I have always played on the local servers in online games. Not only the time difference is making me to do so, but also the fear of latency issues. I had my friends here, pre made guilds, and raiding times that are normal. But with WAR I have come to have doubts on playing on EU servers, and the prospect of a US server seems more and more interesting. Partly because playing with the other WAR bloggers sounds like fun ;)I started having the doubts with the EU version of the WAR's official site, which is badly updated (we still have no Realm War page), out-of-date (the FAQ list "Early 2008" as release date for WAR), and use Flash.
Recently, it was also announced by Mark Jacobs that the preorder standard edition of WAR wouldn't receive an Open Beta invite, despite that the same version in the US does. Jacobs didn't give a reason; it was just what he had been told. By GOA one can only guess.
The US/EU split in WoW was really bad in the beginning, with EU players visiting the US site to get new information, but it works pretty well now. Still, it's not something I would like to experience again; I didn't like the feeling of being a second grade customer then, and I sure as h3ll won't like it this time either.
There is nothing that stops you from purchasing a US version of the game and play on the US servers, but that would have some negative effects. From where I live and some city on the east coast in US, like New York, the time difference would be 6 hours. Ouch, that's a lot. For me it would be midnight when it's 6 PM there. It could work, if you were rich and never had to go to work/school, or if you worked some really weird schedule. I guess it's nothing for me, and I just have to bend over and take the feeling of being a second grade customer.
But the possibility still nags me. Could it work? Are there people who do it?
Personally I do it all the time. I'm based in Dublin and have always played on US servers in my mmos. I did mention somewhat a similar subject (timezones and the like) on my own blog /selfpromotion
ReplyDeleteEvenings if you have east coast friends and certainly weekends it can work in your favour as people come online and start things up, but at the same time some of the best content tends to get run late at night (GMT wise)
I went and bought the NA copy of the game as well that's where all my CoX friends will be. It's not impacted my Cox gaming and 9-5 work. Here's to see how it goes when there are fewer European and Oceanic people around.
I did it when I moved to the US for two years and was still on an EU DAoC server, was great actually. But I'm still going EU this time.
ReplyDeleteps. just noticed your desc of us in the sidebar and have foiled you by not using a cat this time ;p
ReplyDeleteInteresting, but I will probably stick with EU, in case some of my old WoW guildies decide to switch game.
ReplyDeleteYea I saw the hedgehog, aritrary. Maybe should change it from cats to animals ;)
Don't even mention LOTRO where you were locked off from the US servers if you bought in the EU.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if people found workarounds or ways by this..
But, it sure was a mess.
People were livid.
Hope this does not cause too much of a stink either.