Boards›Gameplay

DoTA2 has west coast server, so much better ping post server move

Agraajag·9/4/2015, 7:27:09 AM·8 votes·1,190 views

So I've pretty much mad the switch, though admittedly DoTA2 is more complex and I can't tell if all that extra complexity actually feeds into more tactics/strategy yet.

I still don't fully get the motivation for not making west coast server though. Riot spouted some stuff about keeping community together, which I guess means they think west coast would get non-viable dominion etc. late at night, and maybe end up with diamonds in with golds for late-night ranked.

BUT. The west-coast diamonds would probably rather hazard an occasional match with golds, rather than play other diamonds at 40 ms ping disadvantage. Dominion etc. could have gone to Chicago late at night if they wanted to do the work to make it so.

I don't believe Riot would really be scared of the work required to make a hybrid solution. They have the resources and the attitude to do this kind of simple but boring work when needed. So what's the real reason?

I hate to be paranoid, but I'm tempted to speculate that they wanted to boost 2/3 of the player base and shove the others down for a while. The 2/3 will get a rating boost, get happy, play more, buy more, etc. Its somewhat like the effect the champion buff/nerf rotation has. Eventually they'll get around to doing a west coast server, rather than just leave the current situation where DoTA2 is a far more attractive option, and then west coast players can get happy and buy things.

6 Comments

ApexInTheCircle9/4/2015, 7:38:14 AM3 votes

This has been hurting me and my fellow Alaskans and Hawaiians since the migration. It's not gotten better, and it should be dealt with, because as it stands I have not stopped playing league and I have been doing much worse due to a constant 160-200 ping. And it's literally no body else's fault except Riot's. I have been told multiple times that I shouldn't play because I'm ruining other players experience, but why should I be punished for the decision of a company? Why should all of my time and money be rendered inert due to something that is literally out of my control?

if you ask me they should have given east coast their own server years ago but apparently that's not how Riot likes to handle things.

Zuil9/4/2015, 9:32:16 AM3 votes

It sucks that Riot did a cheaper option in moving the server instead of adding a secondary server, and whats worse is that they played majority rules (East Coast> Alaska / Hawaii). We out populate Dota by a bunch in NA, we should be fine with a secondary server.

Baby Ghoul9/4/2015, 8:01:29 AM2 votes

Does anyone know how big the NA player base is? Also how many players are on western and eastern NA regions?

It would be nice if someone could provide some numbers. It's really crappy of Riot to screw a large group of people who weren't given a choice. By that I mean I wouldn't have started playing this game if I knew my ping would be over 100, and a lot of my east coast friends decided not to bother because after 80 it does start to get irritating in these types of games. I never thought it was fair that many east coast players had pings over 100, but it's not like the servers started in the east and moved west. Now people who have invested so much time and money into the game are stuck in a difficult spot.

I've spent way too much time here to just pack up and move, so it's been an adjusting period. Solo laning is way different from how it used to be when I had a 52 ping. I'm one of the luckier ones. A lot of my friends in areas that were most effected by the move have hit a regular 160.

ABlueQuaker9/4/2015, 7:51:56 AM1 votes

Even if the NA playerbase was split in two, each half would still probably be as big as OCE is a whole.

That said, OCE doesn't have Dominion or Normal Draft Queues and Twisted Tree Line is only open on designated days and there's no Ranked Teams Queue for it.