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European servers or American?
ofer1992
Member Posts: 2
Hey
I'm considering on buying LOTRO as I am a big fan of the Lord of The Rings.
I have tried the trial. Now I face a problem:
I live closer to europe then to america.
I want to know what are the differences between the two continents in terms of population size and focus of the devs and such. also, I would like to know if the higher ping and the difference in time (about 7-10 hours of difference) is critical.
Thanks in advance
Ofer
Comments
Do the trial in both regions, so you know how the connection issues are for you. Enable the network status icon in your options and see how it goes. In my experience, a ping below 400ms is nice, around 600-800ms noticeable (but still playable well), around 1000-1200 is already somewhat annoying (still can play if you can get used to some odd things
). The gameplay of some classes is more ping resistant (e. g. Loremaster, since your pet knows no lag) than others (Burglar). In PvP a high ping is of course a big disadvantage.
The US servers get all new books earlier (can be up to 2 weeks, no news yet on when Book 13 will arrive on the EU servers), they have better promotions, access to the lorebook (some kind of official lotro-wiki), access to Roheryn (the test/preview server), forums read by the devs more often, better customer service, cheaper subscription fees, and the game itself is cheaper, too. So I would choose the US servers in case of doubt. Codemasters is also banning certain IPs outside the EU, another reason to be careful about them.
The time difference is an issue if you are planning to raid a lot. However, you will also be able to find groups during off-times (especially at the weekend), and being an off-time player has also the advantage, that you can farm resources or mobs, when everybody else is asleep
I currently live in a place far from both the US and the EU. At release I chose the EU servers, because it was a bit easier for me to get my hands on the EU retail version. But right now I am regretting my decision somewhat. The community on the EU servers is very nice though