Lately been running a small experiment. joining a lfg and try talking to people. i start with a simple hello then try to start some kind of conversation about the game. majority of the time i get nothing but silence. Is it me or do people just not really want to even have light conversations anymore? The groups i am testing this is are the holiday ones so nothing overly stressful.
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You are a stranger that they are spending seconds with while doing trivial content. They’re probably not going to talk to you.
But overall, you are correct, players are much less social in-game than they used to be. With the variety of social options that we have available to us, chatting with strangers in dungeons or even the open world isn’t really common or needed.
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…bring out dragonball or politics (sadly i’m not brave enough for politics) and it’ll be hard to finish the conversation. 
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I usually have luck when I go beyond the usual greeting and engage the party. Folks will respond, but sometimes it just takes the right opener.
That, and sometimes folks don’t really want to talk during trivial content. And that’s okay! I’m the same way any time I play a team shooter.
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If someone says hi in lfr/lfg I’ll make small talk most of the time, but when I join a random group, I’m not itching for a conversation. Often I’m in disc with guildies or friends so I’m paying more attention to that than in game chat, especially if we’re blowing through things.
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I sensed someone brought up dragonball in the thread
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Bad breath maybe ?
Yeah, but Discord is better.
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In other games yes, in WoW, generally no.
I see more conversation in casual PvP and overworld content than I do in M+ or ranked PvP.
People did talk in LFR to meme-around, but I don’t raid much anymore.
I assume people do talk, just in Discords on voice rather than typing out in WoW.
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I am only in the guild channel. I make a new window and turn off every other channel. Just not worth it.
nope i pay to play not talk. hmu on discord lol
I’ve been having the same experience. I talk in open world chat, no one responds.
Sometimes I think some/most of them are AI bots or something. Idk.
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There’s a conversation of some sort in most groups, from my experience. Maybe someone announces that they’re new, discusses route–something related to what we’re doing. I’ve added a number of people to my friends list over the years just from pugging.
The real conversation is in community, or guild, or something that isn’t public. Not used to seeing no chat at all–minimally, a “hello” from everyone.
I suggest you lookup or Google “social contract” to find the answer to your question 
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I assume you caught the sparking zero news? The what if scenarios? 
Any thoughts for the what if episodes for the Super archs? 
You’ll find almost no communication in PUGS, especially TW or heroics. My only advice, keep trying, greet your group when people zone in and if there’s a responsive person, strike up a conversation. Maybe you’ll meet someone new.
If you have a strong character on remix, go list a group as one that you are willing to carry people and you will see some weird discussions.
I think a lot of people talk more when they are not focused on making sure there is no pressure to perform, and no possible consequence of saying the wrong thing when I advertised the group as “No really, come do whatever you want”
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It is interesting to see how different people are when they’re not worried about squeezing out another 0.1% damage.
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Yep, completely different vibe when it is just a safe space for people to hang out.
The last 20 person group I formed, half went heals to try and keep each other alive in content they knew should be killing their undergeared selves…
The kind of power divide that makes this possible is not, and should not be part of retail wow.
That being said if you have not experienced Pandaland, jump in there, it does not cost more 
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Tons of people talk in-game. But you have to be the one to spark the conversation. If you tell someone “hello”, the most you’ll receive is the very same.
You want to spark conversation? Its actually really easy. Politely ask if you’re not the only one who is high.
And then the LOL’s commeth.
(btw is anybody really high right now? )
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