League Of Legends


Runeterra - Competitive Weekly 9/22: Tournaments & Interviews

Posted: 23 Sep 2010 08:09 AM PDT




By: onisnake Runeterran Writer

Welcome to another issue of Competitive Weekly. Please forgive the lapse of the previous week, as I was swamped by coding a new user interface for a game I'm working on. We have lots of exciting news that's happened in the past week with Alienware coming to a close of the preliminary rounds, as well as the exciting match between CLG and Epik. We also have a guest, UrQuan, with interviews from the South East Asia teams. So let's take a closer look at the competitive scene.

  • Tournament Updates
    • Alienware Extreme PvP
    • World Cyber Games [WCG]
  • Interviews with UrQuan
    • Clan PMS
  • Another Story
  • Gamebattles
  • Next Week

Tournament Updates

 
Alienware Extreme PvP

Good news for everyone participating in the Alienware tournament. It has been decided to have the top 32 teams to advance to the next round instead of the top 16.  Due to make-up match's not being finished play-offs will begin Thursday September 30th.
Here is the post

However the prizes will still only be awarded to the top 16.
Here are the current standings

World Cyber gaming [WCG]
These last two weeks were huge for WCG, as I'm sure most of you tuned in to the great two matches by both CLG and Epik Gaming. For those of you who missed them you can find them here:
Game 1
Game 2

We have the final four teams that will compete for fame and glory, and not to mention a nice big check, and here they are:

I WEAR A CAPE IRL representing Team Europe & Germany:
•   Zylor
•   Osaft22
•   Reyk
•   Severus
•   SleazyWeazy

Runner up: Fureur

CLG representing North America:
•   Sam "Kobe24" Hartman-Kenzler
•   Cody "Elementz" Sigfusson
•   Michael "Bigfatjiji" Tang
•   George "HotshotGG" Georgallidis
•   Steve "Chauster" Chau

Runner up: Epik Gaming

Another Story representing South East Asia:
•   ice (aka iceiceice)
•   opio
•   darkness
•   amnesia
•   chawy

Runner up: Friends Forever 

Representing China
•   Nothing 766
•   Hanguang
•   knob HK
•   Amenosa
•   xiaoyanzi


Interviews with UrQuuan


Hi I'm UrQuan and I'm here to bring you a glimpse into the WCG qualifiers in the SEA region and the MOBA/League of Legends scene in S.E. Asia. DotA has always had a strong base in South East Asia and is home to some of the top DotA players in the world. If you are looking for the best competitive plays for the genre, S.E. Asia should NOT be ignored.

We have full knowledge of the results of the WCG qualifiers from Europe and North America, but we have heard so little about our LoL counterparts in Asia. This week, I had the pleasure of speaking to a number of teams that were vying to represent SEA, to pick their brains about competitive LoL in their region.

PMS clan interview

First off, I spoke to furryfish*, pinksheep*, kaori, and w4ndeRz of the all-girls DotA team PMS|Asterisk*, the Singaporean chapter of the ever popular PMS clan ( http://pmsclan.com ).

UQ: Ok, let's get this started. Would you mind giving me a short description of your team?

furryfish*: You can find out quite a lot from our website http://pmsasterisk.blogspot.com/ and it has our individual profiles.

UQ:  I understand you have some experience with DotA, so I assume you have been playing that game competitively as a team for 5 years?

furryfish*: Yup. We've gone through some roster changes, but pinksheep and myself have been together (in the same team) for 5 years already.

UQ: So, what other DotA-like games have you guys been playing? Have you tried Heroes of Newerth? And how much time did you play League of Legends prior to the tournament?

furryfish*: Yup, we have tried it, but casually because we're still concentrating a lot on DOTA.

w4ndeRz: We are quite new to the game so we didn't spend as much time as the other teams to train LOL. The most experienced members played for about a week before the tournament.

pinksheep*: (Not to mention that) there were some fixes which didn't allow SEA players to log on to the US servers so yeah some of us didn't really try the game till the event proper

UQ: Yep, we were well aware of that issue here in N.America. I am curious, what is your opinion on the popularity of LoL in SEA?

furryfish*: There has been a sudden boom in such games... so I think the  community is still confused over the differences etc. coupled with the fact that most haven't been able to try out all the games, free to play - most of them still prefer to stick to something familiar.

pinksheep*: Potentially speaking there's still a lot of room for growth. There are rumors that dota2 is underway and so I think most of the community right now is just waiting to see what dota2 offers before settling down on one of the three. After trying out the game I'm actually very interested in several heroes' skills.

(ed: when mentioning dota2, presumably talking about Icefrog's collaboration with Valve) 

UQ: While we're on the topic of champions, which are your favorite champions?

furryfish*: ANIVIA, FROZEN BIRD!!! /excited. I also like the lizard-like one... Kog'maw?

pinksheep*: I like Ezreal and Ryze with which we used to kill iceiceice (of Team Another Story)

w4ndeRz: Yeah I like Taric and the other hero I used, the one with toss  (Ed: Singed)

UQ: Was there any champion that you played against in the tourney that you absolutely hated?

furryfish*: Anything that ice used, some shape shifting thing that can turn into a cat. It was eating my frozen bird

pinksheep*: Yeah there was one that has some barrel rolling thing. Not the one who tosses it. The hero which becomes a wheel and then rams you

furryfish*: Like Sonic the Hedgehog

pinksheep*: Yeah something like Sonic. Yeah I hate that one. It just messes up any engagement you're trying to execute plus it's got good armor so he's not easy to take out before the allies pop in

furryfish*: The guy who falls from the sky when played well is pretty imba too

xkimchix: TT I dunno -_- fav Ashe. Really dun like Twitch

pinksheep*: Oh yeah, if I was the drafter I would ban Twisted Fate. That guy really nearly cost Another Story the game in the finals, too imba.

UQ: It would be pretty interesting to see what people think regarding about champions. I think there are different thoughts between NA, Europe and China concerning which are good champions and which aren't

furryfish*: Yup... I think it's going to be very interesting to see them all face off in LA

w4ndeRz:  Yeah probably different game play styles toggle different likes and hates..

pinksheep*: =) You should see our finals. It was very intense too. Really close game.

furryfish*: Just the finals. Nothing else is worth watching. (esp not our games...)

UQ: Ah, don't feel too bad. You guys didn't have much time playing the people who were playing in the NA finals played since the game went Beta which was last July or so...

pinksheep*: Actually we really enjoyed our games because we met the objectives we set for ourselves, which are - down at least 1 tower and not have zero kills  we had 30 over kills!!

furryfish*:  Yup... it was sort of a "no stress, just have fun" event for us

UQ: Haha. I'm sure your DotA skills kicked in. So what would you like to see in League of Legends? Is there anything you like or anything you want to change?

furryfish*: What I find intriguing about LoL is that one mistake can lose the whole game. And I like the idea that NPCs give buffs. But I hate it that I can't deny creeps. LOL but I know that will never happen. That defeats the purpose of LoL. LoL's purpose is to have it more fast paced

pinksheep*: Would like to see if the other regions are able to exploit them more than we did. Oh yeah. we're used to denying creeps. =.= Denying would be good. It's an excellent feature in DotA that we all like. Denying experience and gold is part of the "micro".
Also, base towers should be more hardy. Once items go up, and you lose a major engagement it's like boom you lose two towers and base spawns.

xkimchix: WE WANT TO DENY

furryfish*: I also want to be able to select other things... it kind of disturbs me that my hero is auto selected and also that I can't turn off the inventory of the other 10 players off when I press tab

pinksheep*: I don't mind the auto select hero bit

furryfish*: Oh what I would like to see improved is the masteries and runes. It is QUITE tiresome, esp if you're a new, clueless player. I'm not too sure how to improve it, but it's quite a ... hassle

UQ: You guys had full access to all the masteries and runes right?

pinksheep*: It's interesting but it's a bit too much to set runes masteries for like 10 mins before each game ><" Maybe we just need to get used to it. I learned from the other team mski that you can save profiles for a number of heroes

UQ: Yeah I don't think you are meant to jump into a level 30 character as a newbie. It is rather overwhelming at first.

pinksheep*: Haha. Oh that.  With my level 30 account now I can't play "noob pub games" because people will never believe that I'm new to the game. I tried. = ="

UQ: I have run out of questions! Does anyone have any final thoughts/ shout outs?

pinksheep*: Yeah <3 to Amber Dalton from PMS and all our fans over in NA and the States!!

furryfish*: Shout out to Garena and the other sponsors for the great experience at the Asian qualifiers. To Another Story : IMMORTALITY!! TAKE IT!!. and to mushi : we love you....

xkimchix: mushi~~~~~~~~~~~

xkimchix: Hi everyone! play more games! special hi to NEHA!! =D 

UQ: Alright! Thanks for taking your time to talk to me I hope you remain successful in the competitive scene and I hope to see you gals take part in future LoL tourneys!

If you want to know more about team Asterisk, you can go to their website mentioned above or follow Asterisk* at www.facebook.com/pmsasterisk

Another Story interview

Next, I had the opportunity to chat with ice from the champions: The Singaporean team, Another Story. I found out that ice is also a very good Starcraft II player, 3rd on the SEAsian ladders as Zerg ( http://sea.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/63948 ) and had just came in 2nd place for the SEA invitationals and is heading to Blizzcon as well.

UQ: Ok let's get the questions rolling. Can you tell me about your team, Another Story?

ice:  The team was made by opio when he got invited to form a team to play the Ring of Champions tournament. Since we played LoL quite a lot in the past he decided to form a team with me and 3 others which is darkness, amnesia and chawy, all whom play DotA competitively.

UQ: Are you guys are an official team? Do you train together much? How long have you guys been playing competitive DotA for?

ice:  We aren't really an official team, just a group of friends that plays together, we trained like a week or 2 before the tournament? Maybe 3 hours a day or so. I don't know about the rest, but I have been playing DotA competitively since DotA was out. They probably played for around.. 2-3 years?

UQ: Like in tournaments and such?

ice: Yup. estc, wcg, eswc etc. etc.

UQ: So do you guys play competitively as a team in DotA or separately? Also, have you guys been playing HoN competitively as well?

ice: Do you mean the team for LoL? We all have our own teams for DotA. opio doesn't play much competitive DotA though and I have been inactive recently. Only darkness(zp) plays HoN competitively, and I have been thinking of playing HoN for  some free cash.

UQ: Is HoN big in SEA? Can you rank LoL, DotA and HoN in terms of popularity?

ice:  Dota would be 1st, followed by HoN and then LoL. No one plays much LoL since they IP blocked it in the past to prevent anyone from Asia to log in.

UQ: So you mentioned that you guys only trained a couple of weeks before the qualifiers. Have you been playing before that?

ice: No. Only me, opio and darkness have played that game a few months before, and I stopped after I got bored of it and opio/darkness stopped when IP got blocked. chawy and amnesia are new to the game, we needed 2 so opio decided to just get them and train them up

UQ: That's pretty impressive. Have you been keeping an eye on the EU and NA qualifiers?

ice: Nope, but I think opio has been, LoL. I'm more interested in sc2 =D

UQ: What did you think about the SEAsian qualifiers? How were your opponents?

ice: It was pretty easy, half of the teams there almost didn't train at all for the tournament. The only opponent that was tougher was the Vietnam team, Friends Forever if I remember correctly.

UQ: What was your line up? Did you have a strategy for each game?

ice: We mainly play heroes with stuns/slow to win our lane controls Sion, Taric and Morgana, since we believe that the game is over once you win all 3 lanes and probably a heavy carry for late game

UQ: Any junglers?

ice: Yes. LoL is pretty much an easy version of dota, so yeah.

UQ: Can you tell me some of the champions you favored/must have and some champions you absolutely hate/must ban?

ice: ah...

UQ: You don't have to say much if you think it will affect your match in the finals

ice: I think my mates might kill me so I'll just say I like Nidalee cause I like cats and I hate Shen because I can't (do) solo kills

UQ: I heard from Asterisk that Twisted Fate almost cost you a game

ice:  Yes, it almost did. But, because of Twisted Fate, we won that game. He teleported to backdoor our rax, and we 5v4ed their team, lol

UQ: You mentioned that LoL is basically an easier version of DotA but I'd like to know what you like so far about LoL and what you'd like to see changed. Is there anything in the meta game that you'd prefer to be in?

ice: Hmm. I like the fact that killing heroes gives you more gold and the bushes from SC2 are in LoL as well. I'll like to see changes in the hotkeys because I enjoy using the alt for toggle health bar, but default alt function in LoL is to control your other units so it would be nice if I could change that.

Denying would be a nice to have, but then LoL wouldn't be LoL anymore if you could deny. I also like that in LoL, a mistake will cause you to lose almost straight away, while in dota/hon you can buyout.

UQ: So you like how in LoL your opponents can't buyback?

ice:  Yes, it forces people to play a lot safer and there is much more pressure knowing that once you make a mistake, there is no "buyout" there for you to click.

UQ: That is all my questions I have. Do you have any final thoughts or do you want to share any else?

ice:  I'll win WCG Grand Finals LoL!!!! That's about it and thanks for the interview/time

Thank you ice for your time!

So there you have it folks. Though League of Legends is still in its infancy in the region, there is a well established MOBA community in SEA and they are no strangers to DotA and DotA-esque mechanics. Whether or not a similarly established LoL community would spring up remains to be unseen but I would definitely not write them off just yet. I am sure that Another Story's DotA experience will serve them well and I wish them good luck in the Grand Finals!

Be sure to tune in to Ring of Champions, produced by Garena ( http://lol.garena.com/roc/ ) and watch the journey unfold for the competitors from SEA.


Gamebattles

In case you haven't heard, www.gamebattles.com is having their first paid ladder for League of Legends. We're looking at $1500 as well as Riot Points and Champion Ryze.

Event Details:
Map: Summoner's Rift 5v5
Stages: Ladder (best of 1) >>> Double Elimination Playoffs (best of 3)
Format: Draft Mode
Event Dates:

• Registration Opens - September 16th
• Ladder Begins - September 27th
• Roster Lock - October 15th, 11:59 PM ET
• Registration Closes - October 15th, 11:59 PM ET
• Ladder Ends - October 24th, 8:59 PM ET
• Playoff Bracket Begins - October 25th

To register for the event head on over to www.gamebattles.com or here   for more information on the event


Next Week

Well so ends another week of Competitive Weekly. Next week will be focused on WCG and the events going on. I would like to thank UrQuan for his help this week and hopefully we will see him again with more information from the SEA circuit. Stay tuned for the next issue for what events are being held at WCG, how to snag yourself a free Riot Singed, as well as some fun surprises for you good

Still flying solo? Refer-a-Friend and Earn Rewards!

Posted: 23 Sep 2010 08:06 AM PDT





Summoners!

As John Hay once put it, "Friends are the sunshine of life." So, if you're still playing League of Legends solo we wanted to remind you that you can earn some great rewards by inviting them to play with you. Recently, you might have noticed that quite a few additional referral shields popping up across the forums. That's because we have completed maintenance on our Refer-a-Friend program, which is once again fully functional and back in full swing. You can once again pick up some great swag for gaming with your buddies. Here are a few of the prizes you could snag:

  • The Refer-a-Friend shield on the League of Legends Forums
  • Forum titles
  • Free boosts and champions
  • Exclusive skins
  • Riot Points
So, if you like great rewards and good company, why not invite a few of your friends to come play League of Legends with you? You have nothing to lose but a lonely heart!

2010.09.23 – Server Maintenance, Game History & Bonus IP

Posted: 23 Sep 2010 07:59 AM PDT





Hello all,

As explained in the thread we opened for the previous maintenance, we are aware players were encountering unexpected problems when logging into PVP.net. We'd like to assure you that all player data is still safe and the next time you log into PVP.net, your account will be returned to normal with one small side effect. In order to regain the stability of the service, it was necessary to remove the history of recent games available in all summoner profiles. Just to clarify, no data was lost, and your overall statistics likes wins, losses, and ranking are still secure.

To apologise for the excessively long down time we had today, as well as for all of the confusion around the account problems, we have decided to add 1000 IP to every account that has played a game in the last two weeks, leading up to today's patch. We will have a scheduled server downtime sometime early next week to distribute these influence points as well as install new networking hardware to address some of the stability problems we've been experiencing.

Thank you for your patience, we appreciate your support.

Even Better Deals on Champion Skins!

Posted: 23 Sep 2010 07:56 AM PDT





Greetings Summoners! We thought since it was Wednesday we would treat all our players to even better deals on two of our beloved champion skins. We are pleased to announce that starting from Monday, September 27th, Mr. Mundoverse and Leopard Nidalee will be permanently reduced from 975 RP to 520 RP.


Visit the Store on Monday, September 27th, to purchase these permanently discounted skins and start parading them through the Fields of Justice!

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