Servers: To switch or not to switch?

Despite the update that Anet rolled out on Wednesday that supposedly fixes server issues, me and my party experienced a lot of lag again last night, and one or two of them were dropped through an Err=7 halfway through Thunderhead Keep.

I'm beginning to get seriously frustrated at the European server, and I'm currently weighing up the pros and cons for switching over to the US server....

At the moment, the list looks like this:

Pros:
1. I'll be switching to a more robust server that's suited to handling larger groups
2. More access to FoW and UW, as America hold Favour for good long periods of time, whereas Europe are lucky if favour lasts for an hour.
3. No language barriers. Most Americans will be speaking english, whereas in Europe, there are a number of different languages making PUGs awkward.

Cons:
1. Bandwidth may struggle in sending signals to and from the US, so while I may be on a more robust server, I may still get lag or dropout
2. It would be more awkward to visit my guildies and friends
3. There's no guarantee that problems with lag will disappear. - Maybe the American and Korean servers are also hampered with the same lag problems, so my game experience might be worse!

I know that I can switch servers 4 times before I get lumbered, but before I even make the first switch, I'd like to hear from other people who are considering making the switch, who have made the switch, or who think that switching is a good/bad idea. - Also, any people on the USA servers. How is the server coping with you guys and gals? Is it smooth, do you get lag, or have you even contemplated going onto the European servers?

Well I moved to the US servers after we first DAY of Guild Wars... and I never looked back.

More English speakers, larger groups, massive amount of PvP cannon fodder and some of the best HoH battles I've ever seen.

Lag is not an issue for me, my ping at good times is 300, and at bad times (If I have vent running) 1200.

Now you could say that 300 is high, but oddly in this game its not at all. even in massive 8v8 battles in the HoH while vent going, and a ping of 1000, it still fine.

If your not happy on the Euro servers, I say move.

ADDED: Guild Wars has never lagged out on my (I have a 1Mbit Connection), however it has crashed due to graphics card overheat, but that's another story.

In euro server, i have found that u can find items more easier-not from drops, from people... in my opinion in euro servers the items they are selling is cheaper there. For instance, a crystlaline sword- lets say 13%^50%, which would be around 800K in us it would b around 500K in europeon becuz not many rich ppl are in euro servers for that they have to sell it for low

I have no bandwidth problems sending to the US from Australia, so Con 1 is probably invalid.
It may be the your ISP and not the Euro servers that are at fault. I have a guildmate who often experiences lag and dropouts on US while the rest of the guild do not.

Thanks for the answers so far...it looks as if America has favour on the server front...

Spiritofcat - I did initially think that the problem might lie in my own ISP, but over a period of playing GW with other players on other ISPs who all seem to experience the same lag and dropout rate as me, usually at the same time, I do believe that the european server is the prime suspect.

Case in point. About a week ago, me and some guildies were all in the FoW on one of those rare occasions where Europe had favour. (No, this isn't going to turn into a WaW gripe) - We've assembled the team, paid the 1k, and started working our way through. At one point, however, there was a 10 second pause mid-battle. When the game reasserted itself, 5 of our party were disconnected, 2 of our party were dead, and one was being hacked to bits by a group of skeleton beserkers. (He didn't make it) - When we were zapped back to ToA, the public chat was full of comments like "Noooooo!", "WTF happenned", and just about every curse you could think of, as everybody seemed to have had a similar experience to us and got either booted out, or failed in mid-battle due to not being able to attack.

If it was solely my ISP, I doubt that I would witness a scene like that.

I moved from Europe to USA servers about 3 weeks & very rarely get any lag now, where as b4 I used to get lots. Also have found it a lot easier to get groups together & also to buy & sell stuff. So my advice is to change over

Well...another day in the life of an adventurer on the European server.

Played some PvP and PvE - still got lag. Weren't they supposed to have fixed this in the recent updates?
Went to ToA and rooted for Esoteric Warriors - they didn't make it. Oh well...maybe next month....
Went to ToPK so I could have a crack at HoH - Oh dear. Either I've switched to Bork!Bork!Bork! or several team members don't speak english. Still had a good few good battles, but still noticed lag problems....

I know that Gaile Grey has apparently said that there will be some sort of update/reward/improvement/whatever coming soon and that people should think before they switch, and believe me, that is exactly what I'm doing, but despite the assertions that the lag problems are sorted out, I'm afraid it's business as usual, and I'm still getting lag....(not to mention that the "Ping" on the incoming whispers is now faulty), me and my guildies are very seriosuly contmplating packing up and going transatlantic.

What's stopping me from doing it instead of yapping about it on this here forum? Well, for a start, I'm not sure how to switch servers. Secondly, despite the fact that the lag is still noticeable, I'm still hoping for that uber1337 implementation that will fix the server problems for good....and if I hear word that the uber1337 update WAS the update on Wednesday, and there is no other in the pipeline, I'm off.

I considered switch too, but I got two contradicting statements from aNet.

I asked for advise on some other thread, wether europeans should switch or not, and wether the american server could handle the additional load.
I got "no" (don't switch) and "yes" (server can take the additional load)

On some other thread I read something about us (europe) regretting it, if we'd switch.

Nobody really seems to be able or willing to explain, why europe shouldn't switch.

There is no point of not switching, besides some Arena Net PR person dropping hints ... I still waiting for the cape toggle that was also hinted ...

I mean serious, the european servers are being PAID no matter who plays on then but if few people play there they simply are not worth the cost ... Arena Net does not wish a entire server population to switch severs since it would render such servers pointless but they would still have to maintain then.

I played on US servers for the entire extent of release, although solely for language reasons. Its stable, and very computer friendly.

This is my big dilemma too...!

I don't want to see a mass exoudos from the European servers, but the situation now is threatening a vicious circle. Lag would probably decrease for anyone who stays on the European servers if everyone switched, as there would be fewer players, but at the same time, there would be nobody in the districts to play with, so even those few who stayed would switch over for that reason alone.

Another question I'd like to throw up here....

When playing WaW PvP against America or Korea, which server actually hosts the PvP battle?

1. Bandwidth may struggle in sending signals to and from the US, so while I may be on a more robust server, I may still get lag or dropout
I don't have a problem.
2. It would be more awkward to visit my guildies and friends
Tell them to switch too?
3. There's no guarantee that problems with lag will disappear. - Maybe the American and Korean servers are also hampered with the same lag problems, so my game experience might be worse!
Again, no problem here.

Is it smooth, do you get lag, or have you even contemplated going onto the European servers?
I decided before retail to play on American server for a number of reasons, one being that it was totally obvious Europe would never have favor, another being the many languages and people refusing to use English.

I am in the New World but I switched to the Old World servers because my friends who play GW are all in Europe. So, lag due to intercontinental traffic is not an issue. Do have a lot of lag and drops, but then am doing "Life siphon" on a wireless network, so you could say this is the crappiest connection.

I found european servers have nicer people. A few warrior-humpers who prompt me to wish i could have a /slap emote, but i found promptly moving away or change server is fine.

Also, less WTB/WTS, no penis drawing so far and i could learn a bit more Dutch or speak in French sometimes.

All good for me

I did switch once but it felt wrong and I switched back. Heh guess I was never one for the easy ride. While I was on the US servers tbh I noticed no difference lagwise to the Euro servers.

im am suffering so much lag in the game now that the game freezes for up to 2 mins at a time. this started last week and its been getting worse.

I switched all of about 2 hours ago but I'm very happy I did. Not only can I now get into FoW/UW without having to wait til 1 am, I don't have to put up with broken or non-existent english as well. And the American community seems to be at least as good as the european if not better (although so far most of my time has been spent in UW). Obviously i can't comment on lag or technical issues but so far no poblems. Since A.net seems to have no plans to fix the language problems or change the favour system I would seriously suggest moving to the American server at least just for a bit to try it out.

Precisely. So should I base my decision wether to switch or not on a hint?

Something I don't understand: If the american server can take the load, why have an european server in the first place?
It should be a lot cheapter to consolidate the 2 servers and merge them into one.

Well can you imagine the adverage american player having to read german, italian and spanish in their game?

Thats the reason right there, europe is multi-cultural even if we hate each other guts, being exposed to other languages is common for most european gamers (since we pretty much became used to english, the only one with a problem might be the british since they were never forced to stand another language as the rest of europe ... the fact many british players moved to american servers because they had to read other languages says a lot) as I doubt thats something americans are used to and would like.

I guess that are other reasons, likely due to regulations since MMORPGs also have european servers.

It's not quite like that....

I can't speak for all the British population who switched, but the fundamental reason for me personally considering switching is LAG - I run a 2mb broadband line, and yet me and my guildies, or any PUG that I join always experience the same lag at the same time. Despite the fact that Anet say they've improved the build so that the server is more stable, it still lags like crazy. I'll concede that since the upgrade, I haven't experienced any Err=7 issues, but the very second I do, it will be TTFN Europe!

The language barriers is a secondary frustration. Usually, in random arena PvP groups, there is very little chat, and it's usually just "lol" etc. People get on with it, but if you're going to discuss tactics, even just assigning a caller in the group becomes a chore, and if the mainland European only understands French/Spanish/German etc., the result is either that no-one calls a target, or everyone calls a different target.

This isn't very frequent, since English is commonly used, and most GW players do seem to have a good grasp of English, to be fair. But at the same time, overcoming language barriers still is a problem that can cause several otherwise potential HoH-winning teams to fail.

Bottom line though, if I could just play a session of GW without the server freezing me up just as I'm about to take on a bunch of Mursaat, I'll be happy.

No, I can't image that, but they wouldn't have to read german, italian, spanish for french.

That's why we have districts.