Hey Jax,
I was doing some digging and it seems like the pings listed on the server browser don't match up with what they are in game, at least for most of the NA servers.
I'm in Houston and it's been a little frustrating as of late because it seems like the only servers that are populated are Chicago servers, so I'm playing at 70+ ping. I was looked through most of the server IP locations on Battlemetrics to find the Wichita (are these new?) and Dallas servers.
With me being in Houston, you'd think all of the Wichita/Dallas servers would show towards the top with the lowest pings, but they don't. All of the Chicago servers show as having the lowest ping and all of the servers closest to me show as having the highest pings. A few of my friends who are in Texas (SAT and Dallas) are having the same issue.
But, when I join one of these servers in game, my ping is a third of what the server browser lists. It seems like the pings listed in SB are all the opposite of what they should be, so is it possible the IP addresses are mismatched or are pulling from a central location? Also, the lowest ping servers for me are constantly East as well. For example, Moon 1 is in Ashburn, VA but shows as my lowest ping server.
I'm assuming most people pull up the SB and join the lowest ping servers in their region which are listed at the top, so it seems only natural that the Chicago servers are constantly full for players looking NA Central. Not sure if you guys are aware of this, but wanted to bring it up because it could make a big difference for players experiencing the same frustrations.
Sincerely,
Your friendly neighborhood Blasto
Edit: Formatting