Is the only way to get lower ping by moving closer to California?
Ping affects gameplay and balance.
Ping affects gameplay and balance.
its not that serious
in practical terms, yes. unless you have something giving you abnormally high ping for your area.
in impractical terms, you could lay a direct fiber optic cable from your place to a hub near Riot's servers. It takes light only 15 ms to go from NY to CA, so with a direct route you can get your ping pretty low regardless of where you are.