[ke_ivan]

Too bad we'll be out of it, but we can play on taiwan's server! lol (Yes, it's as TAdel and Dox said, we can buy TW accounts to play with Koreans. That's what I meant.)

From: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/3085760#blog


We're pleased to announce StarCraft II region linking, an exciting upcoming change that will connect a number of StarCraft II communities around the world for multiplayer matchmaking and communication purposes. In conjunction with the start of Season 3, we’ll be linking the European and Russian StarCraft II communities together; North America and Latin America will also be linked together, as will Korea and Taiwan.

Region linking will benefit players in the connected regions in a number of ways. First and foremost, a linked community means a larger pool of players to improve our automated matchmaker. Whether you're an elite Grandmaster or a Bronze-league all-star, more players in the mix means that we'll be able to find you a matchup more quickly and more accurately. Players will also get access to a broader range of custom map games, which in turn means wider audiences for mapmakers. Those of you who have friends in the linked region will also be able to add them to your Battle.net friends lists once the region linking is complete.

For the vast majority of players, the process will be seamless. Just log in, play, and say hello to all of your new friends (with a sneaky drop in their mineral line). For more information about region linking, check out the FAQ.



Region Linking FAQ


Q. What is region linking?
A. Region linking is the process of connecting multiple Battle.net regions to each other for multiplayer matchmaking and communication purposes. The North America and Latin America regions will be linked, Europe and Russia will be linked, and Korea and Taiwan will be linked. In effect, the players within the linked regions will be put together into a single group instead of two separate ones -- benefitting players in these linked regions in a number of ways.

Q. Why are you doing this? What are the benefits of region linking?
A. Having a larger pool of players means the automated matchmaker for ladder games will be faster and more effective at finding opponents at or near your skill level. Similarly, more players means faster queue times for custom games, which benefits both players and map creators.

From a social perspective, players will be able to create character and Real ID friendships with people from the newly linked region, which they couldn’t have before.

Q. When will this happen?
A. The region linking process will happen at the same time as StarCraft II Season 3, which is currently scheduled for the week of July 18.

Q: Will region linking affect which game-client languages I have access to or the payment methods I use?
A: No. The client languages and game-access methods available to you in your region will not change when regions are linked. You will simply be able to play and connect with an even larger group of players.

Q. Do I have to do anything?
A. No -- linking will happen automatically.

Q. Does this mean that the ladders of linked regions will be combined?
A. Yes, players from linked regions will be combined into a single ladder. This means you'll have access to a larger pool of players at all skill levels to play against, which will improve the experience for players no matter what league they play in.

Q. How will this affect my matchmaking rating (MMR)? Will I need additional placement matches?
A. Your MMR will be unaffected by region linking. Placement matches will be handled the same way for the start of Season 3 as they were for Season 2.

Q. Will playing with players from the linked region impact my in-game latency?
A. All players in the linked regions will be connecting and playing through the same data centers that they were using prior to region linking, which is the main reason why linking these regions together is fairly straightforward. There should be no impact on game performance.

Q. I'm a map creator -- do I have to republish my maps or do anything differently?
A. No special action is required. All of your published maps will be retained during the region linking process.

Q: How does region linking affect the Grandmaster league?
A: After region linking, players from linked regions will be combined into a single ladder. This applies to the Grandmaster league as well, and there will only be a single Grandmaster league between the linked regions.

[Dox]

That's pretty cool. Different from the SEA/NA separate server access, just a complete combination of the less-saturated servers. I wonder what impact this would have for someone who had an account on both servers. Unlikely but still.

[Aean(:]

What you mean we can play on taiwan server o.O Where does it say that

Quick Comments

	ToRDeathsFang:	Wow you asked a good question. +3 for you
	ke_ivan:	Yeah! Sorry for the mislead guys!

[Dox]

I think he's confused. OR he means people with KR accounts can. But the TW server is just being merged with the KR server, so technically it's not the TW server anymore. :P

[NDG.Stitch]

Wait does this mean the people who have an NA account from the SEA package will also be playing Latin Americans?
This new region linking thing should have no effect on our SEA/NA packages right?

[ToRDeathsFang]

Originally Posted by StitchStarcraft

Wait does this mean the people who have an NA account from the SEA package will also be playing Latin Americans?
This new region linking thing should have no effect on our SEA/NA packages right?

Reason says it shouldn't Our NA acc wil merge the Latin one so we will all be playing. Needless to say it has no effect on SEA

[Dox]

Originally Posted by StitchStarcraft

Wait does this mean the people who have an NA account from the SEA package will also be playing Latin Americans?
This new region linking thing should have no effect on our SEA/NA packages right?

As he said in the OP, it has no impact on SEA whatsoever. Effectively they've just "removed" the low-population servers and connected them to the high-population servers.

[ke_ivan]

Originally Posted by Dox

I think he's confused. OR he means people with KR accounts can. But the TW server is just being merged with the KR server, so technically it's not the TW server anymore. :P

Yup! That's what I meant lol. Most of us can't get a kr account, but now that those are being merged, we can get a taiwanese account and play with koreans (and taiwanese, of course). But we're just really interested playing with the Koreans. lulz.

[jason]

Link sea to every region ffs!

This is just anti-social!

Quick Comments

ToRDeathsFang:

this

[deL]

Originally Posted by Dox

I think he's confused. OR he means people with KR accounts can. But the TW server is just being merged with the KR server, so technically it's not the TW server anymore. :P

Not really merged, they can just play each other on ladder now. I think what the OP means is that we can buy TW accounts through bnet without the need for Korean IDs to play on the KR ladder (but without realid with Korean server players afaik).

[Dox]

Originally Posted by TAdeL

Not really merged, they can just play each other on ladder now. I think what the OP means is that we can buy TW accounts through bnet without the need for Korean IDs to play on the KR ladder (but without realid with Korean server players afaik).

Q. Does this mean that the ladders of linked regions will be combined?
A. Yes, players from linked regions will be combined into a single ladder. This means you'll have access to a larger pool of players at all skill levels to play against, which will improve the experience for players no matter what league they play in.

Q: How does region linking affect the Grandmaster league?
A: After region linking, players from linked regions will be combined into a single ladder. This applies to the Grandmaster league as well, and there will only be a single Grandmaster league between the linked regions.

What I mean is, you'll still be physically connecting to battle.net via the same gateway, but there is only one ladder/server.

But yeah, the thing about buying Taiwain accounts to get KR access is correct.

This is a step in the right direction for getting us connected to the rest of the world.

[Maynarde]

Originally Posted by jason

Link sea to every region ffs!

This is just anti-social!

In an ideal world everyone wants this! I do too of course. The lag would be intense though The technology to do this without causing large amounts of lag (in some cases unplayable) for some players doesn't exist / hasn't been implemented.

They separated the regions for this reason in the first place. The servers being merged seem to be geographically close to eachother. SEA area isn't THAT far from Taiwan or China but Korea is definitely closer. Oh wells. Here's hoping for viable merge options in the future D:

[Disadvantage]

This will happen to SEA at some stage probably. Does anyone have any strong thoughts for or against this?

Personally, I wouldn't like to have my region merged. I like looking at the familiar faces in GM battle it out, and I would miss having occasional chats about the weather in Melbourne and whatnot. I'm not sure what our population is like compared to that of Russia, LA or Taiwan, but hopefully it's enough for us to keep our tight knit community here!

[Dox]

Global: 3,178,805
North America: 1,102,053
Europe: 864,445
Korea: 519,159
China: 251,518
Taiwan: 146,402
South East Asia: 134,381
Russia: 104,071
Latin America: 56,776

After season 3 kicks off, we'll be the lowest population server.

[Maynarde]

EDIT: Double post. Whoops.

[Maynarde]

Originally Posted by Dox

Global: 3,178,805
North America: 1,102,053
Europe: 864,445
Korea: 519,159
China: 251,518
Taiwan: 146,402
South East Asia: 134,381
Russia: 104,071
Latin America: 56,776

After season 3 kicks off, we'll be the lowest population server.

Definitely gonna be a tight knit community :P I don't know if we'll ever be merged with any other servers though... Hope I'm wrong.

[Halstrom]

I believe the SEA server is in Singapore. Given the requirement for similar latency it would mean SEA would most likely merge with Taiwan/Korea server (if it was merged in the same way). Who want's to play against the Korean's?

[Maynarde]

Even though playing Koreans can be scary, getting hammered on KR is probably a better way to learn that winning on NA Hope we do merge, but yeah I don't see it happening.

[deL]

Yeah SEA is officially the worst server now ;(

Personally every Aussie would like being connected to Korea as there's no change in latency but I think it would be worse for SEAsians and NZers.

Originally Posted by Dox

What I mean is, you'll still be physically connecting to battle.net via the same gateway, but there is only one ladder/server.

But yeah, the thing about buying Taiwain accounts to get KR access is correct.

This is a step in the right direction for getting us connected to the rest of the world.

Originally Posted by Disadvantage

This will happen to SEA at some stage probably. Does anyone have any strong thoughts for or against this?

As Dox mentioned there, TW already connected to the KR server, LA already connected to the NA server, etc. it's just that the actual ladders and players were segregated. Now they basically just join the 'ladders'. SEA has it's own server so can't really be compared to the other linked servers - linking us to KR or NA would impact the gameplay from what it is now.

[Next_rim]

Long awaited change, I have no idea why this wasn't implemented at the very beginning. It was obvious that all decent players will buy either Korean or EU accs. All good CIS (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus) players already play on EU, except for maybe Abver, Adolf and Dimaga. Strelok, WhiteRa and Bratok are in EU GM. All my masters clanmates play EU.

I wonder how will they change the Russian subscription model.

Russian server sc2 costs ~$15, you get 1 month free, and have to pay subscription $6 a month just like in WoW. I bought an EU acc for 60 euro (~$84). Having EU acc pays for itself only after 13 months or so, when Russian subscription costs slowly start to kick in.