What is automatic server matching?
From Season 10, FACEIT picks the server for your match instead of you choosing locations in your queue settings. It factors in how everyone in your party connects to each location, removes the ones that aren't good for your party, and ranks the rest, while weighing match balance and queue times.
When does it start?
December 09, with Season 10. A beta, allowing us to test factors, runs from November in North America and Europe.
What does it replace?
The manual server preferences in your queue settings. They stop applying on December 09. Your party still gets one free ban, on top of the locations FACEIT removes automatically.
Why change it?
Picking from a list only ever showed you a location name. It couldn't see packet loss, an ISP having an outage, or how your teammates connect. And every new location we add splits players further, so picking the server centrally is what lets us keep adding locations without hurting match balance or queue times.
Connection score
What is connection score?
A new, advanced metric of your connection to each server location, built from three things: your ping, your jitter, and your packet loss, right now and in your past matches.
Why not just ping?
Ping alone doesn't tell the whole story. You can have decent ping to a location and still get packet loss and jitter. Connection score counts all three factors to create a more nuanced record.
Why does it look at past matches?
If a location was poor for you in a recent match, that is stored for the future. If a location is usually good for you but unstable today, because of an ISP outage or a problem on the way to it, it's filtered out until it recovers.
Will I see my score?
You'll see your ping, jitter, and packet loss to each location in the server list, with a simple rating of how good that connection is. The score itself is what FACEIT uses to rank locations.
Can I improve my FACEIT connection score?
It measures your connection, so anything that improves your connection improves it: a wired connection over Wi-Fi, closing anything else using your bandwidth, or upgrading your internet connection may all improve your connection score.
How a server gets picked
What actually happens when I queue?
FACEIT finds every server location that could host your match, removes the ones that aren't good for anyone in your party, and ranks the rest from your party's connection scores. It then picks from that list while weighing match balance and queue times, so the match is fair and you aren't waiting longer than you need to.
Why didn't I get the server closest to me?
Because the pick is for your whole party, not just you. If one of your party connects poorly to the closest location, or it was unstable for you in a recent match, or your ISP is having an incident, another location gets picked. Match balance and queue times also count, so sometimes a location slightly further away is the one that gets a fair match started sooner.
Is it always the location with the lowest ping?
No. Lowest ping and most stable aren't always the same server, and the pick is for all ten players. A location with ten more ping and no packet loss for everyone usually beats one with the lowest ping for one player and jitter for the rest. Also, we still are optimising for match balance and queue times as before.
Can I see why a server was picked?
You'll see your rating to each location in the server list.
Can I still ban a location?
Yes. Your party can ban one location for free, on top of the ones FACEIT removes automatically.
What about the other team?
The pick is for the whole match, so both parties' connection scores count.
Priority servers
What is a priority server?
Keeping servers running at this scale comes at a high cost, so when some of the new locations are close to capacity, they are reserved for Premium and Super matches until it's less busy. The rest of the time, it's open to every match.
How do I know when one is reserved?
In the server list, a priority server is marked as one, and it shows a lock when it's reserved.
Is there a fixed time when it switches?
No. It's about how busy the server is, not the time of day. On a busy evening, it may switch earlier; on a quiet one when players are watching a big tournament, it may not switch at all.
Do I need Premium to play on a priority server?
No. Every match can use them while they're open. Priority only applies when a server is reserved for Premium and Super Matches.
Why do it this way?
Priority is how we can open new locations and keep adding more. A new location has to be busy enough to be worth running without hurting match balance or queue times, and priority is the tool that manages that as it fills.
The Automatic Server Matching beta
What is the beta ?
A test of FACEIT choosing your server before Season 10, so we can see how it behaves at scale. It runs from November in North America and Europe to allow us to test different weights of mechanics ahead of release.
Am I in it?
The first wave of players in North America and Europe will be opted in automatically. Everyone else can opt in via their FACEIT settings.
How do I opt in or out?
You can toggle yourself in and out of the automatic server matching in your beta. You can opt out at any time in the same place, and changes apply from your next queue.
What's different during the beta?
FACEIT picks your server. Your manual server preferences won’t apply while you're in the beta. Everything else about your matches is the same.
Does the beta affect my Elo or my stats?
Matches and Elo count exactly as they do today. Only how the server is chosen changes.
Other questions
I queue with friends in another country. What happens?
The pick is for everyone in the party, so it finds the location that works for all of you, which may be somewhere between you rather than next to any one of you.
Does this apply to ESEA League?
ESEA League servers will be chosen the same way as previously. This will not have any effect.
Does this apply to Premium queue and Super matches?
Yes, if you are opted in during the beta your Premium and Super Matches will be matches using automatic server selection.
What if my connection changes mid-session?
Connection score is measured right now as well as from past matches, so if your connection gets worse during a session, the next match accounts for it.
I always want one specific server. Can I force it?
No. You can ban one location, and the rest is picked for the match. If a location is good for your whole party, it will be picked as often as we can while accounting for queue times and match balance.