Playing ArcheAge from Singapore
ArcheAge: Unchained (AAU) will be launching soon in Oct 2019. When it was announced to be non pay-2-win, a lot of players who left the original game are excited to get back into it. Even players who have not tried the game before are hyped about AAU. Many players, especially from Oceania, are discussing about which server to go to. Players from Singapore are talking about it too.
NA or EU server?
For many years, I have chosen to play mmorpgs on NA servers because my friends and guild members prefer NA to EU. The reason they gave was that NA servers are more stable than EU servers. I do not know if this is still a valid reason nowadays. However, I know that when choosing a game server, it is good to choose one which has low latency. This is because you would want to have a better response time and be able to chain combos, especially in a pvp heavy mmorpg with large scale battles. With that in mind, I did a test at https://pingtestlive.com/archeage and below is the result.
Above test was done with Fibre Broadband 1Gbps from ViewQwest Pte Ltd on 21 Sep 2019. Based on the result, it appears that the EU server would be better for me because of the lower latency. The current ArcheAge game is free to play, so I decided to test the response time using the Archer skill, endless arrows.
Below is a video comparison between the NA (left) and EU (right) servers without any VPN software. The characters are at the same distance away from the training target. Basically, I am just holding down the number 1 key.
At around 50 ping difference, you can see that the EU character shoots at a much faster rate. You can also see that the NA character sometimes slowed down. At 200+ ping, it is quite a disadvantage. So is there any way to improve the ping?
VPN Software: ExitLag
For the past few months, I have noticed that many YouTube game content makers have been promoting ExitLag. And I have been hearing good things about it from my friends who have used it. One even said that it is the best VPN he has used so far. I decided to download and give it a try since there is a 3 days free trial.
Below is a video comparison for the NA server without (left) and with ExitLag (right) running. Similarly, the character is at same distance away from the training target, and just holding down the number 1 key.
Below is a video comparison for the EU server without (left) and with ExitLag (right) running. Similarly, the character is at same distance away from the training target, and just holding down the number 1 key.
Below is a video comparison between the NA and EU server. Both are running ExitLag with NA around 165 ping and EU around 150 ping. The character is at same distance away from the training target, and just holding down the number 1 key.
Even though the NA server is only 15 ping more than the EU server after running ExitLag, it seems that EU is still the better choice for me. This is only my personal experience. Your Internet Service Provider may have a better route to NA than EU. Do the test yourself. If you are struggling with lag, I highly recommend using a VPN. It does make quite a difference most of the time.
If you do decide to purchase ExitLag, then please consider doing so by using my referral link below. Thank you very much.
Gameplay Videos - EU Server
Official Discord for ArcheAge: Unchained