Whole lotta love went into the veigar skin.

List of all the video game quotes he says:  http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/2dhdqx/final_boss_veigar_references/

konami cheat code entered when he backs

Didn't really get a good chance to get a feel for Gnar on live yesterday (only 1 game and we had bruiser sej for support with me running gnar top.  team builder). I think he's still going to be pretty lousy, mind you, but really hope I get to play him a bit and get it out of my system.

Kind of find the suggested players "menu" way too cluttered.  Not sure if there's a better way to implement that or what, though. 

Mini j4 is entertaining... curious to see if riot changes that. I heard people saying he was really difficult to target (no idea, though). 

So, I need to get some solo queue ranked in. Was going to that yesterday, but ranked was down for a bit.

Also, I've been playing more laid back games lately with a pretty WIDE variety of folks (eg wtf skill level all over the place).  If I play any SR going forward, I'll be dialing it back and only inviting folks I believe have a good skill level.  I tried to keep a good attitude and be positive, but that's not exactly.... fun.  Arams will still be all welcome stuffs. 

Did anyone come across anyone playing gnar well as of yet?  Looking for in game experiences good/bad outside of theory craft.

OK - so we had a gnar on our team the other day on SR out of top.  He ok during laning and then was useless late - but to be fair, their mid was gigantic fat.  So, probably not a fair evaluation.  Still hoping to see more of him in play to see how he pans out, if people can use his kit well enough, etc. 

Onto other things worth discussing imo... and let me start with this - I'm trying to find a good balance and have a good attitude related to competitive play in LoL. I'm finding that a little challenging atm (I'll go into why in a sec). 

So, last night after a few games with you fellas, I decided to bugger off and just do some arams.  There are a few reasons for that.... I'll come back to that as well

K - so my general tone in draft mode is serious and highly competitive; eg let's do our best to win.  Been playing a bunch w/ MC folks lately.  Doing arams, putzing about.  Nothing all super competitive.  If I play like I'm normally inclined with many MC folks, I will come off as a complete angry douche.  Happens, but I literally need to approach most games as have fun games.  I try to stay positive and relaxed and just roll w/ whatever.  Doing this a bit and I actually enjoy the laid back ARAMs and so on... FROM TIME TO TIME.

A few days ago, I invite cow/karl to a couple of games where I'm also running with a few MC peeps.  Well, my adc MC bud plays like pooptown.  Lots of dumb things happening all over the place.  Anyway, Karl/cow get annoyed and decided to bugger off rather than deal with more sub par, low level play.  Makes sense to me and no big deal.  So off they go.  That sticks in my mind because they left because of the folks I was running w/.

Anyway, so I decide that if I'm running w/ my usual crew of NON MC folks, I'll only fill games with high quality, higher ranked MC peeps to avoid that sort of thing in the future.  I think that's a good stance considering karl/cow buggered off the other day because of lower caliber play. 

So, normal, competitive pacov returns... this is the pacov that wants to win and will get critical when folks are clearly throwing.

Last night, we get a game with swan/bryff/karl/pacov/thunder.  Now, right after we are in the lobby, cow shoots me a pm (cow was not in this game as we have 5) and says something along the line of I want to get some ranked 5s in someday...  so, I tell him we have 6 including him atm, but I can bugger off after this game if he wants to take my place. 

Anyway, we play our game and have a ton of bad plays which eventually spirals into a somewhat unwinnable game.  But, having put my more competitive hat back on, I'm a bit bent out of shape because it certainly seemed like a winnable game that we threw by doing many awful things over and over.  If I'm being laid back me, I don't care and I laugh it off when 4 people die doing an insane push or folks die chasing champs over and over.  If I'm being normal me, its annoying and just wasting my time.  I certainly didn't have a perfect or great game btw and made my own mistakes.  Just saying.

So, I'm trying to figure out what the best way to proceed is.  I'm not really sure which "pacov hat" I should be wearing when we play draft games together atm.  I also don't remember what roles swan is best at (my memory is poop like that) - I know he doesn't feel particularly strong at mid based on what he said recently.  I'm willing to fill and do w/e I can to help.  It just felt like folks were fine just screwing about - and I can do that... I just don't enjoy when I'm in try hard mode and we don't all seem to be on the same page.  I'd rather just be relaxed when we are, etc, and I'm having trouble figuring out what is what...

I am under the impression that if there is enough people for ranked 5's (regardless of who the are; If 5 people are online that are on the the ranked team that I created an attempt should be made to play ranked 5's. If it is found that some people are not in the mood then, ranked 3v3's or normals should be played) we should play ranked 5's. I do not need to be present for the team to play. There are more than enough competitent mid players (dan, hedgie, bryff) where I wont always be needed.

We have gotten away from playing 5's lately and its bummed me out.

That being said we did get 3 games in last night and we went 2-1 (techniqually 2-2 because of swan D/C during champ select). Anyway we are poised once again to attempt a promotion series to gold. I was very happy with our play last night.

Game 1 was a domitating preformance against a team that had several (2-3?) diamond 1 players. I got to play gangplank. I was able to pick up a kill on a double buff jungler after dan/swan and I responded to Karl getting killed in a jungle invade. After that I snowballed out of control. If I remember right karl/dan also were pretty fed.

Game 2 was a game that could of been a landslide in our favor if a few early game plays had gone our way (unfortunately the went the opposite way) again vs a full diamond team. We ended up losing to a fed vayne.

Game 3 was another complete domination. I happened to ban out there mid laners main (syndra) and he ended up playing Xerath who he had little experience with. Dan and swan completely dominated bot lane partially do to Karl getting some very solid ganks. Bryff became infatuated with his lane opponent Riven. Dan had close to 20 kills if I remember? I had a solid ziggs game, nothing special, I also farmed poorly do to Xerath being an ass early game.

Overall Bryff had the roughest games but also was laned generally against the enemy teams best players. I think it was 3 diamond I players in a row??? Karl also ganked mid and bot repeatedly in ever game. Snowballing Dan and I almost every game. So given that I think Bryff played well.

I think you might have a misconception there.  I'm generally all for doing some ranked 5's and usually enjoy playing them, but I don't personally feel any obligation to play ranked 5's anytime 5 of us are on.  Nothing wrong with making posts like these emphasizing you want to get some more ranked 5's in.  Gets it on my mind at any rate.

Still would really like to hear anyone's thoughts specifically re: having the right attitude for our games and getting folks on the same page (eg I want to try hard when we are all try harding and goof off when we are goofing off).  Nothing to do with people just having a bad game btw and I don't think this applies to ranked.

Lately I have been finding it hard to get into the have fun mode of thinking but if I want to have a "fun" game I would rather play an off role or something completely redicilous in mid lane like Urgot or Taric. I usually try to practice off roles in fun games.

I have a hard time getting into the fun metality when I am playing mid lane though. "fun" games when I play mid usually turn into How-hard-can-I-carry-these-idiots and that is not fun for me but stressful.

Just because people aren't complaining about other people nonstop doesn't mean that they aren't trying.  Sometimes the game is just lost and there is nothing to be said.

You tend to have a lot of weird proxies for whether or not people are playing hard.  People aren't playing according to the meta?  They must not be playing hard.  People aren't playing champions that match your internal champion tier list?  Not playing hard.  People aren't complaining enough?  Goofing off.  I think that you need to stop judging people on this stuff so quickly.

In the case of the game you are talking about, people weren't really goofing off.  The game was just over from a pretty early point, so nobody was crying over spilt milk.  It was over, so there was no point in raging about it.

You have to realize that you judge games entirely by how well things are going in your lane.  If things are going well for your lane, you think the game is going well for your team overall.  If things are not going well for your lane, you generally think that the game is a disaster for your team.  But while your lane might have been doing OK (hence claims of winnability), there were big problems elsewhere, including super fed hypercarries.

Yes, I like playing ranked 5s.

What Karl said.

And...

Try and be better about switching hats mid game.  None of the old crew gives up on a games easily, so if we're fucking around it's because things are looking extremely grim. If we're going to lose, then at least the loudmouth Trynd needs to die first.  If the other four people have essentially accepted our losery fate, try to get on board somehow?  Doesn't mean we're not going to all put our try hard hats back on for the next game.

I've known you for a while and I'll tell you Karl is right about your perspective on how the game is going being tied to how you are doing personally.  I've seen you give up on a game once that your team ended up winning in the end despite you getting frustrated and feeding even more from being tilted after a failed surrender vote.

Let me repeat that:  You thought your team had no chance to win.  You started playing extremely carelessly and feeding more giving your team less of a chance to win.  Your team still won.  That's not the Hypocrite Police talking, that's just your ol' pal Johnny Thunder telling you that you need to press Tab more often so you can see the other lane's CS numbers, KDAs on friendly and enemy hypercarries, etc, to better get an idea on whether the game is still winnable.

And also not everyone handles their frustration in the same way.  I don't often vent in game (but I guess I do it on your blog!), but that doesn't mean I don't get frustrated with my performance and my teammates.  I just keep it to myself.  Doesn't mean I don't want to win as much as you do!

RE: Thunder frustrated with his own performance 

I suffer from this as well. If I am playing bad (particularly 2-3 games in a row) I get really pissy, stop talking, and play even worse. I usually leave voice chat and take a break from playing competitively after the game is done. When I get on tilt from my own play is really when I stop having ANY sort of fun and I make it miserable for other people because I get short when others make mistakes. 

That's true from time to time and I get that... BUT - I don't think that was the case last night. 

I watched the game from last night.  Honestly, folks were just making really bad decisions and playing like poop.  When I get competitive, I keep trying to win.  We crush it for the 1st 10 min.  Then just seem to throw left and right.  I honestly don't even know if people decided to start fucking around, thought they were making good decisions, or what.  If you watch the replay, though, there were a lot of wtf are you doing moments. That sort of thing makes it more difficult for me to switch over to some sort of fun mode. 

Anyway, read on if you likes...

Game start - 2 immediate kills for us in the jung (adc (pacov)/mid (swan). 

we are doing great bot lane - thunder gets a kill on their adc, then goes a little crazy and gives a kill to their support hamming it up quite a bit (3:35 sec).  Top lane is pretty even at this point, swan's ahead mid with 2/1/1 vs 1/1/0, we're way ahead bot. 

8min in, karl  ganks, I get a kill.  Their yi is still not contributing anywhere and is just farming jung.  I have 56 cs to jinx 28 and I'm 2/0/1.  All other lanes still pretty much the same.  We take drag. 

9:31 we go for another kill on jinx and thunder gets it with an ignite tick.  jinx 0/3/0 37 cs vs me 2/0/2 62 cs.

pain comes to bot lane with yi's 1st gank at 10:12.  Enemy mid lane is at base - swan is at mid.  Nami ults, I walk out of it avoiding cc.  Thunder takes the wave. Enemy team in pursuit.  Yi ults and tries to nab me, I blow my my heal and flash but easily get safe distance.  Enemy team cc's thunder and he takes a pounding.  Swan moves to ult in as tf.  Thunder does a good job to get out safely using his kit.  We are safe and clear. Swan ults in at a suicidal location so we try to back his play (he dies to 3 people if we don't try to aid him - yi kills off swan using ign leaving a low hp pacov/thunder in a crappy position with 3 of them still alive. Thunders stuck in pretty deep due to trying to support swan.  yi flashes and ends up with a triple kill on the 1st time he left the jungle. 

ok - so awful play... crap happens.  11:25 - karls been camping top just a wee bit to try to help bryff kill tryn.  karl and bryff go full on ham to try to get a kill.  Tryn gets away for a moment after being ulted by karl and killing bryff.  Karl picks up trynd.  Yi kills karl when both he and swain show up killing his overextended post dive buttox (2/1 kill their favor)

Back in bot lane, I'm dbl the cs of jinx 82 to 40.  We take bot turret.  Here I do something a little stupid or just not in line with what thunder does.  He goes off to ward then then also continues his warding all the way mid.  yi/nami/jinx try to nab me while I'm finishing a full wave.  yi ults, I dodge another nami wave pretty easily, but yi has red and I have no peel, so I get offed pretty easily before i can reach a safe flashing distance.  Nami flashes to land some cc during the exchange - jinx does nothing to contribute.  Now, yi is 5/1/0. 

12:52 thunder helps lock down a kill on swain.  Karl uses his ult.  Thunder gets another kill here due to ign.  We lose top turret at 13:23 to trynd. 

14:35 we get a 2nd drag. 

15:07 swan makes a misstep and dies in a fight to nami/swain w/ karl aiding and ulting.  karl goes full on ham monster and then tries to fight nami/swain.  Thunder comes to assist, karl is already dead having killed nami though.  Now, yi shows up and kills thunder who is fighting swain by himself.  15:34 I pick off swain who hangs around mid.  At this point, trynd shows up and dives me along with yi at my tower while bryff is clearing top. 

16:14 we take mid tower.  16:22 we lose bot tower to jinx (jinx has been pretty much out of the game for a bit now).  Our team decides now is the time to go super ham attack on 0/3/3 jinx.  Karl/swan/thunder chase after her.   Bryff stays top and I chase towards the team having just come back to life.  Swan ults and flashes to hit jinx with yellow card.  jinx instantly cleanses it.  Karl ults jinx. swain comes down to support.  So now the fight is 3v3 with jinx nearly dead. Thunder ignites jinx (she has about 100 hp) and then kills her when his shield pops.  This leaves swan/karl/thunder with me still chasing up behind.  Swan stops to cs while karl/thunder continue pursuit of swain/nami... but yi is in bound. Our team has no ward out to see him coming (thunder has 4 wards up atm).  Thunder ults and now has started a 2 man tower dive vs swain/nami (yi almost there).  Swan sees this and starts moving away from csing and continues on his way... I'm still running... Yi show at 16:51 - 2 shots swan.  2 shots karl.  3 shots thunder.  I'm finally at the fight right as the 3 of them die. yi ults (again?) and tries to pursue me.  I get out, but have to blow flash to do so. 

at 18 min we are grouping near top.  trynd's a bit out of position so karl/thunder/pacov put some dmg on him forcing him to flash.  Now, swain/nami/jinx rush up to aid.  Karl ults trynd, trynd ults, nami gets a good ult off at a nice choke point were we don't have a ward placed (I miss a hit that might have killed trynd (but I had a ward and could have warded myself).  Trynd gets out, bryff comes in.  I almost get killed by swain because we still didn't drop a ward in the bush he was standing in (i finally do after I'm nearly dead) and kill swain with thunders assistance.  Jinx gets picked off again by swan or bryff.  18:42, bryff and swan decide to pursue the nami into the jungle.  Yi appears and kills swan.  Bryff is then killed by yi (assist by nami/trynd). 

21 min enemy team takes drag.  We are grouped at this point and rush down mid and to try to take 2nd tower.  Swain decides to try to stop us solo and gets wiped. A fight breaks out now 5v3 (our favor).  Thunder goes on jix again.  Karl decides to ult full hp trynd and drag him back to me (zoning me effectively..)  Not surprizingly, trynd starts to wail on me by casting ingnite, autoing, and ulting. I have to quickly cast heal to get some distance, but I get chunked down to about 300 hp.  At this point, yi appears, flashes in, and kills me. swan/thunder decided to zone out the support/crap adc.  jinx picks up a kill on thunder and yi gets a quadra kill. 

22:30 they take mid tower.  22:50 I make a bad play at mid and get cc'd to hell by swain/nami.  My team chooses to flank them (go the long way) instead of coming through direct.  My fault for getting caught. Everyone on the enemy team gets out.  Swan/thunder chase the nami.  Yi shows up and drops them both super low, but then he dies.  Jinx, however, picks up 2 more kills here.  Meanwhile, karl ults trynd under a base tower and swan manages to pick him off. 

Anyway, game goes on for another 10 minutes, but I'm done reviewing it. 

Anyway, I still don't know how to flip the switch and go to laid back me, but I need to find balance and not be all wtfbbq.

I didn't get all that far in the swan/pacov late night gaming synergy sessions.  I feel like he can be a good braum with just a tiny bit of coaching and a really good morg with a slight change to itemization. 

The main problem related to pacov/swan synergy is that I find swan to be very unpredictable and can't quite get a handle on what I think he'll do next (stuff like choosing to ward a weird time that causes me to lose some last hits or deciding not to ward during a prime invade time).

Anyway, after seeing his thresh, I think his play style fits morg perfectly w/ how I play a lane and we should try to put him on morg any time he and I are bot lane.  Other supports (outside of braum), I'm less confident with due to synergy.  We can fix that with reps if we care to, though. 

I think my morg build leans toward krepo's, but I put even more priority on zhonya's if I'm ahead and skip sightstone for as long as its practical (buying wards as needed ofc). 

http://www.probuilds.net/guide/NA/1489895812/50289084

Hey - I got bored this morning and made some clips from that game I reviewed the other night.  Updated the post.  Linky: http://forums.demigodthegame.com/454943/page/17/#3486887

 Uploading the last 2 vids now

played a ton of arams tonight.  Played 2 ranked games with bryff at the end of the night.  Both wins. Good stuff.  I'm 89 lp in gold II. Bryff's qualified for his series in gold III.