West is closer to asia. This means all the koreans will have better ping connecting on those servers. If they were to log onto us Servers, that's where they would be. If you plan on being a consistant member on this forum, USEast would be your best choice, as a majority of the people play there.

Ladder / Non ladder is really up to you. I prefer Non ladder solely for the fact that everything is cheaper, and easier to get. People on ladder are pretty greedy. Well... moreso then on NL. T_T