Anxiety and Forced Dungeon Content

[Prismiria-area-52]

I totally agree. I miss archeology a lot.

[Kneeshooter-amanthul (Kneeshooter)]

@Errur-illidan

Not trying to throw shade or anything- but you just know, in a multiplayer game where the very nature is to play with others, you are going to have to buckle down and engage with others.

Having an anxiety issue doesn’t mean you can’t talk to people. At least not always. In my case the issue is with longer content such as raids; I find the need for a high level of concentration and intense activity to be taxing, both physically and mentally. Nowadays I rarely play for more than an hour at a time (right now its 10 minutes as I am recovering from knee surgery and can’t sit in one place too long). And playing for an hour doing world content, I can frequently get up, get a drink, take a break and come back. Not something you can do in group content,

I frequently ‘engage with others’ and actually get along pretty well with most people I interact with. WoW gives me a lot of options, while single player games often don’t.

[Furrfist-frostmourne]

@Senatha-wyrmrest-accord

I think a lot if people nowdays confuse social anxiety with just being an introvert. Anxiety comes in many ways sometimes to the degree of phobia at which point it becomes a disorder, IN MY OPINION because I’m not a psychologist (but I did stay the night at a Holiday Inn!)

Introverts DO have anxiety around people, mostly out of fear of disappointing others, don’t handle groups well, and generally have a shallow pool for social energy. That’s not to say introverts can’t function in a social environment, we just don’t like it for many reasons and will happily avoid them if given the opportunity. What helps? Friendliness. Kindness. Low social pressure. Extroverts who want to adopt us. The WoW community is very pressurized and “you better do well or else” mentality is the norm. That’s just not a comfortable environment for some people especially on a game that’s pursued for fun (of all different kinds for all different people). That doesn’t mean we should or do shun all social interaction full-stop.

I relate a lot to your second paragraph, but I wanna add that both could be true as well. I’m an introvert and have learnt how to socialize and be comfortable in small group settings. But there are times when I’m in a big public event and the shock/panic starts. People used to actually feel offended when I got into that shut-down mode, so learning the language on how to describe what’s going on has been quite helpful.

It’s also why I find big raid groups very intimidating. I recall a time when the RL asked me a question and I just froze up out of no where because the idea of speaking to 20+ people who I’ve never met or talked to just paralyzed me.

[Senatha-wyrmrest-accord]

@Furrfist-frostmourne

It’s also why I find big raid groups very intimidating. I recall a time when the RL asked me a question and I just froze up out of no where because the idea of speaking to 20+ people who I’ve never met or talked to just paralyzed me.

This is pretty much why I won’t join guilds anymore. You’re absolutely correct and looking back I didn’t mean to sound so generalizing.

[Sylvansong-wyrmrest-accord]

I have this problem too.

I just don’t do anything important like tank or heal. I mark the tank with a orange circle and just follow them

It helps that most players that queue into normal are over geared so it’s surprisingly fast paced. (Your mileage may vary depending on how speedy the tank is)

I only queue with a close friend that I know very well so that does help a bit.

TL;DR
don’t give up you got this

[Furrfist-frostmourne]

Na, there’s different combinations of everything and I know there are introverts who just feel drained by people but they’re able to navigate social situation. So the distinction you brought up is important.

Like I knew a guy who was an INTJ (if you’re into MBTI). Family-guy, doesn’t like to go out after work and all, but when it came to planning events, and networking, suddenly he’d be VERY social, and I’d be in awe tbh.

[Sylvansong-wyrmrest-accord]

@Senatha-wyrmrest-accord

I think a lot if people nowdays confuse social anxiety with just being an introvert. Anxiety comes in many ways sometimes to the degree of phobia at which point it becomes a disorder

This pretty much.

I know for a fact that I have a genuine problem because I always make myself sick. It was probably the worst when I did mage tower. I puked smack dab in the middle of one of the runs so I had to stop.

These days my body is a lot more fragile so I can’t really “git gud” anymore. I’m just not able to push myself as far as I used to because my anxiety is just garbage. I even starting to avoid LFR

[Haveworms-area-52]

the fact is more dungeons were needed in the main story.

[Gurrdy-wyrmrest-accord]

I know this is a troll post . But dear lord if grouping with people in normal dungeons is Actively making you have ptsd and giving you heart complications/anxiety . Then I think you need to get that problem under control

[Paladina-kargath (Paladina)]

Kneeshooter!

Your name and the surgery are not related I hope? I’m just messing, just wanted to wish you well and a speedy recovery!

[Stacyxo-faerlina]

makes thread that has 3k views and 350 replies, cant join a 5 man dungeon. interesting.

[Senatha-wyrmrest-accord]

Respectfully, I don’t think they rubbed their crystal ball and saw how many replies their thread would get.

[Oka-shattered-hand]

I’m just one dude, and a simple lowly DPS at that, but if we find ourselves online at the same time, I’d happily go through a chill, stress free dungeon run with you.

[Terrorise-barthilas]

Anxiety over having to play a game lmao. Bro just turn the screen off hahahahahah

[Gurrdy-wyrmrest-accord]

Well if you don’t like the community then I guess the games not for you ehh?

What do you want blizzard to do? Report ignore and move on if it hurts you that much.

Imagine thinking grouping up with others to take on challenges and overcome obstacles in a mmo is outdated .

[Bgored-dalaran (Bgored)]

@Stelio-turalyon

that sucks, my sympathy’s for it, but have you considered that a “MMO” might not be the best outlet for someone with said disorder?

I do open world content and interact 10x more people than what anyone could that just does dungeons and raids. Don’t try and make the MM part of MMO instanced content only.

[Kneeshooter-amanthul (Kneeshooter)]

Thank you! In fact, my knee was not shot, just replaced with a fancy metallic one. Certainly looks beat up but hopefully will eventually work a lot better.

Have to love the Aussie health system; I had it done at a private hospital (due to a stroke of good fortune) by one of the inhouse surgeons, and the whole procedure, including operation, 3.5 days stay in hospital, all meds, etc, cost me $0.

[Charity-echo-isles]

Check out the guild on your server “Swords for Everyone”

[Delendex-zuljin]

@Venedra-wyrmrest-accord

I have anxiety disorder, and organized group content such as dungeons and raids are not accessible to me.

Which is why you decided to play World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online RPG.

[Selende-moon-guard]

@Hoenikker-ghostlands

multiplayer

multiplayer means “multiple people playing the game simultaneously”, not “multiple people playing together”. Try again. >:)

Even if this game was nothing but solo content, if there were multiple people playing it simultaneously, it would still be an MMO.