I don’t believe that depending on where you buy the game, it requires you to play on that type of server. When I created my first character it gave me an option of any server I wished to play on, EU and US.
I think you can make your home “server” in the US as long is it isn’t full. You are right if your home “server” you select is EU you cannot guest to a US server and vice versa.
For absolute clarity incase I am off on home server options you might consider contacting support before you make your purchase. This will get you the most accurate answer and will provide you with documentation from Anet should something go wrong:
support.guildwars2.com
“Ask A Question” option top middle menue.
Also if you do guest US server to US server or EU server to EU server you can do PvE but not WvW. Just throwing that in incase you still end up on a different server than your friends.
Worst case scenario is you have to pick an EU server, create a character, maybe log in once, delete them and then you can pick a US one.
I don’t know what happens when you first create your account and like you I’ve heard mixed things – either you can pick any, or you have to pick one from your home region the first time, or that used to be the case and they’ve changed it and I don’t know which is right.
But I do know that if you’ve already picked a server and you want to transfer for you can pick from both regions and if you delete all your characters you can transfer for free.
Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).
I have a copy of the game, purchased in the UK, and play on a US server. Fairly sure you can choose a US server during set up, although it’s been a while since I set up my account.
Bought the game in the US, play on EU. Desolation is the only server I’ve ever selected in beta and at launch so there is no need to do any sort of ‘select a NA server then switch to an EU server’ silliness required.
