Worlds Ticketing System rant.

The Lasher·Aug 10, 2016·23 votes·2,392 views

This is a venting post. If you don't want to be exposed to it then you can stop reading here.

All good? Last chance!

The rant begins here:

Alright, so first and foremost I've been a fan of League for the last four years. I've enjoyed playing it, I enjoy playing with my kids, and we all enjoy going to the league events around here. Generally for about 50 bucks plus extra toys posters etc at the smaller events we get to have a fantastic time. This year, I wanted to purchase something really big for my family. I wanted to get us some excellent seats for a game we all enjoy playing together. That event was going to be the Worlds of course here in LA. I did what I was suppose to do. I logged onto the League site. Went to the AXS site it directed me to. Signed up an account, added my info, and then waited 45minutes in line to get purchase the four tickets I needed for my family. I didn't care if I had to pay more or less for the tickets. I just wanted four of them together. I waited eagerly to get the seats and then bam! My turn was here. I clicked best seats available with no split seats.. "No tickets found for your search." Wait.. what? The ticket map clearly showed tickets available. I clicked it again. "No tickets found for your search." Ok... I clicked it a third time. "No tickets found for your search." I thought, ok, maybe it's because I am not getting split tickets. Maybe I can do the split version and then just convince the people next to me to swap with us. I then agreed to the split and then... "No tickets found for your search." The map was fully loaded. Tickets were available everywhere and yet I couldn't get four for my family. I tried again. "No tickets found for your search." I tried again, more frantic this time. "No tickets found for your search."

I started to dial the number to the staples center. Surely this must be some bug; I thought. I called the staples center and opened another brower just in case they wanted internet explorer only. Busy signal. I'm now waiting in line for tickets on my IE. You made me use IE and I hate myself for it. Busy signal. I called again. I continued for an additional 20 times as the tickets evaporated in front of me. "No tickets found for your search." I tried over, and over but the same message.

What kind of system is this? One where you wait in a line, are told you'll be able to purchase tickets, and then have the whole thing just fail on you? Honestly, I'm really upset about this. It's brutal. What makes it worse is not five minutes later I looked at stub hub and you wouldn't guess what I found there!

League tickets starting at 129.99 for the 35.00 tickets I just saw a moment ago. I know this isn't 100% Leagues fault, but they chose the system it was to be sold on. So here I am left ticket-less, frustrated, and feeling like the message I should have received was "No tickets for your family. Unless you want to pay scalpers triple the price."

/end rant.

26 Comments

QSG WidyetGossAug 10, 20166 votes

I know what u mean, I had the same problem.

The map was fully loaded. Tickets were available everywhere and yet I couldn't get 3. The tickets evaporated in front of me as you u.u

I don't know why Riot choos AXS instead of ticketmaster like with the other games of the World Championship :(

I am left ticket-less and frustrated just like you.

The LasherAug 10, 20162 votes

[{quoted}](name=QSG WidyetGoss,realm=NA,application-id=9hBQwnEU,discussion-id=bRY9ElKy,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2016-08-10T18:52:18.379+0000)

I know what u mean, I had the same problem.

The map was fully loaded. Tickets were available everywhere and yet I couldn't get 3. The tickets evaporated in front of me as you u.u

I don't know why Riot choos AXS instead of ticketmaster like with the other games of the World Championship :(

I am left ticket-less and frustrated just like you.

I'm sorry to hear that others had to go through this same issue as well. Honestly it's just a huge let down for anyone left at the mercy of scalpers.

KingBeastly1Aug 10, 20165 votes

Pretty sure AXS and the Staples Center are connected or partners(or something like that) which is why the tickets were sold on that website.

The LasherAug 10, 20162 votes

{quoted}

Pretty sure AXS and the Staples Center are connected or partners(or something like that) which is why the tickets were sold on that website.

I think you're right. I went to ticketmaster and you can actually still get tickets for the NY event and the San Fran event. AXS is at fault for sure for this colossal screw up. I want to blame League but that's just more me being angry versus rational. AXS is at fault and I'm sure the scalpers are going to be rolling in their money for this one.

LeonaOTPAug 10, 20164 votes

The website has a one star review... If I had thought to look this up BEFORE getting that stupid "No tickets found for your search" message even after dropping my order to one ticket. I would much rather have camped outside the Staples Center. This isn't Riot's fault but I am still disappointed that what would have cost me $420 would now cost me $1,350.

TheKindAug 10, 20164 votes

Same exact thing happened to me. Definitely not Riot's fault, but come on, use Ticketmaster for a big event like this.

QSG WidyetGossAug 10, 20163 votes

{quoted}

Same exact thing happened to me. Definitely not Riot's fault, but come on, use Ticketmaster for a big event like this.

Ticketmaster would be better for a big event and they used it with the other tickets!!!! Don´t Know why they decided to use AXS only for the Finals Tickets :/

QSG WidyetGossAug 10, 20164 votes

I think It is Riot´s fault because Ticketmaster would be better for a big event and they used it with the other tickets!!!! Don´t Know why they decide to use AXS only for the Finals Tickets :/

DarkRitualAug 11, 20161 votes

Another commenter said that AXS is partnered with the Staples Center, which would explain it.

QSG WidyetGossAug 10, 20163 votes

I'm from other country and it is so frustraiting that I will be looking around LA insted of being in the Finals because of AXS web site problems but anyway gg ez :/

DREADN0UGHTAug 10, 20163 votes

Wow man, that reallly sucks.... sad..

Athenes LuluAug 10, 20163 votes

What happened was a bunch of bots bought them just so they can be sold on 3rd-party websites for 3x-4x the original price.

Totally acceptable by Riot.

Honestly, I'm never a fan of competitive, but when I found out that World Finals will be 30 minutes away from where I live, might as well go there also for the (hopefully) exclusive merch. But guess not.

The LasherAug 10, 20163 votes

[{quoted}](name=Cancerous Lulu,realm=NA,application-id=9hBQwnEU,discussion-id=bRY9ElKy,comment-id=0008,timestamp=2016-08-10T20:45:48.182+0000)

What happened was a bunch of bots bought them just so they can be sold on 3rd-party websites for 3x-4x the original price.

Totally acceptable by Riot.

I don't know if this is the case or not but what I can add to this is if it's allowed to go unaddressed Riot will find a TON of empty seats for their Finals here in LA. Honestly, people cannot afford to be paying 1,000's of dollars to go to an event anymore. A kid you not; there are tons of tickets on Stub Hub at this very moment selling for 1,000+ dollars. One as high as 10,000. It's just absurd.

Athenes LuluAug 10, 20163 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Lasher,realm=NA,application-id=9hBQwnEU,discussion-id=bRY9ElKy,comment-id=00080000,timestamp=2016-08-10T20:49:43.952+0000)

I don't know if this is the case or not but what I can add to this is if it's allowed to go unaddressed Riot will find a TON of empty seats for their Finals here in LA. Honestly, people cannot afford to be paying 1,000's of dollars to go to an event anymore. A kid you not; there are tons of tickets on Stub Hub at this very moment selling for 1,000+ dollars. One as high as 10,000. It's just absurd.

My point exactly.

tech2555Aug 10, 20162 votes

the highest peak of tickets that I saw on stub hub was over 600 tickets scalped... 600!!!

The LasherAug 11, 20161 votes

{quoted}

the highest peak of tickets that I saw on stub hub was over 600 tickets scalped... 600!!!

That's just insane. That's a crazy amount of tickets that will be empty come the event.

tech2555Aug 11, 20161 votes

and it's quickly increasing too. Now it's up to 800, at this rate a whole chunk of the stadium will be empty

The LasherAug 11, 20162 votes

{quoted}

and it's quickly increasing too. Now it's up to 800, at this rate a whole chunk of the stadium will be empty

Pretty brutal. The reddit said that AXS is known to be terrible and also to hoard tickets. They might do a second release closer to the event. Honestly, I'm still pretty disheartened by the whole ordeal. I'll keep looking at the tickets but I'm not going to hold on to much faith at getting them this year.

tech2555Aug 11, 20161 votes

Now it's getting higher, it's at 900 right now. It's probably going to be a a thousand by the end to the tomorrow. So if you're telling me that Riot would like to have a stadium with an obvious big gap of 1000 TRUE fans not attending and still do nothing about it, then I'll lose it. Fucking hell. If you won't think about us as the fans Riot, then think about the dam missed profit you'll not be getting from us!

The LasherAug 11, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Now it's getting higher, it's at 900 right now. It's probably going to be a a thousand by the end to the tomorrow. So if you're telling me that Riot would like to have a stadium with an obvious big gap of 1000 TRUE fans not attending and still do nothing about it, then I'll lose it. Fucking hell. If you won't think about us as the fans Riot, then think about the dam missed profit you'll not be getting from us!

I don't think profit is a concern for Riot. They make enough money off of skins, events, items, etc to not really have to worry about that. Image on the other hand is something they always need to worry about. Having a main event with noticeable empty seats would be a big deal to them imo.

LawUrDepravdHartAug 10, 20162 votes

I don't know if bots could have bought them. There was a "bot check" system where I had to identify 3 pictures of store fronts amongst 9 photos. Not sure if bots are that sophisticated yet. AXS system is poor though.

tech2555Aug 11, 20161 votes

Well not exactly... when I was up to get the tickets, there was no bot check for me. The site is literally that broken where the bot check doesn't go up when it has to at times. Yet after the site traffic has worn off the first hour, only then, did the bot check start up.

EmlnenceAug 11, 20162 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Lasher,realm=NA,application-id=9hBQwnEU,discussion-id=bRY9ElKy,comment-id=00080000,timestamp=2016-08-10T20:49:43.952+0000)

I don't know if this is the case or not but what I can add to this is if it's allowed to go unaddressed Riot will find a TON of empty seats for their Finals here in LA. Honestly, people cannot afford to be paying 1,000's of dollars to go to an event anymore. A kid you not; there are tons of tickets on Stub Hub at this very moment selling for 1,000+ dollars. One as high as 10,000. It's just absurd.

You'd be surprised...I mean that's the reason why scalpers exist to make profit off the rich/desperate. I'm still disappointed about this Riot should do something if they care about their fans.

{quoted}

I don't know if bots could have bought them. There was a "bot check" system where I had to identify 3 pictures of store fronts amongst 9 photos. Not sure if bots are that sophisticated yet. AXS system is poor though.

Someone mentioned in a comment on the esports article that there were no limit on the amount of sessions that could be opened so I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few people that abused this shitty system.

tech2555Aug 10, 20161 votes

: "#boycott worlds" guys

Only Play DariusAug 11, 20161 votes

What about the old system stopped scalping?

ChimewlanAug 11, 20161 votes

I was really looking forward to asking my parents to take me to worlds since we live about one hour away and are familiar to the LA region. Now that I'm seeing this, I'm having second thoughts