Four new FACEIT server locations are coming to North America: Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York. They go live on December 09 with Season 10.
When can I play on them?
From December 09, when Season 10 launches at 7:00 ET. Until then, matches stay on the current locations.
Why these four cities?
They're where the data showed a server would help the most players. We looked at where North American players connect from and how well they connect to the locations they play on today, and chose the four cities that bring the most players closer to a server.
Is this part of Season 10?
Yes. New server locations are one of the three biggest Season 10 updates, alongside the revamped interface and team experience.
Do I need Premium to play on them?
No. The new North American locations are open to every match, all the time. They also do not require a Priority mechanic, unlike some of the locations in Europe.
Who the new locations help
Which players do the new locations help?
Each one sits in a part of North America with a lot of players and no FACEIT server close by until now. From December 09, North America goes from five locations to nine.
What does this mean for my ping?
If you live near one of the new locations, you'll usually see a better connection than you do today if you are matched to one of these servers. We're not promising a number: the route your ISP takes matters as much as distance, and the server you get also depends on how your whole party connects.
How you get matched to them
Can I pick New York, or any other location, myself?
No. From December 09, FACEIT picks the server for every match using your party's connection score. Manual server preferences are removed. Your party keeps one ban, so you can rule out the one location that you feel never works for you.
What is connection score?
A measure of how well each member of your party connects to each location, built from ping, jitter, and packet loss, measured now and in your recent matches. You see it as a rating, Excellent, Good, Fair or Bad.
Will I always get the closest server?
Not always. FACEIT picks a location that works for your whole party, without hurting match balance or queue times. If one of your party connects poorly to Seattle, or it was unstable for you in a recent match, or your ISP is having an incident, another location gets picked, even though Seattle is closest.
I'm in a five-stack spread across the country. Which server do we get?
The one with the strongest connection score for the party as a whole, not the closest to any one player. A party split between Los Angeles and New York will often land on a location in between, because that's what keeps the match fair for all five.
Where do I see which server I got, and how do I connect to it?
You'll see each location's rating for your party, Excellent, Good, Fair or Bad, with the ping, jitter and packet loss behind it.
What about the beta?
The automatic server matching beta starts on November 05, so we can test FACEIT choosing servers before Season 10. The first wave of players in North America and Europe is opted in automatically. Everyone else can opt in from their settings, and anyone can opt out at any time. The beta runs on the current locations.
Open to every match
Are the new North American locations priority servers?
No. All four are open to every match, all the time, and run like every other FACEIT server in North America.
Then what is a priority server?
Some of our new European servers are open to every match, but when one is close to capacity, it's reserved for Premium and Super matches until it's less busy. While it's reserved, it shows a lock in the server list. None of the North American locations work this way.
Do Premium players get the new locations first, or more often?
No. In North America the server is picked from your party's connection score, and factors in balance and queue times, whichever queue you're in.
Why does Europe get priority servers and North America doesn't?
Keeping servers running at this scale comes at a high cost. In Europe, priority is how we can open the new locations and how we'll keep adding more.