"I wonder what the reasoning is behind the preference of conquest. Maybe oceanic players like a more tactical experience"
I'm NA and prefer Conquest. Several reasons:
1) more lance vs lance action instead of nascar murderball. And since I mainly play lights, its more forgiving. I round a corner and find 4 red team instead of all 12 at once.
2) you get to fight on parts of the map your rarely see in other modes. I got bored with the same old "take the hill" on Alpine or "take the citadel" on River City or "take the center" on Terra Therma, etc.
3) more tactics. You have to know when to cap and when to fight. I prefer to cap the easy close one first (then *maybe* the third) and then join the fight. Its more fun too because the nature of the mode means more flanking and rear ambush opportunities. And if I get crit too bad to engage effectively, I can always go back to capping.
I also have to say I prefer the Euro style of play - they are much more patient and deliberate. Too many of my NA matches start with 3 team mates dead in the first 2 minutes.
And I keep Oceanic checked. As payback for all the years they have dealt with ping and latency issues from connecting to the NA server. Plus, I get to experience the "perks" of being a light with a 280 ping