Exactly, i wouldn't go to any other game region even if it's more ez then where i'm just because of the time zone, i played once a game back in the day where the time zone diff was 8 hours, i had to wake up at 04:00 just to attend their type of GNW which was an awful experience, so yeah ppl will always prioritize time zone over easy game.

+ UK time zone came kind of in middle of the world more countries tend to join it instead of HK to the right or the LA/NY to the left.