Summoners, how has the new honor system impacted your League of Legends experience, if at all? Has it helped you or others you know become a better person on the Fields of Justice? To what extent has it changed your interactions with other players during a match?These are the first few questions that come to my mind when I wonder what changes the new honor system might have had on players. I personally feel that the honor implementation caused a slight improvement in the player base. In the beginning, it felt like there was more positive improvement in behavior, but has since returned to normal or stayed slightly improved. It’s almost as if everybody has a new shiny toy and behaves until the brand new scent has dissipated and your left with what’s tossed to the side as a player’s attention moves on.
Have you found yourself or others simply attempting to accrue massive amounts of honor? Even if it’s not what they would normally do? I’m sure there is honor trading going on, but those that are misbehaving normally likely won’t be able to pretend for very long that they’ve turned a leaf and try harder. There’s got to be a few individuals out there that have honestly tried harder to communicate and keep their cool during a match though.Speaking of honor trading, have you heard of anybody getting a warning for supposedly honor trading? A friend of mine, who I know isn’t the type to blatantly honor trade, actually received a warning from Riot that he should be more careful with his actions in honor rewards. It’s funny though because he claims he doesn’t really even give out honor very often, so he assumes it was reported by another player. I was under the impression that Riot would only look into cases of honor trading based on statistics in honor granted and received. I hope that if a player reported suspicious honor trading activity that Riot would look into it before sending out a warning.
What drives you to give out honor points to other players? For me, it seems easier to award teammates due to the fact that I have more interaction with them throughout the game. This includes how they act in both chat and during important moments of gameplay. Furthermore it is easier to keep track of how your laning partner behaves, then the jungler, but I normally hit a roadblock when it comes to paying attention to other lanes. It’s all rather difficult to keep track of everybody on your team at all times while still performing well yourself.For example, if I notice that my laning partner has absolutely no grasp on the concept of last hitting and lane control, I know they don’t deserve any honor. They just aren’t putting forth any effort. There are times though when a laning partner will really come through for you when you need it and do the right thing, such as engage fully on the enemy or back off when it’s too dangerous.
Warding is also a key part in determining a player’s participation. I know most people believe it’s only the job of the jungler or support to put out wards but it’s not always viable. When I have the extra money and slot, I will also pick up a ward or two to help out.Junglers are a bit harder to keep track of, as they have to cover the entire map. They sometimes need to babysit other lanes more often than anything else and that can lead other lanes to believe they aren’t doing diddly squat. It’s not a simple task to be a jungler in the first place. You must not only support lanes that are in dire need of assistance but you must also keep up in experience and keep track of jungle objectives. I have gone through many games where the jungler can make or break the match. Sometimes it’s their fault for simply not paying attention to what it going on globally and other times it’s simply because they are getting counter jungled and ganked constantly. Of course, there’s still yet that one jungler who ignores everything and just camps the jungle minions, shows up into your lane to steal some creeps and then disappears again only to never bring anything to the table.
Team composition can mean a lot when it comes down to the bottom line of winning or losing. If your lane is matched up with enemies that are naturally counters to your champions, well then you’d better hope you have an amazing jungler who can turn the tides.As you can see there are many factors, just within your own team, that determines how you expend honor points at the end of the game. Even more important in your choice isn’t just whether you win or lose, but how your team handles strife. There’s been many times where I’ve been on a team that got completely demolished but all the players stayed positive through the entire endeavor. That in my opinion deserves some honor points. Deciding to report a person or honor them can simply come down to how they both perform and their attitude.
When it comes to deciding if you should honor an enemy teammate, it requires a great amount of scrutiny because you don’t know how they are acting in their team’s chat or how they are responding to their teammate’s needs throughout the game. I will only give out honor to enemies who react positively in all chat be it that they are losing or winning. I really don’t stand for people who get high and mighty over destroying my team and then bragging about it in chat. If they did well enough in battle then they should be humble and accept compliments instead of demand acknowledgment to their ego.Every match is different for me when it comes to the end of game scoreboard. Sometimes I end up giving honor to everybody for bringing forth an overall positive and fun match. Other times I find myself ignoring and reporting most, if not all, of the players I was queued with.
In relation to the honor system, what do you guys think of the banners you can get on the corner of your summoner’s card during loading screen and champion select? I personally think they look tacky and they don’t generally represent the truth to a person’s behavior overall.Not in relation to the topic, but I figured I’d bring this up. Any thoughts on the loading screen tips? I feel they really need a lot more variety and more that are useful, not just quirky statements.