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If you consider yourself a devout fan of multiplayer online battle arena (or MOBA) games such as League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, or DotA, you no doubt have a friend or two who is just too afraid of playing public games. Knowledgeable gamers certainly can’t blame these terrified souls. Beyond the basic structure of the MOBA gameplay, the one true constant is the pure unadulterated and vitriolic anger unleashed upon newbies by friend and foe alike. In a genre where screwing up and dying in a match means that the other team just got that much stronger, a sizable amount of gamers turn to practice modes against bots as their primary source of enjoyment.
Well, if Riot Games has any say in it, the A.I. opponents that were once glorified punching bags will be coming back with a vengeance in the upcoming League of Legends patch. The above video shows a brief Q&A with members of the LoL team regarding some major overhauls of the bots in the “co-op vs. A.I.” modes. A more varied bot roster as well as a more robust A.I. design leave the development team proposing a dramatically different experience for players who like beating up robots. Eager gamers will also notice the increased roster of potential cybernetic opponents they will be opposing as well.
As a longtime fan of MOBA games, I personally appreciate what Riot Games is doing here. For me, the true experience of a MOBA is the social aspect of the game — the anger, disappointment, joy, and sarcastic remarks of the genre are a selling point. No, seriously, it is. Each match in games such as HoN and DotA are made memorable by the men and women who play them. Yet a lot of the gamers I socialize with are simply too afraid to walk into the harsh, unpredictable world that is the MOBA-sphere. Having to slog through bot match after bot match with friends and colleagues can be a static and unrewarding experience for the most part. At least now there’s a chance that some clever A.I. enemy will be waiting to gank me in the middle lane.
[Source via Joystiq]
