NO 4 ME. Lag hasn't been a personal issue, so there is no added benefit of even having Regional data centers for me. I'm not entirely sure why it's so hard for some people to grasp that this WILL split the servers by language/region.. though I respect the opinion of those who could careless about it due to their lag issues. I personally enjoy playing/puggin with JP/EU/etc on off times, and even during primetime for big seasonal events. But even I know that the NA Data Center is my only viable choice unless I want to get stuck on a server where 90%+ of the population doesn't either speak my language, or play during my times. Servers now, and back in XI, had a good mix across the world so there were no heavily dead times (not so much these days of course...) and it was cool playing with other cultures and learning new languages and script. If the world/chat window becomes what you'd typically see in a WoW/Rift/etc.. just another -1 for XIV imo as it conforms to become the newest version of the same basic mmo. ARR doesnt really seem like it's trying to stand out anymore.. it's just salvaging what 1.0 was and trying to compete with the rest of the clones..