NA and EU data centers confirmed.

[TimonLoon]

After watching the video they are indeed regional servers.

[Delsus]

After watching the video they are indeed regional servers.

I really don't think it is, because they would need 1 server for EU possibly 2 and that is not a datacenter a datacenter is many servers, and if they have regional datacenters connected to Japan, we would get our cross cultural play, while getting good latency to the nearest server and SE can control where the traffic is going to Japan, it's a brilliant way and SE should do it.

[Zumi]

I really don't think it is, because they would need 1 server for EU possibly 2 and that is not a datacenter a datacenter is many servers, and if they have regional datacenters connected to Japan, we would get our cross cultural play, while getting good latency to the nearest server and SE can control where the traffic is going to Japan, it's a brilliant way and SE should do it.

I don't know of a single MMO that does that. SE said you can still play on not your own regions servers though.

[Delsus]

I don't know of a single MMO that does that. SE said you can still play on not your own regions servers though.

It doesn't matter that no other MMOs do it, but it could be a very good way, if SE really wanted to throw money at it, the could even lease a line between sites, this would give amazing speed, but it will cost a lot so I don't think they will.

The problem is about control currently SE cannot control the path data takes, with this method they have a lot more control, and can choose the fastest path to Japan.

[Zumi]

It doesn't matter that no other MMOs do it, but it could be a very good way, if SE really wanted to throw money at it, the could even lease a line between sites, this would give amazing speed, but it will cost a lot so I don't think they will.

The problem is about control currently SE cannot control the path data takes, with this method they have a lot more control, and can choose the fastest path to Japan.

Data center is just a word for a place where servers are stored doesn't matter how many or how few there are its still a data center. Yoshi said in the video, "Players will have a choice of selecting a server based in their region or a server overseas." There was nothing to imply that they will connect all these server together in some complex mirroring shared data set up, that would cause more lag, waste more bandwidth and be hard and unreasonable to set up.

Its just that you can play on your regions servers or another region if you wish. Like you have a lot of JP friends you can play on the JP region ones if you want.

Basically they are giving everything players have been asking for. People who wanted less lag and to play on a local regional server. Also accommodating people who wish to play on a international server that isn't in their own region they are allowing this still.

[Delsus]

Data center is just a word for a place where servers are stored doesn't matter how many or how few there are its still a data center. Yoshi said in the video, "Players will have a choice of selecting a server based in their region or a server overseas." There was nothing to imply that they will connect all these server together in some complex mirroring shared data set up, that would cause more lag, waste more bandwidth and be hard and unreasonable to set up.

Its just that you can play on your regions servers or another region if you wish. Like you have a lot of JP friends you can play on the JP region ones if you want.

Basically they are giving everything players have been asking for. People who wanted less lag and to play on a local regional server. Also accommodating people who wish to play on a international server that isn't in their own region they are allowing this still.

Honestly if I am forced on an EU server I will quit, if I am forced to choose between an EU or a NA server I will quit, I do not want to be isolated from my friends across the pond, but if I am forced to play on a dead server most of the time I will never get anything done.

Cross connecting servers and keeping them in sync is not hard, and it will not cause more lag, a standard internet connection fluctuates a lot because of potential problems a long the path, however if SE gets control of how the traffic moves it can reduce lag a lot. The only time it will cause problems is if you don't know how to configure routers and switches.

Also you don't know any MMO because very few MMOs are properly world wide, as in everyone plays together, the only ones I know are FFXI, FFXIV and STO everyone else its regional servers or GTFO.

[rubina]

I can see it being a benefit for performance, but I really do like teaming with friends & find new acquaintances around the JP & Europe timezones.

[Shura]

I don't know of a single MMO that does that. SE said you can still play on not your own regions servers though.

No other MMORPG allows its players from around the world to play together on the same server like ffxi/ffxiv does either. We are talking about large scale cross-region play here, comparing it to MMOs that have region lock makes no sense. That being said, i honestly don't know what they plan to do with the data-centers in 2.0 but i do hope it does not region lock us, as i want to continue to play with friends from around the world.

[Antipika]

I don't know of a single MMO that does that. SE said you can still play on not your own regions servers though.

The only thing it means is that it won't be region locked like in WoW, SWTOR or Rift. An NA WoW account cannot be used on EU servers. Same for SWTOR etc. The list of server displayed will only be the ones of the region of your account.

For XIV, the way I read it is

"You can pick any server you want, regardless of its geographical situation and the region of your SQEX Account".

So as a French player, using an EU account, I could play on an EU, NA or JP server. World transfer between these as well. But playing on NA or JP will mean higher latency for me. Others MMO don't allow that. You are only free to move from servers to servers within your region. (Which often have a single language tied to them for EU.)

Edit : Nvm I did reread your post, we say the same

Cross connecting servers and keeping them in sync is not hard, and it will not cause more lag, a standard internet connection fluctuates a lot because of potential problems a long the path, however if SE gets control of how the traffic moves it can reduce lag a lot

By 50~70ms top from EU to JP. That's not a lot and would still remain 200ms+ for EU. If you want to reduce that by "a lot", be the next Nobel prize in physics and find a new way for data to transit faster across the globe.