Just because there is a memorial to a player doesn’t make this game, or any game, inherently social. Do social aspects exist within WoW? Yes. Do people have social groups within the game. Again, yes. Does the game in any way shape or form require you to be social to play? Absolutely not. You can join a random queue and raid or do pvp or dungeons and never once socially interact with anyone. It’s laughable to me that you think a netflix special and a memorial somehow prove to you that the game is a social wonderland. Your naive and deluded.
1 Like
The same people complaining WoW isnt social are the same ones that clamoured for anti social gaming.
1 Like
This part, on its own. In classic, the ordinary leveling grind is a lot slower and more dangerous. Having a reason to be stuck in one place for a while - while also having to worry about whether you’ll get killed - will do wonders for your willingness to chat with randos who are busy trying to do more or less the same thing.
A game can not sustain itself on eternal leveling.
Its why every MMO in existence focuses on max level gameplay after its initial release. MMOs that fail typically fail because of its lack of max level content.
Adding slower leveling to retail wont make people more social.
1 Like
Not only that but by making it easier to just queue up and do content it upped the frequency of toxic behaviors. I don’t talk to randoms in pugs or lfr not because I’m anti-social, but because I don’t feel like dealing with toxic people. Heck, even Hearthstone had this issue with people spamming emotes to be toxic or harass their opponent, so blizzard allowed you to squelch emotes and Hearthstone is the furthest thing from a social experience.
1 Like
Not saying that it’s the right thing to do or not, just saying that it cleanly explains the phenomenon that OP was observing.
1 Like
Ah yes, Vanilla leveling where Barrens chat was the pinnacle of the social experience and standing in a major city for 2 hours looking for a group to do Dire Maul while simultaneously being harassed and mocked by others in the same chat.
1 Like
Sure. But that just supports my point.
People asked for gameplay options that are inherently anti social. LFR, easy queue content, etc. All of that only had one outcome. People not needing to talk.
Then they complained that the game is now anti social.
LFR, LFD, Delves, Housing. All of that is designed to give people that dont want to talk to others an outlet for content.
I think its more complicated than that.
People want others to do social to them. They want a community gift wrapped to them.
They want to be able to quit, return, and be welcomed with open arms.
I see a lot of people that dont want to contribute to a social atmosphere. That dont want to do anything on their part to help foster a social atmosphere.
There are communities, guilds, etc that all foster people being social. But if you suggest this, you will quite quickly be called a bad person.
Now for a disclaimer I am circling back to add, because if I dont someone will twist my words. And this is not pointed at anyone I am actively talking to. Just generally speaking.
I am not saying LFR/LFD/Delves/Housing/etc are inherently wrong. Only the “i want to have my cake and eat it too” culture of “social” in WoW.
1 Like
This very much hits the nail on the head. It’s not that I’m anti-social (despite what my therapist says), but I definitely like to keep the risk of unwanted or unfriendly social interactions to a minimum.
The only thing I have against this line of thinking is that it promotes that these are the cause of the anti social behavior, and I’m sure they are contributing factors, but like… I played before LFD/LFR. I didn’t like suddenly become less social when those released. I just didn’t run group content back then. I’m probably in the minority, but I do think there’s enough of us to take that into consideration.
1 Like
And complain about the avoidable toxicity they are “forced” to endure… even though this game can be played solo, doesn’t mean it should.
A small group of friends can go a long way in this game and have some laughs along the way. That should be your quest, to find like minded individuals to do all the things. It’s much more fun when you can laugh at the occasional accidental pull and not go into nerd rage about it.
Maybe I am misunderstanding, so I will try to clarify my point. If I am off a wavelength, please forgive.
I strongly believe cross realm and queue content are a huge cause of the “anti social” people reference. Not saying this applies to everyone. But when your server reputation no longer matters, and the pool of people you are playing with is so large you will never see them again…
People will either not talk or have a habit of sliding into negative remarks.
I dont have a lot of incentive to talk to people in LFR/LFD/TWing. Not because I dont want to. But because the content does not lend itself to building friendships.
When its trivial, and you are just completing it as fast as possible…you just hang on for the ride. If there is a speed bump, people complain.
This is all why I strongly suggest people adapt to being social in WoW through finding a community, guild, like minded people to do content with.
2 Likes
No I think you’re not wrong. I do think your points are valid.
I think it’s kind of a trade off. Yes, cross realm did open the servers like you said, but that also means that there are more opportunities to be social, theoretically. You don’t have to worry about what servers your friends play on, and your social pool has expanded. Though I agree that it also means there is less accountability. Though…I’ve played some classic WoW, and they actually feel more toxic than retail to me, but that could just be me.
And your absolutely right that there is no incentive to be social in LFR/LFD. But again…that’s kind of the point, or at least what people like me like about it. Granted it means people can act like jerks, but it also opens up a bunch of content that I wouldn’t otherwise see. Like I said, if they removed LFR…I wouldn’t become magically more social in game… I’d just stop “raiding”.
I mean I get it. Social people want other people to be social in the game. Cause that’s what you find enjoyable about the game and you need other people to be social if you want that, but… I’ve been playing this game since Wrath… I’ve never been social. I’ve tried the guild thing a few times. It’s just not for me, and I don’t think I’m the only one who feels that way.
I don’t think either philosophy is wrong. I think it just comes down to personal preference.
1 Like
Ugh, back to back post. That’s rude of me. I apologize in advance.
I think your opinion is valid, but I do disagree. I think that when it comes to how a game “should” be played; the only real goal post is enjoyment. Whether that is finding a group of like minded people and having fun, or just low key playing on your own and setting your own goals. I think both are valid, and that it’s okay to have different ideologies because that means that there’s enough people playing to have those divergent theories.
And I am not saying that content should not have been added.
Only that the content itself removes incentives to be social. But it was content people wanted. And I personally feel the venn diagram of people wanting better solo/casual/whatever we want to call it content and people want more socialization is pretty close to a circle.
Its just, imho, the two things contradict each other.
When groups have to be hand made, when there is a threat of failure, when you have more success by being in a guild or community.
I personally feel these foster relationships and being social.
I am not the most social person myself. I go through phases. Sometimes, I just go non-oral for an entire evening…weekend…etc.
But my guildies (i think) are used to that. and they know I can at least receive information. even if I am not talkitive.
if you dont want to be social, thats also completely fine. But then I guess I dont know what the solution is.
1 Like
I will say, I think the housing coming will increase socialization, not out in the world, but at least in isolated communities like how it already pretty much is.
Depending on how much they pour into housing that is, if we get Shattrath rather than Valdrakken, there’s gonna be a looooot of backlash.
1 Like
I mean. I agree with all of that. Like we’re on the same page. Wanting systems like LFR and also wanting to incentivize people to interact more are if not contradictory then at least not inclusive to each other.
In my small personal experience, I’m not sure if it’s the same people. I don’t get on here much, but every time I see this discussion come up in the past, I feel like it’s always someone championing more social aspects of the game by trying to rally the idea of getting rid of those same systems. But experience may vary.
I’m not sure that there really is a end all solution. Some people just aren’t going to want to have that same guild/social experience. I know that can be rough on the more social players as they would like as many people to take part in that experience with them. But I think that social play can be found, and I think that “solo player” experience can be found. I don’t think we’ll ever homogenize to one or the other completely.
yup. Classic wow is where you go if you want social / rpg / drama.
retail is for gameplay.
but there are plenty of ways to be social on retail.
even better!
that means the OP is complaining for no reason so we can just all move on and ignore him.
And you would be correct, I do both. Some nights I just wanna put on some music and chill. Just doing whatever. But when I want to run an instance, I hit up my friend list and get going.
But the focus of my comment are those that just don’t seem to be having fun, judging from the complaints posted on the GD. Specifically the inability to join a key, or gets “unjustified” vote kicked. That’s where the social aspect will solve those problems, but that seems to be asking too much and Blizzard must do something. Know what I mean?
1 Like