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Stability upgrade and planned migration for NA servers

Natural2020··148 votes·202,788 views

Hi NA players!

I’m Riot Natural20, a Senior Release Manager at Riot Games, and I’m a part of the team that’s rebuilding League’s server infrastructure and migrating players to this new environment. Earlier this year, our team performed the EUW migration to the Amsterdam datacenter, and now we’re ready to tackle NA. While this is a slightly different type of migration, we’re taking learnings from Amsterdam to deliver on the core advantages of the EUW migration: more stable connectivity, minimized downtimes, and improved service.

So, why are we doing this? Over the evolution of League’s growth, we’ve renovated the existing environment quite a bit. To accommodate this expansion, improve security, and upgrade our hardware and software, we’re starting from a blank slate and building everything from the ground up. This means an all-new, state of the art network and server infrastructure for NA!

Our number one goal with this migration is increasing server stability: allowing you to play the game whenever you want and with minimal service interruption. This new environment will also give us more tools to prevent malicious attacks, which means even more stability.

This migration is just one part of our commitment to get you the service you deserve, starting with increased stability. Latency is definitely on our radar, though ping isn’t what we should address right now. Instead, we’re tackling stability first because ping is sort of a moot point without a stable game foundation—low ping doesn’t really help if you’re experiencing disconnects or can’t even log in.

We’re in the last phases of our build out and migration testing period, so we’re tentatively scheduling the migration for early November. We’ll post another announcement on Boards about two weeks before migration day, and we’ll make a final announcement the day before migration.

As a heads up, during the migration, you won’t be able to log into the client or play League for about 12 hours. Don’t worry—we’re planning maintenance for the middle of the night, like we do for patch releases, so we’ll minimize the impact of our downtime. For NA, game time is typically at its lowest between 2:00-3:00am PST, which means we’d start migrating around 12:01am PST. We’ll give you a more specific date and time in our final announcement.

I’m sure you guys have a ton of questions. Fire away and I’ll do my best. I can answer most stuff, though I can’t divulge certain tech details and specs because that could jeopardize the stability we’re aiming for with this new environment.

—Riot Natural20

547 Comments

Adrith235 votes

Wow the title was a massive bait for east coasters. "Server migration" oh we actually just mean we're moving them a few miles down the street to a newer better data center while we fail to address the ping discrepancy that east coasters have been complaining about for literally years. How can a game of League's size and influence not have a fair and functioning server infrastructure for North America? Frankly, I think Riot should be embarrassed at this point. I understand that when League was a fledgling game with a start up company behind the reigns, keeping the servers local was the best solution.

However, League has been huge for several years at this point, and I firmly believe ping should be a top priority for such a heavily competitive and reactionary oriented game. The fact that this Riot employee seems to be oblivious to the progress of any real server migration illustrates how Riot values this issue. You'd be hard pressed to find a MOBA or even MMO for that matter that doesn't have an east coast server farm. If fracturing the player base is a concern then move the servers to a central location, or find another solution. Riot has addressed server issues abroad and expanded the game to new regions of the world all while ignoring the glaring issue in their native land.

For those of you who don't believe that 100 v. 30 ping makes any difference I encourage you to log into a different region and give it a try. Those of us on the east coast already know that Latin America North provides a vastly superior experience than NA at this point. It boggles my mind that this issue has gone unresolved and even unaddressed for so long. The last update we had was well over half a year ago, and I think many of us held out hope that the end of S4 would bring a resolution. While that's still a possibility, this post just seems to underline Riot's ignorance or unwillingness to fix this issue.

jfox155 votes

tl:dr - servers staying on west coast. nothing fixed.

BrokenKatt112 votes

RIP my ping forever at 110

LiftsLikeGaston89 votes

Why are all the servers still going to be on the West Coast? What do you have against East Coast players? Is there a reason I HAVE to play this game with a disadvantage?

12fingerJIM38 votes

Why are all the servers still going to be on the West Coast? What do you have against East Coast players? Is there a reason I HAVE to play this game with a disadvantage?

Ya the servers should be in the midwest so I can get that sweet sub 40 ping and the ping is better distributed...

Amui86 votes

How will this impact east coast players? improved ping?

Natural2020142 votes

How will this impact east coast players? improved ping?

No, there are no changes to ping in this update, as the game servers will still be on the West Coast. We have people looking at the ping issue as well, though I do not know the status of that project.

Amui65 votes

Is there any way you could find out the status of that project and at least give us some hint or hope? I've been playing League since open beta, spent hundreds of dollars on RP and I just want to get to play the same game as everyone else.

Natural2020107 votes

Is there any way you could find out the status of that project and at least give us some hint or hope? I've been playing League since open beta, spent hundreds of dollars on RP and I just want to get to play the same game as everyone else.

I'll ask and see if we can give you an update!

LE ROI CE MOE143 votes

This is the only thing that 90% of the ppl coming to this thread want to know, we're tired of asking for update, we've been fed this exact response for over 3 years, don't come back w/o and update, don't tease with ''server migration'' to give us fking bullshit.

I dont think you're realising how much ur enraging the community with a thread named this way with STILL NO ADVANCEMENT ON THE OVER3YEARS OLD EAST COAST PROJECT.

SERIOUSLY.

Natural202096 votes

Is there any way you could find out the status of that project and at least give us some hint or hope? I've been playing League since open beta, spent hundreds of dollars on RP and I just want to get to play the same game as everyone else.

I'll ask and see if we can give you an update!

Chatted with the guy heading up the ping project and he wants to share some info. He is in training all day today, so we will work on getting some info up asap, hopefully tomorrow.

CommandShockwave7 votes

[deleted]

Hrud104 votes

To me, going from 20 to 42/52 ping (32 isn't as noticeable) is like east-coasters going from 60 to 120 ping.

Implying East Coasters ever reach 60 ping. I'm happy if I can reach 90.

Oh god beeeees82 votes

Replays? Replays replays replays replays replays. Replays replays replays replays, replays replays, replays replays replays.

Replays:

  1. Replays
  2. Replays
  3. Replays, replays
  4. Replays

Replays, replays replays replays replays. Replays replays replays replays replays, replays, replays replays replays. Replays replays?

Replays, Replays Replays

DollaMenunaire75 votes

So, basically this update does nothing for me as an East Coaster

Neat

Penguin Eclipse66 votes

Why do you treat us like we are retarded Riot? Reducing ping isn't something you can just address at a later time when you locate all your servers on one side of the country.

Stop trivializing your customers concerns and pretending like this is going to make everything okay. This is not going to make everything okay. Having players with pings of over 100 while others have a ping in the 20's is not okay and it is not going to be fixed until you move your servers away from the West Coast.

You told us the ping situation would greatly improve this year for sure. It has gotten worse for most people with no signs of improving.

Play Grat63 votes

If the east coast was ever planned on being fixed, it would be now. If you're an east coast player consider this post a middle finger from Riot.

Aaron Rodgers56 votes

So you aren't fixing the problem that at least half of the NA server want fixed? What happened to moving the servers to Chicago? This is really disheartening for me. I have already recently started playing a lot less league and finding other games to play. This may be the final nail in the coffin.

Gahlo55 votes

Thank you, Riot, for making us wait around for half a year to tell us "Hey, we're gonna work on it now." and if I'm understanding the red posts the correct way, not actually fixing east coast issues. Congratulations. You've managed to make it so my own native server ranks 3rd in available server ping. I get better ping to the LAN server in Florida, I get better ping across the god damn ocean to EUW. Meanwhile the ping to NA just keeps getting worse and worse since I started playing in S1.

I'm not buying any more RP until you get your shit together, you don't deserve my money.

Fuck you.

Kat Head34 votes

Thank you, Riot, for making us wait around for half a year to tell us "Hey, we're gonna work on it now." and if I'm understanding the red posts the correct way, not actually fixing east coast issues. Congratulations. You've managed to make it so my own native server ranks 3rd in available server ping. I get better ping to the LAN server in Florida, I get better ping across the god damn ocean to EUW. Meanwhile the ping to NA just keeps getting worse and worse since I started playing in S1.

I'm not buying any more RP until you get your shit together, you don't deserve my money.

Fuck you.

Extremely well said !

Steel Inquisitor48 votes

So I'm still going to play with 110-120 ping.......k then. Sigh. Guess I'll never have great ping.

Loken Stoneheart48 votes

The average (median) reaction time is 215~ milliseconds.

Ping = response time in milliseconds.

120 ping = more than half of the human reaction time.

East Coast ping makes it take roughly 55% more time to react to incoming information.

55%. Let that sink in, to everyone who says it makes no difference.

Giotto47 votes

I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to know this. Where will the new severs be located?

Natural202091 votes

All the servers will still be on the West Coast.

Healin158 votes

All the servers will still be on the West Coast.

Welp, so much for fixing any of the East Coast problems.

Here's hoping things are corrected before 2020.

Play Grat68 votes

Yeah this was all I cared about. The servers have been stable enough for my liking. I just play other games due to my inability to compete with west coast players.

SexyTeemoSupport43 votes

"server migration".... way to bait people... :( #RIPEastCost

Borigrad36 votes

If the servers are still on the west coast, what will be the estimated ping for East Coast players. Will i still average 90-130 on any given day?

Admix35 votes

Done supporting Riot.

Any games that give a crap about their players have servers on the east coast. In the most popular games, LoL is the only one that doesnt have east coast servers.

Ping is everything when it comes to reaction time. Playing with 50 or 90ms is a night and day difference. The character movements are so much smoother with 50. You think you can fix east coast ping? There is just too much variable, one of them being DISTANCE. You can only do so much to lower it but distance will always screw up players. You can't fix everything such as routing, ISP issues and other variables. The only way to fix distance issues is to have servers on the east coast, you morons.

Well, thats Riot saying fuck you if you live on the east coast.

436634 votes

Why would you guys put in so much work into "rebuilding" the servers if it's just a waste of time, i'd rather have good ping and more disconnections that way everyone dc's with me and im not the only poor floridian suffereing honestly when i play ANY other game i have ~40ping but this game my favorite game has 120+. Why postpone fixing the problem for east coast players.

Fulfill Destiny34 votes

I feel like Riot almost issued this post with the intentions of, "Lets announce the launch of our selfish elitist(ok I didn't need to add those adjectives) server 'migration' and see how the NA community reacts and cover it up as a server stability issue." It's not too surprising is it Riot? Servers were supposed to be moving to Chicago and now you tell us this..? You're doing what now? Moving the servers down the block? Anyone with a functioning brain can see you guys really don't care that much about the community as a whole. It doesn't matter if you're doing it obliviously or intentionally. Riot doesn't seem to notice that WE THE SUMMONERS are the ones who make the league what it is. My friends and I would always joke around about how if we lived in Cali, we would have gotten that ult off in time.. or that Mikaels.. or that SMITE.. but when you told us you were going to move the servers to Chicago, I thought that it could maybe be a reality to finally play at the same level as the other players. Looks like that was just false hope. I'm not sure if you guys have just forgotten that there are people that DON'T live in Cali that want to get better at this game. I'm here to remind you that those players still certainly exist.

I am sorry if I came off as rude but if a riot god reads this, we may have a chance at bringing this community one step closer together.

Sincerely,

Jay the Malzahar God

Redamntion32 votes

If I could draw, I'd make it a comic.

Day 1 Riot: "We've prepared food for all!" West: "Steaks, awesome!.", "MMMM Pasta", "Sweet, Ice Cream, my favorite!" East: "Aw man. Bread and water? Damn. Oh well, at least we have food. I'm sure they'll send more of the good food our way soon."

Day 100 Riot: "We hope you are all enjoying your food!" West: "Man, getting a full menu selection daily is fantastic. This company rules!" East: "Shit. Still Bread and water. Riot, this isn't really fair man. We want cake!"

Day 200 East (Still eating bread and water): "Common Riot, we REALLY want cake. There's so many of out here. Please bake us a cake!"

Day 500 Riot: "Don't worry East Coast, we're making something really special. It might not be cake, but we promise it will be something awesome, like Pie, or Pork Ribs" East (Still eating bread and water): "Alright! You Rock Riot. Thanks!"

Day 700 East (Still eating bread and water): "You said you were gonna make us something nice! What happened?!" Riot: "Don't worry, we have hired a baker to make a nice snack. This guy is a really good cook and it's in the oven now!"

Day 900 East (Still eating bread and water): "Man Riot. We've been waiting forever. It's been 200 days and still no update on our cake!" Riot: "We have a bunch of people who we hired to cook for us. I don't know if they're working on your cake for sure, but they're making some great stuff."

Day 1000 Riot: "WE MADE YOUR CAKE! REJOICE!" ---Riot begins to hand out cake to the West-- West: "This is great, now we get cake!", "Oh man, even though I'm eating cake, I feel sort of like Riot are a bunch of jerks for letting down East like that." East (Still eating bread and water): "... Really Rito... Really!?" Riot: "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure somebody is working on a cake for you too East. I'll let you know in a day or so." --Camera pans over to a Dog named Teemo staring bewildered at an empty oven--

... to be continued.

Valenten29 votes

So Riot is still set in their ways of keeping west coast servers only? Thats a pretty bad call imo. The servers should be located in a more centralized location so that everyone can have decent ping instead of just West coast players. IMO servers should be in either Chicago or Austin those are the 2 best locations for the servers so everyone can have good ping.

It saddens me that Riot is still thinking with this archaic thought process of only west coast servers for their game... Its been almost 5 years now since your game has been released you have to accommodate for the masses now and that means having everyone get good ping not just the west half.

Sturma28 votes

why cant we have a midwest servers for everyone can have decent fair ping ?

Mjaxon22 votes

Oh cool, servers are still on West Coast. What the f*ck Riot?

Kat Head22 votes

I reported the op as OFFENSIVE because I am offended.

Play Grat20 votes

The only thing this thread is showing you is that Riot should have never started this project and instead worked on the east coast server issue. I know multiple projects go at once but I also know how allocating money for projects works. This server move is useless. The servers aren't unstable at all. The ping on the east coast is high and half of two countries that play deal with this.

lceman20 votes

More stability = more fun! I still can't help but feel really bad for the East Coast players...damned to an eternity of disadvantageously high ping

RightL20 votes

What a joke...

Play Grat20 votes

I have a feeling this thread didn't go as well as they planned it would.

Juicify19 votes

So in other words, screw you east coast you don't matter to us. Thanks for the update on the centralized servers out wait looks like you have scrapped that. Why not just only allow players from west of the Mississippi. Thanks for absolutely nothing riot.

TheKanim16 votes

So Basically not all that much is happening for the East Coast...

Instead of taking the opportunity you have of forklift upgrading to a new location.. You're doing it to the same location and leaving the major problem that most people complain about unaddressed (ping).

While the stability of the service as a whole is definitely a problem. I'd say since its online the majority of the time... that horrible ping/player experience on the east coast is a bigger impact.. than the occasional issues from DDOS etc.

Aaron Rodgers16 votes

|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| | W~~~~~ X ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Z ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|

Let me put this in a picture for you since it seems hard for an entire company to understand.

The box is representing the NA server.

W is where the servers are. (the only worse place they could be is in a corner) X is where the West Coast server should be if you had a West and East Coast Server Y is where the Server should be if you only have 1 server Z is where the East Coast server should be if you had a West and East Coast Server

Please fix this problem using my diagram. Thanks.

Edit - My box didn't transfer very well. It looked much prettier on my screen and was much larger, but you get the idea. I also had to add the squiggles as a filler.

Nhiii16 votes

"I have never in my life comment on any type of forum until today." -Says Me

Dear Riot,

You need to centralize the servers or add an East Coast Server. This is an ongoing issue. I have not been able to play competitively like I've use to. I only Aram now because it's so frustrating to play Summoner's Rift or ranked games! It is difficult to play a champion that relies on skill shots like Ezreal, Ahri, Orianna... etc. The delay really matters. I am not able to click on my skills and have them go immediately right after each other because of the delay. It sucks to play now and how is it possible that the WEST COAST PLAYERS have an advantage over the East Coast Players due to higher ping? You're shutting out half of the NA players who are on the other side. That's extremely unfair.

Can you update more about the plan for East Coast Servers. I really want to know what you guys are planning and to see what ideas you guys have that can help East Coast Servers.

Thank you for all you do. I know it is hard making decisions and I hope you guys figure it out. If you are looking for an accounting/auditing intern for the Summer, let me know! It would be a dream come true to work for Riot even if it's for a day. :D <3

Sincerely,

Klover

MissFortune

KKJGgljjPQ15 votes

Ping isn't an issue? Are you joking? It's THE issue, login is minor compared to one side of the country having a disadvantage over the other.

NocPat13 votes

East coaster here who hates his 134 ping and purposely doesn't play much because of it.

My first reaction is to hate Riot for this. It might be the correct one, but I'm willing to wait and see the response.

The servers have never moved right? For a long time, when I began playing, my ping was a very manageable 81. I'm hoping, truly hoping that Riot can somehow miraculously get it back to those levels.

I'd still prefer lower pings than that, and we'll complain for lower pings again, but I'm willing to get back the ping I originally had, at 81.

Try your best please Riot, this is THE issue preventing me from playing your game and giving you money.

Tiphess12 votes

So, what's the point of doing this migration if it's not to help East cost players ?

BBeaRR1 votes

[deleted]

Loken Stoneheart19 votes

Riot: Hey guys! We're going to roll out new servers to improve the overall experience of League of Legends! Less disconnects, better security against attacks, and less time spent on server maintenance!

Community: We don't want that! Give us good ping! Now!

There is no pleasing the beast]:

Uhhh. We were told that it isn't going to improve the East Coast experience (way more people live on the East Coast). This is literally just to make the West coasters happy while still delightfully hiding/ignoring plans for the East Coast.

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