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First off, 50 character's to write your blog name is too little. I wanted to write something funny, but also somewhat related to my topic of writing League content, and I just can't think of anything that fits within the character limit. DC's Blog Boutique maybe? For now I'm going to stick to a boring name.
After seeing the admin's effort to MLGA (Make Liquid Great Again), I thought I would chip in my own two cents and start a blog where I discuss somewhat interesting topics related to League. I decided against applying for a writer position because I honestly don't want to commit to something I can't keep, and honestly I don't think I have the time to pump out quality content on a regular basis, let alone be sure if I can even live up to the expectations, because I've never actually written any strategy articles. So I've decided to merely start a small blog, which you are reading right now.
A bit about myself:
- I've been playing since early-mid S2, so I would consider myself quite a veteran in comparison to most other players. Outside of maybe S1 Championship, I've watched pretty much every major tournament, although I wouldn't dare say I remember half of them that well.
- Coming from a SC2 background where I was a noob who did nothing but split marines all day in the hopes that mechanical skill would overcome my lack of game awareness, I naturally immediately started playing ADC, and I still main it to this day. So whenever I talk about the game, keep in mind it's from the viewpoint of a whiny
ADC marksman main who likes to blame his jungler for not ganking enough.
- I have always liked to theory-craft and think about the game, but I have never tried to put it into writing. As I find myself playing less and less and watching more and more streams in the background while I study, I've realized that I might as well as spend a bit of time now and then writing about the game.
The biggest reason I decided against applying for a writer position is because this blog is going to be a bit informal. I'm not going to research topics in depth, sifting through old videos and writing robust arguments. A lot of what I will say is going to be opinion based. It might also be flat out wrong about some things. Point is, I want this to be a discussion blog, and not a great read. It might work out, it might not, I'll have to wait and see.
And without further ado, here is a list of some topics I've thought of for my next entry, if anyone has any other ideas I will gladly consider them.
- Is League more balanced than it was in the past?
- Hilariously broken times in the meta
- Why you should watch LPL
- Playstyles of famous ADC through the ages
- Mechanics vs Intelligence: What carries in the bot lane
- Tip of the Knife: How small balance changes shift the bot lane meta
- Streams worth watching (and YouTube channels)
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I think the "Is League more balanced than it was in the past?" is something interesting. "Streams worth watching (and YouTube channels)" is also something I'd be interested in since I'm always looking for new streams that aren't my own ;P Blank gotta be on it tho ;P
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That is one thing that crossed my mind about writing for strategy. Because I have always written about strategy in the form of a conversation, I can just say what I think accepting (and somewhat hoping) that someone can give good reasons why it’s wrong. I wonder how a good strategy writer is supposed to check their view of the game? Or is a strategy article basically an opinion piece by nature?
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I also think the League balance throughout the ages is an interesting topic as well, because it's one of those things people like to moan and bitch about non stop on reddit. I think I'll choose it for my first major post, but I'll test the waters first by posting some smaller topics. I think a list of different streamers and their strength/weaknesses is a nice start, it's simple but something people would always like to look at.
That is one thing that crossed my mind about writing for strategy. Because I have always written about strategy in the form of a conversation, I can just say what I think accepting (and somewhat hoping) that someone can give good reasons why it’s wrong. I wonder how a good strategy writer is supposed to check their view of the game? Or is a strategy article basically an opinion piece by nature?
Your thoughts are almost exactly the same ones I have had, and the reason why I have always held back on writing strategy pieces.
Truth is, I have always considered strategy in League very different to a game such as Starcraft. SC is a game of numbers, it is fundamentally built on mechanics that can be calculated, simulated and for the most part, 'proven' with quantitative analysis. This is why people post build orders, can give you exact times when the scouting enemy Zergling will appear at your base on a certain map, and why changing Marine AA by 1 dmg can suddenly mean that a Baneling will pop with one AA less. People can throw graphs at you showing how many resources a player is mining at different parts of the game, how this correlates to the strategy they are running, and a lot of other 'numbers'. SC is by nature a game of perfection first, creative and reactive play second. Mastery of these two things is what separates the greats from the greatest.
LoL is very different in this regard. There is pretty no much discussion, from a game mechanic perspective, LoL is vastly more complex than SC, anyone who argues against this is either an idiot or is focusing on some niche aspect of SC instead of the game as a whole. I'm not saying LoL is a better game. But the game is not built on numbers, or rather there are simply too many interactions and possibilities to be able to calculate something vastly useful that can be used to build a strategy upon. It starts off with the number of players in a game: 10 people, all with different personalities and playstyles, creates a chaos that cannot be explained primarily through calculations and modelling. Then there are the number of champions that can turn up in your game: if you look at your last 100 games, I would be surprised if you found two games with the exact same setups in them. Even in 1000 games it wouldn't be far fetched to find the same conclusion. Every game of League is very different from the last, in soloQ you might find a Riven OTP, but this is very different from someone who is cheesing themselves through ranked with like a 6 pool (does that even exist anymore?  ) or another single build. Riven is playing against dozens of different matchups, different junglers, different masteries, different playstyle with the same champs, etc. You might go like 'Yeah, but Riven knows her damage quite well, and when to all in that specific champion, and the cooldowns.' No, Riven does not know the exact numbers, she has a 'feel' for them. Riven doesn't remember the health of 20 different champs either, there's no need to.
What does this have to do with writing strategy? Well, in SC it's possible to write a sensible guide that uses build paths, timers and probably some precise calculations regarding what your opponent's units are likely to be that makes a strategy work. This can be peer evaluated easily by other experienced players in the community, because numbers can be checked easily. If someone posts a somewhat unorthodox build then players can argue against it by citing standard builds that would dump on it. When someone claims they can build a marine in 5 seconds, they get banned. In League, very little can be drawn from the actual numbers of the game. My favourite example I can remember is a few seasons ago when pros (and people on reddit, ofc) were saying that LB dumps on Karthus. Then Froggen came along and said Karthus actually counters LeBlanc. Faker was asked the same question, and he agreed with Froggen. Who do we believe? There's no actual way to prove either side wrong. Want to use soloQ stats? Those are not indicative of high level play. Should we look at pro play? Well LB got camped this one game, while the other one Karthus won lane but LB carried in late team fights. Believe in what Faker said? Well there are few people who play Karthus, let alone this game, as well as Faker, taking advice from him is always a bit difficult. It's just very easy to talk bullshit in LoL because things can be very difficult to prove, and often times a lot of perception bias and circle jerking gets in the way. It's the exact reason I steer clear from discussions on reddit, anyone remember that 'If Lux was released she'd be more broken than Zoe' post?
And this is the reason why when you write strategy about LoL, you should always understand that it is based on your own bias, and that pretty much everything can used to support or contradict your point. This is why people like LS or Monte can sound pretty dumb to some people and quite stuck up, while they themselves see the basis of their arguments as quite sound. This is also why I am writing a blog and not strategy guides, because I'm a firm advocate of the scientific method, and it simply cannot be applied to LoL. I would prefer talking openly about stuff, preferably perhaps with some strong language and calling people idiots (but backing it up, unlike a certain Vayne main...), instead of preaching to people like you see on sites like lolking or reddit.
TLDR: It can be quite difficult to write good strategy guides for League because it's so arbitrary and is often not based on empirical/quantitative data. Thus it becomes more of an opinion than an actual guide, and while it may indeed work, often quite good arguments can be brought up that completely contradict yours. That is why I feel talking strategy regarding LoL should be more open natured, hence this blog.
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On January 03 2018 10:33 Slusher wrote:
That is one thing that crossed my mind about writing for strategy. Because I have always written about strategy in the form of a conversation, I can just say what I think accepting (and somewhat hoping) that someone can give good reasons why it’s wrong. I wonder how a good strategy writer is supposed to check their view of the game? Or is a strategy article basically an opinion piece by nature?
I think a good strategy article is one that formulates an opinion through the use of statistics and evidence. For example, if I'm talking about Targons/Overheal ADC. I would first develop the context of bot lane and the greater map. Talk about cheese lanes like Karma/Xerath. Afterwards, I would analyse the numbers on the item/mastery. How does that affect the game? Give REAL examples of where they worked (since no pro play you'd have to watch a high-elo solo queue game). So I think strategy is indeed an opinion piece in that you are contextualising your point of view, however, you can't write an entire strategy piece without numbers. Stuff like graphs and VODs are some of the most important elements of strategy writing, especially when talking about number based things like masteries and items.
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Yeah, if you provide ample evidence and reasonable arguments, then you can write solid strategy guides for LoL. But I still stand by my core argument, namely that there are just too many factors and chaos in League to write a guide the way you can in SC, Hearthstone, chess etc. In that regard, the quality of your post rests on how you are able to bring your point across, rather than the quality of the evidence you provide. Although personally I do really enjoy seeing some good use of math and stats, I'd be a big fan of anyone who can manage to intelligently use them to write LoL strategy.
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One strategy thing that might be useful is an explanation of mid to late game lane assignments. When is all five mid good? When should a team 1-3-1? When should they 1-4? Why is 3-2 not a real setup such that we never see it in pro play? How do you predict what you hope your mid-late game lane assignments are from champ select? How do you update that based on how the game played out?
This is all stuff that you kind of get via osmosis from playing and from watching pro games, but a fleshed our written framework would probably be very useful to people and provide a good framework for discussion of a lot of issues.
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On January 04 2018 01:25 DarkCore wrote:
(but backing it up, unlike a certain Vayne main...)
Pretty sure he’s a Nasus 1 trick which is ironic considering the guy who uses the Nasus icon is basically his antithesis in regards to opinions on Riot lol
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