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It's shorter, and more intense. Lane bullies and early game skirmishing champions feel even more brutal to play against if they get ahead, but they have less overall time to do their thing. You'd think scaling champions would dominate, but because said early game champs have their items faster, they can end the game faster. Letting a scale champ get to that point still feels "deserved", like in actual SR.
Games are shorter, on average. It feels like it gets exponentially faster; the first 7 or so minutes feel like a slightly faster laning phase, but as people accelerate their gold leads with the 1st or 2nd recall, it really begins to pick up fast. Minutes 10 to 15 feels really fast in a good way, probably equating minutes 15-20 in the "real" mode.
Minute 20 feels like the "late stage" of mid game, as opposed to around 25 with the real game. Atakahn spawning and demanding a fight (which, by the way, that fight is SUPER fun) feels really appropriate here, and surprisingly the guy is super tanky. It can take up to minute or more to kill him, and there's a lot of opportunity to turn the fight around back and forth.
By the time 25 minutes rolls around, it REALLY feels like the beginning/middle of late game. Depending on the game, 25 minutes feels like it can equate around 30 minutes of "real" SR, but if everyone is farming well, it can equate to around 35 minutes. And honestly, the game ending fights usually happens around this time, at least in my experience.
I have yet to play a game that went to 30 minutes.
Most importantly, though... it FEELS like League of Legends. I've personally wanted ARAM times with SR for a while, and I genuinely feel like this accomplishes it. At no point did I think, "man, this feels weirdly fast". It feels like Summoner's Rift, but faster, in a way that's super healthy, but still leaves room for the "real" SR experience to shine through.
Many champions will have to be tuned for it, no doubt, but overall, it's a genuine and authentic League of Legends experience. I think I still prefer normal SR - I think draft is a part of the game, mirror matchups feel weird, and the longer game time feels more dynamic to me, at least right now.
So, I think Swiftplay is perfect for you if:
- You want to play more League games with a limited schedule.
- Want to get more practice games in with a specific champion.
- Want shorter games overall.
- Don't mind having LESS TIME to be a MORE INTENSE lane bully/early champ.
- Don't want to wait for your scaling champ to come online at 30+ minutes.
- Don't care about banning champions.
- Are new/new-ish, so you can "get" the flow of League faster.
Swiftplay might not be for you if:
- Want the longer, drawn out, more dynamic games of Normal Draft / Ranked.
- Like champion draft, and think it's an important part of the game.
- Hate specific champions and want to ban them.
- Like climbing ranked.
- Don't like mirror matchups.
- Don't want to play a priority role.
How about you guys? How has swiftplay been for you?
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