Vi stands for VICTORY

The chronicles of one man and one woman to Level 30.

[vistandsforvictory]

So it's been a (long) while since I have updated this blog. I'm currently level 21, starting to buy runes, and inching up to level 30 and ranked games.

I've been maining Vi with some Katarina, Lux, and Renekton play on the side. However, I've built up a pretty big champion pool of 37 - most of whom I've never played. That needs to change.

So next up for this blog is playing my champions. From Alistair to Vayne, I need some diversity. I'm planning on taking each champion into one bot game to get the feel of the kit and then 5 live games and writing it up here. Also, I may purchase more champs along the way, targeting Elise, Thresh, and any other cheap champion that comes out on sale.

I'd like to get proficient with the following champions in each role so I can hang in ranked games. But I look forward to finding a new favorite champion when I play these next games!

Top: Riven, Renekton, Kennen Jungle: Vi, Nasus, Nunu Mid: Katarina, Annie. Ryze ADC: Vayne, Ezreal, Ashe, Miss Fortune Support: Sona, Lulu, Soraka, Blitzcrank

[vistandsforvictory]

Well crap.

Santiago hammered us in SF.

[vistandsforvictory]

Two VERY different games.

In the first game, our opponents were all flying solo. So after an initial death to the double golems (seriously), I hit level 6 and then just started 2v1 ganking. It was GLORIOUS. Nine kills later, the other team surrenders in under a half hour.

That leads to our next game. Which was Five-on-Teemo, and TEEMO DOMINATED. Lasting nearly an hour, the game went back and forth with neither team grabbing an advantage. Honestly, if we worked better as a team, we would have won. We should have won. But Udyr or Sivir (or even me) would wander off alone and next thing you know we are down an inhibitor.

And Teemo... lurking.

I actually ran out of things to buy in the second game. I had a ton of cash and just bought the highest end stuff out there. If anyone out there can look at my build and offer suggestions (I had huge CS and cash and was 18 for a long time), please let me know!

[vistandsforvictory]

Ashe bailed and Yi just wanted to feed and buy dozens of sight wards. So I'm very proud of hanging tough in this game. Every death came four against one.

[vistandsforvictory]

A good match, but I feel like I could have played better.

[vistandsforvictory]

Another great win for SF! Qiaosi got unconnected from the game in the first 10 minutes, but came roaring back in CS to become a factor. We won the three big team fights decisively, leading to a solid victory. Highlights

I placed my first ward! Huzzah! I see their worth, especially in Top.

Evelynn tried to gank me 3 times, but escaped fairly easily each time. Wards obviously help.

Riven and I tried kills with each other several times. Ignite is a wonderful thing.

I had my first Ace! I was 1v1 top while my team finished a 2-for-4 team fight and I was able to burst Riven down for the Ace. 

Much better use of my Ults this game, taking down tanks and fleeing champions.

[vistandsforvictory]

A quick late night game. The opposing team just sucked and this was a quickie 20 minute blowout.

The good news? I'm up to level 8! Yay Ignite and Exhaust!

[vistandsforvictory]

So this is just the most fun thing ever.

Once a week, my company has started an informal San Francisco vs Santiago Chile LOL game. Last time I played on the old boompje client, I went 1-9-4. Ouch.

Now, I'm a pro. :) 2-1-0! I was useful! The rest of my team are all level 30s, giving me shit for using Heal and Barrier. But 5 guys in a room, communicating, strategizing, just playing the game against friends is so much more enjoyable than random strangers over the internet. More thoughts on this later.

So, we think the scoreboard today is USA 4, Chile 7. We have some work to do...

[vistandsforvictory]

A fun game, but we never really had a chance. I was up against Renekton and Ryze in Top and after I got an early double kill to snowball the lane, I did some kick-ass ganking. However, one of my teammates left early and another was really new, so team fights were always 1 on 4 and soon enough we lost.

I'm playing about a match a day, winning half the time. A quick trip to the googles tells me I'm looking at about 250 games with this ratio, let's say 120 wins and 120 losses. So I'm looking at about 8 months to level 30 unless (a) I vastly improve or (b) I lose my job soon and suddenly have a lot more free time.

[vistandsforvictory]

A total beating. I went down 0-10 in top and clawed my way back.

That is not a typo.

[vistandsforvictory]

In this game, my team was the Five against their Three. Well, really, we were four because iporkshop spent most of the game trying to solo Baron. :/

This was the first game where I took control and started directing my team, both where the incoming attack was and where/when to push. We won, which is nice, and my map awareness is MUCH better.

[vistandsforvictory]

18/3/7, with the loss. League of Legends truly is a team game.

My team was in control during the start of the match, and then xkatara on the other team started killing off my squad in the top and roaming to mid. We could never coordinate our efforts to put pressure on the other squad, only reacting to their invades. Soon enough, we lost.

Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, the worst performing teammates were the most negative. MilkingMilligan kept complaining that the game was crap, but didn't help the team out and gave horrible advice (at least from my n00b perspective). And Editor Exe (awesome name) kept trying to quit; as soon as the other team's invade destroyed an inhibitor, he was typing "gg" and giving up while we were fighting off their siege.

Such is human nature online.

One thing I am enjoying is the Honor system. I attended Jeffrey "Lyte" Lin's talk at GDC about dealing with toxic player behavior and Riot has built several intriguing experiments to try and make every game civil and fun. I've been lucky so far to only find cool people to play with and haven't run into that toxic player... yet. Honoring is a great way to give back to those teammates and opponents that helped me to enjoy my last 41 minutes of gaming. Is there a way to call out the Honor more? Perhaps here? Or badge the player names after some threshold of Honor points are achieved?

In mobile games, we pay particular attention to delighting players when leveling up or achieving a goal; they can churn out of the game at anytime so we want to make the gameplay experience as awesome as possible. I imagine Riot Games has noticed that their two most common points of churn are 1) toxic behavior and 2) hitting a skill ceiling. I can't wait to see how both are addressed as I advance to level 30.

[vistandsforvictory]

Pretty interesting game. We had one guy drop out immediately and another about 10 minutes into the game. 3 on 5 should have presented a bit of a challenge...

...but no. I went Vi TOP, with Ashe BOT and Lux MID. In the first encounter I ran into Yi who just stood there until I killed him. The game was a bloodbath, 67-15 in kills. We lost some towers simply because we didn't have enough players to defend the entire map. Our opponents were simply too new. I dislike the term "n00bs"; can we get the internet to call them "amateurs" or "l33t in training?". However, they put up a heck of a fight at the end defending their base. It took a coordinated effort to take down 2 inhibitors and put the game away.

Also, Ashe's girlfriend broke up with him in the middle of the game. RIP Ashe's love life.

[vistandsforvictory]

A tale of two victories.

These were my first two public 5 on 5 games. Excellent to start 2-0.

In the first game, 2 teammates went TOP and 2 went BOT; that left me with a MID Vi. I got lit up by ignite in the first 2 minutes for a quick death, but after that I was able to beat enough minions to get to my Ult quickly and then I started to rack up the kills.

There were a bunch of disconnects on both sides, yet we had a pretty dominant 30 minute victory. I met SAEWHHAATTTTT (I'm not counting the specific letters), a very encouraging guy on our team. We befriended each other and jumped into another game.

In Game 2, I got a bit cocky. I over-extended myself going for the "easy kill", which usually left me surrounded by 3 opponents. The other team's Lux was wrecking havoc on us. But despite a huge disadvantage in kills (mostly coming from my 11 deaths), we dominated the map. Our BOT crushed towers, we pushed both TOP and MID, and we won fairly easily.

I participated in killing the dragon in both games, but I don't think I got the buff (at least not any animation I could see). This is something I need to figure out.

Playing safe and biding my time is key at these lower levels. Also, watching the mini map and when you have teammate support. In the second game, I was pushing in, only to watch all my teammates retreat back to base leaving me 1-on-4. That did not end well.

And summoner spells. GAH. I need to move them easier within reach. Plus remember to use them occasionally!

[vistandsforvictory]

A bit better! 3/5/8, but my teammates dominated. I forget to use my Ult and Summoner spells; I have to find a way to keep them at hand.

[vistandsforvictory]

OOF, got my ass handed to me by Trundle. I went 0-3 in lane right off the bat and then never caught up. Fighting against a full grown Cho-Gath isn't easy, either. And my teammates didn't kill a soul! I don't want to be that guy, but... C'MON BOTS HELP ME OUT A BIT.

Really, I need to work on staying alive and using my own skills. Once I get to level 12, I feel like I can track champions down and kill in a 1-on-1 fight. Plus, I've learned a nice way to clear out minion packs: Q-A-E-A-A-E. 

I'm struggling with early and mid game. That's got to be the focus when I start playing with real people.

[vistandsforvictory]

First coop game, we won! I wasn't much of a participant again. Quinn dominated everything and knew what she was doing. We started out getting blue buff, but I'm still not sure what to do after. I stuck with TOP lane, but didn't really roam well after. Again missed some late game Q's to increase kill count. And I was sitting on my Ult for quite awhile, trying to find the time to use it.

I have a long way to improve.