League of Legends getting new mode 'Dominion'

A new capture-and-hold mode is coming "soon" to the fine free-to-play game. Named Dominion, it takes place on a new map.

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A new form of competition is coming to League of Legends: a capture-and-hold mode named "Dominion," developer Riot Games announced today. Taking place on a new map, Dominion aims to deliver short, action-packed games.

Riot calls Dominion "a rapid-fire alternative to the more strategic, measured pace of Summoner's Rift," with rounds clocking in at around twenty minutes. It also notes that "late-game comebacks are possible and the outcome is always in question," which is always rousing.

Dominion players will do battle in the Crystal Scar, ostensibly a "war-torn mining village." The Scar also just so happens to be home to five highly-prized "strategic targets," which both teams want to capture, defend, and hold.

As for when Dominion will launch, "soon" is as specific as Riot will be. However, if you're a LoLomaniac headed to Gamescom or PAX Prime later this month, Dominion will be playable at both these events.

Riot recently boasted that its fine free-to-play game has an average of 1.4 million players daily. Fellow DotA-inspired game Heroes of Newerth recently switched to a free-to-play model too, no doubt partially inspired by LoL's success.

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  • reply
    August 4, 2011 7:00 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, League of Legends getting new mode 'Dominion'.

    A new capture-and-hold mode is coming "soon" to the fine free-to-play game. Named Dominion, it takes place on a new map.

    • reply
      August 4, 2011 7:06 AM

      I'm excited for this. Should be pretty fun. I'll be nice to have the option of shorter games too.

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      August 4, 2011 7:08 AM

      Dominion is pretty addictive, people keep trying to start up games all the time at work lately. I think you guys will love it.

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        August 4, 2011 7:10 AM

        I'm looking forward to it for sure!

        Makes me sad when people complain on the forums. So many people with no patience and no appreciation for the amount of time and effort something like this takes. :-/

        • reply
          August 4, 2011 7:28 AM

          I feel like official forums for any game is 98% complainers and will complain about anything/everything.

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          August 4, 2011 7:31 AM

          I'm definitely looking forward to it as well but in defense of the forumtards, Riot really fucked up by getting everyone hyped up for a release of something this week only to make this announcement. You don't publicly state shit like "Not Soon. This week." when folks are ribbing you about your failure to deliver in a timely manner on other promised content only to then then just promise more content and provide no actual content. I have to wonder wtf they were thinking. Had they just announced this without all the hype the reception would have been 1000x times better.

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            August 4, 2011 7:39 AM

            ^ This. Riot is terrible at announcing anything. There's a huge list of features they've announced going back more than a year that haven't been delivered yet.

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            August 4, 2011 7:39 AM

            I agree 100%. This exact release with no hype would've gone over fantastically.

      • reply
        August 4, 2011 8:39 AM

        Your work is greatly appreciated. Now one day we just need to actually PLAY together :)

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          August 4, 2011 8:58 AM

          Soon as I get to 30 and feel more confident -- although I should just team up with some of the newer people. For some reason I don't mind going with randoms but I'm afraid of embarassing myself in front of shackers.

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            August 4, 2011 9:04 AM

            lol

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            August 4, 2011 9:24 AM

            Don't be. I had many shackers carry me to victory prior to hitting 30 (thanks grandmasterlee and almond) and I feel like it made me better facing the more skilled opponents their ELO brought to the table. I did feel like I was holding them back the whole time but it was valuable experience and they didn't mind as long as I listened.

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            August 5, 2011 3:37 AM

            It's because all randoms adhere to the rule that All Randoms Must Be Absolute Shit. That way you don't feel badly when you suck, especially if you're the random. Then you're just following the rules.

    • reply
      August 4, 2011 7:12 AM

      Nerf Warehouse/Conspirator!!!

      • reply
        August 4, 2011 7:19 AM

        Oh, different Dominion.

      • reply
        August 4, 2011 7:36 AM

        more like nerf Torturer! >:(

        • reply
          August 4, 2011 7:39 AM

          Torturer is fine, l2p.

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            August 4, 2011 8:59 AM

            well hey guys what's going on here why aren't we on isotropic or jeux or smth

      • reply
        August 4, 2011 7:37 AM

        Moneycrat, Village, Village, Moneycrat, Moat, Copper

      • reply
        August 4, 2011 9:06 AM

        Possession with other attack cards enrages me.

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          August 4, 2011 9:07 AM

          especially when Black Market is used to get Possession and said attack cards.

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      August 4, 2011 7:30 AM

      Riot + "soon" = 2013

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      August 4, 2011 7:31 AM

      They can do some kind of team survival game. I think would be awesome.

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      August 4, 2011 7:47 AM

      That sounds really fun :D

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        August 4, 2011 8:41 AM

        Dude, are you playing this? Because I am!

        • reply
          August 4, 2011 12:21 PM

          Not recently, although I keep thinking about. Run it in steam so I can see you play it because if I see someone else playing then I will jump in!

    • reply
      August 4, 2011 9:00 AM

      This has restored my interest in LoL. I've been waiting for one of these dota wannabes to actually do something different and here it is. High five Riot.

    • reply
      August 4, 2011 9:03 AM

      Have there been many details released about the actual gameplay? I didn't see much in the article.

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      August 4, 2011 9:28 AM

      So that's why (in part) they hired that high-falootin game designer

    • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      August 4, 2011 9:33 AM

      I really hope this works out better than Twisted Treeline did(i.e. is popular). I love the idea of new game modes in theory, but in DotA & Friends the balance is so delicate with so many champions that it's really hard to mix up the objectives. That and there's so much depth to the existing gameplay mechanics that people don't really want to give up their familiarity with the map.

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        August 5, 2011 3:39 AM

        Balance is the problem with TT. I'd actually play it if I didn't always come up against heroes that trend towards the OP in 3v3.

    • reply
      August 4, 2011 11:34 AM

      The announcement on our forums has been updated with info on when Dominion will be playable:

      http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=1054649

      Update: Some of you have expressed interest in when Dominion will be available worldwide, and we wanted to respond to that directly. While we take a “when it’s ready” approach to our feature releases, you will be able to play Dominion in a nearly complete state at GamesCom (August 17-21) in Europe and at PAX Prime (August 26-28) in North America.

      League of Legends: Dominion will make it into your daily play schedule shortly after PAX.

      Keep an eye out on our website over the month of August for more information, video documentaries, trailers, live streams and gameplay previews.

      • reply
        August 4, 2011 12:04 PM

        So "Not Soon. This week." really means at least another month. Awesome.

        Sorry for harping on this but I'm really enjoying LoL and let the hypemachine get my hopes up.

        • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
          reply
          August 4, 2011 12:13 PM

          Hey man they said "Not soon", what did you expect?

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      August 4, 2011 11:46 AM

      i am so fucking excited for this.

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      August 4, 2011 12:31 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      August 5, 2011 3:40 AM

      You may think we forgot, but Magma Chamber lives on in our hearts.

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