Playing A Game League of Legends PC

Other than the Blizzard RTS custom maps that inspired the genre, I hadn't actually played a "MOBA" until just recently. So what surprised me about League of Legends is how much it still feels like those strategy games -- with a focus on hero units, coins instead of raw resources, and character upgrades instead of base-building.

It's not necessarily a bad thing, since the gameplay is utterly familiar and easily accessible as a result; one of the more advanced tutorial topics is "fog of war." It seems like the steepest part of the learning curve will just be accumulating an internal encyclopedia (brainpedia?) of the game's many heroes' talents and abilities. At the same time, I can't help but feel a little bit disappointed. If this is all I've been missing - which is really indistinguishable from what you could make in, for instance, a StarCraft II map - then the current MOBA craze just seems dumb.

But, the game is pretty fun just the same, just as the original DOTA/etc maps were. And I do admire the League of Legends business model, which charges for access to most characters, but is still perfectly playable without spending anything. It's not all that different from having a free demo, then inviting enthusiastic players to purchase more content if they're into it.

Progress: Level 3.