But spending money in LoL doesn't ever make an in-game difference. Runes can only be purchased with in-game points, not real currency.
As I've said before, locking champions behind a grind (especially when you already need to grind for Runes, and a lot of them) or having the option to pay is something I really hate about League and one of the major reasons I prefer the way Dota 2 does things. I don't know if at any point not having certain heroes keeps a player from being competitive but with Riot's poor balance history and the just general quality increase for heroes as they have released them does count for something.
Game breaking? No, not at all. Pay to win? Eh, not really but an argument could be made.
You could make that argument, that bypassing the champion grind with cash makes the game Pay-to-Win, but there's nothing about buying e.g. Karthus flat-out for RP ($) that anywhere guarantees your victory over someone that grinded a champion with IP. They are equal in terms of capability in-game.
It certainly might initially speed up building your rune pages, and someone who is seriously invested in League would do well to keep an IP bonus up initially to speed their Rune collection, but once you're established, there's no no need to spend real money on anything.
Even though Riot tends to release new champions a tad over-powered (although the opposite has also been the case), new champs get dumped into the free rotation after 3-4 weeks, meaning that even players who spend nothing get to play the new champs.
Spending RP on a champ is more of a personal preference--i.e. I like Ashe as a new player, so I pay $8 equiv in RP or whatever it is to permanently unlock her, and then spend the next 100 games perfecting the Ashe playestyle. At that point, I've probably earned over 11k IP (double that with a boost) and can spend it on either runes or another champion.
The free rotation also guarantees that you will always have a role (top/mid/ADC/supp/jungle) even if your favorite champ is taken.
Like I said, it isn't really pay to win, but I don't think most players will argue that certain champions do better than others in their respective roles. Player skill always wins out in the end but if you have the choice between going Miss Fortune and going Lucian you would go Lucian every time because he is simply a stronger ADC (and probably the strongest, though Kog'Maw is the strongest on paper I believe and Urgot does well also). Same with Tresh as a support.
I just think that Dota 2 does it better. All the heroes are available baseline and any thing you do pay for is simply cosmetic only, be it a ward or gear for a hero you love to play. I think the Rune system is okay in League, and it gives you plenty to grind towards. Once again, I think they're both good games, I just really don't like having stuff locked behind either a significant grind or the option of paying.
But I feel like we're just both repeating ourselves.
Premium rounds give more penetration, so therefore, an advantage.
However, premium rounds can be bought with in game silver that you earn from playing, meaning it's still possible to shoot premium rounds without paying real money. I think like most things though people will spend money to avoid longer tank grinds and the like... but you don't HAVE to. The game is completely free to play IF you wish.
Please. Did you just rattle off all the popular free to play games, or did you actually put some thought into this? MWO is probably the biggest example of how they fucked up royal.
Coming from someone with a LOT of playtime in this one, MechWarrior Online does not, has not, and likely will not, get it right.
To be honest, that was the only title I listed that I actually haven't personally played myself. The rest I all have except that one. I got more into Hawken than Mechwarrior Online. Hawken is a fantastic mech experience from top to bottom and for being f2p I've been pleasantly surprised with how fun/enjoyable that game is and has become over the course of time. Mechwarrior Online never interested me thus I never played. Although I know of friends who did jump in and play... with mixed opinions.
Please. Did you just rattle off all the popular free to play games, or did you actually put some thought into this? MWO is probably the biggest example of how they fucked up royal.
I don't understand what you're trying to say or disagree with here. What part of my comment did you have trouble understand or agreeing with? I'll give ya the dissagreement with my posting of Mechwarrior Online (see comment above @Koil) but DOTA 2? DOTA 2 is a fine f2p game. Perhaps one of thee best, shining examples of a successful MOBA f2p title.
MWO is pretty widely acknowledged to be pay-to-win. The company is almost exclusively focused on churning out new mechs for people to buy as opposed to new content/maps. It would take tens or dozens of hours to close the gap created by spending even a little money.
Only two f2p games i know which are actually not p2w. Path of exile, and upcoming Firefall.
Firefall has the best combat/movement weight i have seen in a while. If you like twitch play, try out assault or tigerclaw. good times.
I gotta get back into FF. I spent the $75 on the Founders pack a year or so ago because the company behind Firefall was the first gaming company to come out vocally against CISPA/SOPA. That won huge bennies in my book.
But when I started playing it, the quest lines were flawed and there wasn't much to do beyond defending extractors.
Only two f2p games i know which are actually not p2w. Path of exile, and upcoming Firefall.
Firefall has the best combat/movement weight i have seen in a while. If you like twitch play, try out assault or tigerclaw. good times.
I gotta get back into FF. I spent the $75 on the Founders pack a year or so ago because the company behind Firefall was the first gaming company to come out vocally against CISPA/SOPA. That won huge bennies in my book.
But when I started playing it, the quest lines were flawed and there wasn't much to do beyond defending extractors.
Same here. I had fun with it, but there just wasn't much to do so I eventually forgot about it.
I only tried Path of Exile when it first came out. It was OK but the graphics was a bit rough and dingy, and combat felt a bit clunky. Is it a lot better now?
I played PoE when it was first open to the public, and it was rough, I don't know what it is like currently, I see a lot of praise thrown that way though so they must be doing some stuff well.
Well, I haven't played D3 in a long time, and none of the new patch stuff, but PoE did D3 better than Blizzard, and it's only gotten better with time, imo.
They've steady added new content, new abilities, new animations...just a fuck ton of stuff. I can't say enough about their dev teams and the tight interaction between them and the community, not to mention just being kick ass (lead dev shaved his head after they raised 25k for children's charity:
Anyway, if you haven't played it in forever, you should pick it up again. It's daunting due to the massive skill tree, but a little research and starting with a cookie cutter build will get you rolling, and you can roll your own once you know whats up.
Honestly, Grinding Gear Games gets my #1 slot for being a company that just does most everything right...not once have I ever gotten the "man, that was kind of a dick move" feeling from them. That is saying a lot for me.
Or Varus. He and Ashe are my favorite ADCs.
