Okay, i saw some other guy post about this and i thought if we inundate the forums with cries for an AUS server we may have a chance of getting some real discussion going on here. I’ll preface why its important to have Australian servers by saying that i was a long time wow player, starting around vanilla. Now with its queue based action system, ie press button in sequence attacks happen in that sequence, it was generally okay with a constant 400 ping. However, this doesn’t hold up for Gw2, because of all the timings that come with playing the game, whilst it can be argued that a player can just learn the tells, Anet constantly preaches about having a good game experience for all but for those of us on the other side of the world it seems we always get the short end.
Given that this is the golden age of gaming i sincerely hoped that depending on where you are situated in the world you wouldn’t get preferential treatment, but this statement holds true. Wow recently, (i think it was October last year) implemented Australian servers and that quite frankly changed the game. OCE raiding guilds could now compete for world parses, they could raid competitively. As a direct result of lower ping, players could explore other avenues and experience the game as it was intended to be, PVP suddenly became more fun and enjoyable! Now, we get to the part where i discuss the drawbacks for Anet; WvW would definitively take a hit as we might not have enough of a standing player base to keep it thriving, with this being said the game mode is already dead so that’s a non issue for someone like me. SPVP, i for one think there’s enough of a standing player base for this to be in good stead after an Australian server is introduced. PVE, my god would this make the game more enjoyable, no more using a thief short bow 3 and teleporting forward, no more Guardian leap where you can’t make the full distance, less trouble in challenging content. As it currently stands most Australian players have to be better than their US counterparts to play challenging content, dodging earlier, reacting faster. While this does genuinely breed a more skilled player base it doesn’t seem fair we have to be better players to achieve the same results, i mean this issue is already existent in class balancing (thief lol) lets not have it consistent across all play types in the game.
Lastly comes the cost, at what cost does this come to ANET our overlords, well the answer is not as much as you might think. There are plenty of Korean mmo’s with Australian servers that can consistently prop up their servers despite no active sub fee; and this holds true even when their servers are well and truly dead. In most cases they are not backed by a major publisher with monetary or infrastructural backing. Essentially its entirely possible for Anet to provide us with this service, whether or not they will i have no clue.
In summation, Anet has the funds, the knowledge and power to implement such changes to the existing infrastructure or build a foundation here in Australia. Despite this they are being held back, maybe they know that the metrics of returning players won’t warrant such a costly venture, maybe they know we’ll play regardless; despite this less popular mmo’s manage to provide this service, so i really don’t see whats holding Anet back.
P.S Have some dank discussion and lets have some REd responses ayy anet, pls give me reasons.