Red Post Collection: Icons from Down Under, Bard Q&A on 3/6, NA Server Road Map Update, RP Price adjustments for EU, Canada, OCE, and much more

NA Server Roadmap Update: Addressing the Q's in Quality Connections

"TL;DR (because this post is a big one!): There’s more that goes into lag than just your ping, so we’re attacking the problem from multiple angles. Due to some delays and a typhoon in China affecting our network gear supplier, our delivery date for hardware build out of the South Bridge has shifted from end of March to late April/early May, and we’ve added several new ISPs to our partner list! Find them at the very bottom of this post. For those of you hungry for the nitty-gritty, read on! 

Hey, everyone! Riot Ahab here again with a progress update on the NA Server Roadmap. Last update, we covered Phase 2 of the roadmap: optimizing internet connections for League and you. Specifically, we touched on building points of presences (PoPs) and establishing peering agreements across the “North Bridge” of the network, covering the northern US and Canada. You can check out that post here. 

As we’ve mentioned previously, Phase 1 (new server infrastructure) and Phase 2 (connection optimization) of the Server Roadmap are unlikely to bring a significant impact to your ping. So why even bother? Because those phases instead focus on delivering a quality connection while you play League. 

So what do you mean by “quality connection”? Just fix my ping, Rito!! 

We’re working on that! The difficulty is that many people equate “ping” with the deciding factor between a good and bad connection. The more complicated truth is there are many factors beyond ping that impact the millions of pieces of data coursing between your keyboard and the game servers. For sanity’s sake, though, let’s focus here on the big three: connection stability, round trip time (ping), and packet loss. 

Connection Stability 

Connection stability refers to a consistent, predictable schedule when the server is online. Ideally, you’d never have to think about this part of your connection! Stability is negatively impacted by malicious attacks, DDoS, and larger-scale hardware problems (or your pet chewed on the router cable again). 

Our philosophy is that there are only two reasons you shouldn’t be able to play League: scheduled downtime for content patches and scheduled infrastructure maintenance. Which is why we upgraded our more outdated server hardware during Phase 1 of the NA Server Roadmap. Odds are you didn’t feel much difference with the upgraded hardware - but in the background the new server architecture has already been working hard to mitigate large-scale malicious attacks like ones that plagued NA last year and providing much better uptime when unexpected hardware-related issues occur. 

Round Trip Time 

This usually is referred to as good-old “ping”. Your round trip time is a measurement of the time it takes for a packet of information to be sent from your machine to our servers and back again, and is itself impacted by a number of additional factors: 

Physical Distance: Data travels fast (near the speed of light), but it’s still impacted by the distance it needs to travel. As a general rule, the further away you physically are from a server destination, the higher your ping will be. 

Routing: Physical distance can (and often does) differ from routing distance. Data doesn’t travel as the crow flies, but follows copper and fiber optic cables that make up the many different transit networks across the US and Canada. Routing algorithms determine the specific path taken by chunks of data, and they don’t always work in the most efficient manner. You could be right down the street from the League servers, but if your ISP’s routing algorithms are funky, your data could bounce to several different locations before finally arriving at the servers just next door. 

Congestion: Internet traffic can slow down when there’s a spike in the volume of local data. This can occur at multiple levels: from getting slowed down on your home network by a family member who’s binge streaming House of Cards in HD to your local neighborhood circuit getting overloaded because everyone is streaming even more House of Cards. (House of Cards is a great show, btw). Peak times and high traffic can cause local ping spikes that slow down your League traffic. 

Ping is often the most cited measure of what makes a quality connection - and as the only “connection” indicator we include in-game, it’s natural for players to equate a quality connection with this one number. While ping is important, it’s not the only thing that makes or breaks a good connection. As a result, we can’t just move the servers and call it a day - we’ve had to take a multi-step approach that addresses all of the factors that affect connection quality. 

Packet Loss 

Before we even begin, let me just tell you: this is the big one. It’s less catastrophic than poor stability (nobody can play when the servers are down) - but arguably more damaging to games than high ping. Packet loss is the silent killer that leaves you rubber-banding all over the rift, or freezes you up in the middle of the team fight just to come back to a grey screen of death. 

So here’s how packet loss goes about its nefarious business: in any League game, there is an ongoing exchange of information between your machine and the League servers. Along that route, there are multiple “handoff” exchanges, where packets have to navigate their way across the internet from system to system. Every exchange introduces a potential point of failure or congestion, where packets can become “lost,” and fall off of their happy journey between your computer and the League servers. If that happens, the game servers are left with incomplete information and aren’t sure what your last command was, and have to ask your machine again. Hence hang time, frustration, table-flipping, and grey screens. 

While ping may be more heralded, the inherently inconsistent and sporadic nature of packet loss makes it uniquely damaging to gameplay and, as result, makes it a big priority for us to address as part of the NA Server Roadmap. By comparison, when running internal tests simulating various connection issues we see that players can “adjust” to higher ping as long as the connection is consistent and packet loss is minimal. That’s not to say high ping isn’t awful as long as it’s consistent (it most certainly is), but it does indicate how important packet loss is as part of the overall connection picture. 

OK, so lots of things can go wrong with my connection. What’re you doing about it, Riot? 

This is why the NA Server Roadmap is divided up into multiple components - they’re all geared to address different parts of what make up a quality connection.

• Phase 1: The architecture upgrade back in November has been actively fending off malicious attacks with greater efficiency. DDoS attacks will continue to be a challenge, but by moving to a new location and upgrading our hardware we’re much less susceptible than before. Plus the older Frankenstein’d design was more prone to hardware failures and was harder to maintain without planned and unplanned downtime.
• Phase 2: Connection optimization is focused on removing potential points of failure and putting your data on the most direct route between your machine and the servers. Since I’ll be talking about “optimization” quite a bit, check out the images below to help illustrate the idea:
• Here’s your connection. On one end is the local network between you and your ISP, and on the other end is the NA League game server. When playing, your data needs to get from your machine to the servers and back again. Ideally, your data would take a straight shot across all the networks involved.

• But as you have likely already figured out, your data doesn’t always take the most sensible path. Most ISPs focus on moving as MUCH data as possible, not as fast as possible, which often puts your data on a wonky path, which increases route distance (ping) and potential points of failure (packet loss).

• This is where the direct network comes into play. By setting up hardware in strategic locations across NA, we can channel local traffic onto our network, which removes additional hops, points of failure, and routing distance, which all cuts down on packet loss (and to a much lesser extent, ping!). For this example, let’s presume you are playing League in Boston, MA, closest to the New York, NY PoP we’ve recently set up as an access point to our direct network:

• Now your data is on a much more direct route, but there’s still some inefficiency between the ISP and your closest PoP hardware location. This is what we mean when we talk about “route optimization and tweaking” once hardware and peering agreements are online - we’re not only working with ISPs to hand off your data to our network, but to also route your traffic in the most direct way to the nearest PoP through ongoing work on route optimization.

• And better yet, when optimized this network allows us to redirect traffic with ISPs should any one hardware station fail. Let’s say you’re still playing in Boston, MA, and our New York, NY hardware fails for some reason. The network will redirect your traffic to the next closest PoP (in this case Ashburn, VA) to get you back onto the network seamlessly!

• Phase 3: the last phase of the roadmap will see the game servers move from their current location on the West Coast to a more centralized location in NA. This move will (for a majority of players) improve the geographic distance factors between them and the game servers in order to lower ping values; and in broad strokes should improve network quality for everyone.
• Now you may have zeroed in on how I wrote “for a majority of players.” What overly cautious PR corporate speak you sling, Ahab! As many of you following these updates have already theorized, moving the servers to a central location will alleviate the excessively high East Coast ping numbers, but may elevate West Coast ping numbers as result. The direct network we’re currently building will, however, mitigate much of the ping a move like this would normally bring, since the routing pain will be largely optimized.
• Between the new architecture, direct network pathing and local network optimization, by the time Phase 3 is complete everyone on NA should be feeling an improved network quality connection. That’s both our goal and our theory, which we’ll keep testing out, working towards and updating you about as we go. Also it's important to call out that if you live really far from a major population center it's going to be harder for us to optimize your network connection to the same level of quality as a player that lives closer. 

Whew! You made it. That’s about all we have to share this time around - thanks for reading! The last few bits of information we wanted to share were a few quick updates to the network. Last time, we cited a goal to have all network hardware placed and installed by the end of March. However due to the length of time involved in negotiations for space and circuits, and because a typhoon in China delayed some of our network equipment shipments, we are now targeting the end of April or early May to have the complete southern expansion done. I will keep you updated as more PoPs come online! 

The last bit of information to share is an update to the list of ISPs we’re currently working with to get you on our network via the shortest route possible. Some big names have been added! I’ve got the entire list of partnered ISPs just below, with the latest additions at the top. Remember: this is an ongoing list! Just because you don’t see your ISP doesn’t mean they’re not part of the plan - odds are we’re already in talks with them. Also many dozens of smaller ISPs are getting directly connected to Riot through well managed public peering exchanges, we will work to get that list up on the web somewhere soon. 

Thanks everyone for your patience and help improving the NA server experience. The team and I will be hanging around the thread for a while answering whatever questions we can, so feel free to fire away! 

Cheers,
-Riot Ahab 

Partnered ISPs: 

(new additions)
Time Warner Cable
Verizon (very early stages - we have an agreement but haven't implemented big changes yet!)
CenturyLink
Frontier Communications
WOW!
TDS Telecom
(original list)
Atlas Networks Corporation
Charter Communications
Clear Wireless
Cogent Communications
Comcast Cable Communications
Eltopia
Hurricane Electric
Interconnected Associates
LS Networks
NetRiver
NTT America
Pocketinet Communications
Rogers Cable Communications
Saskatchewan Telecommunications (SaskTel)
Shaw Communications
Syringa Networks
TekSavvy Solutions
TELUS Communications
TeraGo Networks
Threshold Communications
Vision Net
WiscNet
Worldlink"

RP price adjustment in Europe

Errigal has posted an announcement that on March 20th, due to shifts in the global economy, the Euro RP prices will be adjusted resulting in a ~10% increase in cost.

"Greetings Summoners, I’m Errigal and I just wanted to give you guys some context on changes to RP prices that will soon be happening and our reasons for doing so. 

Due to recent shifts in the global economy, we will be increasing the average RP cost for players on EUW and EUNE. The end result of this will be approximately a 10% increase in the cost of RP. 

We will make these changes by adjusting the amount of RP available at different price points (for example, a 10EUR purchase will get you 1575RP instead of 1780RP previously). Any RP already purchased is unaffected by this change as it only relates to future RP purchases. The price of content is also unaffected. 

This change will be effective from 20th March 2015 at 23:59 CET. 

We want to be transparent in doing this and have provided some more context below: 

CONTEXT 

Why are we increasing prices? Why now? 

The changing economic environment plays a big part in this decision. This is happening now because we are making similar adjustments across our supported countries to ensure regional alignment. This will also be our first RP price increase in five years. 

What do you mean by “economic environment”? 

We mostly refer to two things with this: many of our operations (even in Europe) are facilitated through US Dollars, which are currently trending strongly against many European currencies. Additionally, we are continuing to make further investment across Europe in all aspects of League of Legends including the recent Amsterdam data centre and our IP backbone, which are part of an ongoing effort to improve connection stability. 

What about other regions? 

Recently, we have made adjustments to RP prices in Brazil, Turkey, Russia, Chile and Argentina, and will soon be introducing changes to regions including Oceania and Canada.
We attempt to keep global RP prices in relative balance, especially when on the same server. When economic environments change to a point where it places regions out of this balance, then we look to make adjustments.  

Are there any other reasons a price change can happen? 

There are many factors that determine how we price globally. In this case, investment and costs due to currency were the primary drivers. However, we also monitor inflation. So far we haven’t felt the need to make changes for this reason. 

Any impact on IP or existing content? 

Nope. You can still purchase content for the same amount of IP and RP as before. 

Does the change affect already bought prepaid cards? 

It will affect the card from the changeover date, which is one of the reasons we’re giving players 2 weeks notice to redeem cards while the value of RP is unchanged. 

If you have any questions about this process please post them in the comments below."

[Update: They've added the Current and new Values to the post]

"What are the new price points? 

As we mentioned previously, the increases will be approximately 10%. We have attached a table showing one price point for credit cards in each currency. The RP amounts shown here are total (including bonus RP). The other price points for each currency will follow the same logic, with bonus RP scaling proportionally."

In response to comments on reddit regarding the current price EU pays, Hippalus noted the RP price for EU will still also be slightly cheaper vs the US and that Riot still pays the VAT on EU purchases:

"This is accurate - even after this change it will still be slightly cheaper to buy RP in Europe compared to the US. Also unlike many US companies, Riot pays the VAT when players buy from Europe instead of passing that cost onto players. I understand players are upset any time prices move higher, but the misinformation is getting a little out of hand on this one."

He continued:

"Yes, buying 1500 RP in the US costs players about $10.85. After this change, buying 1500 RP in Europe will cost about 9.52 euro which is equal to about $10.50. Plus European governments immediately take about 20% of that amount so Riot receives about $8.40 for the 1500 RP. 

EDIT - fixed typo (9.52 not 9.25) - thanks zombee627 

Also, to be clear, for a long time it was slightly more expensive to buy RP in Europe than the US. Now the reverse will be true, even after this change. Exchange rates will always fluctuate and we only look at rebalancing if it gets completely out of whack like it has recently."

When asked about UK currency prices, Hippalus noted:

"We are also rebalancing the UK, so your RP/$ will now be similar to Europe and the US. Which will mean that you will get slightly more RP per pound than you were before."

He continued:

"Yes all of the European currencies are being rebalanced to be roughly equivalent given current exchange rates."

Comments and feedback concerning this change can be left here.

RP Price Adjustment in Canada

"Greetings summoners, I’m Mirko (MasterMirkinen) and I head up Riot Oceania. 

I just want to take a moment to talk to you about RP Prices. In an effort to ensure price equality on the server and respond to rising costs caused by recent economic shifts, we are adjusting the cost of RP in Oceania. This will result in a 13% RP price increase for Australian players. 

This change will take effect in two weeks on March 20th at 11:59PM Sydney Time. We are delaying the actual change in prices to give players one last chance to stock up before the change. 

Here are the new amounts of RP you will receive as of 21/03/2015 for credit cards 

5 AUD: 520 RP
10 AUD: 1100 RP
20 AUD: 2250 RP
35 AUD: 4000 RP
50 AUD: 5900 RP
100 AUD: 12100 RP 

We want to be transparent in doing this and have provided some more context below: 

Why are we increasing prices? 

This will be our first price increase in almost two years, so why now? It really boils down to server fairness and rising cost due to economic shifts. 

We attempt to keep RP prices in relative balance, especially when on the same server. Back in October, the Australian dollar started weakening against the New Zealand dollar and it caught us by surprise. This depreciation has resulted in pricing discrepancies between the Oceanic countries. We monitored the situation for several months hoping that it would recover, but we are now at a point where a price change is necessary. 

Unfortunately, simply reducing New Zealand prices alone won’t fix this. Another factor we need to take into consideration is the exchange rate between local currencies and USD. Because a big part of our costs come from the US, where the dollar continues to rise, we need to consider prices relative to the US as well. Therefore, we have decided to raise prices in Australia to bring them back into balance with New Zealand and the US.

 Are there any other reasons a price change can happen? 

There are many factors that determine how we price globally. In this case, server fairness and costs due to currency were the primary drivers. However, we also monitor other factors such as inflation or substantial infrastructure investment. So far we haven’t felt the need to make changes for these reasons.

What about other regions? 

When economic environments change to a point where it places regions out of balance, then we look to make adjustments. Recently, we’ve made adjustments to RP prices in Brazil, Turkey, Russia, Chile and Argentina, and today we are introducing changes to regions including Oceania, Europe and Canada.

Any impact on IP or existing content? 

Nope. You can still purchase content for the same amount of IP and RP as before.

Does the change affect already bought prepaid cards? 

It will affect the card from the changeover date, which is one of the reasons we’re giving players 2 weeks notice to redeem cards while the value of RP is unchanged. 

If you have any questions about this process please post them in the comments below!"

Meddler on Darius

"Fair question, we've been silent about Darius for too long. Someday we'd like to work on Darius a bit, give him a longer combat pattern (bleed stacks higher, bigger eventual reward for 10 stacks, not as easy to get to max stacks quickly etc). 

That's not one of the projects we're currently working on though (not lack of desire, but other things we feel are higher value). What we are going to try in the short term as a result, potentially in the next couple of patches, are some experimental changes to his ult at higher ranks. We removed the full reset because of how heavily it shut opponents out of lane if they died to it once. That change was needed, but came at a cost to Darius' post laning play that we think might have been unnecessary. We're going to test out ways of giving Darius more access to his ult mid to late game as a result, with potential options at higher ranks including lower mana costs, lower CD, longer recast window, possibly (note: this one's pretty experimental) a full reset at max rank etc."

Player Surveys via Email

"Yes - this is a real survey. We send out surveys every week on things we might do as well as well as things we would never do, which helps give us a baseline understanding of how players feel about all kinds of ideas, even bad ones. And it's important that we get input from a representative sample of the entire player base as opposed to just those that are on Reddit or forums. 

In this case, we are considering whether there is a place in LoL for an Amazon Prime type of feature, but we are not even close to deciding whether or not it will ever happen or what components would be included."

Compendium of Map Specific Champion Balance