No more queue times to dungeon level? Count me in.
Though I guess queue times will suffer a bit because of that. Imagine if tanks don’t get a queue popping before they even hit find group! The horror xD
Personally though, it shouldn’t carry into higher difficulty dungeons. They seem like a precursor to delves in 11.0
Like the natural progression is follower dungeons to get base level gear → what ever difficulty delve is heroic dungeon level into the other delve difficulties.
We don’t really need heroic level follower dungeons. In my opinion. Which is always right. Except when it’s not. But even then.
I’ve tested it on the ptr. It’s fine. It’s for content that people run once while leveling to complete the dungeon quests. Regular dungeons are fairly irrelevant and it doesnt change much. It’ll never be as fast or efficient as a group of players.
Or if Blizzard keeps adding profession workstations like the Altar of Decay. Kind of annoying to have to go into a specific dungeon to use a special workstation to make something. Yeah, they added that portable version, but it has limited charges making you have to go back to remake it once it’s out of charges.
Wow, thanks for that response Professor. My apologies for my misguided use of the terms. I am no specialist or therapist, just a construction worker that has dealt with toxic masculinity and trauma through my life. I do see and agree with every point you made. It fascinates me the way people socialize and interact based off their personalities and experience in life. I do believe that our personalities are molded, in part, by our traumas we have experienced. And everyone’s personalities represent themselves in our social interactions. Therefore, our ability to communicate with empathy, or without, is based on the trauma recieved from previous social interactions. While an immediate physical stress response might not be present when interacting with a toxic person, it can happen. I’m sure we have all heard someone say or witnessed them doing something that is a ‘trigger’ from past trauma. For example, if someone randomly walked up to you holding a baseball bat and beat you within an inch of your life, you may never be able to watch baseball again because the physical stress response to the memory of the past trauma. Lets not think of memories as an abstract thing, because they are not. Modern research is showing that body and mind are one. Your thoughts and memories are physical things going on in your body. There are physical pathways in the brain and the rest of the nervous system, created by your life experience, for future use and discernment, and the synapses follow those pathways. If the pathways from the ‘baseball bat’ brain cell is connected to our brain’s fear response, you get to enjoy a nice dose of epinephrine and cortisol instead of the positive experiences most people have playing ball or whatever. You can feel when this happens. That feeling of terror is not a ‘feeling’ or ‘emotion’, it’s not as abstract as that. It’s literally physical, chemical, hormonal response to our brains perception of the stimuli. Finding a person offensive, isn’t the same as fear either. A person can say a lot of horrible toxic things to us, but if none of the content is connected in our brain to the fear response from past trauma you won’t feel the same hormonal response in your body.
So, unless the toxic person triggers you to have that social anxiety, would any other response just be considered antisocial if there was no empathy? What I mean is this; someone says something offensive, but it doesn’t trigger my fear response. I have social anxiety at times, but I can socialize and function with other good and empathic people without this anxiety. I’m not experiencing social anxiety in that moment, but I choose to NOT interact with that toxic person, or put myself in that position again. Since I am not responding to the offender with any kind of empathy, does that make me antisocial or does that still fall under social anxiety despite not actually feeling the anxiety?
In regards to how these things affect the Wow community, i don’t understand how a person blames others for their personal choice to not socially interact AT ALL. “I can’t do group content because people are too mean.” I’ve done a lot of group content in this game with toxic people. I’ve dropped out of groups without a word because of toxic people. I have also had some incredible experiences with great people in group content. I WANT to play the game, and I WANT to socialize, and I DON’T want to be harrassed while doing it. I think that’s a statement most people can relate to. So I do what I WANT. Sure, my anxiety can flare up, and I just nope out all together somedays. But I do trust that most people are good and fair, and these are the people i CAN very easily play the game and it’s group content with. And many other’s have pointed out, a lot of the time people don’t even say a single word other than “Hi” the entire time you are playing with them. So, I could never say that my social anxiety makes it impossible to play the game’s group content, like I could never say ALL people are toxic.
Therefore, coming full circle to my original post’s use of the term antisocial, not doing the group content of the game based on a perspective that ALL people are toxic…seems toxic and antisocial to me
Thanks again for your response, friend. And the rest of you looking forward to follower dungeons. I’m sure it’ll be great.
So after trying this AI out in Brackenhide Hollow and Halls of Infusion everything seemed to go fairly smooth.
My toon: 70 demo lock I rarely play, no hekili or rotation guide or addons, 330 ilevel (yes a fresh 70 I haven’t bothered to gear yet), and probably very wrong custom talents.
AI was on follow. When I tried to pull too much trash the tank would die. 2 packs and it seemed okay, but 3/4 and it got dicey while I was dps. Also the AI will pull side mobs even if you try to avoid them.
Overall though the bosses and trash went down alright and it probably took 30 minutes or so per dungeon or longer but I wasn’t timing it. They mostly avoided things, did mechanics alright, and topped me off when low.
Wow this is mind blowing stuff. With all that info, and how it relates to AI and current processing power, that makes me wonder about how our brain is described like a computer processor ( or obviously the other way around, the computer processor is like our brain).
Do you think the memories and other connections made in our brains from our experience could be considered similar to brain damage?
I only did one dungeon this expansion and none last expansion. I might try these and if I think they are harder than I would be able to do solo at this point in the expansion I might not be impressed.
Already a bunch of threads about this not being the solo solution to getting gear.
And that’s the problem with this. It will be very divisive.
Either this remains more a training thing and we will see threads demanding this be put in for M+ and raiding to the end of time, or they do put it into M+ and raiding and this becomes a game of Torghast like experiences with everyone running instances solo.
I’m thinking delves will be the M+ and raid replacement of the future. (read as TWW and beyond)
I maybe wrong, but the devs said delves reward heroic raid gear. Making them a “4th pillar” for progression.
They are for 1-5 players and I don’t know how many humans will be needed to get that heroic gear, but for open world players that don’t play the other 2 pillars of pve sounds like it is everything we wanted.
Pretty sure we’ll see more “I’m forced to do delves to raid/M+ or I’m not relevant” type posts really.
I’m not seeing the follower dungeons being a more that a great learning and story building experience myself; now after lot’s of thought.
It’s pretty clear that you are an introspective person and that you are putting a lot of effort into figuring things out - in real-time as you see them. That’s pretty impressive.
Counselors are not immune to trauma - in fact, far from it. Many practitioners say that personal or familial experiences with trauma or mental illness actually spurred them to become professional counselors.
In my personal experience, I encounter it pretty frequently. For a lot of people, past experience draws them into the counseling field, and trauma can play a pivotal part in someone’s life. It’s a common thing that counseling supervisors and counselor educators see. And it’s not a red flag at all. Just because you’ve been through trauma doesn’t mean you can’t become a counselor. You can become a great counselor if your trauma is processed correctly. And (correct me if I’m wrong) but I think I can see in this most recent response that your thoughts may be taking you exactly there.
Anecdotally, it’s my observation that going through trauma can be a very unique experience through which you understand the way your brain works and your body reacts. That is hard for someone to understand who hasn’t gone through that. I have had some students who were very resilient because they have been forced to cope in traumatic situations in the past.
But back to what you were saying just now, I’m impressed. Overall, your reply just above contains some interesting insights and personal reflections.
One main thing I want to say in response is that you shouldn’t be discouraged by the terminology. Terms are just words you use to describe concepts, problems, and tools. As a construction worker, you probably have terms for the tools and challenges you encounter that I have not a single clue about.
As a construction “customer” I have a tendency to just point, describe what I want or the problem I witnessed, ask WTH to do about it (or if I can just leave it alone), and then ask what it will cost to fix it. I know my limits LOL. I do try to learn something while a pro works though so I listen and ask for clarification and correction.
So looking at the rest of what you said, a few small things…
Trauma and Personality Development: The idea that trauma can shape one’s personality and affect their social interactions is generally supported by psychological research. Traumatic experiences can influence emotional responses and behaviors. However, your reply seems to imply that all personality traits and social interactions are solely determined by past trauma, which oversimplifies the complex interplay of genetics, environment, and personal development in shaping one’s personality. If interested in that, check this out and Google “epigenetics”: Is Personality Genetic? The Impact of Genes vs. Environment (verywellmind.com)
Memory and Emotional Response: You make some good points about how memories are not abstract but have physical and chemical components in the brain. This is generally accurate; memories involve neural pathways and the release of hormones and neurotransmitters. However, it’s important to note that the connection between memories and emotional responses is not as straightforward as implied. Emotional responses can vary based on individual differences and the context of the situation.
Social Anxiety vs. Antisocial Behavior: You explore the distinction between social anxiety and antisocial behavior. Keep in mind that social anxiety is a psychological condition characterized by excessive fear of social situations, whereas antisocial behavior typically refers to actions that disregard the rights of others - and that can go beyond simply lacking empathy or avoiding certain social interactions. Also, I want to mention that there is a third aspect of personality you may want to check out - “introversion”. I’m simplifying, but introversion versus extroversion has a lot to do with “energy” - specifically does being around others energize you or drain your energy. Many people not impacted by social anxiety issues are simply introverts who need a lot of alone time to recharge their batteries: Introvert vs. Social Anxiety: How to Tell the Difference (healthline.com)
Generalization about Toxic People: You discuss interactions with “toxic people” and correctly emphasize that not all people are toxic. But without putting too fine a point on it, while it’s accurate to say that not everyone displays toxic behavior, it’s essential to recognize that the term “toxic” can be subjective and that people may display toxic behaviors at times without necessarily being toxic individuals.
Understanding the Impact on the WoW Community: You expressed some confusion regarding how individuals in the World of Warcraft community blame others for their choice to avoid social interaction.
I’d submit that it’s important to remember that social anxiety, toxic behavior, and individual experiences can vary widely. Some individuals may genuinely struggle with social anxiety that goes beyond occasional anxiety flares, making it difficult for them to engage in certain group activities - and they can feel that without blaming anyone at all (even themselves).
Use of the Term “Antisocial”: You conclude by suggesting that avoiding group content in WoW due to the belief that all people are toxic might be considered “toxic and antisocial.” It’s worth noting that using the term “antisocial” in this context could be misleading if they are not understanding your context. It’s a “terminology” thing again as we dive a bit deeper. Again as is probably the case with your profession, the deeper you go into understanding a thing, the more careful you have to be with your wording.
Re: #6 I had similar issues with a contractor when I was looking to have my hurricane flooded house restored a few years ago. I was making him laugh at me a little because in my ignorance I was using joists, beams, girders, trusses, studs, headers, timbers, and all that interchangeably.
The poor guy finally asked me to just point at the “pieces of wood” I was asking about.
BTW I eventually did figure it out thanks to Google… but the process was a little embarrassing because I was throwing out words before I really understood them. LOL
But hey, thats how we all learn. Some say science is the process of making mistakes as fast as possible to accelerate learning from them.
Oh and if you ever get tired of the construction business, and your interest in psychology persists, I know a few good schools that teach it
