Something’s going on in the World of Warcraft: Forever beta, and it involves a lot of EU players reaching for a workaround that should not need to exist.
The Ping Problem
The problem is simple to describe and maddening to experience. Players in the UK and across Europe are finding that the game’s servers are located in the United States, meaning their connections routinely hit 300 ping or worse. That is a long way from a smooth session. Then the situation gets worse: the ping spikes to 2000 world MS, and the connection drops entirely.
One player described the frustration bluntly on the EU WoW Forever beta forums: “We shouldn’t need a VPN service just to get a playable connection to a game we already paid €60 for.” Another agreed, adding that the fix worked but should not be necessary: “Can confirm VPN fixes it, I have <100ms ping on VPN and basically don’t feel lag. But obviously, [I] shouldn’t have to do that.”
A Simple Fix
The fix, as it turns out, is remarkably simple. A player who set their VPN to a US region received a cozy 100 ping and zero disconnection issues. They could quest through Durotar during EU times and watch other EU-based players confirm the exact same pattern.
The writer, whose experience is described in the report, set their own VPN to a US region and found the same result: stable connection, no spikes, no drops. The moment the rerouting happened, the problem vanished.
Why It Matters
This is not a minor annoyance. Blizzard has used the beta to sell the Skyborne Epic Pack. The store page for the EU version mentions beta access, but the writer could not find any mention of the beta’s server locations on the page — just a notification of the dates it is taking place.
Players who bought the pack at full price are now being asked to pay for a workaround to play a game they already paid for.
What a VPN Actually Does
VPNs are not magic. They cannot make the internet go faster. What they can do is reroute your internet connection in a way that skips routing issues. In this case, the routing issue is the distance between EU players and US servers.
The writer’s own experience shows the effect clearly. The moment the connection stopped taking the long way around the globe, the ping dropped from hundreds of milliseconds to a reliable 100. The disconnections stopped entirely.
The Larger Pattern
Blizzard rarely does beta testing with EU-region players in mind, and Forever’s no different. The servers appear to be located solely in the US, which means EU players are always playing at a disadvantage.
There is no official acknowledgment of the issue yet. The writer has reached out to Blizzard for comment and will update the article if a response comes in. From what they can see, these connection problems are not a known issue on the forums.
A Network Issue, Not a Conspiracy
This is a network issue, not a conspiracy. The servers are where they are, and the ping reflects that distance. A VPN solves the symptom by changing the path.
What it does reveal is Blizzard’s indifference to international players. The company has sold a beta that requires a workaround to be usable, and it has done so without warning anyone about the server locations.
| Fix | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Playing without a VPN | Long ping, frequent disconnections |
| Using a US-based VPN | Stable 100 ping, no disconnections |
The Verdict on Blizzard
Blizzard has put the servers where it wants them, and it has done so without warning anyone about the server locations. The company sells a product, puts the servers where it wants them, and expects players to figure out the rest.
The fix exists, and it is simple. A player should not have to use a workaround just to connect to a game they already paid for. That is the outrage here, and it is a fair one.
The network issue will likely be fixed eventually. But the pattern will remain. EU players are still playing on US servers, still paying for the privilege, and still waiting for the company that sells to them to treat them as customers first.
Source material: “World of Warcraft: Forever's beta is a laggy hell for some EU players (and yours truly), but there is a workaround,” PC Gamer.
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