Recs.
Updated
League of Legends is a team-based MOBA that includes some real-time strategy elements.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Frequently updated
LoL has frequent patches pushed to the game client. However, with every patch new bugs appear.
Pro The world's biggest e-sports title
League of Legends is the worlds top e-sport title. It raises e-sports to a completely new level, making it real sport, no compromise.
It's funny that people still think of "biggest e-sports" as of "highest prize pool", playing other games, they are accustomed that there is nothing except Worlds championship and another couple of big events. On the contrary. League of Legends is a constant big event. Although it's not the first in highest prize pool on Worlds, its e-sports competition is not limited by rare championships here and there. That's why it is the biggest.
Since 2010, there have been several professional leagues, with four major: LEC (Europe), LCS (N. America), LCK (S. Korea), LPL (China) and more than 10 "not major" in Russia, Turkey, Latin America North, Latin America South, Brazil, Vietnam, South-East Asia, Australia and Oceania, Japan, Taiwan and more.
It has big "physical" infrastructure, studios and "stadiums" (usually one per region, but they have more than one in S. Korea and China) are built to take regular championship events. Each region has large "TV"-teams, a large number of analysts and casters. Major regions have more than one caster teams, one of which is English-speaking. Overall, several days a week they produce about 6 hours of an expensive TV show.
They have two seasons a year (splits). In each, 10 teams are competing. Each team plays 2-3 games each week, so the total number of games is around 10-15 a week.
Teams have large infrastructure. Each has several coaches (strategic, analyst, etc.), sports psychologists, cooks, etc.
In major and some other regions, each organization has 10 or more players, who also play in challenger league (as the second team) and/or are raised to play in the main team somewhen and/or for substitutions in the main team.
So, LoL is a real sport and the biggest of e-sports ever.
Pro Largest diversity of champions with unique play styles
Having 144 champions League of Legends ought to offer the greatest diversity, and it delivers.
Many champions have long combos that need precision in positioning and timings on par with fighting games, while others can be effective without combos at all.
Also, many champions feel really unique (not necessarily complicated) in play style, unseen in other MOBAs.
Pro Constant champion reworks and visual updates
They are updating champions that have "outdated" gameplay/visuals on a regular basis. And usually, they hit bull's eye, giving those champions new life and making them feel "right" to the player (there are much more praises than complaints from the community).
Pro 3 different maps
There are three different maps that users can play on, which offers a bit of a change up of play and familiarity as well as allows for the player to not get burnt out on a singular stage played over and over again.
Also, there are game modes with new experimental maps.
Pro Fun mode every weekend! New fun mode every second weekend
There are a number of fun modes that are switched on Friday evening and switched off Monday evening, rotating every two weeks.
This include always highly awaited URF (Ultra Rapid Fire), AR URF (all-random URF), Nexus Siege, Hunt of the Blood Moon, Legend of the Poro King, Doom Bots of Doom, Hexakill, Ascension etc.
Cons
Con The community is very toxic
Your teammates will most likely be hostile towards you for every mistake.
Con Unbalanced
They release a new champion every 3 months which requires a series of patches every week for a year to balance properly. Too frequently changed.
Con Balanced around pros and not the average player
Riot keeps balancing the game around the professional players, disregarding the majority of the players, making the game unbalanced until you reach top 0,1%
Con They want you to spend money
You will just buy RP and your accounts gonna be banned for calling someone a degenerate. Hard-worked money is gone. No refunds, exchanges, or skin transfers.
Con Takes a long time just to learn the game
If you want to get in the game as a new player, you'll have to play for at least a year, or put in hours and hours of studying just to be able to keep up with what characters do what, and what items to get for which character in any given situation. If you take a few months off from the game and return, you will probably have to relearn the whole game again. Almost every Champion is different, not just in stats, but in mechanics and gameplay altogether, from their original launch. The item shop is changing quite frequently, making you have to relearn it every so many months.
Con Can't get blue essence easy enough
Not even if you play the game 20 hours a day.
Con Only 14 heroes are free each week
There is a rotation of 14 heroes that are available each week for free. To unlock the rest they can be purchased for ingame currenency.
Con It's boring
It's repetitive, always the same, not challenging, gets boring very fast. You can feel that the game is made to get money in for Riot and not to make you happy or excited. Its not like that
Con Too many champions
141 champions are too much and too expensive, when you want to buy a better champ you need to play constantly for 1 or even 3 weeks to get that big amount of gold that is required.
Con Buggy engine
With every new patch, a wave of game breaking bugs are created yet the developers still refuse to update the game engine. Some bugs result in characters being removed from the game for up to a week.
Con Long games (average 25-30 min) and leaver penalties
Long games aren't bad per se but when paired with leaver penalties (not just for ranked games but also normal games) it means once you start a game you are practically locked to your computer for a good amount of time.
Con Champions cost money
While in Dota 2 every hero is for free and you can catch up which characters you like, you have to buy them in LoL and spend a lot of time and hopefully (what they want you to do) spend real money.
Con Not complex enough
Very static game. You get pushed into a pattern you have to play, can't make your own decisions.
Recommendations
Comments
Flagged Pros + Cons
Pro More beginner friendly than other direct DotA successors
Compared to other direct DotA successors such as DotA2 and HoN, LoL has simplified mechanics. There are no "denies", there's less penalty for dying and no item purchase is require to teleport back to base.
Con Toxic community
Possibly the worst community in any online game as of now. It falls off after time, and the toxic community is giving new players a really hard time sticking to the game.
Con Dota 2 is better
Dota 2 is just better overall, free heroes, complex gameplay not so static and boring, good for you brain, a lot of fun, good learning curve, not so easy as LoL but can be easy enough too. Its just a better game, you should try it out.
Con Funny game. Though, it falls off after time, and the toxic community is giving new players a really hard time sticking to the game
Pro Constantly update us
they have a patch every week and they tell us everything that change and why they are changed
Out of Date Pros + Cons
Con Gameplay is not equal before level 30
Access to all runes is needed for even matches. Laning any stage in mid can be based on who has better runes. They will change it soon.