With unrealistic expectations comes frustration and anger, issues that bear heavily on daily LOL play.

League of Legends is a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena), nothing new there. It is a game that relies on team play in order to achieve maximum effectiveness. It takes teams’ weeks, nay, months to get accustomed to different member’s play style, mechanics, attitudes, etc.

Mastering a certain champion/role takes time, lots of it. Professional players spend years mastering champions to the point that they understand the intricacies of them, the position they play, and of the game.

With the recent boom of streaming, new players are now exposed to high level league of legends play. They get to see whomever, utilize a certain champion that has taken them time to master; whose mechanics have taken them time to get down to a science; and unfortunately this causes two things in our newer player base:

 

1)      The belief that mimicking the streamer will wield them equally successful results

2)      The belief that a certain champion is “OP”, because a streamer facerolled their opponents with them

 

Are newer players being set up to fail?

As an older player, I learned to play the game not by watching other people play it, but by diving into normal games and playing my heart out. I had no idea what the meta was, what champions were considered “OP”, and with no real expectations as to what my “team comp” or “champion” was supposed to accomplish.

Newer players come into the game with more information than we did. With the ability to watch high level matches, and what can happen when a team of 5 players come together as a cohesive unit and achieve maximum synergy. This is akin to me joining a sport, watching a professional team, and therefore expecting that replicating the actions of the players, will yield me the same results (i.e. my TEAM will win). The team play aspect is ignored, and instead there is focus on the individual’s skill in the game; coupled with the belief that if YOU are good enough, you can carry your team to victory. (You can, but 9/10 you won’t)

Not saying that having more information is bad, I’m stating that mimicking expecting equal results is unrealistic. And that there is more merit in learning your OWN play style, and choosing a champion that best conforms to that play style; instead of miming another person’s style, and therefore champion selection.

This will stall the evolution of the league of legends meta game, as newer players will be less inclined to deviate from the standard due to the mimicry that occurs on a daily basis, and the lack of evolving creativity that comes with it.