Clash: August 2018 update

Riot·Aug 15, 2018·1 votes·30,883 views

In our last update, we promised to keep you up to date on our path to launching Clash. We’ve made some progress since we last spoke, so we’re happy to announce we’re heading back to PBE. These tests might be a little buggy and won’t represent the full tournament experience, so as we work to get Clash ready for a full release, your contribution by participating and giving us feedback is invaluable!

In the past, a large number of issues were caused by many systems working behind the scenes and not communicating well with each other. The PBE tests will let us know how well our proposed fixes and mitigations work, and we’re looking to test three major improvements over the course of September. Here’s what they are and how to get to get involved:

How to play Clash on PBE

September 5th - Staggered scouting phase

We’ll be testing a staggered scouting phase, which allows us to extend the length of the scouting phase for some games, meaning fewer games will start simultaneously. This should significantly reduce load on the systems that are part of the champ select flow and allow you to get into games more reliably.

To test the variable scouting phase, create your teams and wait for the lock-in time. Once locked in, you’ll get matched and play as normal. This should be a pretty straightforward tournament, with 4 teams in each bracket, so your team will play 2 games.

September 11th - Game flow changes

We’ve tightened our backend flow to break out some of the systems that work together when starting games. Much like before, if our fixes prove out, this should be a regular 4-team bracket with 2 games, and if everything works as expected, you shouldn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

September 19th - Clash recovery tool

One of issues we saw quite early in previous Clash tests is that when stuff goes wrong, it’s hard for Clash to recover. This meant that we often had to blow up tournaments completely, disband existing teams and start another tournament which we know was painful for everyone. We’ve now made our recovery tools more robust and capable of assisting if one part of Clash falls over.

With this new tool, we’ll be able to more easily edit tournament details such as tier calculations, SMS verification, voice chat settings, Honor restrictions, ticket bids and rewards. If there’s an issue with locking in, we’ll be able to take everyone out and restart. Also, if there’s truly an unsolvable issue with Clash, we’ll be able to cancel tournament days without wrecking the whole weekend.

After these tests have completed we’ll let you know how they went over on the PBE boards. Sign up for a PBE account to participate in these tests!

16 Comments

LuxannaVeritasAug 16, 201811 votes

I'm not on PBE but good luck! You're working really hard to make sure Clash is the best it can be, so thank you! Hope the tests help!!!

CohnAug 16, 20181 votes

if you are honor 3 you get PBE access instantly

King AsgoreAug 16, 20187 votes

Awww yeh, time for Crash 3.0 Goodluck guys! [slayer-pantheon-popcorn]

I actually mean it, I wanna see this go up successfully

SpideraxeAug 16, 20183 votes

Selling bamboozle insurance in case Clash becomes Crash again

bestjamesbondAug 16, 20183 votes

Idea: you’ve mentioned that clash failed due to the insane number of games starting at the same time. You’ve addressed how to fix that issue above. Could another issue arise due to the number of games active? So say out of 100 games, you’ll start 25, then 2 minutes later you’ll start another 25, then 2 minutes later another 25 and so on. When all 100 games eventually start will the servers be able to handle it?

(Yes, I realize there are way more than 100 games, it’s a simple example.)

grarrrgAug 16, 20182 votes

It -shouldn't- be a problem. League has been running many thousands of games simultaneously for years now. It's just a matter of how close to, or over, their typical "peak activity" numbers they get.

Honeydew ZeklingAug 17, 20183 votes

Using your numbers above,

It's more like 100 people waiting to get in a store. The store can hold way more than 100 people but it's entrance can only let so many people in at a time. If the entrance can let 25 people in at a time, it'd make sense to stagger when people come in (ie. creating a line/queue).

If you let all 100 people in at the same time, some may get trampled (ie. games dropped).

I don't know Riot's infrastructure and code but I'm assuming it's something similar to that

sharingan2020Oct 25, 20182 votes

Hey guys! Wondering if maybe there would be an update soon to tell how the clash tests went. I am really hoping clash will be coming to live! Would definitely like some news since it has been a couple of months since the last update. Thank you!

go jimmyOct 25, 20181 votes

I agree. Also, is there a way to determine a time frame for the live release? As it stands, I don't know whether to expect it to be released a month from now or a year from now.

scammed lolAug 16, 20181 votes

when are you going to fix RP handout on PBE btw? been a month

BeatzBoyFTWAug 16, 20181 votes

Oh wells, at least there's some effort shown here on Riot's side. I give you my faith one last time, Rito. [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

StexeAug 16, 20181 votes

Any idea about having another beta come to live so we might upgrade our first beta icon / flag?

Altonius AmakiirAug 16, 20181 votes

Are each of these being implemented separately? Like september 5th's fix will be tested alone, then removed for subsequent tests regardless of results? Then the 11th tests that alone (no 5th fix). And then same for 19th (no 5th or 11th fix)?

Just want to make sure that you're testing individual fixes and not having to worry about inter-compatibility bugs. Because the fact there's only three tests sounds like you either are assuming compatibility works if all three do individually, or that you will keep previous tests active on subsequent ones.