User blog:CCoville/Is it worth it spending $$$ on a free-to-play game?

So I was at Target the other day and was quite surprised to see League of Legends sitting on the shelf for $20. "Twenty dolla's??" I says. That doesn't make sense... the damn game is free! So I looked in to it and checked out the in-game store and saw that you can get some champ bundles on the cheap. Cheap, that is, if you equate the IPs you would have to spend in order to get them to what it costs in Riot Points. Why bother spending money when you can essentially get all of those champs for free given enough time?

However, the more I thought about it the more the idea grew on me like a tumor. Both combo deals (Digital Collector Pack & Champion Bundle) are actually a great deal if you can get past that up front cost. I only play maybe an average of a game or two per day. Unless you are taking advantage of the "first win of the day" bonus that doesn't really amount to a ton of IP. And getting that win isn't always dependant on you either. I just went through probably one of my best personal weeks and came out of it with a record of about 2-8. This included my all time best score with Irelia (18-7-20). You just can't control all of the variables.

Both deals have champs that I am at least somewhat interested in. DCP has: Alistar, Sivir, Malphite, Nasus, Warwick, Fiddlesticks, and Janna. CB has: Gangplank, Twitch, Jax, Taric, Soraka, Blitz, Anivia, and KArthus.

The only questions is whether or not I would actually play these champs if I had them. I currently have my tank (Rammus), melee (Irelia), and Support (Heimer & Morgana). I also own Tristana if a ranged DPS is needed and I often will use Morgana if the team is lacking a mage. The only ranged DPSers and Mages that I am interested in buying to fill those voids are Caitlyn, Sivir, Karthus, Anivia and Fiddle. It might be worth shelling out the dollars to get the DCP which would most likely still leave me enough left over to get those that aren't covered.

I have my reservations with this whole idea. When I first found out Dungeons & Dragons was going f2p I eventually paid a little extra to get extra character slots and access to extras like the Drow race and the monk class, etc. I think I paid something like $20. No biggy. Except for the fact that I haven't played that game in a months. Kind of a waste. I have to expect that the same will also happen with this game. I was a huge fanatic with Battlefield Heros until League of Legends came along. I'm sure another f2p game will replace LoL as well. Maybe Firefall when it comes out.

So anyway, I'm sure I'll end up spending the money anyway. This shit always happens to me when I start to obsess about something. Sooner or later my better judgement will fail and I'll waste the money. It's not a huge deal considering I'm an adult with an income. If anything it'll just mean no scotch for me next month if I go and buy $35 worth of RP.

But man do I love my scotch....