Quote Originally Posted by Shioban View Post
If the entirety of EU/AU players were unable to play the game, THEN cause for an EU datacentre would be considered.
I don't disagree with much of your post, but that's a pretty high frickin bar. If the entirety of a continent are unable to play the game then a datacentre could be considered?

The connections have improved significantly since pre 2.1. I don't know if it was that connection in NY fixing their equipment/line or what, but endgame stuff was more or less unplayable back then. I got my MNK relic by moving out of plumes before the cast bar even appeared. If I wasn't moving when it appeared, I got hit. End of story. That's unplayable. And while the argument may be that it wasn't SE's problem it was the level 3 line in NY, it's a connection we wouldn't have had to go through if it were in the EU.

Fewer connections is a) lower ping in its own right and b) fewer opportunities for something to go wrong.

Europe has more than double the population of North America and better infrastructure in a lot of these countries. I find it hard to believe they couldn't rent the equipment in a server farm in the Netherlands, for example. Eliminating the majority of the setup costs.