Hello!
I live in AK and the two coasts have different latency.
On the East Coast Server (Area 52):
113ms to 121ms (Ogrimmar)
On the West Coast Server (Hyjal):
76ms to 101ms (Ogrimmar)
Does the latency difference make that much of a difference? Hyjal seems dead at night, even for a West Coast server. I checked Tich also, just to make sure, and it is a little bit worse (probably due to population difference).
I always get PUGs in Stormrage and Area52 no problem, no matter what time of day/night I play and the economy seems less expensive.
Does changing to a west coast server really make that much of a difference?
Yes, in my opinion. Having a consistently lower ping improves any game by a ton.
I grew up on shaky dial up that couldn’t even handle WSG without DCing. Getting solid internet as a kid was a game changer.
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I’d say if you’re under 90-100ish to begin with, in a tab target MMORPG… it’s really not a big deal to lower it. But if you’re sitting at 100+, yeah, probably worth dropping it to 70.
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Consider that other places in the world play with 200-500 ms and they have to play around it after years.
If you think your current experience is affecting you and you have the chance to get less ms and the money isnt much to you by all means do it.
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If your not on a fibre connection already and one is available locally to you, then that is the best option for improving your gaming and internet experience.
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Yes, I have 1GB DL/50MB UL. But always a steady 20ms Ping (ISP test).
I doubt it will make much difference since they’re almost the same on either coast. You can make a toon on the other server and see if you notice lag while playing. But you do have to consider your playing schedule and if one server is dead when you play then it definitely won’t be worth switching.
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My Mains are on Stormrage/Area 52. I’ve tried to branch out and check Hyjal/Proudmoore/Wyrmrest Accord, but I personally don’t see a noticeable difference unless I literally go down to the microbar and do a latency check. Tbh, the economies on Stormrage/Area 52 are way better than the other 3 I have tried.
Large servers Illidan (horde) and sargeras (alliance) are central. Maybe try the middle time zone also.
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I honestly don’t think latency in WoW is even noticable until you get into the high 200s. I’ve played with a wide range, and find it perfectly playable throughout.
I think it’s much more important that your connection is consistent. No good having 70ms if it occasionally spikes to 300.
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I feel like most of the time its perfectly playable in most situations up to 150ish ms. It’s noticeable as you approach 200 but still playable, depending on spec. Some specs have some really tight windows for hitting things that are normally not particularly skill based, but that high ping can make inconsistent.
If I wanted to PvP I’d want less than 150 for sure. It matters more there.
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My Alliance toons are all on a pair of linked West Coast servers (Draenor-Echo Isles). My Horde toons are now all on Area 52. I’m in a 3rd time zone altogether. Never noticed any appreciable difference between them. (No clue about any possible niceties of being in the same zone as your server, since I am in Montana, which is Mountain Time, and there are no WoW servers in the zone at all.)
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https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/weird-lag-recently/845083/2
I suggest to see you look at the blue’s advice to check if there is any way to resolve connection issues before making the decision to decide on a server region (only 2 available for US).
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That is a really good point! I don’t PVP in WoW, but I do play FPS games, where that does make a difference.
I can’t link anything, but if you search on youtube there are videos that give tips to reduce latency. I haven’t tried any of this since mine seems OK most of the time, but maybe you might want to see if anything suggested in here helps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQPPJGkdbU0
Well, I guess I can put links. lol
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Not even close to being worth it, in my opinion. You’re unlikely to even notice the difference in this game, if you’re talking about a difference of only 20-30ms.
There’s your answer.
Of course, if you have other reasons to switch, and don’t mind the cost and headaches (name changes etc) then go for it I guess? But first I’d suggest just rolling new characters on the target realms to test it out. Let’s face it, with so much stuff being account wide now, you probably don’t even need to transfer anyway.
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