How to connect to US/ANZ servers - UPDATE

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Community Manager
#1 - April 1, 2014, noon
Blizzard Post
Hi all,
We have had feedback that some players wish to manually connect to either the US or ANZ Diablo game servers.

Before we go into the process on how to connect to a specific gamer server, there would only be a few reasons you would wish to do this.

  • If you are in the rare minority based in ANZ whose IP does not automatically connect to the new Australian game servers.
  • If you are located outside of Australia and New Zealand and connect to US hardware but wish to try out the Australian servers to see if your latency is improved.
  • If you are currently playing on ANZ servers but wish to join the larger North American public player pool and you don’t mind the associated higher latency.
    First up, make sure your Blizzard game launcher is running and you are logged into the application with your server set to The Americas. This will ensure your client will always be up to date.

    ********** UPDATE **********

    Prior to this post it required a customized shortcut to be made. Now with the updated client you can add the correct strings into the Blizzard app itself, removing the requirement to create a short cut. Think it's technical? Well it's really quite simple! Narull has uploaded some screen grabs that make the process easy.


    Here is his post:

    1. Close Diablo III and open the launcher, click the little arrow up the top left and select 'Settings':

    http://i.imgur.com/I8FcagD.jpg

    2. In the new window select 'Game Settings':

    http://i.imgur.com/QO5GEw3.jpg

    3. Tick the box for 'Additional command line arguments' and in the new command line put the following:

    If you want to always connect to the ANZ Server: OnlineService.Matchmaking.ServerPool=AU1

    If you want to always connect to the US Server: OnlineService.Matchmaking.ServerPool=Default

    So it should look like this: http://i.imgur.com/ogjHSef.jpg

    Click 'Done' and run Diablo III, BAM done! It's that simple.

    ********** Below is the old method that is not required **********

    To manually tell the game which server you wish to play on you will need to create a customized shortcut.

    Go to your folder that has Diablo III: Reaper of Souls installed.
    The default for this on a Windows PC is C:\Program Files (x86)\Diablo III

    Right click on Diablo III.exe and click ‘create a shortcut’.
    Right click on the newly made shortcut and choose ‘properties’.

    Go to the Target field, it should say something similar to this:
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Diablo III\Diablo III.exe"

    You will need to add one of the commands below after
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Diablo III\Diablo III.exe" in the Target field.

    To manually connect to the Australia servers add the line
    -launch OnlineService.Matchmaking.ServerPool=AU1
    To manually connect to the US servers add the line
    -launch OnlineService.Matchmaking.ServerPool=Default

    So for example,
    if I wanted to make sure I connected to the US hardware, even if I’m in Australia, my shortcut target field would end in:

    ...\Diablo III\Diablo III.exe" -launch OnlineService.Matchmaking.ServerPool=Default

    *Note there is a space between Diablo III.exe" and -launch

    Click ok.

    The shortcut you have made will now be the method you use to launch the game if you wish to manually connect to a specific game server. Keep in mind once you launch the game through this shortcut you will need to log in with your username and password.

    If you run the game through the Blizzard game launcher the changes will not be in effect, you will need to use the shortcut to ensure you connect to a different game server.

    Keep in mind creating this shortcut is not something we would recommend to everyone but it may be helpful for some.

    See you in Sanctuary! <em/>
  • Forum Avatar
    Community Manager
    #3 - April 1, 2014, 1:52 p.m.
    Blizzard Post
    There should not be any repercussions as long as you keep your client up to date. The US/ANZ characters live on different hardware than the servers they play on. This is why it is recommended that you have your Blizzard app logged in so that any updates will be installed when required.
    Forum Avatar
    Community Manager
    #6 - April 1, 2014, 3:10 p.m.
    Blizzard Post
    04/01/2014 12:09 AMPosted by viper
    From the instruction, it seems that this change will only affect the match-making feature and not the single player / private game or game I create and open to public? Is this correct? (I hope so)


    If it's a bigger player pool of public games you want and you don't mind the increased latency then you can use the shortcut and easily switch back to local Australian servers for single player by just restarting the game and pushing play in the Blizzard app.

    OMG I LOVE YOU ARCAGNION !!I as a SEA player have better ping connecting to AUS server now <3


    Glad to have you on the new Australian servers! :)