http://www.lol-europe.com/
More info:
http://leagueoflegends.com/pages/summoners
LoL
Will check this out this week to see if it is any fun.GOA is happy to inform you that you have been selected from among thousands of players to join the 1st closed beta session of League of Legends.
League of Legends takes the core gameplay of DotA and develops it into a full game of its own, which is huge considering that DotA rose to popularity with but a single map. (Imagine if Counter-Strike had only shipped with DE_Dust.) The developers themselves are veterans of the industry, coming from Valve, Blizzard, Activision, EA, and other high-profile studios.
This is an original IP, so the folks at Riot Games can create a whole new universe that they control. This includes a vast cast of memorable characters. There's definitely a playful, comic-book art style that's being adopted for the game. Each of the characters is distinct and unique, from Annie the Dark Child, a twisted but powerful little girl who has a teddy bear that morphs to fearsome life, to Master Yi the Wuju Bladesman, a figure bedecked with about four or five swords and Splinter Cell-like headgear. The game itself is set on a world known as Valoran, where all conflict is resolved in these arena battles. It's a bit like Unreal Tournament in that respect.
Like DotA, League of Legends is a session-based, multiplayer online battle arena. Players select which characters to control in battle, and the action can ramp up to six-on-six team battles. During the battle, your characters can level up and become more powerful; the way it was described to us is that it's sort of like an MMO but without having to spend hours and days grinding. In one match you'll go from weak to powerful, so there's definitely some instant gratification.
And League of Legends will introduce some persistence, even though the game itself is session-based. Your avatar is a summoner who summons champions to battle, which lets you select different champions in each battle. At the same time, your summoner remains the same, which will let Riot Games add some persistent elements to the game. For instance, you can amass unlocks and tactical enhancements that you can use in battle, but the game will limit each player to a certain number of tactics. It's sort of like Guild Wars, where each player has a pool of hundreds of abilities and skills, but can only select 10 to bring into a battle. Or Call of Duty 4, where players can only choose a handful of perks.
There will also be emphasis on community aspects, since that's one of the strengths of DotA. Expect everything that was missing from DotA, like matchmaking services, statistics tracking, and player ladders.
I ain't leaving without your soul and I am sober this time.