Considering LoL is around three and a half years old, it’s
surprising how little they have deviated from the classic Defence of the
Ancients gameplay. That being said, LoL now has more variety than most other
Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBAs).
So with the recent Freljord update, Riot formalised an old
favourite of the community, All Random All Mid (ARAM). It’s as simple as it
sounds. Each player is assigned a random champion and both teams fight for
control over a single lane. The straightforward nature of ARAM makes a nice
break from the complex tactics and long matches that often happen in the
classic game.
Games often end in frantic clumsy team fights, which is
great for a less serious game. Matches usually take less than twenty minutes,
so playing at your best isn’t absolutely essential. However it doesn’t stop the
stereotypical LoL ‘community’ members from appearing in your games. If you play
without a full team of friends, you still have to expect a random player taking
the game incredibly seriously. On more than one occasion I’ve played in games
where another player has left after throwing a tantrum, leading rather one
sided fights.
There are a couple of tweaks to the standard gameplay. The
home base no longer heals, making teammates with healing skills very valuable.
Health pick-ups spawn in a few locations down the lane, often leading to a
frantic scrabble between players to steal them from their opponents. A few
items that would be too powerful are removed from the shop, although games frequently
don’t last long enough for you to complete a full set of items.
The Howling Abyss map is beautifully themed in the frozen
aesthetic of the update; which is strikingly similar in theme to the Wrath of
the Lich King expansion for WoW. There’s some excellent attention to detail,
with animations for scenery crumbling around the battle and defensive towers
taking damage. The shop keeper is replaced by the ghost of a fallen warrior who
has a funny variety of lines to yell as you charge back into battle.
The only problem with the game mode is the random nature.
When each team is revealed on the loading screen, you can easily predict the
winner as it very easy to be assigned a set of champions that lack any synergy.
For example, a team with a couple of good ranged champions will have a large
advantage over a team that is all melee. You are given the option to re-roll
your champion, but these re-rolls have to be earned at a very slow rate from playing
games. Bizarrely you can also be assigned any champion that is on free-to-play
for the week. So if you only own a few champions, you’re likely to be assigned a
free-to-play champion that you haven’t played before.
Given how slowly the world of MOBAs evolves, it’s a nice
change to have another game mode being introduced by Riot. It has given me a
reason to play LoL without having to spend a good forty minutes or more on a
single round.
