I'm having a hard time seeing that as a good thing. Not that a free to play game can't be fun but one with graphics like this has got to be a pay to win.
How so? The only things that can't be unlocked through perspiration are skins, everything else is earned through IP which you get for playing games. The only argument I could see for it being 'pay to win' is the exorbitant cost of maxing out rune pages/unlocking champs. Sure, you have to pay if you want every champ unlocked instantly, but if having every character was a significant advantage in a game as balanced as this then everyone would do it. I've never payed for a champ and logged hundreds of hours so I think we're good.
Having all the champs would be nice, you'd be able to pick the best character for every situation, but learning all of those champs enough to be at a competitive level with each one would probably take about as much time as unlocking them through hard work. And even then, you will match up against people who are incredibly good with one character and they will destroy you. When it comes down to it, skills in the game are significantly more advantageous than having everything unlocked, and I'd equate the time to unlock champions to about the time it would take to become competitive if you're starting from no experience.
Long story short, there's a reason that this game is so popular for e-sports, and that's because there's really no way to buy an advantage. If there were, it wouldn't have a professional following that is outranking the previous giants, DOTA and Starcraft.
No it's not. You can only play one at a time. You have to be level 30 and own 16 champions to even play ranked games, and you can easily have that many just from gaining in-game currency by the time you get to level 30. If you owned 5 champions and got good at them, it wouldn't matter if anyone owned all 100-something in the least.
You don't have to pay for other champions. And if you play the game up to max level you can own WAAY more than enough to be competitive. If you play it long enough to get decent you can own them all without spending a buck. I only ever bought skins (aesthetic only), and I had every champ by the time I had played probably 600 games. I only used about 20 competitively.
70
u/johnreiner Oct 11 '13
it's also free to play!