   Recently I went back to watch the vod of Fnatic vs Koo tigers game 1 in the semi finals and I realized that in comparison to dota 2’s replay system Leagues is sorely lacking. Considering the fact that the professional scene for both games relay on their massive audiences to gain financial interests in the game it is very disappointing that Riot has such a good spectator client but no replay system or in game spectator client for LCS games.   Â
   While watching the Fnatic vs Koo game the camera hardly stayed on any player for more then a few moments, constantly switching between players and teams making sure to catch any action going on the map. However, the fact that the spectators only see what the camera man sees, and the camera man tries to give people a little of everything it results in a lack of focus outside of team fights. For example, by ten mins into game 1 Febiven had almost a 30 cs lead over Kuro, however for someone watching how he was able to dominate lane to such a degree is a mystery. For players trying to learn or want to study laning from professional games it is very hard to do since it is so rare for the camera to stay on a player or even a lane long enough. Outside of professional games there are also flaws with the Riot spectator system in general. There is no replay system, there is no tournament footage and it’s impossible to see high level solo q games outside of the feature list and that’s region locked. Going on Dota 2 or Counter Strike client its very easy to find what major events are coming up, download replays from previous tournaments, see the highest level of in game solo q based on dota’s match making ranking system and watch the recent games played by you or your friends.
     To help put why this is so frustrating into perspective consider this; Riot was one of the first companies to start heavily investing into the competitive e-sports aspect of their game and has now created regularly scheduled leagues that span multiple regions across multiple continents. The fact that there is so much money put into the production quality of the game but no watch to actually watch professional games from the game is very annoying to study individual players outside of map movement and team fights. Now this could be due to the fact the LCS games are not played on the regular client and instead played on a special LAN tournament client. However, with the new servers across North America and Europe that has greatly reduced the ping and now with the tournament option in custom games the question now becomes why does Riot not implement the tournament client features into the tournament mode of custom game.To me personally the reason that this is so infuriating is because I know there are third party viewing software that lets you record games and view pros from other regions games. What really annoys me is that the question is never can this be done it’s why is Riot not doing it. I think Riot has a decent spectator system but I question why it’s there because it’s so mediocre compared to what third parties sites can offer. Riot always goes on about how e-sports is growing into a legitimate sports and how they are at the forefront of it but how does a company boast that they set the example that others follow when their last in adding a basic feature.
     In conclusion I am unsatisfied with the League of Legends spectator system for professional games because there is no way to see it in game, and the spectator client in game is very limited. However what ruffles my feathers the most is that while Riot has no replay system in game but there are so many third party software that exist that does their job for them.
