LoL. No, I’m not laughing.  That’s the abbreviation for the highly addictive game, League of Legends.  I was able to do a closed beta review of this game when I got a closed beta key back in September. A lot has changed since then and Riot Games was nice enough to give me a copy of their collectors edition to review now that their game has officially launched. I will go over what has been changed and my opinion on each change.

Btw, you can get this game by downloading it at LeagueOfLegends.com and judge it for yourself. It’s free to download and play.

HUD changes
Back during closed beta, I thought the the bottom toolbar was perfect how it was. But it seems that Riot Games wasn’t happy with it and changed it for a more minimized look.  My only gripe about the new toolbar change is that it wasn’t immediately apparent that I had the option to upgrade or learn a certain skill.  The small “+” plus signs didn’t catch my eye as good as the big purple buttons they had before.

Closed Beta HUD

If I could suggest somethings to Riot, it would be to have an open source HUD and some dedicated hockey for consumable items.

During heated battles, I still have to look down at my health bar to see if I have to retreat from a 5v5 clusterfuck. I also have to keep looking down at my toolbar to see the status on my abilities’ cooldown.  Just like World of Warcraft’s hud community, I would like to have floating UI windows to make it easier for me to see in the middle of my screen and to be able to play with their opacity settings.

When you buy consumable items, like health/mana pots, they go in the next available slot.  Each of the 6 slots has a default hockey. 1 through 6. When I first buy pots, they end up in slot #2.  Later on in the game, they would end up in slot 5 or 6. So, hotkeys can get real confusing.

I know these are minor gripes, but it would be nice changes to have made.

Sound changes
More sound effects as wells as the announcer have been added or changed since closed beta.  There’s nothing much to say about the sound rather than the announcer’s voice being changed 3 times before the game launched.

Character additions
There have been many characters added to the game right before launch to bring the total to around 40. Each new character brings a whole new strategy to the table and makes the game that much more fun.

Overall Impressions
Now that the game has been officially launched and is free, I see no reason why anyone who was a fan of DotA or any RTS game shouldn’t be downloading and playing this right now. I’m a true believer of graphics over gameplay and League of Legends is full of fun gameplay. If you want to get ahead and unlock 20 characters in the game as well as get 4 equipment upgrades, $10 in-game currency pre-paid card, and an exclusive Kayle skin, get the Collectors Edition.

Collectors Edition

One last note to the noobs
To keep your teammates from calling you a nub or getting nerdrage, when you first get into this game, is to learn it first. Don’t just jump straight into battles that are worth real points. In IGN’s LoL review closing comments, the writer says:

But sometimes it feels like League of Legends throws too much at the player, both in terms of the number of champions and the general confusion of the larger battles. While that’s not enough to dampen your enthusiasm of the game, the vague status of the launch and the more-than-occasional hostility of the community just might.

My response to that, there is a practice mode. QQ more.