Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Dominion Impressions

This week, League of Legends released their new gameplay mode called Dominion.  Basically, it is a capture and hold map that supports 5 vs 5.  This is a pretty big departure from the standard base destroying gameplay LoL and its friends are known for.  Continue on for my thoughts about this new mode.

To sum it up, I like it quite a bit.

Length.  Dominion matches usually only last between 15 and 20 minutes.  Summoners Rift, on the other hand, can last over an hour.  Even Twisted Treeline can last 45 minutes.  So if you are short on time, you can still get a Dominion match in.

Stress.  Maybe it's just me, but I find normal LoL matches to be pretty stressful.  The time investment is not trivial, and players take it very seriously.  The last thing I want to do is waste mine or others people game time. That does not happen with Dominion, since the matches are short.  If it goes badly, no big deal since it will be over very soon.

Community.  So far, players seem much friendlier in Dominion.  And by friendlier, I mean not raging asses.  I think it is because of the two points above.  There are still some troubled players, but much less than other matches.

Practice.  Another thing I like about Dominion's short matches is that it provides a great opportunity to get a feel for a new champion.  It is fast paced, so you will likely get to rank all of your abilities and obtain advanced items.  I tried Maokai a bit yesterday, and I feel much more comfortable with him after a couple Dominion matches.