23rd October 2020

Announcements

League of Legends

Written by Team Pentanet

23rd October 2020

Announcements

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This article was written by visiting work experience student, Jake Boston from Mandurah Catholic College. Thanks, Jake!

History

League of Legends (League) is a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) video game, which was developed by Riot Games. League is a free-to-play game, which generates revenue from the in-game transactions of League’s currency Riot Points (RP). Riot Games was founded in August 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill and later bought out by Tencent, a Chinese multinational conglomerate, in 2011. League has several different types of games/maps available to play, with the most popular being the 5 vs 5 team game played on Summoners Rift. The map has a similar design to a player-made custom game mode that can be found in Warcraft III, Defense of the Ancients (DotA) which was the predecessor of the popular MOBA, Dota 2.

Some interesting stats about League include:

  • In 2014, League boasted a whopping 27 million players daily, making it the most played game in the world.
  • In 2016, Riot Games reported that League had over 100 million monthly players, making it the most popular game of the year.
  • League of Legends is the second most profitable game in the world, second to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO).
  • League currently has 150 unique champions, each with their own detailed backstory which can be viewed in the Lore. League started out with only 40 champions in 2009!

Competitive nature of League

League has a unique competitive system. Players are split into 9 different ranked tiers: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, Grandmaster and Challenger (ordered lowest to highest). Iron to Diamond contains four divisions, with division one being the highest and four the lowest. Master to Challenger has no divisions, due to few players being able to reach such a high level on the competitive ladder, however players receive a numbered rank starting at number 1.

Players are graded into one of the ranked divisions after completing 10 match placements. Using the League Points system (LP), players within each division are ranked by the amount of LP they have. LP is gained by winning a game (usually around 18-25 LP) and LP is lost by losing a game. Players usually lose less LP than they gain, making it easier to climb up the ladder.

Once 100LP is reached, the player qualifies for a “promotional series” to move up in ranking. A series includes 3 games if moving up a single division (Diamond 4 -> Diamond 3) or 5 games if moving up to a different rank tier (Platinum 1 -> Diamond 4). To promote to the next rank, a player is required to win 2 out of 3 games or 3 out of 5 games. If a promotional series is failed, the player will lose LP based on how many games are lost (2 losses = 30LP, 3 losses = 45LP). The goal of the ranked scene is to climb the ladder as high as possible before the season ends. Seasons are year-long, starting each January and ending in November.

League has a large professional scene which is divided into several regions worldwide including Europe, North America, Korea and Oceania. In 2020, Pentanet entered a professional team to compete in the Oceanic Pro League (OPL) under the name ‘Pentanet.GG’. Pentanet.GG is the first West Australian-owned team to make it through to the playoffs in the OPL’s 5-year history. The team showed great progression throughout the 2020 competitive season and became one of the main contenders in the OPL Split 2 2020.

Why is League so popular?

Ranked System

League’s competitive system has some unique features, such as players being able to ascertain exactly how many games it will take to rank up or down. When comparing League’s ranked system to other games such as CS:GO, League has the leading edge due to its transparency. CS:GO doesn’t show players how many games it will take to rank up or down, making it more difficult to climb competitively. It also doesn’t have a leaderboard to show which players are at the top of the game. In comparison, League has a publicly available ranked ladder and also provides information to third parties such as OP.GG, who rank accounts in regions based on their League rank and LP. They also include individual match history and in-depth information about the game, which can help players improve.

Multiplayer

League is inclusive when it comes to playing with friends. Players can create a premade Player vs Player (PvP) match with up to 4 of their friends at a time, for a 5-a side match. Players can even make a custom game with as many as 10 friends in one game, which makes League a very good game when it comes to playing with mates.

League is also a good game for making friends. Although some of the community is known for being ‘toxic’, the game also has extremely nice people who are happy to teach new players, give tips, and just be generally nice and social. ❤️ GGWP!

Predictions (League in the future)

League is an ever-evolving game. The Summoners Rift map is constantly updated with fresh graphics, changes in terrain and recently underwent a transformation to be a map that changes dynamically based on gameplay. New champions are introduced every few months with brand-new abilities and weaknesses and old champions with outdated and old kits are revamped. The developers are constantly making minor tweaks to champions with buffs (improvements) and nerfs (reducing abilities) to keep the game fair and balanced. League can adapt to what players expect of a game in 2020 and what they want. With its inherent versatility and ever-growing community, we predict League will stay relevant and popular for a long time.

Want to stay up to date with everything LoL and esports in Western Australia?
Visit Pentanet.GG  and follow our socials for all the latest news!

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