Starting out? Changing Servers? -- US Realm Data Center List

[softflow]

Just wanted to throw this out there to anyone starting out or maybe considering a new server. As we all know, the lag/ping times really affect multiboxers, especially in instances and PvP. Choosing a server in which you have a much better ping can help considerably. Here's that list:

http://www.wowwiki.com/US_realm_list_by_datacenter

What you'll want to do is run a tracert to the IP addresses listed for each Data Center (Boston, Dallas, LA, Seattle). Anything sub 50 on a cable setup is excellent. Anything over 150 might be a nightmare for you, depending on your patience and timing while multiboxing. You can basically ignore the time zone settings for the server as they have no bearing on your ping time, and strangely enough have no bearing on where the physical server cluster is located.

As info, I use the quartz addon and it does a great job showing lag times on each cast. Outside instances my numbers are anywhere from 30ms to 70ms, and inside they're around 100-150ms. Imagine having everything you do take half a second...if you choose a server on a Data Center that you have a higher ping to, this will be your experience. It won't be very fun!

[Enndo]

Thanks! This deserves a sticky!

[Chranny]

No offence but I thought this was common knowledge here along with the EU data center list, guess I was wrong. It's pretty old, though the US list is still being maintained. The EU list is 3 years old. :<

[Enndo]

I never knew a list like this existed ;( I would always just make a lvl 1 on my intended desitnation realm and check the timezone, assuming the server was routed near me if the time zone was close.

[softflow]

Chranny, I thought so too, but over time I've seen lots of complaints around lag and response. If it helps anyone out, I'm happy.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Heh, well that explains my 9-13ms pings here in Dallas. :P