How long until the MOBA market dies?

Ever since DotA was initially released as a mere custom map for Warcraft 3, a new era for RTS games was born. Aptly named MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), this new genre has exploded in popularity in the last couple of years.

I enjoy playing League of Legends and DotA 2. In the past, I've even put a lot of hours into Heroes of Newerth whilst it was in beta. Because the MOBA community numbers in the millions, lots of game developers are trying to seize a piece of the cake.

In fact, there are so many of these games in production, that within the next year the market will be flooded and diversified to the point of ruin, just like the MMORPG genre. People say you can't have too much of a good thing. Take one look at the MMO market and say that again. Sure, there's a lot to choose from; but the premise behind Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games is to play online in with a huge playerbase. In fact, the term massive is getting more redundant by the day. Why? Because with every shit developer in the world looking for some easy money, new MMORPG games come out weekly. With each new release, a chunk of the people who play MMO games peel off to play it. Eventually, there will be so many games that when you finally find one you enjoy- you will be annoyed to discover that there are only 10 other players.

The reason I'm ranting about the MMORPG market is because this is happening to the MOBA market. Slowly but surely the genre is being overpopulated with bad titles. There's a Lord of the Rings MOBA, even Marvel and Blizzard are making their own versions for a slice of profit. And that's what it comes down to. The gaming industry is happy to kill off a brilliant genre of game for a little bit of money.

You can argue that more battle arena games are better and you would be partly right. It's like the arms race. More competition means developers have to step up your game and beat the other companies to the next level of content. However, that's not what will happen. Instead, all you will see is clones of LoL and DotA with copyrighted characters from another franchise. Instead of trying to innovate the MOBA genre, companies will simply fall into complacency and copy the others.

It's happened since the beginning of the gaming industry, someone makes a popular game that breaks ground and pushes the industry to new heights. For the next year, every major developer tries to copy them on the simple principle: 'If they can make money from it so can we!'. One step forward, two steps back. Up until recently, this shameless copycat behavior can be seen as nothing but an annoying tribute to some of the greatest gaming experiences ever produced.  However, with gaming becoming deeply tethered to the internet in the last few years, reproducing the same game with a different cover is damaging the online community and the industry. The worst part is that ultimately, there's nothing anyone can do about it.

I understand my article may make the issue seem more serious than it is. It's not killing the gaming industry, you will still be able to play your favorite MOBA games and enjoy them with your friends. They will still be fun, and you will still have people to play with. But in a few years when you're waiting for 30 minutes in a queue to play one match, how long will it take for you to find another genre and drop MOBA's altogether?

I'm sure this is a topic lots of people have an opinion on. If you have any input leave a comment and let us know!

Blue/Purple Side Win Rate in North American LCS Robin Round 2013

Objective : To determine which side (Blue or Purple) has a high winning rate in North American LCS Robin Round 2013.

Method : Calculate the numbers of wins in each side using data provided by leaguepedia http://leaguepedia.com/wiki/Riot_League_Championship_Series/North_America/Season_3/Spring_Round_Robin

Data :

Total games played : 112 matches

Blue Side Wins : 66 matches (59%)

Purple Side Wins : 46 matches (41%)

Discussion : Despite the lane switch strategy employed regularly in NA LCS matches, blue side enjoys a staggering win rate of 59% (66wins/112matches). This staggering difference may also indicate that the stronger teams are given more chances to choose blue side(IE : TSM played most of their games @ blue sides and won most it) , thus distorting the win rate of blue side even more.

Conclusion : Blue Side has a higher winning rate (59%) than purple side (41%) in North American LCS Robin Round 2013.

Zac is pretty awesome

After barely playing LoL over last couple of weeks, I really enjoyed coming back to play Zac. He's not half bad for a flubber on steroids. I didn't expect him to be an ability power champion, I assumed he'd be AD.

Now I've only played a couple of matches on him, but I already feel like he's better at top lane instead of the jungle. He scales well throughout the game, although his potency drops a little once the laning phase ends. If you can dominate top, it's really easy to pressure other lanes with his catapult. Once you get your ultimate, you can put an end to any team skirmishes very quickly.

Zac's abilities cost a fair percentage of his current health, which can be restored by picking up pieces of goo that peel off him. This is a great mechanic, because it restores you based off the percentage of your maximum HP. When you're on low health you can sustain yourself fairly well by landing abilities and grabbing blobs of yourself.

So far I've only built Zac with items to keep myself alive while boosting damage, such as Rylai's and Abyssal scepter. If you can pick up an early Warmog's he becomes a great diver. However, I'm quite eager to see someone build him straight up AP. A glass cannon build on him could be very scary, but you'd be melted in a teamfight.

I've seen a few calls of OP in matches and on the forums, but I think he's quite balanced. His passive that brings him back to life is annoying to deal with, but with a couple of people that slime dies instantly. It's also got a very long cooldown.

I think Zac is a good addition to any team at low to medium elo. At high levels of play I don't think he'd be that useful with anything but a solid tank build. Once everywhere on the map gets warded, he can't get into a good location to land a slingshot. Let's just hope Lissandra is just as fun.

Girls Generation Ahri!

This skin has been floating around the LoL forums for quite some time now. Every Ahri player and his dog are out showing support for this amazing skin. It's not even the kind of skin I'd like, but I'll buy it just because it looks so amazing.

Adorable. A fine example of how sex sells.

If you like the look of Girls Generation Ahri, go to the forums and give it an upvote and a comment to increase the chances of Riot making it. It really does look nice, I'll buy it just because it looks unique. It's a brilliant concept, awesome design, and the support in the threads proves it.

It looks amazing ingame too!

Come on Riot, the artist has practically done all the work for you. You guys can do this, just like Pool Party Ziggs! Girls Generation shouldn't just be an Ahri skin, I want to see one for Caitlyn, Vi, Soraka, even the male champions!

League of Legends comics, again.

It's been a while since I posted some of these. LoL comics get better as time goes by. If you want to view some of the other comics I've posted over the years, check this out. Everyone loves League comics, including me. Enjoy!

Oh Teemo. That face.

I salute anyone who tried this.

Dear god, I want this champion. He needs a few nerfs though!

This is less common now, but honor whores are everywhere.

Every time. Every damn time.

Who honors people anyway?

Oh plagiarism, you so shameless.

So many people do this, it's the very reason I don't harass bad players.

I've won games with this very method. Play Singed. Laugh at other team. Win.

I hate it when people ignore the new pings, they are useful when your team isn't retarded.

All the champions 2.0

I found this on my searches among the internet. It's amazing how somebody manages to do all this! I posted another image with all the champions a while back, be sure to take a look at it too.

I can't seem to find the source for this image, if anyone knows and wants to comment so I can give them credit, be sure to!

See if you can find your favorite champion!

I''m having less fun on League lately

After progressing to gold and then finding out that winning four games and losing one sets me back down to zero points, I'm taking a break. I really enjoy League of Legends when I know I can slowly climb up the ranks, but I don't have the time to make it out of gold 5 if I'm only going to earn 5 LP for a win and lose 20 LP when I get a bad team or don't play well. It would take weeks of effort to move up through this.

At heart, I believe I can reach platinum. Everyone says that and gets ridiculed for it. I don't mind being laughed at, I watch streams; my own replays, read guides, and am always looking to up my game. I know I could reach that level but I just don't have the time especially when it isn't enjoyable to battle it through division 5 hell. With it being so hard to even make it up to my series, I've decided to take a break and play some other games. That way I can actually enjoy myself, and maybe get some perspective on improving my League play even more.

If you actually enjoy reading my content or feel the same, take a look at my RPG blog. I post updates more frequently there, and you might find a good game to play in the process! For all of you ranked players in the same position as me,  good luck climbing the rosters!