More interested in us44, since us43 looks generic and plain.
Not sure what us44 entails, but since it was just launched, but not announced, alongside us43 I am expecting it to open within a week or two of us43 opening, but most likely with a new setting of some sort.
This is speculation, but educated speculation:
.uk, .us, and .net all just announced a new world. They also all have a world that isn't announced but is running. This suggests they are all actually opening two worlds in the near future. The only reason I can foresee this happening is if something divisive is being added to the game, and one of the two new worlds on each server will have it while the other will not.
As per settings:
"Please increase to Barbarian_Rise 003 since this is a slow world."
I don't follow the logic behind this particular request. Fast worlds should have higher barbarian_rise figures, not the inverse. barbarian_rise is unaffected by world speed.
.002 is .002 speed whether the world is speed 1, or 500.
On a faster world, a set number is slower, relative to the growth of player villages. It is not in any way multiplied by world speed. This is why on speed rounds it is common to see barbarian_rise be much higher than usual.
ie on the currently configured uk speed round it is:
<barbarian_rise>0.6</barbarian_rise>
This is relative to .002 on a speed 300 world.