I'll start with the tl;dr, Dominion will be my main mode when it goes live permanently. Here's why:

• Dominion is all about strategy and split second decision making. This seems to put off some of the SR vets because they like to see their "skills" rewarded above all else; "skills" being apm (actions per minute), spell usage, positioning, etc. I say "skills" in quotations because many seem to think that making superior tactical decisions is not a real skill. In fact, many threads exist talking about how Dominion is all random and requires no skill. I would argue that the kinds of skills needed in Dominion are far more deep and exciting than those that these people refer to. Besides, it's not as if these types of "skills" go unrewarded. It's just not as essential.

• The action is relentless. There aren't any lulls in gameplay where I can sit back and casually lane or hug a tower and know I'm safe. Fights erupt constantly and points are always under siege. If I'm not thwarting a group push towards one point, I'm sneaking around trying to capture one of their points while they are distracted. There's nothing more exhilarating than being all alone capturing a point, knowing someone is coming for you but unsure of exactly when they will arrive and if you will have the point captured in time or not.

• Fed champions on Dominion are much less annoying than fed champions in SR. We've all played a match where someone is laning against someone else who is not nearly as good and they get destroyed. Yes, lanes can be switched and ganks can occur but it still often times leads to a fed champion. With all that extra gold and experience, it is then easier to grow more fed. What's worse is that even if a particular item would greatly mitigate this champion, by the time enough gold is stock piled to purchase it, the game can already be all but over. In Dominion, gold flows in so quickly that it is easy to adapt a build to the current situation. Also, people aren't locked in a lane. Roaming is greatly encouraged so the less-good person won't be squarely going up against the more-good person consistently.

• Even at this extremely early stage in Dominion's life, the vast amount of possible strategies for meta is staggering. Right now, it seems like breaking up and split pushing is extremely effective. But maybe nabbing 3 points and turtling them is more efficient. Maybe grouping up and trying to just plow through the points one at a time as a team is better. Or holding controlling the "jungle". Or nonstop ninja-ing points. It's all too early to tell. But the mere existence of all of these possibilities has me excited.

• On a more subjective level, the shorter length of play is a huge plus. Grad school is a miserable beast, made all the worse by being removed from my friends back home. LoL is a good way to remain engaged with them but finding a full hour of time to give up can be difficult, especially when trying to line up that hour with their schedules. My average Dominion match was right around 15 minutes long; a perfectly sized break. My case is quite specific but there must but countless others out there who are in a similar situation. 45 minutes to an hour is much more daunting than 15 to 20.

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In the end, it's too early to know exactly what Dominion will turn into. I played around 14 matches and it seemed like everyone was so drunk off excitement to finally be playing Dominion that a lot of its intricacies were lost. No one can say that champion X is op or that class Y is useless because we just haven't gotten enough experience with it yet. What I do know is that I am completely floored by how awesome it already is, how much fun I had, and how much potential it has moving forward. It was well worth the wait and I can't give Riot enough credit.

EDIT: I'm really liking the feedback I've gotten already. The more people we get talking, the more likely a Red will show up and see what we definitely like and what is disputable.

Thanks to Maeven for fixing the issue of some people not being able to read the full post.

Also, I'd like to play a bit more today. Make it happen?

First of all, well stated and articulate post, thank you. I agree with you about the so called "skill" needed for Dominion. I think the reason why people feel the way they do is because most (or all) of their competitive gaming experience is from LoL. Those of us who play other competitive games (shooters in particular) will have an easier transition.

I also agree that fed champions are less of a problem. We are all pretty much fed in Dominion lol.

The last point you made that I 100% agree with is the length of the games. This in my opinion is the best part of Dominion. Sometimes I just want a nice short, fast paced game instead of an hour long struggle (even if those are a lot of fun ).

Now, with that said, I dont share your enthusiasm for the "the vast amount of possible strategies for meta is staggering." section. In a capture the point game play style there are really only a few strats that work well. In my opinion, Dominion, like other capture the point games, relies too heavily on teamwork. Unfortunately there is very little teamwork in the LoL community. People care about individual stats and Elo, not working together to win.

Lastly, I dont agree with your statement about OP or UP champions. I feel we can easily know who is and who is not OP. It is pretty much the same champions that are OP in the other modes lol. For example; Nocturne is the best AD melee in Summoner's Rift and nothing changes that for Dominion.

But Dominion IS fun and a great addition to the game. I also look forward to having it as a permanent option.

EDITED for typing errors and missing sentence.

the words in OP paragraph went off my screen !

The only problem with Dominion seems to come from casters who take more time than bursty champions to kill another champion. Dominion definitely requires some mobility, and some of these casters down right suck in this play-style.

That note aside, I was very excited with my first day in Dominion on Thursday, and kind of hoped that Riot would just keep it on live and say "SURPRISE!!". Maybe today =)

I like Dominion because you'll rarely ever encounter a 4 or 5 man gank out of no where. The battles are on a much smaller scale, like mini duels and skirmishes happening throughout the match.

It's not all about grouping up into a mob and just facerolling through the map. Winning requires you to divide and conquer.

I've played a couple games with it. Its so drastically different from normal mode that it doesn't even feel like the same game anymore. Its like the characters were just slapped into a different game altogether.

Anyway first point: This mode doesn't require any planning at all. Basically, it seems like if you pick stronger champions with good escapes, you can just roll around the map back-capping everything with zero consequences. There is no action-reaction like in a normal game. Its Arathi Basin but with only 10 people.

Second point: Cant argue that, there's fighting from the word go, and I cant fault it for doing what was promised in that mode. However I simply prefer the buildup of normal, it feels more satisfying to pull things off to me.

Third: No. Fed champs are still a force to be reckoned with, and if they weren't that would NOT be a point in its favor.

Fourth: Its the last one. Its going to be the last one until they tweak the towers to either shoot the champ as they're capturing or increase the time it takes significantly. Right now there is no reason to push as a team, there's no reason to turtle, and you cant hold the 'jungle' because the buffs are instant, and there is no where to fall back to if you get in trouble.

Fifth: I do think the shorter game will be nice when I don't have a bunch of time to spare like before work and such, however I still find the longer games more fun. They are each a unique experience that leave a lasting impression the longer they are.

Dominion is interesting, but I don't think it lives up to the hype.

It may be too early to really know for sure, but I'm convinced a majority of AP casters are worthless on Dominion. There's not really any good itemization for AP casters on Dominion from what I've seen. Not enough spellpen items.

Dominion is a cool new addition to the LoL game for sure BUT Riot will have their work cut out for them trying to balance heroes for the original Map and now Dominion.

Thanks for the feedback Hippiekiller, I appreciate it.

I unfortunately have to agree with your sentiment about the LoL community. But as I said, I like to play with my friends so we have a bit more unity than a solo queue. I do hope that maybe teamwork becomes a bit more of an emphasis in Dominion but I see where you're coming from.

With regard to the OP and UP, I'm still not sold on it yet. Everyone was talking about how OP tanky dps was going to be and in my experience, it was the weaker heavy hitters that performed better. But even with 14 or so games, that still isn't much of a basis. I'm sure Riot has spent a lot of time playing with balance, hence the global buff that evens out AD and AP. I do think that Riot will need to change their stance with this though, as some character most likely will be OP or UP and will need champion specific buffs to make them valid, not just a generalized "this much armor pen and this much magic pen" to even them all out.

As for your specific example, Nocturne is definitely quite strong but in SR, he primarily played jungle (at least at the level I played at which admittedly wasn't that high.) This is what made him such a solid choice, he freed up another solo lane and he does tremendous damage while having amazing ganking capabilities. Now there is no jungle so his role is a little different. All I'm trying to say is that Dominion is such a different experience that it's nearly impossible to predict who will be good. I thought for sure that champions like Morde or Nasus who rely on hitting/killing creep to buff up would be garbage in Dominion and yet I played against one of each that completely devastated my team.