LoL takes #1 E-sport spot in Korea

If the game is so easy, I'd invite any player to get to level 30 and maintain a 70% win rate in ranked. That amount of time should be more than sufficient if the game is so easy to learn, and maintaining a 70% win rate shouldn't be a big deal if the game is so easy to play. Post results from date of start, date of 30, and date of final w/l ratio, and I'm sure you'll convince the community what an easy game it is.

"Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy."-Sun Tzu

jpak United States. March 15 2012 10:03. Posts 3645

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On March 15 2012 09:54 Terrafros wrote:

Show nested quote +

Long term, not short term. Eventually, due to the nature of the game, LoL is going to lose familiarity. Their method of creating new content is focused on slight alterations to existing concepts, due to the way their marketing has to be done. They cannot release a revolutionary new hero or map, because that'd alienate people from attempting to play as or against this new hero(without access to each hero, you must keep mechanics simple because else people will not be able to understand each hero). As such, they will hit a point where they'll have to take a risk or continue their current concept of new hero creation. SC2 was in danger from the moment it started, I didn't even mention it because I don't believe it will last much longer(in Korea), unless Heart of the Swarm REALLY throws things around in the same way as Brood War did for Starcraft 1.

Okay, I get your point. Part of the reason BW lasted for so long is because, despite the changes in the builds and the metagame over the years, all the units stayed the same throughout those years. Marines still do 6 normal damage, and have stim and range upgrades after 10 years.

It will be interesting to see if LoL can be sustainable for even 5 more years, but if Kim Carrier and the entire OGN crew are behind the game, then I am confident that it will be.

CJ Entusman #50! #1 클템 fan TL! I am not jpak of jpak and friends, so stop asking me please.

Mataza Germany. March 15 2012 10:05. Posts 1614

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On March 14 2012 20:09 MethodSC wrote:
It truly is the age of casuals... =/

Sad indeed.
All I remember from Lol is that you have to get external summoner levels and runes. Meaning that at the start of the game there is not a level playing field.
A competitive game shouldn´t reward playing time with anything other than the personal skill you´ve gained.

If nobody hates you, you´re doing something wrong. However someone hating you doesn´t make you right

Terrafros Netherlands. March 15 2012 10:08. Posts 147

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On March 15 2012 10:02 Ferric wrote:
If the game is so easy, I'd invite any player to get to level 30 and maintain a 70% win rate in ranked. That amount of time should be more than sufficient if the game is so easy to learn, and maintaining a 70% win rate shouldn't be a big deal if the game is so easy to play. Post results from date of start, date of 30, and date of final w/l ratio, and I'm sure you'll convince the community what an easy game it is.

When playing against another player, assuming the effect of random numbers are not too high, you always must beat that player's skill. However, I believe it's pretty sound that League of Legends is the simpler game within the Dota genre, when it comes to game mechanics and strategy. That said, I'm not saying that has to be a bad thing, and in this situation, it seems to be offering them the very situation they are in right now. Due to the relatively easy nature of learning the game, there is a larger familiarity, which leads to a decent popularity.

Though, you should avoid making posts like these. You can make the same post with regards to SC2's master league, Farmville's top 200(if there's even such a thing), etc. It does nothing but bait out a flame.

On March 15 2012 10:03 jpak wrote:

Show nested quote +

On March 15 2012 09:54 Terrafros wrote:

On March 15 2012 09:47 jpak wrote:

On March 15 2012 09:41 Terrafros wrote:
Wow. I did not expect this from Korea, to be honest.

Brood War has a history of being mechanically punishing and requiring a high skill cap to play. Argue as you will, but League of Legends is the easier game among the Dota genre. Could this mean there's a change of Korea's e-Sports culture?

Brood War was played by many in Korea, but many who did not play it watched it for it's difficulty and prestige. Difficulty would seem like a key element in Brood War's success. However, League of Legends' success seems to be fostered around familiarity with the game due to the game's popularity.

I think this is a danger to a long term plan for League of Legends' e-Sports. Once familiarity drops, I'd imagine the viewership drops dramatically, even more so than other games.

Korea, though, is notorious for being unstable when it comes to popularity to new e-Sports. I'm personally more interested in the Chinese scene, which seems to hold onto games longer than Korea.

False. Many Koreans played it because you could play it with many people at a PC Bang, and BW can run on ANY computer. Koreans are the most casual gamers around. Most Koreans playing BW play Fastest, BGH, Zero Clutter, or user maps.

And what do you mean, danger? If anything, SC2 is the one in danger in Korea, not LoL.

A very fair comparison. I guess only time will tell. I hope the game does well, though I hope Riot drops the aggressive marketing act(buying out tournaments and blocking games with the same genre on that tournament).

Last edit: 2012-03-15 10:09:46

supernovamaniac United States. March 15 2012 10:10. Posts 2232

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On March 15 2012 09:17 jpak wrote:

Show nested quote +

On March 15 2012 09:03 supernovamaniac wrote:

On March 15 2012 08:57 jpak wrote:

On March 15 2012 08:50 supernovamaniac wrote:

On March 15 2012 08:48 overt wrote:

On March 15 2012 08:36 supernovamaniac wrote:

On March 15 2012 08:07 Sandro wrote:
Haha I love how butthurt the bw fans are ITT. Enjoy a game even worse than SC2 taking over Korean Esports.

Are you fucking dumb?

LoL > BW >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> SC2 in Korea. Get to BW's level first then we'll start taking SC2's impact on Korean eSports scene... a.k.a. close to none.

Also, I love the bashing on LoL in this thread.

Think about this: What did Riot game do right and what did Blizzard do wrong in Korean scene?

Think about it carefully, and you'll find the answer that you need.

Yeah, as far as I could tell there aren't a whole lot of Brood War fans who hate on LoL. It's mostly SC2 and DotA fans afaik. SC2 fans dislike it because they were hoping that SC2 would become as popular as Brood War was at its peak, which hasn't really happened so they see LoL as a competition or a game that isn't worthy of SC2's "rightful place" as head of the esports kingdom. Which is understandable to an extent. There is of course a massive massive difference between being disappointed that another game is more popular than yours and just being a dick because you dislike a game. Which is what I see most SC2 fans complain about in regards to LoL.

DotA fans are more complicated to me. I think for them they just see LoL as competition for DotA2 as it does directly compete with LoL considering the two games are in the same genre and it seems highly unlikely that DotA2 will put much of a dent in LoL's growth (except maybe in China). I also think that DotA fans and players tend to be the most elitist gamers, I don't have any real facts to back this up it's just been personal experience. I don't have any ill will towards DotA btw, just saying that I think disliking LoL is pretty natural if you have a sort of elitist view towards a game you really love.

The fact of the matter is, whether we're talking about North America, Europe, or even most of Asia at this point, League of Legends has taken off as the most popular PC game and has held that position for quite some time. It isn't surprising that its competitive scene is also taking off just as quickly. It seems extremely similar to the early days of Brood War to be honest.

Except in early days of BW, Blizzard didn't put that much support into the scene. Rather, they just fix few things here and there through patches, and let the Koreans run their league without the IP right issues or anything similar to that.

Early Days of BW: Blizzard lets the Koreans do whatever they want. The scene grew exponentially to become the crowning jewel of E-sports.

Early Days of SC2: Blizzard tried to take over everything and shut Kespa and the sponsors out of the scene. The scene never got off to a good start, and is now on life support:

Early Days of LoL: Riot ENCOURAGES AND SUPPORTS the Koreans to do what they want with the game. Korean Esports has found new life, and it is now growing very rapidly with full Kespa support.

After all these things, they might have notice what was happening in the scene.

Seems like they just gave up in Korea rofl.

Seriously. Blizzard let go of Korea in a hearbeat. It's time for everyone else here to accept the fact that they just have to move on in SC2 without Korea soon. If SC2 dies because it failed to capture Korea, then that will just show how shallow the scene really was.

Disclaimer: Not trying to make any racial reference. Also, I'm Korean myself.

To Blizzard, Korea was just a non-obedient pet dog.

Blizzard: Here Korea, SC2! FETCH!
Korea: Nope

Last edit: 2012-03-15 10:11:09

13_Doomblaze_37 United States. March 15 2012 10:11. Posts 699

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On March 15 2012 08:59 Lifan wrote:
I hate LOL, in my opinion, it sucks.
But, I can not deny that Riot has excellent marketing.

This is basically how I feel
I can totally respect LoL as a game. It's playerbase is huge, theres money in it, and it's helping make e-sports more mainstream than it ever has been before. which benefits everybody. Its just too easy for me cause i've been playing dota forever. I play LoL competitively when my friends need me to sub for them in clan scrims, but my own account is a level 8 i think, I'm not sure anymore.

Riot is doing it right, and every other ESPORTS company needs to take notes, great job guinsoo and crew!

Chill:I showed empathy by making Idra's nineteenth ban on Teamliquid a 2-day

SeeDLiNg United States. March 15 2012 10:15. Posts 666

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Enjoy playing LoL... Hate spectating LoL... It might be more enjoyable to watch with better casters... maybe??

How Riot made this game become #1 in Korea while it's so shitty to watch is beyond me... But they're obviously doing something very right.

Member of Zero Limits Gaming ------ OP of YuGioH Fanclub

Terrafros Netherlands. March 15 2012 10:15. Posts 147

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On March 15 2012 10:11 13_Doomblaze_37 wrote:

Show nested quote +

I think Valve's approach is interesting as well. The International is a step into the right direction, and they have people available at almost all times(Valve's Zoid(I think that was the ID?) during the Defense, as an example).

That said, I also think Riot's approach is wrong in a certain sense. Like I mentioned earlier, I cannot say a single good word about their actions involving offering tournaments money, if they host their game and do not broadcast any games with the same genre(HoN, DotA, Dota2).

jinorazi Korea (South). March 15 2012 10:16. Posts 3971

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theres's still chance, i hope blizzard can turn things around because i think its possible with the next two expansions, all i can say is hots needs to reeeaaaally step it up to bring people back or else people will expect the same crap with lotv, at least this is my view. if hots doesn't have few things that needs to be in(the community knows these), i wouldn't expect anything anymore from blizzard in regards to lotv, thus losing interest.

i got no beef with casualness anymore, times are changing and the market is adapting. i'd still prefer to get a sports car in manual but you cant do that anymore these days with so many models

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xuanzue Colombia. March 15 2012 10:17. Posts 642

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blizzard took a lot of control in th sc2 e-sport scene, blizzard removes lan and put battle.net instead and restrain any tournament if blizzard wants. additionally he was still fighting against kespa then overall, nothing of those issues is helping the korean grow up sc2 scene.

in the other hand international scene in the last year isn't growing either:

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/majorleaguegaming.com

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/gomtv.net

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drew-chan Malaysia. March 15 2012 10:17. Posts 630

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Man I would love to see recent viewer numbers for GOM, I wonder how they are doing since me and most of my friends have stopped watching sc2. Just seems too boring, same units, with little variances in playstyle over the past couple months.

...

Exempt. United States. March 15 2012 10:19. Posts 400

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On March 14 2012 20:52 Kerotan89 wrote:
Gotta laugh at this community going here, I thought you guys were all about promoting ESPORTS no matter what game or how easy (Supposedly) it is.

The sad thing is the majority of people posting 'loleasy game' here probably arent even rated over 1000 in ranked games, yet its suppoesdly an easygame?

The game is easy to get into and learn plus its free, thats why it is the most popular game going atm (Minor WoW) But it still takes quite a bit of skill and knowledge invested into the game to be good, not to mention you have to coordinate with four other people.

which part of that does dota not have and more is our entire point.

If you go listen to professional players giving advice their most complex deep thinking of the game results in concepts such as focus firing...an absolutely simplistic term in other games.

The games been more or less solved and soon as koreans play 8-10 hours a day it will only be more proven I don't know why we have to be this argument.

This shit is killing esports because it shows how fickle this business truly is simply because of how fast games fucking come and go.

THAT IS BAD.

HazMat United States. March 15 2012 10:19. Posts 9197

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On March 15 2012 10:05 Mataza wrote:

Show nested quote +

It doesn't. By the time you even face every single hero in the game then you'll have all the summoners and runes you'll need. It's like saying SC2 doesn't have an even playing field because when you first play it and you get a map you've never played before you're at an disadvantage. Of course you are because you need to spend some time learning and playing the game to play competitively.

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SlaTe87 Germany. March 15 2012 10:19. Posts 35

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yeah world depends on you and your friends....dream on ^^

bm ist krieg

leperphilliac United States. March 15 2012 10:19. Posts 399

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League of legends events seem to attract far higher numbers than those of SC2, and not to mention riot games I hear is pretty damn good at listening to community feedback (cough blizzard) and has stuff that SC2 doesn't such as playing from a certain point in the replay. Also, much more accessible yet very high skill ceiling I presume. I don't play LoL nor am I interested in it but still, not hard to see why people flock to LoL than SC2.

Varth March 15 2012 10:20. Posts 96

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LoL is terrible from a competitive standpoint, the laning phase is much weaker than DOTA due to lack of denies, and its impossible to balance because a new champ comes every 2 weeks. Awesome game to play, I've sunk a ton of hours and it's pretty fun (1720 rating) but I just prefer Dota

Ollie United States. March 15 2012 10:21. Posts 139

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It's sad. I used to be really into LoL. The harsh fact is that there's just not a lot of thought that goes into playing the game. At least, not as much as Starcraft.

Xiphos Canada. March 15 2012 10:23. Posts 5732

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On March 15 2012 10:16 jinorazi wrote:
theres's still chance, i hope blizzard can turn things around because i think its possible with the next two expansions, all i can say is hots needs to reeeaaaally step it up to bring people back or else people will expect the same crap with lotv, at least this is my view. if hots doesn't have few things that needs to be in(the community knows these), i wouldn't expect anything anymore from blizzard in regards to lotv, thus losing interest.

i got no beef with casualness anymore, times are changing and the market is adapting. i'd still prefer to get a sports car in manual but you cant do that anymore these days with so many models

Well there will be definitely less players for HotS or LoV because you have to purchase the previous games in order to play the next one a la WoW. So from this point on, the number of players will only get whistle down. The fastest thing that Blizzard can do at the moment is to upgrade the graphics of BW as it is already established while keeping the way the game is played with the exact gameplay down to the tiniest precision. That will give them a chance to solidify a chance at keeping a piece of pie known as "e-sport".

2012 - Remember of the Fallen Heroes and Command the way to your victory.

Tsuycc Canada. March 15 2012 10:24. Posts 256

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I've played LoL, and this has been the meta game since the release, because of their flawed map design

1-top
1-jungle
1-middle
2-bot

If we could relate this to a traditional sport, Imagine two soccer teams being forced to use the same formation every game, wouldn't that get boring after awhile? thats why I don't think this will be a good game for e-sports, and hopefully it dies down in a year or two

Last edit: 2012-03-15 10:24:42

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overt United States. March 15 2012 10:24. Posts 3968

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On March 15 2012 10:03 jpak wrote:

Show nested quote +

On March 15 2012 09:54 Terrafros wrote:

On March 15 2012 09:47 jpak wrote:

Do people like LoL because it's familiar or do they like it because they enjoy playing it? If anything LoL could potentially benefit from constantly getting new content because the game won't get "old" or stagnant with a constant flow of champions.

Personally, I dislike how often new content is added but a vast majority of the community looks forward to new champions and continues playing because of the excitement of new characters. Which I think can keep the game's competitive scene going for an extremely long time.

iirc, Riot has already said they have a set number of champions they want to create. I'm not sure if that's a true statement or not, nor am I sure when they'll get to that set number. But once they do have a set number of characters the only changes will probably be balance changes and the addition of new skins. So the game will have familiarity as well assuming Riot stops releasing champions (and I strongly believe they will eventually).

On March 15 2012 10:24 Tsuycc wrote:
I've played LoL, and this has been the meta game since the release, because of their flawed map design

1-top
1-jungle
1-middle
2-bot

If we could relate this to a traditional sport, Imagine two soccer teams being forced to use the same formation every game, wouldn't that get boring after awhile? thats why I don't think this will be a good game for e-sports, and hopefully it dies down in a year or two

Pro matches have seen double mid (only like once that I can remember though), double top lane, and solo bot lane. While 1-1-2 + jungler is standard it's not like we never see variation from that.

Last edit: 2012-03-15 10:26:04