EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/riptide/dota2/2013_05_23_vpnsblogs_banner.jpg)
NS' Blog: "Captain Ping - the guardian of order" 21.05.13
This is a translation of the original article from virtuspro.org.
This is a long-standing problem. First of all, I want to warn anyone who will say, "that's just an excuse, learn to play," - just leave. Undoubtedly, sometimes ping won't get in the way of a team that is much stronger than their opponent. However, when the teams are just about equal, things like ping are important, and more than just a little bit.
![[image loading]](/staff/dfs/articles/NS_Blog_Captain_Ping/injusticeleague.jpg)
(Captain Server, Captain Coin and Captain Ping - The Injustice League)
(3 superheroes of modern Dota 2)
A little bit of theory for people who don't know all of the rules for Dota tournaments with both EU and NA teams playing. When two teams from different continents meet, the first game is played on a US server, the second on an EU server, and the third deciding game (that is required almost all the time) is decided by a coin toss. The judge performs it and announces the server.
Occasionally tournaments have different rules. For example, the group stage of EMS One, which was played online, had the rule that all games must be played on the EU server. Guess what place Liquid (from NA) took in its group? (Mind you, they're definitely not the weakest team of all that were invited to TI3.) Yeah, they were last...
By the way, it should be said that in every group for the EMS One qualifiers, there was one NA team. Their results were not comforting: not a single NA team won a single game; they ended with a 0-12 score, or 12-0 in favor of the EU server.
A little excursion into the remote past. When Dota wasn't as popular as it is right now, when the player's problems weren't treated as vigilantly as right now, online tournaments were attended by teams from all over the world. It was quite normal to have a match between Europe and, for example, Malaysia. And in those games, it would take three or more hours to choose their host. Not a joke.
Everyone was praying that some whale wouldn't damage the cable in the Pacific Ocean or something like that. Of course the team with the more favorable server would always win. Admittedly, back then the ping wasn't as important as it is right now, because the general level of play was much lower and micro wasn't as important.
However, naturally, this practice was completely given up, and the last online tournaments with both EU and Asian teams passed away in 2010. The only team that continued to give headaches to Europeans in Dota 2 was AL (from Australia).
![[image loading]](/staff/dfs/articles/NS_Blog_Captain_Ping/AL_TI2.jpg)
(ex-AL, Australian team - the "favourite" opponent of all European teams)
Against AL, Europeans were forced to play on US West, which is completely unplayable for them. After playing, or rather, losing like this for 6 months, absolutely all EU teams refused to play on US West any more. Since then the Dota 2 lines shifted, and the world became divided between Asia and EU+NA, as we now are familiar with today.
Next I will provide a few Twitter excerpts from known personalities in eSports.
![[image loading]](/staff/dfs/articles/NS_Blog_Captain_Ping/tw_dread.png)
(Didn't win a single game on US and won every single game on EU. It's not an excuse but ServerDota never fails)
![[image loading]](/staff/dfs/articles/NS_Blog_Captain_Ping/tw_loda.png)
![[image loading]](/staff/dfs/articles/NS_Blog_Captain_Ping/tw_v1lat_1.png)
(Hope for TAILS)
![[image loading]](/staff/dfs/articles/NS_Blog_Captain_Ping/tw_v1lat_2.png)
(So... waiting for cointoss. Tails gives Na`Vi EU server)
![[image loading]](/staff/dfs/articles/NS_Blog_Captain_Ping/tw_v1lat_3.png)
(TAILS!! EU HOST)
And that's just what I managed to find in a few minutes. If you follow the various Twitters of players and commentators, you will definitely find mentions of servers and ping after almost every game between EU and NA.
Indeed, the ping affects the players in a tremendous way, and numerous teams even have to adjust their picks depending on their ping. On high ping they tend to pick simple, one-button-like heroes, like Magnus and Gyrocopter, and hope that they will win 5v5 fights. On the other hand, on low ping... Heroes like Templar Assassin and Storm start appearing. They buy Shadowblades. They try to capitalize on mobility, because the enemy simply can't stun the Storm Spirit or a hero running away with Shadowblade. This is stupid and pathetic when you adjust your play not only for the opponent, but also for the server. It has been mentioned countless times but things aren't changing.
![[image loading]](/staff/dfs/articles/NS_Blog_Captain_Ping/magnus.jpg)
(High ping? Pick the one-button Magnus and drive away your enemies!)
Occasionally, we get an amazing game when everyone has 200+ ping, and for some reason everyone thinks that it's OK. Equal terms. In my opinion that looks like a situation where a hundred-meter running track is smeared with glue or fuel oil and everyone is forced to run on it. Equal terms! Sure, they are equal, but it doesn't look like a normal competition.
On the basis of what I've written above, I can safely state that we have a very unhealthy situation for a game so popular and serious as Dota 2. It doesn't happen almost anywhere else; StarCraft II, CS, World of Tanks and other games do not run intercontinental online tournaments with big prizepools. But with Dota 2, even The International 3 qualifiers and G-League qualifiers were played like this. Every time EU and NA teams meet there are server problems. We must do something about it right now.
Dota is developing like never before. Running online tournaments has become truly profitable so there are a lot of them. Running a LAN event, on the other hand, is difficult and expensive - not many people can be bothered. Most organizers restrict themselves to the online scene; they sell the tickets, invite all the stars and that's all. I think that we must stop this practice gradually, or at least keep it to a minimum.
![[image loading]](/staff/dfs/articles/NS_Blog_Captain_Ping/eastvswest.jpg)
(East vs. West, America vs Europe)
We must strictly divide the tournaments by regions. Is it an EU tournament? Play on the EU server. Don't like it? Then don't play on EU tournaments, or if you do play, then don't complain (StarLadder has these rules, I thank them for it). The same goes for NA. Someone wants to run an intercontinental tournament? Easy, run qualifiers for each continent online, separately. The winners go to a LAN which result in spectacular Finals. Everyone is happy!
I know that the overwhelming majority of professional players support my view, but for some reason no one wants to write about it. It is possible that no one believes that this will change anything, or perhaps it is just laziness. Everyone rides on the stream. Well, it's not hard for me to just write about it, and it's not the first time I have done so. I hope that this blog will create some kind of resonance and something will start to change.
Thank you for your attention!
