f13.net

Just wondering if I pick up a UK release box will I be able to play on US servers?

I'm about 90% sure that you'll end up on the Euro servers.  IIRC, Codemasters runs them.

Late to the party:

Yes, they're segregated. They're checking your billing address. If you're in Europe, you're ghettoized to the Euro-only Codemasters servers. Or, if you prefer, if you're in NA, you're ghettoized to the American-only Midway servers. Hooray for regional publishing?

In order to play on the same server with a friend from the UK, I had to put his subscription on my CC, and he PayPals me the fee. What's a little fraud between friends?

I am from Europe (Hungary) and I can play on the US servers just fine (except for aggravating disconnects on zonelines because the rapid UDP traffic makes my router freak out -- learn2TCP, Turbine!). HOWEVER, I've heard the same is not true if you want to play on the EU servers as an American, as Codemasters blocks access based on IP, or something.

You do need to find someone who will buy the $20 client key for you (and have it sent to your email address) and you can just paypal them the money after; my guildies took care of this for me. Their monthly payment system didn't refuse my Hungarian credit card either, as opposed to the online store, which gave me the "only american citizens, sucks to be you, blah blah" line.

Edit: There are different clients, and you'll need the US client to play on the US servers, which you can't download if you don't live in the US, I think (again, I had a friend send me the trial client downloader, it's only about 600kb... you can probably proxy the download too, but eh).

(major caveat: I am still in my free month, so they haven't tried to deduct the monthly fee yet :nda:)


-- Z.

I'm Australian, and found some cheap copies from a software store in the UK where I buy game now and then. I'd want to be playing on US servers though, as they're much closer and also I've always played (EQ/WoW/etc) on US servers..