Interview: Riot Games’ Steve Mescon AKA Pendragon, League of Legends

Independent game company Riot Games is currently developing League of Legends, a highly anticipated title — especially among those in the DotA community.

Currently in a beta phase, many gamers have been holding their breath in anticipation for any news relating to this exciting project.

Thankfully for those of you that are turning blue from a lack of oxygen, Steve Mescon, the community manager at Riot Games, took some time with GotGame to talk about the company’s title. Mescon is also the creator of Dota-Allstars.com and is known by many as Pendragon.

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Riot Games was started in September of 2006 by Marc Merrill and Brandon Beck. League of Legends was really the result of a lot of hours spent by them playing DotA, and a desire to address some of the limitations that DotA has as a side effect of being a mod of another game.

DotA offers an interesting mix of RTS and RPG game play that differs vastly from the RTS oriented Warcraft 3. With that said, how would you describe LoL’s gameplay?

It’s a fast-paced multiplayer PVP experience set in a rich and compelling fantasy world, with a third person isometric camera that would be familiar to anyone who has played an RTS game.

What is the story behind LoL?

League of Legends is set in the world of Valoran, and has a story that we feel is really unique. While we’re not ready to spoil it yet, you won’t be disappointed.

What can we expect in the game? What characters or factions will players be able to choose from?

The way it works is you get to choose a character at the beginning of each game session to play for the duration of the session. There will be dozens of different characters or “Champions” at launch that you can choose from - each one with a unique set of mechanics. You can choose to play anything from a fast-moving melee character who can deal lots of damage but can’t take a whole lot, (like Master Yi); a little girl who can throw a teddy bear on the ground that bursts into flames and turns into a minion who fights on her behalf, (Annie); a Minotaur that can take lots of hits and can stun or headbutt you 20 yards away; or one of many others.

How long will each session generally be?

We’re aiming for a session length of around 30 minutes

How will players be able to build up their characters?

Well, there are two ways for players to advance. First, you can advance within an individual session by killing minions, leveling up, gaining resources, buying items, and so on. There’s also a persistent element to the game called the “Summoner” where you can make progress outside of the individual session and unlock some customization options.

We’re not quite ready to reveal a whole of information about the summoner system right now, but we’re really excited about it and definitely look forward to revealing information when the time comes.

What are the basic objectives behind each match, and will there be a variety of playing modes players can choose from?

The objective of a session will vary depending on the map you’re playing. The maps that we have right now in our closed beta are “destroy the enemy base” scenarios - similar to DotA.

Are there or will there be any different map scenarios in the future?

It’s definitely a possibility that’s on the table.

You mentioned earlier that LoL’s goal was to build a game like DotA that was not limited by the WC3 engine. Exactly what restrictions are we talking about and how does LoL seek to address these issues?

The WC3 engine is part of it, but it’s also the platform. DotA suffers from a lack of robust multiplayer services such as centralized accounts and account management, no stat tracking, no matchmaking and so on. Once you’re actually in the game you don’t have easy customization of controls, and you have to use a HUD that was built for a different game.

I tend to say that the only new DotA players are people who have friends that play DotA, since pretty much the only way to get into it is to have someone to “show you the ropes.”

I talked to two competitive DotA players not too long ago and one of them felt the same way you did. What will draw both competitive and “casual” players to LoL? Basically the person I interviewed stated DotA was not “noob” friendly.

What we’re doing with League of Legends is taking the most fun elements of the moment-to-moment DotA gameplay experience and making them a bit accessible while still maintaining the level of depth required for competitive play.

Some of this is addressed by tuning mechanics, and some of it is addressed by appropriate education. We’re paying lots of attention to the “new user experience” which includes things like guided tutorials, a simple installation process, and so on.

You of all people probably understand the importance DotA’s community has had on the game’s success. The strong and centralized community has helped spawn countless DotA leagues, its inclusion into some well known gaming tournaments, and the game is regularly updated with new heroes and bug fixes. Will LoL have a system that will support community growth, which also includes its inclusion into the competitive scene?

I am of course intimately familiar with DotA’s centralized community. Community is a huge focus for League of Legends. We’re hoping to surpass not only the level of community support that DotA has, but really set a precedent in the game industry for community involvement.

We’re even building the Suggestion Engine ™ which is a custom-built web 2.0 tool that will allow players to suggest changes and new features for League of Legends. We’re also paying a lot of attention to the competitive space and the competitive players that you mentioned.

We’re planning some pretty big things that we hope to announce in the not-too-distant to show our level of commitment to what I consider to be one of the most passionate groups of people out there.

What will players familiar with DotA immediately recognize in LoL, and what will be different?

I think that DotA players will adapt to League of Legends very quickly. There are definitely some differences that experienced players will encounter quickly, but since we’re still in beta and it’s all subject to change - I won’t call out anything specific just yet!

On a more personal note, will your involvement in LoL affect the Dota-Allstars.com in any shape or form in the future?

I’m committed to building an amazing website and community for the DotA players around the world and my involvement with Riot Games and League of Legends doesn’t change that.

We’re in the middle of a complete website revamp that’s been in the works for a long time, we just released an extremely useful patcher for DotA, and we just rebuilt our entire hardware infrastructure. I hope to bring some incredible new stuff to the DotA community over the next year.

Is there any extra information you feel the public should know? A release date perhaps?

I could talk forever, how much time do you have!? I think that the public should know that we’re gamers building games. We have a company full of people who have played games their entire lives, and understand where gamers are coming from. We’re really passionate about what we’re doing, and we’re working around the clock to deliver what we’re hoping will be an unparalleled experience to our players.

We’re not ready to announce our release date, but as soon as we are - I’m sure everyone will hear about it!

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As a DotA fan myself, I can’t wait for the full and complete product, and I’m sure many of you readers can’t as well.