Some pics
League of Legends Thoughts
I don't recall if I've mentioned it here on SF, but I've been playing a bit of League of Legends, because some co-workers wanted to try it together. Being pretty new (account level 15 as of now), playing SMITE has definitely helped me with basic gameplay concepts for the game, but I've noticed some significant differences.
- HR is very, very generous with their $30 God Pack (which even goes on sale sometimes!). If I were to buy all champions in LoL, I have no clue how much I'd have to spend, but it would be a LOT.
- Their free champ rotation goes for 1 week. SMITE's goes for 2. I like the longer rotation of SMITE, as it gives more opportunity to really get the feel for the characters.
- Man is gameplay slooooow. So slow, that movement speed isn't even the biggest priority. You might pick up the cheap Boots of Speed (300 gold!) fairly early, but MS in general is less of a priority than it is in SMITE.
- Item purchases: In SMITE, you usually want to focus on a single item at a time. There are very few situations where you'll pick up a T1 or T2 item, then finish another item before completing that first one (one example might be T1 Bancroft's for
Anubis for the early lifesteal, since he can get double that lifesteal through his passive).
However, in LoL, you might buy multiple lower-tier items before completing the big one (many of which are quite expensive at over 3,000 gold). This honestly throws me off, but I'm getting used to it. It's important to know which lower tier items provide significant function (like Tiamat, which provides an AOE/cleave basic attack function for quicker jungle clear and helps early game, while you might wait longer to pick up Titanic Hydra).
- Summoner Spells (Relics in SMITE): There are a lot of similarities in these items between the two games in terms of function. LoL's Exhaust is like
Horrific Emblem, Barrier is a bit like 
Magic Shell, Ignite is like 
Sundering Spear, and Flash is like 
Blink Rune (but technically more like the old Combat Blink). Major differences...you get both at the start in LoL, they typically aren't upgraded, CDs are looooooong, and Flash is basically a required spell for ALL roles.
- So far in my experience, toxicity seems to be higher in LoL in general, though my sample size is still very small so that might not be fair to say. Also...either smurfs are absolutely RAMPANT, or their matchmaking is horrid. Most PvP games have someone that is more clueless than me, along with 1 or 2 players that blow through everyone else with 20/2 K/D.
Relic CDs
Speaking of LoL's extremely long summoner spell cooldowns (e.g. Flash's CD is 300 seconds / 5 minutes), it got me thinking...what if SMITE's relics had longer CDs?
We often complain about things like
Purification Beads being up way too often (even after they nerfed the CDs on many relics from 2 minutes to 3 or so). What if relics got a rework to adjust their CDs?Some ideas:
- Purification Beads and
Aegis Amulet get increased CD, to 3 1/2 or 4 minute base. If needed, you could change the duration of the effects...Aegis in particular could be a solid 2 second duration instead of 1.5.
- Blink Rune jumps to 2 1/2 to 3 minutes.
- Teamfight relics like
Heavenly Wings, 
Belt of Frenzy, etc. get a bump to 3 minutes.
- With all of the above types of changes,
Relic Dagger could have a more significant role with some stat adjustments. I like the other stats it provides (health, CD, MS), but perhaps the passive could have a more significant effect...instead of a 30 second CDR on relics, maybe 60?
Obviously, some classes like Mages and Assassins might not want to invest in this item because it does nothing for their damage (the CDR is helpful but if they want CDR they'll get other things). But it will still be functional for tankier classes that want that extra utility from Blink or other teamfight relics. And if you change Blink to 3 minutes base, a shortened 2 minute CD with this item is still going to beat out an enemy's Beads a decent amount of time, making it a worthwhile investment while also forcing the enemy to be more aware in order to avoid it while their relics are down.
Pele
Granted, this was an Arena match, but...it's ME playing (not Taço), it's my first time playing her, and I got 30k as an Assassin going 11/6/15? Definitely OP.
You should have seen how many times I screwed up her
Magma Rush toggle...kept canceling it when I wanted the higher boost, or boosting when I wanted to cancel, or forgetting to cancel altogether. Hahaha.
- "Wait, what the hell, it's only ~24 euros to unlock all current and future Gods?! That's a crazy good deal!"
- "oh, Exhaust is just like
Horrific Emblem" = "oh, 
Horrific Emblem is just like Exhaust"
- "oh, Sona's ult is just like
Chang'e's" = "oh, 
Chang'e's ult is just like Sona's"
- etc.
:PLoL, due to the view, is more methodical and calculating in ways, at least how it feels so far. You have to learn a whole bunch of new characters, items, mechanics, etc. That can make it fun, especially if you jump from game to game and get bored fairly easily. And I'm definitely having fun, as this feels fresh.
But the main concepts are all the same. General focus that objectives are more important than individual kills (but kills and farming are a means to the end, of course). Many champs feel like they have similar kits to SMITE gods. Gotta deal with health, mana, sustain, CDR, attack speed, movement speed, lifesteal, crits, protections (armor and magic resist for LoL), damage via ability power (AP) and attack damage (AD), warding, jungle camps/buffs, etc., etc. So if you understand the concepts of Conquest, you'll have a decent start. The things that are a bit more different are Runes, which you can customize for each match, and they're like additional loadouts of stats/features.
Other currently popular MOBA types include DOTA 2 and Heroes of the Storm, if you're talking PC at least. DOTA 2 is more technical than LoL, where jungle is more complex with jungle merchants and whatnot, not only worrying about last-hitting but also denying, etc. That is DEFINITELY not my type of game. HotS is less complex gameplay-wise than LoL, focusing more on teamplay, less laning, more and earlier teamfights, and getting its complexity (or rather variety) via choices of ability enhancements every 3 levels and the much larger variety of maps (all of which play differently). If I were to choose a non-SMITE MOBA outside of my friends, it would probably be HotS.
Also relics should be more powerful but with higher CDs like
And about the items, I prefer smite style, focusing in only one item, and in my opinion they could remove boots, increase base move speed and let us use the slot with anoter item.