I can totally see why they would go with a 1 world model, but with the directional skill based combat? That's going to be a nearly impossible task to pull off and make everyone happy. Even the developers behind dark fall knew better, and they didn't even have directional combat.
They really have two choices. NA / EU regional servers, or have an NA continent that's resource balanced wise with the EU continent at the launch of EA. If they wait to release the NA continent it will be a big face palm. Forcing a huge chunk of your player base (henrik last said 65% of the players of MO were NA) to play with potentially shitty ping is not a good business decision, and not good for the longevity of the game.
What they're attempting with the ping normalization, and adjusting swing speeds, etc is all busy work. It's a band aide on a gushing chest wound. Sure, people tolerated the bs ping shenanigans of MO, but look it got that game. Do you just want people to "tolerate" the mediocrity of your game?
You want combat to be "faster"? You should be all for the regional server solution. Even with the two server solution there will be desync, but it will be so significantly less that they won't have to transmorgify the game to make it work. You want the game to be a successful and have a sustainable population for years to come? The two server solution is the best way to achieve this.
It's unfortunate henrik won't listen tho; he honestly just wants to have a kill box where he can gank 200+ ms american players.
The fact that the game is already an extreme niche, has full loot pvp AND they plan on charging people a subscription fee in EA is going to be a huge barrier of entry for a lot of people. I don't know anyone who wants to be charged a monthly fee for an early access game and be forced to play on a server across the pond.
Not to mention TC and base building probably won't be in the game at the start, how long will we have to wait for these features? What is everyone going to be doing till they're in the game?
From the AMA it seems Henrik thinks that since this game is an MMORPG and not an arena game then having regional servers doesnt have any effect on gameplay. Not sure what is his reasoning for this tbh...
Damn, if henrik thinks this, then the game is literally doomed.