I am a 2500 Master League Zerg on the NA server, but I came from the SEA server. I stopped playing the SEA server once I became diamond, so I don't know how good the people in SEA are, but I really want to be playing on the server which has more skill.

Do you guys know which server is better in terms of skill? Keep in mind that I am a mid-level Master League Zerg on NA, so you can get an idea of where I am in terms of skill. Perhaps the NA server has bad players in the lower ranks but better players in the higher ranks, or vice versa etc.

Thanks!

michaelhasanalias

Korea (South)1231 Posts

January 24 2011 11:16 GMT

One major difference (or minor, depending on your perspective) is the addition of a gold expo on Jungle Basin on SEA, and also on SEA Shakuras Plateau is still a ladder map in 1v1.

I think many people would agree that there are both a higher number and higher quotient of good players on NA than SEA. This is supported by the data here: http://sc2ranks.com/stats/league/all/1/all

SEA has the highest percent of Bronze players (re: casual/inactive players), while NA has the lowest.

Svetz

Australia311 Posts

January 24 2011 11:21 GMT

Obviously purely an opinion based on a limited dataset here, but I've played on both and I found the top diamond players (before masters league) of considerably lower quality on NA than on SEA.

klauz619

453 Posts

January 24 2011 11:24 GMT

I had a very easy time going masters league on NA with a latency disadvantage as opposed to SEA.

It's like, until you get to the top 10-15 players, the NA region is just below par to EU/SEA.

Dommk

Australia4865 Posts

January 24 2011 11:25 GMT

There is A LOT more people on NA than SEA, as sad as it is, on peak time my Que times are better on NA than SEA...

By virtue of the size of NA, there are more poor players on NA, bu there are a lot more quality players on NA than SEA too, especially since most top players on SEA have moved to NA anyway. If your 2500 Masters you should probably stay in NA, if you were less I doubt it would matter.

Mitchlew

Australia428 Posts

January 24 2011 11:26 GMT

I use to play on SEA, then started on NA. I left SEA at platinum and am around 2400-2500 diamond on NA (low- mid i guess) went back and laddered on SEA and was getting completely rofl stomped by platinum SEA's. So back to NA I went, I dunno if its more skill or different play style but I was still surprised I couldnt beat some platinums or low diamonds over there.

LilClinkin

Australia667 Posts

January 24 2011 11:28 GMT

I play on both, equivalent rank SEA players are better than their NA counterparts.

justjuice

New Zealand165 Posts

January 24 2011 11:31 GMT

This is stupid .... 1.NA has more people 2.Matchmaking gives you games against players of similar skill level 3.No matter what skill level you are NA will have players of your caliber. The difference in skill level should not matter at all and obviously top NA>top SEA.

michaelhasanalias

Korea (South)1231 Posts

January 24 2011 11:33 GMT

You're also probably not going to get balanced opinions until NA wakes up.

ThunderGod

New Zealand897 Posts

January 24 2011 11:37 GMT

#10

Sea has more skill by percentage imo, ladder matches at equivalent points are somewhat harder on Sea. But it's really hard to play on Sea at a high level cos queue times are ~5 mins.

Dommk

Australia4865 Posts

January 24 2011 11:42 GMT

#11

On January 24 2011 20:33 mlbrandow wrote:
You're also probably not going to get balanced opinions until NA wakes up.

Yeah that is what i was thinking as well, at first I found NA a little bit easy but then I realized I was playing people who were staying up till 3-5am US time, in the mornings here in Australia when its Peak time in US there is a noticeable change with the type of players you meet

Comma20

Australia138 Posts

January 24 2011 11:44 GMT

#12

Assuming the skill is divided amongst the population evenly we get a few points.

1) There are probably 30-50 fantastic players on the NA ladder. SEA probably have 3-5
2) The point spread is less tight on NA, because there are 'more' better people, you can play against people who are higher than you and get more points.
3) Likewise there are 'more' bad people. 'More' cheesy people etc
4) The Meta-Game on SEA is different from NA. Due to the timezone similarity with Korea, lots of SEA players watch the GSL and try and copy builds. So there's probably a quicker translation of the 'newest' build to SEA as opposed to NA.
5) Lower population garners lower queue times, however queue times during SEA peak are better than queue times in NA off peak.

All in all, if you have a SEA account, there is NO REASON whatsoever you shouldn't play both servers, work both ladders and thus be a more rounded player, since you can adapt to both metagames. That is unless you think "HAVING A BAZILLION POINTS AND ICONS MUST MEAN I'M GOOD"

Benjilol

Australia244 Posts

January 24 2011 11:50 GMT

#13

It comes down to what time do you play? If you're SEA based, SEA tourneys will be at times you can play, you'll get a more diverse spread of players when laddering (I assume there aren't many NA players laddering at 4am on a weeknight), and if you're entering tourneys on SEA, laddering on SEA gets you practice against the same players so you will understand how the SEA metagame works out.

GQz

Australia168 Posts

January 24 2011 12:00 GMT

#14

IDK, I play on SEA mainly and I find getting into diamond much harder (still high plat there) there than on NA (Been in diamond since about 30 games in). Depends really, but at least I find that SEA players get a bit more tricky to deal with.

Seagal_Pwns

Australia17 Posts

January 24 2011 12:05 GMT

#15

i found on sea i am in gold and am pretty evenly placed with high gold to mid plat where as on na i am in plat and i am vsing diamonds on ladder and winning

Plexa

Aotearoa39261 Posts

January 24 2011 12:06 GMT

#16

On the whole SEA is a harder server since there are less overall people (meaning platinum on SEA is often mid diamond on NA). However, there are more good players on NA so the skill cap of NA is significantly higher than that of SEA which makes the upper end of NA harder than SEA (and more playable).

Mitchlew

Australia428 Posts

January 24 2011 12:16 GMT

#17

On January 24 2011 21:06 Plexa wrote:
On the whole SEA is a harder server since there are less overall people (meaning platinum on SEA is often mid diamond on NA). However, there are more good players on NA so the skill cap of NA is significantly higher than that of SEA which makes the upper end of NA harder than SEA (and more playable).

Completely agree. I am Mid diamond NA and high plat/ very low diamond SEA.

LilClinkin

Australia667 Posts

January 24 2011 12:28 GMT

#18

On January 24 2011 20:33 mlbrandow wrote:
You're also probably not going to get balanced opinions until NA wakes up.

I will have to disagree with you here, as the majority of NA players will not have an SEA account so they will not be able to judge (unless I'm mistaken and the cross-realm offer from Blizz works both ways).

mrjameslo91

Malaysia27 Posts

January 24 2011 13:44 GMT

#19

i was plat in SEA and diamond in na as well. And imo NA players bm a lot and more cheesy than SEA.