League of Legends Review: Is LoL Free To Download and Play? Why is LoL so Popular?

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League of Legends (LoL), commonly referred to as League, is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by Defense of the Ancients, a custom map for Warcraft III, Riot’s founders sought to develop a stand-alone game in the same genre. Since its release in October 2009, League has been free-to-play and is monetized through purchasable character customization. The game is available for Microsoft Windows and macOS.

Is League of Legends Free To Download and Play?

For those of you that don’t know, League of Legends is entirely free to download. Initially when the game was released in 2009, Riot offered starter packages to customers. However, these were very limited edition and are no longer available.

Today you can simply head on over to the official League of Legends website and download the game in a matter of minutes. Completely free of charge, this strategy has helped LoL amass over 100 million monthly players.

But with millions of users playing the game, how can the developers afford to run the servers and make a profit? This is where League of Legends in-game currency, Riot Points, come in.

With the ability for players to purchase in-game items and boosts, does this mean that League of Legends is simply pay to win? Well not exactly.

Although there are various in-game items to purchase in League of Legends, none of these items actually make you better at the game. As the developers clearly state, these items are only cosmetic items and don’t make the game easier in any way. So if a player wants to spend $30 on a fancy skin, then it won’t affect how well they perform in-game. It will merely change how they look.

By doing this, the developers have made it so people can’t just buy themselves to the top like you can do in other games. These items might make you look cooler, but they’re not going to help you climb the ranked ladder any faster. In fact, for the average player, most of these items are actually a waste of money. With that said, there is one thing that every player should spend money on to make their League of Legends experience even better.

Why is League of Legends so Popular?

When League of Legends was first released towards the end of 2009, it wasn’t like any other games on the market. If you had told someone that it was going to become one of the most popular free-to-play games on the market, they would have laughed, but now is the Riot Games that are laughing to everyone with their huge League of Legends player count.

Back then, gamers weren’t really familiar with this free-to-play concept. Some MMO games would charge a monthly subscription, but traditionally, gamers were used to playing a flat fee for a game – it was a foreign concept for a company to give a game away for free. After all, isn’t that why companies create games? To make money?

Around this time, mobile games were starting to catch eyes. Games such as Candy Crush (released in 2012) claimed to be completely free-to-play. Still, in all actuality, it landed under that “pay to win” category. This means that players can put their real money into the game, which will give them an unfair advantage over those who don’t pay real money.

Riot insurance that LoL players would not gain any form of advantage if they were to put their money into the game. The currency in LoL is referred to as Riot points – players receive Riot points in exchange for real money.

Riot points can be used to dress champions with new skins, unlock new champions, or unlock summoner icons and ward skins. It’s appealing to find a free-to-play game that isn’t pay-to-win. The company still makes money, though, because many of the players put real money towards skins. In fact, players end up paying more than what they would have paid for a subscription.

What is a team comp in League of Legends?

Since League of Legends is a 5 vs 5 team game, the combinations of champions that your team assembles at champ select can be incredibly important. Often times, you can greatly increase your chances of winning by synergizing the abilities and strengths of your choices.

An easy example to understand is an area-of-effect team (AoE) composition. This team combines five champions who have spells and abilities that can either deal damage to multiple champions or hold multiple champions in place with crowd control.

Every team comp tends to have a goal in mind, known as a win condition. The win condition of an AoE comp is to catch and kill multiple team members at once. If the AoE comp is able to do so, they will likely win a fight.

Another example of a team comp would be the skirmish comp. Skirmish team comps utilize champions that have high mobility and like to fight in messy fights from multiple angles.

A skirmish team comp would likely beat an AoE team comp because an AoE team comp would struggle to lock down multiple skirmishers at once if they play their cards right.

Since the AoE team comp relies on powerful spells that have long cooldowns, while skirmishers have attacks and abilities that are weaker but can be cast more often, the skirmish team comp can play around the abilities of the AoE team comp.

If you’re learning about the game as a new player, don’t worry too much about creating the perfect team comp at champ select. You’ll want to focus more on just playing your comfort champions and mastering them.

We just wanted to introduce you since it is something that will be mentioned often in game and in other places such as if you watch pro-play or streamers.

How to play League of Legends?

Picking your first champion can be an intimidating process. There are over 130 different options to go for, and it’s easy to get lost in the menu, wasting loads of time looking, browsing, names and abilities flying past your eyes, when you could be playing.

You need to forget about the pressure and just go with what you enjoy best, and see how it goes. Going for a champion that looks cool is a good enough reason to pick for your first games.

Many League of Legends champions squaring off, using magic, guns, and weapons. Perhaps another way of helping you choose your champion is for you to first pick a role that best suits your playstyle from other games. Are you an aggressive attacker? Do you like to stand back and support your team?

There are multiple roles to fulfil in LoL and choosing one that fits your own playstyle could be a way for you to learn the game a bit quicker. As Medic explains: “There are five roles in League of Legends. The Top Lane is for the bruisers, the fighters, the people who want to keep on brawling. Junglers are the shot-callers, the conductors of the action.

Lots of League of Legends hooded minions in blue and purple cloaks, clashing together in combat by a torch. One of them is in a steel tank.

Minions may seem like ineffective little bots that are just sent your way like lambs to the slaughter, and that’s exactly what they are. However, you have to learn how to kill them in the most effective way to gain the upper hand on your opponent in League of Legends and get as much gold as possible.

Is LoL beginner friendly?

But let’s be real: you probably know from experience that LoL isn’t exactly… the most beginner-friendly game. In fact, it’s downright daunting; the learning curve is huge, with over 150 champions, thousands of potential matchups and an ever-changing meta.

Is LoL hard to learn?

Feel free to play the tutorials a few times if you are still unfamiliar with the controls. LoL is one of those “easy to learn, impossible to master” games.

Is League of Legends toxic?

The toxicity prevalent in the League’s community will be a constant battle for Riot because that player base will never go away. There’s no feasible way to stop them from playing and potentially ruining the game for others, and that’s okay.

Which LOL champion should I start with?

The original champion used in the League of Legends tutorial, Ashe is a great marksman for new players because of her long range and ability to provide utility for the team. Ashe’s auto attacks slow enemies and her W Volley has a large hit-box and also slows enemies.