Separate servers logic!

[firith]

So I have been wondering, what's the real purpose of having different servers for EU, US and Asia for that matter. Is it only convenience for management and logistics of having all the geographical locations locked out from each other?
Yeah, it is likely that you will have better response time if you choose a server closer to you, but what is really the need of not allowing players to join whichever realm they would like to may it be in eu or us? Some other games already use this approach with no problems, so is it an issue regarding how much money players pay according to the geographical region?
I think this region lock is kind of bs, the game should actually promote a global community. Language issues already exist in the current state of the game so it should not be an excuse. Moreover, with "same" servers all the drama of who had a little advantage in the first world race would be over imo.

[Deleted]

When you would try to get on a US server from Norway f.e. you will have a higher MS, because it needs more time to get the distance.

[firith]

When you would try to get on a US server from Norway f.e. you will have a higher MS, because it needs more time to get the distance.

Won't deny that, the issue is more about why isn't it the choice of the player to choose its own region. Why not have a tab that says EU and let the player decide if he wants to deal with the response time issues, instead of being completely locked out.

[Yig]

Won't deny that, the issue is more about why isn't it the choice of the player to choose its own region.

Why should they? You make it seem like there's some sinister intent behind it. It is what it is. Most people wouldn't find the lag tolerable, just like the huge problem Australian players had in Vanilla who had to play on American servers. WOW is a system built on top of the ruins of what once was yesterday, it's held together by shortcuts and compromises. The system has just been added to over the years and what you see is a result of that I imagine.

[Seriss]

In addition to my regular EU client and account, I had a US client/account once so I could play with friends from the US and New Zealand. I couldn't stand it for long. I wasn't even raiding. Dungeons were already annoying due to the latency/lag/disconnects. Suffice it to say that I shut down my US account after less than 6 months. It just wasn't fun to play like that, regardless of the people. The thought that I couldn't ever expect to raid with them properly took the fun out of it. It may not be much of a bother for someone who is merely levelling, but anything that you don't do solo, anything that involves other people relying on you... that sucks big time.

This idea is nice on paper, but everyone who has once upon a time connected to servers outside of their region or has to do so due to RL reasons can probably tell the one or the other story about how detrimental a "bad" connection is to your enjoyment of the game.

[firith]

The problem in my eyes is lack of choice. Your EU/US server would remain in the same place so you have no lag issues, but at the same time you will be able to log into another region server for whatever reason without needing to have a separate game copy.
I'm not proclaimed the current way blizz does it is bad or evil, actually they provide a great service, but it could be better by getting rid of the region lock such as they did it in Diablo 3 and soon on SC2. I find no real reason for not giving this choice to the players.

[Deleted]

Won't deny that, the issue is more about why isn't it the choice of the player to choose its own region. Why not have a tab that says EU and let the player decide if he wants to deal with the response time issues, instead of being completely locked out.

you're assuming people will take some responsibility for the server they choose? Which given the number of threads I've read of people who rolled on a PVP server and then complain about the PVP doesn't seem very likely.

[Deleted]

WOW is a system built on top of the ruins of what once was yesterday, it's held together by shortcuts and compromises.

This is so poetic, love it.

[firith]

you're assuming people will take some responsibility for the server they choose? Which given the number of threads I've read of people who rolled on a PVP server and then complain about the PVP doesn't seem very likely.

I seriously don't know how to respond to this. I get your point, but in my eyes people should assume the responsibility, yes. So should it be assumed that the problem is with the players who need to be guided all the time about the decisions they take during the game? is this stopping the growth of the game somehow?

[ripponesan]

If you open up the amount of fail a user can produce, you have to as well open up your support capabilities to get those failers back on track. Sounds simple, is simple.

Additionally maybe it is to please the masses. I am on an EU-Server, german language.
I wouldnt really looking forward to polish people spamming stuff in our trade chat that i cant even understand.
I have no hard feeling for polish guys or any other non german population. Tho i still hope you get my drift.

[Gurbz]

I seriously don't know how to respond to this. I get your point, but in my eyes people should assume the responsibility, yes. So should it be assumed that the problem is with the players who need to be guided all the time about the decisions they take during the game? is this stopping the growth of the game somehow?

You have no idea how much the D3 support forums got spammed with "All my characters are gone WTF Blizz?!?!?!?!" threads, at least back when I checked them regularly. It got to the point that I kept a text file on my desktop so I could just copypasta "Make sure you have the correct region selected" each time I saw one of them.

So yeah, the human capacity for derp must never be underestimated.

[Organoth]

You are also forgetting that different regions and countries have different laws about video games. Take China for example, their game is way different then what we play in the US because certain things are against the law their. Undead characters all look like pale humans because showing skeletons is against the law there. It does not really affect WoW, but in Germany you are not allowed to have lots of blood or graphic violence. So much so that even in a cartoon looking game like Team Fortress 2 you don't explode into body parts, you explode into balloons and confetti. (Yes I know that mode is available in the US also)

So while I may not know all the reasons, there are probably legal reasons why there are different game clients for different regions. It's just a matter of common sense and convenience that the servers for those regions are tied to the game client.

[Deleted]

you're assuming people will take some responsibility for the server they choose? Which given the number of threads I've read of people who rolled on a PVP server and then complain about the PVP doesn't seem very likely.

That's a terrible analogy: post-CRZ PvP servers with flying mounts etc bear little resemblance to how they were in Vanilla.

A better one would be if they let you roll on a US server from EU with a 30ms ping and then after 5 years arbitrarily added 500ms to your latency.

It'd be an even closer analogy if they just decided to relocate the euro servers to USA and tell people they always had latency and there mi ght be a bit more now but have a better community to make up for it...

[greysaber]

have you ever actually played on a server with multiple languages (4-6)?

it's quite annoying.

edit:

not to mention the cultural differences and viewpoints toward the game, loot rules, what to say after a wipe, etc. it's quite jarring how other people/regions play this and other games.

[firith]

You are also forgetting that different regions and countries have different laws about video games. Take China for example, their game is way different then what we play in the US because certain things are against the law their. Undead characters all look like pale humans because showing skeletons is against the law there. It does not really affect WoW, but in Germany you are not allowed to have lots of blood or graphic violence. So much so that even in a cartoon looking game like Team Fortress 2 you don't explode into body parts, you explode into balloons and confetti. (Yes I know that mode is available in the US also)

So while I may not know all the reasons, there are probably legal reasons why there are different game clients for different regions. It's just a matter of common sense and convenience that the servers for those regions are tied to the game client.

I really think those kind of issue are more concerned with the client than the server itself since all the graphics are in your pc.

have you ever actually played on a server with multiple languages (4-6)?

it's quite annoying.

edit:

not to mention the cultural differences and viewpoints toward the game, loot rules, what to say after a wipe, etc. it's quite jarring how other people/regions play this and other games.

Then again is only an option, so far in other MMOs some server tend to be more (insert language here) oriented and so on, but people still have the option. I just can't get into my head that WoW community can be regarded as 'more stupid' one in comparison with other games that such a feature could not be implemented.