League News Changes to the Server Selection Beta for the LGHL Xbox/PSN

We have taken a bunch of feedback from the first four weeks of the LGHL season as well as additional feedback from the community and have come up with changes that will be implemented headed into week five of the LGHL on both Xbox and PSN.

Server selection was a feature I've personally asked for since my time with the GC program and will allow us to create the most competitive environment for our leagues and events.

What I want the community to understand is the goal of this system is to keep players competing against one another on as similar of ping as possible. We all can agree we don't ever want to play on 100+ ms, but we also likely don't want to compete against top players on 4ms, unless you are 10 ms or less yourself.

Our current system gives is key information that allows managers to make an informed decision on which server they should select. This new system does have some choice built into it which will allow our home to make a decision. Having a choice is great, but this also requires a higher level of communication between managers on a nightly basis as well.

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Here is what the proposal looks like

• Prior to the game start time, the away team will contact the home and state which of the three servers [Central - NA East - NA Northest] they'd like to veto [not use]. From that point, the home then is required to inform the away which server then will be used.
• The two western servers are prohibited to be used unless a MIN of 10/12 skaters listed in the game line up is showing the NA - North West - Portland or NA - West - San Jose server has their #Best Server. In this match up the situation, the home will have the decision between which server [SJS/Portland] to use.

Example


From the website [not the mobile app] team will load into their respective league or event forum section. From this location, click on the game you are about to play.

In this example, I am using the highlighted game Vertigo v Olympia.



Once you click on your specific game the nightly lineup screen will appear and also displace a green "Server Selection Beta" button.




By clicking the green button the screen below will appear. The top box is all managers need to review.

In this example, the bottom two servers are excluded, therefore allowing Vertigo to veto either Ohio, Virginia, or Montreal.

In this situation, let's say Vertigo says no Montreal server, that would give Olympia the choice between playing the game on the Virginia or Ohio server.

Olympia opts to play the game on the Virginia server and communicates that to Vertigo and then both teams search using the official pin and the selected server.




Frequently Asked Questions

• Does this system completely eliminate the possibility of using a western server?
  • At this time now it does not. The website is about an 80-20 spilled between eastern and western players. When two lineups match up that have a MIN of 10/12 players from either the Portland and/or San Jose server combine that game will be played on a western server.
• Have you considered going to a "home team" selects server model?
  • That is a common ask I hear. In my opinion and the opinion of many of the competitive players of this community forcing your opponent to play against you with a 70-90 ms swing in PING shouldn't ever be considered "competitive." Skill should always be determined by on-ice performance on as close to a level playing field as possible. The closer user's ping is, the more balance the experience is for each player allowing true skill to show and determine a winner.
• Is this a possibility this will be a system built into the current system whereby the away team can veto the server with a single click, thereby allowing the home team to select the server as well with a single click?
  • Ideally, we see website improvements to better support this. I like the idea of single clicks similar to the voting system we currently have. In the future mobile support would be ideal for all of our users who want something simple and quick.

This system will be in place starting Sunday, December 6th for ALL three tiers[NHL-AHL-CHL] on BOTH Xbox and PSN.

Thanks for your time, any questions can be sent to me directly here on via discord.
-Brodie