I dunno, I tried 14 for awhile, joined a company even, and first thing they told me, of all things, was, “Alert us every time you hit a milestone so we can congratulate you.”
Wait, what?
I think that’s the most aggressive socializing I’ve seen in any MMO. Lucky for me they didn’t castigate me for not saying two words after I joined or after I left a week later when I realized they were all extremely social in a way that just wasn’t a proper fit for me.
Teaming up to do things in the game is one thing, sitting around typing to each other is another. Ever feel like you’re in a guild where no one will shut up but likewise no one will help? That’s mad annoying. And it describes pretty much every time I’ve joined any group, guild or whatever in any MMO.
Admittedly it’s all anecdotal, I don’t play MMOs to make online friends, I play them because they are games I enjoy solo, with RL friends I rarely see any other way (this is the underrated gem, being able to put a real face on the people you play with matters to me), or occasionally silently with strangers (queues).
Every time I’ve ever really opened myself to an “online community” it hasn’t gone well for me. Everything from tryhards being tryhards to trolls to stalkers. I have every reason to be reserved.
I don’t even like it when someone in game knows I’m on these forums, hence posting on a joke character.
I would not listen to a thing that bear has to say. Period. If you feel positive or negative about the game say it. You are apart of the community when you pay for a sub. Feel free to voice it.
I feel that all the time nowadays. That’s me and Discord groups! Except the one I’m in people will help you, but they won’t have any relation deeper than ‘Hi! I’m pooping today!’ ‘Tacos are cool!’ ‘Woow!’ ‘Okay bye!’. They’re like NPC radiant AI conversations from TES: Oblivion I’m still waiting for one to mention seeing a mudcrab the other day.
Thank you for being considerate and respectful in your response. I was going to type one reply to everyone thus far this morning and still probably will, but I feel you deserve a little more than that.
It’s no secret you and I are likely on opposite ends of the spectrum on a LOT of things, I think. I have been super negative about this game on the forums, for a good long while, you’re right. But never once has been trolling or to get a rise or response out of someone, and believe it or not, comes from a place of genuine love for what I believe this game once was, no longer is, but still could be again.
You probably only know the posts Ive made over the past few months and so yeah you just know me as a negative nancy. Thats okay. I spent years not being that way about this game, and as a result, Im spent myself. But I just can’t be positive about WoW right now. I just can’t when I see issues from the top to the bottom.
Im definitely a lot more positive in FFXIV because I feel like that environment fosters that, where as WoW does not, and even intentionally or not, seems to punish being thoughtful of other players. Your character progression seems to depend on being as selfish as possible in this game.
I find it very easy to be optimistic over there, and very difficult here. You probably have this vision of me being a sulking edgelord who hates everything and believe it or not, just isnt the case. Just the current direction of WoW
Worry not though, my sub truly is waning with about 10 days or so left I think? I have no plans to return this expansion so maybe in 10.0 I will have been gone long enough to find a way to be more positive about WoW and come at it freshly.
Edit: Some might ask why post then if you havent played WoW in like a month? IDK. I feel more of a connection to the forums than the game. I really mean that. I can name over a dozen frequent posters I see here off the top of my head. I cant name a single other character ive met in game right now, that is still active. Not one. ( I remember friends characters names from all the way back to vanlla though)
Thats really surprising to me. People come up to me and make friends whether I try or not. Random person messages me, next thing ya know, we are discussing our pets.
I would think a game in an apparent managed decline would have its player base struggling to maintain social bonds as hard as possible but maybe not.
I see this every night. It feels like there is overt push by the 14 community to be as un-wow like as possible.
Sounds like WoW is a better fit for you and I dont mean that insultingly. I absolute adore the “aggressive socialization” that I am getting from FFXIV. But that might be from being starved of it in WoW for so long. But I can see how it would seem offputting or overbearing to some people. I personally love it.
No offense taken. Absolutely nothing wrong with being social however suits in an MMO. I personally just tend to focus entirely on what I’m doing gameplay wise and stopping to type out what I did for props would break up the flow. Awesome that you enjoy that type of community, it’s superior to many of the useless troll guilds I’ve seen in this game. I’m thinking I’ll go back to 14 at some point when I’m more prepared and have a more clear idea of what I actually want out of the game.
I’ve been playing this game for 14 years so the most offputting thing about FF14 by far was things like never knowing where the mailboxes or banks were. The amount of passive knowledge I have of the “basics” of this game is the hardest thing about picking up something else. It’s even possible if I was just starting up wow at this stage of life I would no longer put up with the, honestly, years it took to properly get into it. But perhaps I digress?
I’ve talked more in FFXIV, but made more friends in WoW. Might be my age, might be the community, but I’ve never really connected with people in FFXIV.
People like to mention how great FFXIV community is, but I feel like it’s about the same as WoW. Maybe, I’m unlucky and just met the wrong people or I’m just too pessimistic.
I’ve honestly made more friends on WoW that have been life long pals and we’ve gotten together IRL and had some fun. Just talk to people and add them to your friends list and go from there.
Id like to see the look on some peoples faces if they were asked to take an exit survey upon leaving a guild in WoW. Imagine communities that are so laser focused on working together and making sure everyone is as happy as possible.
In Wow!: Ive made friends in wow and Classic! In Wow and Classic (on my servers), I made a wow penpal friend thats still ongoing and this been such a positive thing during the pandemic. Ive chatted randomly in trade or LFG chat and made friends or just enjoyed the silliness. Ive made close friends in retail and its been amazing.
In other games: I gamed with a couple family members and were friends with their friends but found it hard to make my own friends, probably based on the games or communities or my own rl at those times.
