After one of the most highly anticipated Call of Duty League matches of 2021, Dallas Empire veteran Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter took his postgame opportunity to address an issue plaguing pro players: the difference between scrim and match servers.
Coming into Day 5 of CDL Super Week, a lot of the attention was on the first meeting of the season between Dallas Empire and New York Subliners, and understandably so, considering it was James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks’ first time coming up against his former team since being dropped last year.
Instead, directly following the dramatic and narrative-infused 3-2 victory, Crimsix made a point to publicize just how bad the server situation is for CDL teams.
An unideal situation that has been subject to numerous tweets and complaints from pro players, Crimsix brought the issue to the forefront by emphatically discussing it on the official broadcast. As the general sentiment goes: teams scrim on 20 Hz servers, while official matches are on 60 Hz servers — and that needs to be fixed.
(For mobile users, segment begins at 01:51:40)
Asked about “ups and downs,” possibly focused on the Dallas Empire’s inconsistency to start the year, the 3x World Champion instead honed in on the server problem: “For scrims, we’re playing 20 Hz. And for matches, we’re playing 60 Hz.”
And, when music and statistics took over the screen mid-sentence, Crim would not be denied his opportunity to express displeasure: “You guys playing a cut scene already? I’m not done talking!”
Citing the issues with the game’s general feel on such different servers and, more specifically, the differences between 20 and 60 Hz spawns, he gave his ultimatum.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
“If we’re gonna scrim on 20 Hz, we better be playing on 20 Hz. Or, if we scrim on 60, we better be playing on 60. Players union guys, you’re done. We want good spawns, please” he said, and he’s not the first pro to publicly propose that issue, either.
Wish we could practice on 60hz it’s practically a different game.
— Chris (@Parasite) February 14, 2021
New to the CDL but not new to professional CoD, Chris ‘Parasite’ Duarte quickly complained about the state of affairs after debuting for the London Royal Ravens.
His insistence on being able to practice on 60 was immediately echoed by Los Angeles Thieves veteran Austin ‘SlasheR’ Liddicoat, who replied: “Shouldn’t be playing on something we can’t practice on … it’s so dumb.”
THEY SPAWNED DARK CORNER WTF pic.twitter.com/FdfNEjjKsH
— John Boble (@RevanJB) February 22, 2021
As a textbook example of the difference between 20 and 60 Hz servers, simply look at the shock expressed by New York Subliners coach John ‘Revan’ Boble. In the replies, other coaches, analysts and players express confusion, noting that it must be “a new 60 Hz spawn.”
While that spawn was eventually addressed by Treyarch, following a request from the Minnesota ROKKR’s Lamar ‘Accuracy’ Abedi, individual spawn fixes don’t solve the server issue.
With SlasheR formerly calling the problem “disrespectful” and Crim colorfully denouncing it on the official stream, it’s clear that players just want more consistency.