Thinking about moving to NA - any differences?

[Valisha.8650]

Hey everyone. I have been playing GW2 for some time already, but the EU community was rather... disappointing for me, due to various reasons. Because of it, I would like to ask; Are there any major differences when it comes to community overall mindsets, between EU and NA? Anything worth mentioning, really.

[Acemos.2856]

I think there are more people in EU that use the LFG feature. Many in NA would rather try to find a guild and do group stuff like raids together, but that's just what I've heard from streamers like Mighty Teapot. There are cultural differences between NA and EU players, but it may be helpful for us to know what was disappointing about the EU community so we can tell you if those issues exist in NA as well. Also, consider ping difference too. Depending on where you are, you may experience more or less of a delay using skills and so on.

[voltaicbore.8012]

A wise person I know once told me, "wherever you go, there you are."

Without any other context, I can only guess that whatever bothered you about the EU community is likely going to be the same with the NA community. The reasons and motivations to be impatient or abusive with other players are the same on both sides of the Atlantic, and I think all you'll get out of the move is higher ping.

[Jukhy.2431]

I live in the EU but transferred to NA for a guild after my rl friends stopped playing and stayed because of the nice people I met.
In my experience the NA atmosphere is generally more friendlier but ofc there are random kittens everywhere so I might've just been lucky. It's been many years since I played in EU side so no idea what's it like nowdays. Currently in another guild I like so not even thinking of moving back.
Latency is not much higher for me but that depends on your location and connection. I also use a paid VPN service which likely helps too.

[Tuna Bandit.3786]

I have accounts on both side and hardly notice a difference except in details.

Only really noticed that WvW feels more desolate on EU than NA but consider it might simply be due to the exact servers I use.

[Danikat.8537]

I mainly play on EU but my second account is NA so I've spent some time on there as well, but only in core maps because my second account doesn't have the expansions. The only difference I've noticed is that map chat tends to be more active on NA, which can be good or bad depending on your perspective. More random chatter but also more arguments.

 

18 hours ago, Acemos.2856 said:

There are cultural differences between NA and EU players, but it may be helpful for us to know what was disappointing about the EU community so we can tell you if those issues exist in NA as well.

I agree with this. If you can tell us what specifically you're hoping for, or what you were disappointed by, we can give you a more informed answer rather than random observations.

[mercury ranique.2170]

I have an account at both sides of the pond and to be honest, I personally prefer the EU community (although the NA isn't bad at all).

Chat in NA is a bit more outspoken and people tend to be more active on guilds while in EU, the game tends to be happening more outside of guilds. keep in mind this is all in relation to eachother, they differ not much and more equal then different to begin with. The differences are minor. As said, we do not know what put you off in EU, but I somehow doubt you will find it better in NA, while online times can be an issuee

[Luthan.5236]

Can't talk about GW2 here - I have only played in the EU. But as for other games: I did not notice a big difference between international european players and the US.

The main problem I had back then when I started 2012/13 was: I am German and I wanted to avoid other German players as much as possible. Especially the Germans and French are more "competitive" - meaning they tend to get "toxic" easier. (At least from my subjective experience.) Then again: ... in PvE most people are nice (with some exeptions when a meta like Dragon's End fails where everyone is annoyed a bit then).

And the the WvW now we have the linking (soon alliances where worlds will be completely obsolete) and PvP always had been mixed players from all countries.

I have encountered (again this is about onlinegame sin general - not GW2) nice people and toxic people the same amount ... from EU/US. Usually mainly trying to avoid people from my own country. 😄

But I like the US  people and from the EU the Dutch, Polish, Britsh - all nice.

Please do not interpret it as a hate vs certain countries or people - of course I accept everyone. And I always try to be nice. This is just based on my personal experiences where I noticed that higher level of "competitive" play (more into optimizing, maximizing dps and playing for the win and not the fun) for people from certain countries. (Especially from my own.) It is okay to play like that. But taking the game "too serious" - make people more toxic easily (again my subjective impression only) - and I prefer to avoid this mentality.

I bet playing on the US servers months before (an kitten bit after) presidential elections there ... probably is not fun though. (Unless you disable the chat or the rules forbid talking about certain stuff lol. Remember an anime website where people basically posted only news to bash each others's favorite candidates lol.)

Edited April 16, 2022 by Luthan.5236

[Ashantara.8731]

On 4/12/2022 at 12:37 PM, Danikat.8537 said:

I mainly play on EU but my second account is NA so I've spent some time on there as well, but only in core maps because my second account doesn't have the expansions. The only difference I've noticed is that map chat tends to be more active on NA, which can be good or bad depending on your perspective. More random chatter but also more arguments.

Oh, trust me: the EU map chat is just as lively. What has changed over the past couple of years is the tone and content of conversations. It's like the playerbase's average IQ has dropped by 50% and the toxicity has increased by 500% (yes, that's two zeros there).