League of Legends to get Intro Bots mode, designed to help new players

Lane-pushing games are notoriously difficult to learn.

Lane-pushing games are notoriously difficult to learn. There are basic principles, sure—kill things; don't be killed by things—but beyond that, there are a multitude of quirks, rules and abilities to learn. It's a process that can take hundreds of hours, which means, for a game's newbiest players, some form of tutorial is essential. In, Riot admit that their existing methods to teach new players aren't entirely adequate—something they hope to fix with their upcoming Intro Bots mode.

"Intro Bots is a new tier of Co-Op vs. AI, and features more than just new bot AI," writes Riot's Kacee "Iniquitee" Granke. "The mode includes a number of systems that aim to let new players learn in a more guided and forgiving setting, so they can grow wings before jumping out of the nest." I think the last bit of that last sentence was a metaphor, and not one of the things you're meant to do in the game.

Granke details how Intro Bots is designed to not take control away from the player, to feature achievable goals and to avoid "cognitive overload". Again, I'm pretty sure that's not a thing in the game.

To aid in the above, Intro Bots will remove trinkets and support items. "As important as they are to long-term success in League of Legends, vision and map control shouldn't be priority focuses for a novice," Granke writes. The mode will also feature personal quests, designed to remind players to do things that should eventually become second nature—buying items, leveling abilities, and recalling to base.

Also, it will be easier. "Previously, we've erred on the side of a steep challenge. In fact, a non-trivial number of our new players end up losing Battle Training, which is intended to be a tutorial," Granke writes. "With Intro Bots, we're aiming for a more approachable difficulty that gives all new players a manageable first experience. At the same time, we've designed many features to be dynamic based on a player's performance so the mode isn't a pushover - players quickly performing appropriate actions and behaving like an advanced player will see fewer helpful features and lightly amped-up difficulty."

The mode should "soon" be available in League's Public Beta Environment.

Thanks, PCGamesN.