointed out, technically there are other ways to damage nexus (overwhelm, spells) plus ways to make your allies harder to block (elusive, fearsome), but realistically most games will come down to board control and value-trading. For instance, in the scenario you described, you still have a 5/3 in play while your opponent has lost his ally. Now on the next round, he has to be careful who he attacks with, because you can trade very favorably. Say for instance they attacked with a 5/5 without quick attack: you could block it with so that both died, and then your opponent lost 2 allies for your 1.
In general: try to focus the combination of making your army strong and their army weak. If you do that, you'll whittle away their resources to the point where they don't have anything left to block with, and then you'll just crush their nexus.
Is there no way to add recent opponents?
It seems a bit...let's say "odd"...if the only way to add friends is to have 2 pieces of information, one of which could only be distributed outside the game client.
I asked the same thing before I started, and it prompted a big long discussion. Here's the thing I discovered last night, though:
I assume you mean "Expedition". ;-) My understanding is that you are correct and there is no advantage to doing a 2nd trial if your first had 7 wins (or its almost Tuesday and you haven't played all 3 Expeditions yet, because having 3 complete sub-optimal expeditions is better than having 1-2 optimal)--however I'm a newbie too so I'm interested to hear if someone more knowledgeable can answer better.
EDIT: see FortyDust's comment above. I started writing mine before they posted but finished afterwards 'cuz I'm slow like that. :-P
You will eventually get all regions to max (20?); its just a question of where you want to be putting your XP each day. I think the best choice for that depends entirely on your preferred playstyle(s), how much you want to play, and what cards you open. Almaniarra obviously is having fun playing a lot and experimenting with everything, so for him it probably is best to hit every region to ~5 because that will net him the most cards. For context: I played last night for ~3 hours, and I only got through the Prologue and ~Level 3 on my first region.
It depends. Consider a card like Lucian: if he was HS or MtG, his text would read something like "If any Lucian card has been is in play while a total of either 4 or more friendly minions or 1 friendly Senna died, level it up immediately". Instead, he says "Level Up: I've seen 4+ allies or an allied Senna die". The first person and the verb "seen" make it clear what the criteria is and reinforce the flavor: he's increasing in power to avenge his fallen buddies and/or lover. It also makes it crystal clear to both players: if you play 1 Lucian, then 2 allies die, then the 1st Lucian dies and afterwards you later play a 2nd Lucian, his progression will be at 2/4 because that's exactly how many allies his character has "seen" die. Sure, as CCG aficionados we're so used to the latter that we can mentally parse it and understand it immediately, but remember that they're hoping to lure a lot of LoL players to this game who might not be as fluent in "cardspeak".
Thanks for all the advice, all! I was leaning towards Shadow Isles before I wrote this based on the below reasons; your replies clenched it.
Any thoughts about which regions might be better/worse for F2P players to pick to unlock first?
I guess you could say he didn't come prepared?
...Don't worry, I'll show myself out.