Being Honest

"Weakness of Attitude becomes weakness of character"  Albert Einstein.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. Recently I lost the equivalent of forty ranked games with one or two wins in between. My MMR which was over 2000 is now around the 1600 mark.  During this time I was so focused on climbing up the elo ladder that I started to become agitated and frustrated in normal games with my friends. I got mad, I shouted at people for them having fun. Aye, having fun in a game fancy that.

Oh right short and sweet. 

It wasn't  alright to take out my problems on others. I lost that MMR on my own, through my own games and my own playing. It was ignorant and stupid to think that I'm allowed to take it out on others. Im not going to be one of those LoL players who thinks it's acceptable to be a complete ass to people and then shrug it off as if it was nothing. To be a bigger and better person is to admit that  I done wrong. 

I can get my MMR back anytime but I can't get back the relationship I have with my friends if I treat them like they are nothing.   

 Sorry guys, 

Pad.

Worlds!

It's that time again, when I've stay up hideously late to watch the Worlds.  I've really enjoyed watching them, and also listening to the great analyst panel staring Monte, Doublelift and Krepo.  I actually have a little more respect for Doublelift now than I did before, and Krepo will always have a wee place in my heart, for being an awesome support.

So here's a wee list of what I've noticed on the supports from the championship thus far.

Items
Most of the games in the World Championships have mostly been decided by pink wards and positioning.  It is really rare to see any of the supports with more than one or two full items (excluding sight stone).  I think most people know the importance of warding, and more specifically warding in the right places, and it is really interesting to see the mega use of vision wards.  I can't help but compare the warding in these games to solo queue and I wish if anyone took anything from these games it would to always buy a ward.  We all know the story of the laner who never wards but always get ganked by the jungler and somehow it is always the fault of someone else (sigh).  I know that I always feel more relaxed when I can see what is going on in the map, and it makes me play better as I don't have that anxious feeling when I know they are in the brush, but I need to ward . . .

Boots
Mobility boots still seem to be the popular choice for supports, and I agree.  It is just so much easier to whizz through the rift warding the places you need to without having the pressure of coming face to face a member of the enemy team.

Popular Choices:  Zyra and Sona have been banned a few times through the World Championship.  Personally, I only recently started playing Zyra as a support but I can see why she would be banned; her poke alone is a lot to handle in-lane if played well.  I've seen a lot of people take a huge amount of ap and the poke can get really crazy if not controlled.  Most of the championship Zyra's taken a more standard 30arm/30mr approach; I always think that taking less than 30arm as a support on bot-lane is really risky, as you can get poked down so easily, but I've also seen many who take full ap and dominate their lane. I suppose it depends on your own play-style as a support and how confident you are in your own ability to harass efficiently without taking too much damage.

Sona: Again, I haven't played a lot of her this season but her ult is just too good for initiating fights.  I kinda get scared playing Sona in Ranked; on occasion it is up to you to make good calls in terms of team fighting and laying down your ultimate in a really precise manner.  If my team is behind and  one Sona ult could make or break a game, it becomes an insane amount of pressure to me.  We have all seen it with Sona players in the championships that fail an ult.  It's a huge amount of time that crowd control is down and is a great time for the enemy team to counter a team fight.  After watching the championship games I picked her up in a few ranked games and I forgot just how much sustain and poke she has if played well.  She is definitely a support I will pick up more often.

It would be nice to see some other supports or any other champion other than the same usual suspects repeated over and over again: Arhi, Zac, Sona, Zyra, Elise in these games (go FNATIC for picking Ashe). Oh, and if you happen to be in a ranked game with me and choose Arhi for mid, then please do not think you can dive into 5 people because you saw Faker do it; you'll just get caught and leave me and the rest of the team in a 4v5 messy team fight.  I lost 60 lp due to that Q_Q.

(Again, pictures are not mine! but they are pretty :3). 

Scary Reddit

I was advised to post my blog onto Reddit to see how people would react to it; it seemed to be a really big mistake. I did it without saying to any of my friends otherwise they would have warned me not to. The first comment was about me being an attention whore which then I should go kill myself. At first I laughed about it as I don't think I've ever came across people's reply's like this. Going onto website like Reddit which I don't use often really opened my eyes to the 'anonymity of the internet' theory.

One person in particular mentioned about my previous post and wrote that I write in grotesque ways and that my grammar isn't very good (while making many errors himself..herp). I think I must have hit a nerve with this person, they seemed to have taken offense to the way I had written.

My friend who was sitting reading the reviews (who is male) stated that the internet is full of people like this: who think that gender, race, color makes you less of an equal to them. It is really hard for me to imagine that people think in this way. Who think it is acceptable for women to be sexualised but not men, who think the color of your skin makes an actual difference in anything. It also saddens me that the internet has become a place of people to unleash a side of them they would otherwise not portray due to anonymity. Maybe the person who was saying nasty thing's did actually believe that i was wrong: that women should be sexualised for men but not the other way around. Or their life had so much bad stuff going on that he feels like the internet is his escape to unleash all the hatred.

As much as people like or dislike my blog, it's my choice to make it and voice what I have to say just as much as everyone else weather you agree with it not.




Pad.

Sun, Sand, Sea and really huge coconuts?

TL:DR - If you are put off by the size of this, now you know how female LoL players feel.

I'm a sucker for skins, I love them (and shame on you Riot for abusing my weakness and taking my money).  The pool party skins become available and I automatically go to the Leona one.  Now compared to her other skins, this one is vibrant and colorful.  The sunflowers in her hair and the surfboard are all a nice reminder of the good things associated with Summer.  But I notice something is slightly different.  Hair color? Nope.  Eyes? Nose? . . . I then look at the Iron Solari skin, and to my astonishment notice her breast size has almost doubled.  I attempt to find logical reason for why this has happened.

I search Wikipedia for some sort of link between the ultraviolet light and increase in breast size.  Nope.  Nothing.  The sun gives off Vitamin D, maybe breast size increases the more women are exposed to the sun?  After all, her other skins hide her body leaving no room for any nice juicy sun light to be absorbed.  Reaching a dead end with my research I sit with a cup of tea and look at the other pool party skins.  To my disappointment I notice the 'package size' of the men haven't also increased.  Why is this?  In the world of LoL it is acceptable for women with big 'assets' allowed to enter battle and suffer chronic back pain in the process?  Is it too much of an inconvenience for the male champions to chase after someone while it smacks side to side?

                                                                                                                                                  
Caitlyn: Hey Leona are you alright? 

Pool Party Leona: Yeah just tired. This new skin has made me gain a little weight. I don't think my armor will fit anymore after this 'upgrade'. 

Caitlyn: ....*stares*

Lee Sin: You look troubled.

Pool Party Graves: This new skin...well it doesn't keep anything in the same place. I can't chase after anyone it hurts...

Lee Sin: I can assist you. Stay here. 

Lee Sin Kicks Caitlyn to Graves, the battle results in first blood for Graves and an epic high five. 

Leona: Hey come on guys how is that fair? *hobbles back to lane*.  

                                                                                                                                               

So why is it that Riot decides to give the female champions bigger assets and nothing for the males? Is it simply a pure market ploy? I know that boobs sell.  The actual percentage of women playing LoL has been estimated around 10% of the community.  So does that mean Riot decides to market for the majority and not the minority as well?  What about sexuality: gay men and straight women get the short end of the stick?  Why can we see near enough all of Masquerade Eveylnn's boobs but Perseus Pantheon's "People Pleaser" is shadowed out?


In the League of Legends forums there has been a lot of debate about over-sexualising females in LoL.  Bunny Girl Riven, Nurse Akali and Heart Seeker Vayne to name but a few have been a popular topic of discussion.  If you read the lore about Riven . . . do you actually think she would be the type of woman to wear a bunny girl outfit?  I could understand a skin of that caliber on Ahri as she is portrayed as a seductive fox - it suits her lore and how she is as champion.  On the forums some people state:

"the point is, people want it, like NURSE AKALI was a user-made skin what got made into a skin, yet people complain about the over-sexualised females...after they ask for it" - The majority of players being male?

"The problem is that there are a LOT of under active jealous women who would rather complain on the internet than do squats." - How many male League players are built like Pantheon, or Jarvan?  Are they jealous?  No, so don't assume women are jealous, either; it's hypocritical.

"Where are all these feminists that everyone keeps talking about? I never see ANY, except for that one thread..
I'm a girl, and I enjoy seeing sexy girl pixels. I don't care if they're "over sexualised" when Riot is just giving what the public wants. They're pixels.. who cares? I agree that we need some sexy male pixels for the girls who play this game though ;[
But definitely don't get rid of the girls' designs. Half the reason I'm saving up for Ahri is because of her looks really." - It's not that we mind Riot increasing the breasticles of the female champions but a little fairness would be nice.

Does Debonair Jayce have to look so old? Does Pool Party Graves have to look like my dad 20 years ago? 


Even some of the champions who in the lore have no gender can still somewhat be sexualised; Orianna is not even organic but has breasts, while Blitzcrank is clearly masculine, but where is his junk?  Nami is a fish with breasts, whereas Fizz only has a big trident to compensate for his lack of a member.  Some characters like Wukong and Aatrox who might not seem to show masculine features dispaly particularly phallic features like a huge sword which grows larger, or the long stick.


So in conclusion: vote for Stupid Sex Jarvan Skin and be done with it.
"It's like he's wearing nothing at all..."

Learning and Adapting - The road to Silver.

Everyone is different. We learn and educate ourselves in different ways throughout our lives. Some people have a 'natural talent' for thing's and can learn them as easy as breathing.  For others, learning certain thing's can be difficult and a struggle.  When it comes to League Of Legends (LoL) I feel I have no natural talent for this game; I need to play a champion a good number of times in order to know how they work.  When I was in the Silver league I had a lot of nice friends tell me to try out different things and  see if it would help.  I would get so frustrated as the advice they gave me didn't help.  The main reason for this was that I learned differently from the way my friends did.  Finding out how I learn and analyzing my own mistakes has helped me to become a better League player.

A new champion comes out;  I Scan over the status messages on my friends list filled with "Zed OP", "Elise Stronk" or "Faceroll with Udyr".  Purchasing the shiny-new champion, I am immediately  skeptical of the release skin it comes with (am I the only one who thinks Riot saves the good skins for later?).  I make a custom game ensuring the Annie bot is on my team and off we go.  This is only the first of my mistakes.

Mistake number one:  I never read anything - It's a bot game, so why should I read what the spell does? Oh look, Lulu can turn people into squirrels . . . ain't that cute.  So I spend the next 5 minutes laughing to myself, trying to impersonate her, while people wander past, giving me a look like they could sell me to the circus.  If you wanna know how the champion works, try reading what they do.  As simple as that sounds, I am convinced that many people miss small things like that.  Whenever I have a bad League day and look for advice, my friends say the same thing.  I've learned to play a champion over and over, to get to know them and know what they do.  Once you feel comfortable playing drafts with the champions, then why not try them in ranked if that is what you want to do?  There is always a risk of your first game with a champion in ranked; it's a whole different atmosphere, and you feel far more pressured to succeed.  Whenever a new champion is released - most recently Lucian - players have this tendency to instantly ban them, as they don't want anyone trying them out in a ranked game for the first time; players want you to give 100% in your game, and we think that's unlikely if you are playing a champion for the first time.  It's also the primary reason Riot abolished free-to-play champions within ranked games.

Once I was in champion select and had the position of mid-lane and my opposing player had selected Le Blanc.  I told my duo partner that I wasn't to sure about playing against her, but I picked Galio (he's a safe pick, in my mind, and I know how to play him) and as soon as I locked in, the Ezreal on my team started to abuse the All Chat by saying I would fail since this was my first time playing Galio in ranked.
The game starts, and I give away First Blood to Le Blanc within three minutes, which obviously made Ezreal shout about how right he was, and how much I sucked.  I then get ganked by the jungler and my stats are 0/2/0 before the five-minute mark.  "GG game is over this Galio feeding, how did he get to gold" is Ezrael's refrain; at that point, I decide to put him on ignore and continue with my game, confident in my aility to play my champ.  My stats in the end; 7/3/8, with all three deaths Le Blanc very early in the game.
When the game was over and I looked back, I realized I should have just farmed and tried not to trade with her so much early.  After I got to level 6, I was involved in a lot of team fights and on occasion killed Le Blanc as she tried to initiate on me.  But my overall mistake in that game was to listen to the Ezreal; when people keep telling you how bad you are, sometimes you start to forget they're wrong, which leads me to . . .

Mistake Number Two: Listening to flamers.  Listening to toxic players like that is like eating a piece of food that had gone bad.  At first you think, "oh it's like two days out of date, it'll be fine", but three hours later, your stomach feels like it has become a washing machine.  When I listen to someone like that I think to myself,  "great another one in ranked".  But as the poison spreads I begin to get agitated and annoyed and short-tempered.  When that happens, I miss things I wouldn't usually miss, like the jungler hiding in the brush, or if the tri-brush has been pinked or not.  I die messily because I didn't notice that bot-lane came to mid- and that just provides more fuel to add to the fire for the vicious little trolls.  By this time I am actually beginning to believe them: that I am as bad as they say, and shouldn't play.  That the reason we lost the game was solely on me.

The best advice I can give here is simply to mute and ignore the player instantly, before the poison begins to spread.  When I started doing that, I felt better overall about my ranked games and didn't feel so rubbish when I lost, as I knew I tried my best.  You will never be able to become better if you listen to people who just bring you down. 

You want to take exhaust and ignite on Blitzcrank?  Do it; you know your play-style, and you know you can make it work.  You want to go in on them level 2? Try it.  Make your own mistakes and learn from them without being ridiculed or flamed.

So in summary, here are some little tips that helped me become better at LoL.

1) Figure out how you learn.  Is it better for you to play the champ in custom a few times?  Listen to others from League?  Maybe you learn better by watching a lot of streams?

2) Read stuff.  Riot included it for a reason; I didn't notice Janna added attack damage to her shields for a long time . . . yeah . . .

3) Mute and Ignore anyone who flames you; they're not adding anything beneficial to you, and will in fact just make things worse.
4) Try things in games and learn from them; experimentation will reveal things to you you hadn't considered, for good or ill.
5) All of the above fail? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnnZtJj6LtU

 When I started to do all these things I advanced to high silver/ low Gold pretty easily.

Pad.

(The images are not made or owned by me. I put them there because they are pretty.)

A week ago, i had achieved a goal I had for a long time. A goal that took a lot of time, patience and Irn-Bru. I had finally reached the platinum tier within League of Legends. For some, this road doesn't take much effort and for others it seems unreachable. It could take someone less then twenty games to reach Platinum and for others it could take a thousand. It took me around three hundred ranked games to get to my destination. When i had reached it i said to myself  "finally I deserve to be here", which I felt was justified. But when I really thought about my journey to get there, I decided it wasn't that simple to just say that i belonged in a certain tier. 

I started playing League of Legends in season two,  and it wasn't until the end I decided I wanted to reach gold in ranked. I had reached 1550 elo at the time and then lost 100 before the season ended. My reward was a silver border encrusted with the memory of that 100 elo I lost. At the time I blamed everyone but myself. I was a representation of the people that now frustrate me and a lot of other people in the LoL community. Before season three started I had a long think about how I could gain elo. I realized that if i wanted elo I could have just asked someone to carry me which I know a lot of my friends on LoL would have. What I really wanted was to become a better player. 

I played with the same people in my early gaming on LoL and I would be asked to go support as it was 'the easiest role'. At the time I fully believed them. I would sit in a brush and now and again come out and place a ward where i was told too. My AD Carry would tell me not to farm minions, I had to buy Aegis straight away to make me less squishy and that was how I leveled up from one to thirty. It wasn't until I expanded my friends list did I see other ways to enjoy the supporting role. I was then given a chance to try out some other lanes such as top to which I then fed hideously so was then put back to support until I played some bot games. I joined a few clans, made new friends and through them i was handed down their knowledge that I put to use into my games.

"You need to be able to farm, it gives you money and you need money to buy Items. The more items you have the more you are able to do for your team". It sounds simple. You hit the minion and you get money. You buy items and then you are stronger. I had never gave anything like this thought, i was so interested in just spamming buttons and trying to kill the other player I would mostly fall behind or feed my lane. I had the attitude of a four year old surrounded by brightly lit buttons all around me. I just wanted to press them all and have fun.

Since then I have been on a vast journey to reach platinum. I decided to start writing this after reading a blog made by GentlemenGustaf titled: 'Why There are No Female LoL Pros: How to Change That'. I would like to become great female League of Legends player. I want to take away the idea that the majority of female LoL players are bronze/silver: stream half naked to get lots of views and really just crave some attention. I want to show that females can also be just as good as males, to show that some of us want to become good players and be respected for that. 

Pad.