Blizzard have revealed that patch 1.1 of Starcraft 2, available Thursday the 23rd, will include an in-game region selector, with anyone who purchased a Southeast Asian copy of the game having access to North American servers.
[imgclear] This comes ahead of schedule, considering Blizzard last stated it would be put into effect “within a few months”. Players will need to log into their Battle.net account to activate the North American copy of the game, and the rest of the necessary changes are made within the game, meaning it won’t be necessary to download a separate client.
As their FAQ states, “You can choose which one to play on at any given time, and can switch back and forth at will.”
A little while ago, Blizzard had asked Australians to submit data so they could determine whether lag was truly an issue. Initially they stated it was only a problem with regional internet users, but perhaps the peer-to-peer connection involving you, a Southeast Asian player, and Blizzard’s server in Singapore, all trafficking through the west coast of the US (due to various ISP deals), was worse than first anticipated.
Region locking is still one of Starcraft 2’s few flaws, but it’s good to see Blizzard taking quick action on the problem.
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