When Europe defeated North America at Rift Rivals last week, fans were shocked and eager to find a reason for the loss. They wanted to blame someone or something. Was it Team Liquid’s failure against Splyce? Or perhaps the EU teams had a better understanding of the meta? Some speculated that the NA teams were simply lacking in communication and team synergy.
However, in the days following the tournament, another reason has surfaced—one that has been brewing beneath the surface for quite some time. It seems that NA players struggle because they have to play with high ping.
It has been widely known for years that NA suffers from higher ping compared to other regions. Luckily, there is a simple solution: expanding the use of the Tournament Realm.
The Complaints
Echo Fox top laner, Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon, was among the first to voice his frustration in a post-match interview with Travis Gafford. He said, “If Riot really wants NA to win Worlds, they should change the ping to seven.”
Even EU players joined in with criticism, stating that learning mechanics on 60 ping, which is common in NA, is nearly impossible.
Historically, South Korean and Chinese teams have played with single-digit ping, which closely resembles the stage environment. Europe West is also not far behind. However, NA servers are located in Chicago, while most pros operate out of Los Angeles, resulting in high ping during solo queue.
The Solution: The Tournament Realm
The Tournament Realm is a private server used for smaller tournaments. However, professional players in the LCS and Academy scenes use it to scrim and play against each other. Two years ago, when Dynamic Queue faced heavy criticism upon release, many LCS pros even abandoned solo queue and opted to play in-house games against other teams on the Tournament Realm.
Eventually, Dynamic Queue was fixed, and pros returned to solo queue for one big reason: Riot prohibited teams and players from streaming Tournament Realm games.
It is time to lift that restriction. Professional players should not be forced to practice against random players in solo queue, even if those accounts are in Challenger. A dedicated practice place for vetted pros is long overdue, and hosting the servers in Los Angeles would significantly reduce ping issues.
This solution has been proposed by numerous analysts and players. There is no good reason why pro players shouldn’t be able to stream Tournament Realm games. All that would be required is an agreement between all parties involved that streaming would be allowed for a particular match.
Improving the Tournament Realm
There are other ways to enhance the Tournament Realm. Riot could provide access to a select group of vetted pros and Challenger players. Players like former LCS jungler, Christian “IWDominate” Rivera, who is still part of Team Liquid’s stream team.
Instead of limiting access to only 10 players across LCS and Academy squads, teams could partner with a larger group of semi-pros to stream and compete on the Tournament Realm. This would help sharpen the skills of their own LCS players. Teams could even assign champions and shape the way these players compete against LCS professionals. Imagine how much faster NA players would adapt to the meta with this type of structured practice in place.
Playing on the Tournament Realm would not only allow for better competition but also solve the high ping issue. The best part is that the technology already exists.
NA players, high ping, Rift Rivals, Team Liquid, EU players, Tournament Realm, ping issues, professional players, solo queue, streaming, vetted pros, LCS players, meta.