Yesterday was the final day of the World Championships, the tournament which will decide who will face off in the Grand Finals next weekend. Sadly this was not completed successfully due to technical problems.
What happened?
During the second game of CLG.eu versus WE all the streams went black. After some confusion it became clear that the internet connection at the venue had completely failed. This included everything from the streams to the press wifi but most importantly it also broke the connection between the League of Legends client and the Riot server. After Riot managed to get the internet service restored they tried to salvage the game but were unsuccessful. This forced a remake, with WE having the choice over whether it was a straight remake or a full re-do including picks and bans; they chose the latter. The choice was theirs because despite it being quite early in the game; they had executed a very neat level one strategy that led to them having three of the four buffs on the map. They were also a few kills ahead and had quite a respectable lead, given the limited duration of the game.
The second attempt at Game Two was completed without incident and it appeared that the problem had been successfully resolved. The third game went long, over sixty minutes, with CLG.eu making up quite a large deficit after a rough early game, to seemingly being only a few minutes away from taking victory. Unfortunately the streams went black again, and again the connection to the Riot server had also been severed- the game was lost. After much deliberation due to how long the game had lasted, it was decided that another remake would have to occur, this time with CLG.eu having the choice over what kind of remake it was. They chose to do a straight remake with no changes and the game restarted. However, it had barely begun before they lost internet again and despite several attempts to fix the issue, no further games managed to go to completion. It was decided that the remainder of the World Championships would occur at some undefined point during the week.
What was the problem?
This is not particularly clear. Initially a source at the event claimed it was due to a large-scale DDoS attack.
However, soon after, another source at the event claimed this was not the case at all, a mere technical fault was the culprit. This statement had a confirmed Riot source and indeed no official spokesperson for Riot has ever mentioned any form of attack.
And yet the rumour that it was indeed a DDoS attack remains alive, and there is some evidence to support it. Specifically, the wording of the official announcement by Riot about when the other games will take place explicitly states they will be held at a location with a “secure internet connection”.
It is possible that it was a DDoS and Riot simply didn’t want to give the culprit attention for their moronic deed, which would be understandable. It is also possible that it was some form of technical fault and the wording is only a coincidence. Regardless, it is unlikely that Riot will release further details on the matter.
Effects
The most obvious effect is that three sets were meant to be completed yesterday and a grand total of zero actually were. As previously stated they will happen at some point between now and next weekend when the Grand Finals take place. The people to suffer the most were the two teams; CLG.eu and WE spent eight hours preparing to play, playing or talking about what they were going to do in-between disconnects. Both teams handled themselves fantastically, CLG.eu even treating us to a rendition of Eye of the Tiger, some seven hours into the stream. The audience at the event also remained in high spirits, partly due to simply being a great crowd and partly due to the immense effort Riot made in order to make their day special. They bought pizza for everyone, fully booking several local pizzerias. As well as free food and drink they also mingled with the crowd, as did a number of pro players who stuck around to watch the games and spend time with fans. It also cannot be overstated how amazing a job Deman, Jatt and DJ Wheat did at keeping the show entertaining. Producing five to six hours of pure filler is a ridiculously large request to make but they were more than up to the task.
The future
As Riot are going to move into running large-scale events frequently with Season Three, they really should look at a solution to this kind of problem. There is no such thing as perfectly reliable internet connection, no matter how well prepared you think it may be. A custom Riot-only LAN client would solve the issue, but that is something they are not likely to ever actually do. A more likely feature they could implement is some form of automatic save, in the tournament client at least. DOTA2 already has this function and it would be a massive boon to professional League of Legends if they could add something similar.
Wrap up
It was a rough day for all involved. The teams, staff, casters, live and streamed audiences alike. Given the circumstances, Riot did a commendable job of keeping everyone entertained and informed; making the best of a bad situation is not easy and they performed admirably. It is a shame that an otherwise flawless tournament had to be marred by this turn of events and hopefully Riot will find a way to make sure this never happens again.
- Jaszon ‘Lightblind’ Alexzander
Source : ign[dot]com
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