League of Legends: My Leap into the PVP Deep End and never looking back!

My original plan was to play on CO-OP vs AI till I reached level 20 then to jump into PVP so that I would only be 10 levels away from level 30 for Ranked. However the lure of PVP got me after I hit level 12. I realized that at level 12 I got all the summoner spells that were available so why not now. Plus after watching almost every single LCS NA and EU Summer Splits and talking with my friend GeneralFoamy08, that I realized the bots in CO-OP don't play like real people. Now a lot of you would already know this or think "no kidding".  But I am writing this for people like me who don't know or are just beginning to enjoy this most addictive game that is League of Legends.

So in watching the LCS for the past month or so, you start to see how the game is played by the best in the world. Go into lane, farm farm farm, harass the other champion in your lane, jungler sets up a gank then back to farming, buy and build, then teamfight, oh did I mention farm, then win or lose ROTFLMAO. Now when you play in CO-OP vs AI this is what happens, go into lane, other champion places himself between your minions and their minions, the try and kill you every time they get a chance, you trade shots at each other, you try to farm, no ganks from the bots, then you either snowball or get snowballed. So I knew from watching and talking that I had built my play-style to match what was going on in the LCS, that gave me the confidence to go ahead and make the plunge into PVP.

I can admit that I was nervous about going into PVP for the first time. I realize that I would be playing with people that I have never or will never meet in person. With the sheer number of people playing on League of Legends, I would probably never play with them ever again. But you still don't want to be the one to cause a loss, to get yelled at or raged on. Some people play just to have fun, while others play to get better and be as competitive as possible. I am the later but I want it to be fun. I replay every match that I play in to find out where I can be better and improve my game play. I watch a ton of videos that people have put up on YouTube in order to learn any little trick or tip that will improve my play. I read build guides from Mobafire, LOLpro and others as an example. I think about new champions that I can play later on as I level up. I can say that it lets me use my mind and think about a ton of strategies that I can come up with. 

Like the title says once you go into PVP, you won't ever want to go back and play CO-OP unless if you don't get your First Win of the Day bonus ROTFLMAO. I played my first couple of games and instantly knew that all the work that I have put in (which I know is not even a tenth of what other people have put in) has helped. My last hit skill was good not great yet, but was above average. I had to fine tune my build order and ability level up order which would take time. I got to experience my first team surrender that I voted against. I experienced my first champion in my lane feeding me and I experienced at least twice a horrible match up for me in lane. I saw what would happen if I was left unchecked and I snowballed. I saw what happens when the other team snowballs. I would always look at the champions on the other side that I went up against or that had snowballed and see what spells they had and why they did what they did. 

This game is such a great way for you to be able to think on the fly, to use strategy and build hand and eye coordination. I will say that I can't wait to people up a team of 5 that we can just play together and build our own strategy and tactics. Like with any of the eSport games right now, I feel like you can take a group of people and put them on a team (regardless of age) and they would be able to compete on an upper level with the right training and tactics. The whole idea that these type of athletes have a special type of skill or some genetic ability to me is not true. I am look to see if I can prove that with in the next year or so. They will have to be dedicated to wanting to excel at improving their game-play and compete at the highest level. 

Follow along with me as I set out to get to level 30 then move into ranked play. What would the LOL world come to if they saw a 40 yr old playing on the main stage at LCS???

League of Legends: You Addictive SOB!!!

So I suggest that on the League of Legends website there should be a disclaimer;"This game is addictive and it will consume your every waking hour!" ROTFL! When you take a game that  incorporates a steep learning curve with a game that can be played a million different ways and you want to be very good at it, it consumes every minute of the day. At least for me it does. This is a game that is so much fun but also so easy to make mistakes. I would ask anyone playing the game if they feel like they have learned everything that can be learned. To me, I feel like there is no way to learn everything there is to learn because the items that can be built and the spells that can be used and the combination of these plus the number of different champions, throw in with that playing solo with a group of people the game joined you with or getting to a point where you start playing with friends and then team tactics come into play. You can tell how complex the game is just by the long run on sentence I just typed ROTFL. When I started playing I had no idea how to play the champion that I picked Ryze. I would go down a lane, run into the minions, skip over them and try and kill the other champion from the other team. Oh wait the other champion is running away chase after them, killed by turret. Okay the turrets will kill you quickly, so back in the lane, chase down the champion, oh he is running at the turret, stop and kill some of the minions just for fun. Oh wait I just leveled up by killing the minions. Okay so I will just kill the minions. Wait a minute how come my teammate is leveling up and getting gold by hitting the same minions I am attacking. Etc., Etc., Etc., ROTHFL. So I could write a novel as to all the things I learned in just my first game or so I thought. So as my typical way of learning games rather it be how I improved my COD: Ghost, Black Ops 2 or Titanfall game, I go to good old reliable YouTube. So have you ever typed in League of Legends on Youtube?? 1,400,000 videos that have League of Legends in the tag words. So where to begin? I found LOLesports.com on Twitter. So like I did with Ghost and watching the pros on MLG or Twitch (in the case of Evil Geniuses), I watch almost every game that was going on in the EU League Championship Series and the NA League Championship Series (LCS for short). As first it was like the commentators were speaking a different language and when all of the champions got into a huge fight I had no idea who was were and what was going on. But I saw how they started out the game at least. I saw what the minions were actually there for. I saw how they "farmed" then made a "poke attack" or "ganked" the other team. So I was starting to get an idea of how the dynamics of the game is played. I started to understand what the Dragon was for and the Baron was for. Then I found www.mobafire.com and subscribed to the websites. Found a Ryze build and a Kayle build. These were the two champions that I decided to use. The funny thing was I had Ryze for the whole first week I started playing. And the whole time he had an exclamation mark on his icon which I had no idea what that was for. So last night I wanted to play Ryze instead of Kayle (which has a mark on his icon now), but he was gone!! So the first game I played with someone that picked him so I thought that was it. Then the next game he was still gone. I had no idea that I had to buy him and that the mark meant he was free ROTFL. So I got him and built him up using a guide from www.mobafire.com. I also have a Kayle build up that I got from that website as well. Now the question is which item to build first. That is what I am dealing with right now. So I am using a notebook to keep track with my KDA, what my item build order is, what mistakes I do or what I do that works. And it is so fricking addictive. I am now thinking about what items to build and in what order. I don't know the exact recipes of the items that I decide to use so my item set is huge ROTHFL. I like the builds I have right now. I am either going even with a huge assist or I am going positive so I feel like I am progressing in the game. From reading I am staying in the CO-OP vs AI beginner till about level 10 then doing CO-OP vs AI till level 15 on Intermediate. I want to have all of the Summoner spells available to me before I go into PVP then on to ranked games after hitting level 30 of course. I am so competitive that I hope I will be finding people to play with on a regular basis to form a team and rank up. You can check out my Twitch feed at www.twitch.tv/bcutler2003 to see my climb up the levels into PVP and then Ranked.

See you on the LOL Addictive Anonymous ROTFL Rift!!

League of Legends: The most fun frustrating game ever/Learn the League

I don't even know where to start or even what to say. I have never wanted to be more invested and never have wanted to research so I can learn as much as I can before for a game till now. I also have never wanted to throw, shoot, destroy or burn my computer as much as I wanted to last night playing LOL for only the 3rd Co-op vs AI game in my life.

The starts out by giving you the oppurtunity to learn in the Basic Tutorial then the Battle Tutorial. In the Basic Tutorial, it teaches how to move and how to attack.....sort of. Left click attacks and right click moves to where the cursor is. Pretty simple right? BUT THAT IS ONLY THE SMALLEST PART OF ATTACK AND MOVEMENT!! Once you get into CO-op vs AI, left click doesn't really work well. Attack is really right click on someone but also move is right click on the ground. So if you miss clicking on the target, you will move to that spot. Also if you click on an Ability then click on the target, you will follow that target unless you click somewhere after you fire your Ability. Which means if you don't pay attention you will be behind all the minions and right in the middle of the enemy champions getting your butt handed to you. What they don't teach you is the different move functions that you can really do. Move toward your target firing everytime you are in range and stopping to fire when you do. You can stop and hold your champion while moving. Or you can click one movement toward or away from your target and shoot and run away at the same time with only one click or move forward and attack with one click instead of clicking away from what is chasing you then clicking on the target chasing you then clicking away. Even typing that out takes more time and doesn't make clear sense than just clicking one movement that allows you to walk and fire at the same time.

I made sure to do what I thought would be the best thing to learn and also not to hinder my human teammates when playing in CO-op. I did the Basic Tutorial, the Battle Tutorial then started the CO-op. NO!! I feel like now that I have read that there is all these other movement and attack controls that you have to stay in Battle Tutorial to try them out. Also I went from using Ryze to using Kayla. It takes time to learn a new champion. I did okay in my opinion with Ryze, but when I used Kayla in my 3rd game I got slaughtered! The learning curve on this is so high it make one want to flip over there computer desk.....which I almost did lol.

After a Google Search, I came across the website http://learntheleague.com. I read a some of the website and some of the comments about the e-book Learn the League 13th edition. So being someone that needs to have whatever I can find to help I purchased it and started reading it last night. I am going to read it all the way through first then go back and apply one thing at a time to help my gaming. So if you are starting out playing LOL or are an advance player, this e-book is very helpful to me. So thanks to Patrick O'Callahan (@ciderhelm) for taking the time out and making and updating this guide for lost players like me.

Check out my Twitch Channel www.Twitch.tv/bcutler2003 if you want a good laugh right now watching someone getting dominated in LOL....ie ME ROTFL.  Again thank you for reading this and look for many more to come.

Final part 3: COD GHOST at XGames/Why Evil Geniuses is still the team to beat.

The last part of the weekend was glued to my phone watching MLG.tv stream of the COD Ghost invitational at the XGames. I am not going to cover each team just the ones that stuck with me or struck a nerve with me.

It was great seeing Team Kailber make it to the final medal round. Like they said you don't see them much up at the very top.  They played well together and really celebrated as a team when there was a victory and when there was a defeat. It was the first time I have watched them play and I will be looking to watch them again to play again on MLG.tv.

Team Envy was very calm and collected and played some very good plays in the tournament.  It shows why they are always in the top tier of the major tournaments.  I will watch them as well when I see them on MLG.tv.

My boys of Evil Geniuses! Did they win, no. Did everyone think they would?  People thought they would be in the finals but here is where it gets crazy. Who people thought would win came down to just popularity not skill but more on that later. @EGCrimsix @EGDKarma @EGTeep @EGAchespp still are the destiny that they have created.  You don't win one tournament and you become the best.....oh wait you do if it is the COD Championship which Evil Geniuses did. They should not hang their heads in shame or defeat. They will still be the ones to beat at Anaheim. I think that when you are on the top for so long that it takes a little coming down to earth to get the fire going to take your game to an even higher level. I will still support EVIL GENIUSES!

And finally Team Optic, The Green wall or wall of unwarranted arrogance. Yeah they were predicted to win cause they are the favorite team cause they are always on MLG.tv playing some COD, Mine craft, Mario kart etc. They have figured out how to make the world of eSport into a popularity contest overlooking skill for likes. If it took you 4 yrs to win a tournament there is a reason.  Everyone will have a bad tournament,  if the planets align and you have your best tournament while everyone else had bad tournaments then you will leave. Now let's see if they back it up with another win this year. I am hoping and predict they won't. 

For me it is back to the grind. Drop Zone,  increasing my K/D ratio but playing for the objective. I still feel like if you take 4 people and come up with sound tactics that you practice and practice over and over you can compete competitively against the top teams. I am just looking for that group of people willing to take on the challenge.  Thinking of maybe incorporating some Blitz into my gaming. I think with the way I play Base Defense would be best. So I will be trying out different load outs while playing Blitz and only play cover for my base.

Why I subscribed to EGCrimsix/iRacing at Brands Hatch in Skippy/COD:Ghost

If you look at my other post EGCrimsix shows why he is on the World Championship Team Evil Geniuses!  http://40yroldgamingtriathlete.blogspot.com/2014/06/egcrimsix-shows-why-he-is-on-world.html, you can see that I am very impressed with Ian and his interaction with his followers on Twitch and Twitter. I have been watching his stream on Twitch now for a couple of days. Great content,  again interaction with his fans and he is dedicated to constantly improving his gaming skill. Last night was 2 days away from the XGames in Austin and while Ian and Evil Geniuses where trying to get a Scrim games going for some practice (which they couldn't which tells me other teams are not practicing) another team was streaming the new Mario Kart game. So it is that kind of dedication to improving the teams skill that also has me impressed.  And people wonder why EG is the reigning Champions. I watched and liked about 5 YouTube videos that he has on his YouTube channel. They were very informative and i can't wait to get home tonight and add what i learned to my practice. Please stop by there and subscribe to it. And go to his Twitch channel and support him with a monthly subscription like I did. You will not be disappointed at all. Can not wait till tomorrow and the live streaming of the first time ever COD:GHOST will be at a major non eSport Sporting event like XGames.

Let me tell you about iRacing. Me and my teammate Jon Carrigan did some more practice and then qualified at 9:45 pm so we would have a time for the 10:15 pm race. Got the 4th fastest time in my division so far so I am very happy with my time. Had 2 other people that were higher division than me and qualified a little faster than I did. I watched one of the drivers laps to learn from that was just .3 secs faster than me. So into the 10:15pm race, the 2 guys that were faster than me and my teammate from qualifying were ahead of me. I started 3rd with Jon starting 4th and behind Jon was someone that we know is overseas so has a terrible ping and has run up the back of a couple of drivers a few times and doesn't get any damage from doing it while taking the driver he runs all over out. So get the start fighting for 2nd coming out of 2nd, I was generous and gave way for turn 3 going into turn 4, gave him some room behind him. Now I watched at least 5 laps of his from qualifying and he took turn 4 very smoothly, how ever this time he decided to get hit the brakes in the middle of the turn which he never did before and the first place guy didn't even slow down. Very interesting and convient since it made me have to slam on the brakes which caused me to spin. Can you say brake check? So I spin Jon has to slow down, then here comes Mr. Drive all over you. He slams into the back of Jon and just destroys his car. And the damage to the rammer......NOTHING! I HATE HIGH PING DRIVERS! All of them use to as an unfair advantage. So I get towed and fixed and back out 1 lap down.  Out of 11 I finished 8th. And ironically stayed ahead of the second place driver who brake checked me in turn 4 and actually pulled away from him. So ironic if you ask me. Oh well put him down on the studied list and move on. Some people race with honor someone people have to drive dirty to overcome lack of skill.

Didn't get to the gym yesterday, wasn't the greatest day for me so just wanted to move my workout 1 day just to relax and chill out. But will definitely get to the gym tonight. It is a missing feeling when I do something like that. I am getting my cycle zones to out into my MIO Link. Stay tuned for more to come.

Evil Geniuses at XGAMES Austin/New job/MIO GLOBAL LINK/X^2 Performance/ COD:Ghost

So yesterday was my first day at my new job. Bilingual IT Service Desk using my French maybe 26 times a month.  Doing level 1 IT helps for Meritor. Good group of people. Such a different group of people. Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish and me French speaking people. The Service Desk will be running 24/7 and I have the M-F 5 am to 2 pm shift. Yesterday was just day one and going over how tickets are handled and clocking in etc. Real basic information. We won't actually start taking calls till July 26th. So have a long time of training.

So the day finally came!! My Mio Global Link came in the mail yesterday. Huge thanks to Mio. I can't wait to start using it tonight. It was charged out of the box but just made sure it was fully charged. Fit great, so light on the wrist. Downloaded MIO GO from Google Play Store. So quick found the Link right away. I will be using it to go over all my training and even using it first thing in the morning to monitor my recovery.  They are such an amazing company with forward thinking product and mentally.  Stay tuned for a daily update and training sessions using the LINK.

X^2 Performance signed Dave Scott to their team and had a great webcast Q&A. There was an issue and X^2 gave everyone who signed up a free shirt and samples.  This has been a supplement that I have been wanting to try and it came in the mail yesterday as well and I can wait to give it a try tonight before training. Mid distance ride tonight. Going to give my left foot another week to heal. It is so much better, but I am dying to start running.  Updates to come on how this product is to take a few hours before going to bed.

So jumped into some Ghost last night as well. Had some great games, it is almost like a switch was turned on and started to get several games positive while still playing Drop Zone Objectives.  But when I start getting tired or my thumbs start hurting it goes downhill from there. It is true what people say, to get good at these games it really is just practice practice practice. And it comes out of the blue too. All of a sudden you are playing better and faster. Was a really good gaming session.

Don't forget to pull for Evil Geniuses this weekend at X Games Austin!!!!

EGCrimsix shows why he is on the World Championship Team Evil Geniuses!

I will start this out by saying, This isn't about Kill Death Ratio, It is about respect for those that allow you to do what you have passion for and Yes I am old enough to be most of the Pro Gamers father. And yes I am just now practicing on getting better on Ghost and Black Ops 2. Why are 40 years old have I started to play these games?  Cause my kids that I get every other weekend love playing them and they love that I play with them and can talk about maps, and B-Dom, and Caps lol. So me being the competitive person that I am decided to pick a eSport team that they liked which was Optic Gaming. My oldest told me about a guy on the team that I should subscribe to his YouTube so I did.  I watched many of his videos and tweeted to him "your video really helps this old guy out". And got back a great response.....silence. Okay so he has a ton of followers maybe he missed it.  Started this blog.  Tagged him, his team and his team's owner in many of my post.  Have shout outs about him and his team.  Did this on Twitter, Facebook and Google +. And got......cricket's chripping in return. Do they not realize if it wasn't for us the fans.... The fans with money, he wouldn't be doing this?  I have had people 3 times as many followers as him in the Nascar world, movies, and real celebrities respond to my tweets. AND NO ONE WANTS TO WATCH YOU PLAY MINECRAFT! So I took a gamble before just writing off a Pro Team. Late last night, watched Ian Porter from about 12am to 4am.

Before I even started watching his Twitch feed, I tweeted could Evil Geniuses and EGCrimsix be my new eSport team? Right away a favorite on Twitter from Ian. I was SHOCKED. After months of trying to get responses from teams here is one that is right there.  So I watched it for 4 hours.  Was it his team playing? No it was him, a member of Denial, Faze,  Vexx and another playing together! What??? And playing Ghost. Never saw that before with that other team. At the end of watching,  I sent another Tweet just saying great stream hope you are interactive and if you are you have a new fan. Instantly a response of a Favorite and a thanks dude! Amazed is beyond words. Let me tell you if I was Ian's parents I would be proud of what a gentleman they raised. Evil Geniuses and Ian "EGCrimsix" Porter, Patrick "EGACHESpp" Price, Tyler "EGTeep" Polchow and Damon "EGDKarma" B, you have a new fan just from responding to some Tweets. How hard was that Wall of Envy Green. Such a shame!