My friends left years ago. I am both sad that I no longer have friends in game, and happy about it. I can play how I want. No need to have to explain that I just want to run around playing an alt, that all I have time for right now is doing a few quests then logging. Also not having people in my guild is great. No drama, no in fighting. Don’t have to scramble to find someone for that raid slot because the tank/healer had an emergency.
1 Like
I’ve been playing since 2006 and have NOT stayed subbed because of “friends”. In fact, I’m very skeptical of people who sit behind their computers, and I’ve seen a LOT of horror stories about these “friends” over the years, so I stay detached.
What kept me subbed in vanilla was fantastic game play, a senesce of community built by developers who cared, a built-in interdependence of players (which simulated a community), and the fact I could solo.
IMO - The developers broke the community (friends) when they slowly removed dependency. It use to we were reliant on other players for crafted goods (food, potions, armor, reagents) because we needed those things, now its so easy to make stuff that rarely people buy from other players. Also, we needed to buy armor and weapons, and relied on trade with other players to get the stuff we needed to succeed. When they added heirloom armor they broke that need to interact with other players.
There are other examples but I think you get the point. People who want friends can still have friends in the game but its that built-in dependency that glued the community together.
2 Likes
Ironically, when the game revolved around “having to group” - I had few friends and was a solo player. As they eased up I created a guild, and now have quite a few friends.
I may have a bit of an issue when I feel “forced to make friends”, but at the same time, I don’t think I’m the only one.
I like the population serving mechanisms they’ve put in game. There are many sorts of people who play WoW, and a stable group may not be a fit for them. What I don’t like is that they have stopped placing offsets in-line with them.
I want Blizzard to invest in guilds. I’d like them to reward guilds (cosmetically or convenience - no gameplay advantage) that have been active X# of years. I’d like them to reward the members who have been active in those guilds X# of years. Encourage people to seek solutions and stay focused on the objective, rather then throw up their hands and move on at the first pebble in the road.
3 Likes
You’re not my buddy, Friend.
I’m new and I see many reasons why WoW motivates me to make friends:
-
I can get a guarantee of someone being available at my time to do the content I want.
-
It makes me feel more invested in my character because I’m doing content with people I like and we have a shared goal. I’m Alliance and one of my good friends at work is Horde on another server; we talk about what we’re trying to accomplish a lot. I’m trying to get flying and he’s trying to be the best Zandalari troll on the block.
-
Although you don’t have to have friends in your guild having friends makes guild progression so much easier.
I agree with the title of the thread - nobody ‘needs’ friends to make progress but I disagree with the reasons given. I feel more of a reason to play WoW as a casual player because I can make some progress on my own.
I dont need an enchanter buddy… because i can only enchant 3 things any ways.
I dont need a tailor buddy because my bags are 28 slots from previous expansions and WQ’s and rares…
I dont need a black smith or miner buddy to make me sharpening stones.
I dont need a JC buddy… nothing has sockets any more. and the necklace isnt a used slot.
Dont need a to port me around. there are portals everywhere.
dont need to keep tanks and healers in friends list… LFG fixed that.
dont need a friend that makes leather armor patches.
dont need someone for wizard oils…
dont need a herbalist for flasks since i have battle scarred stones.
Dont need to join a BG when i start up to get some mage food.
I self heal to much now and never need to drink.
dont need a few friends for 3 person quests… it really means i just need to pop cooldowns.
Dont need friends for 5 man quests. when i get to the mob, layering makes sure there are already 3-5 people camping the target.
cant make friends in the LFD/LFG .since they are on another server we cant trade/play together…
I dont know any “good players” on my server to pug starter raids with. because 90% of my LFG people are on other servers…
This, pretty much.
Even back in the day, it was an enormous pain. There were some dungeons (like most of them) you couldn’t get a group for most of the time, even with friend or guild assistance. And some battlegrounds never got off the ground.
The good old days may have had some good points, but 5 hour waits for a dungeon or battlegrounds that never materialized at all weren’t among them.
2 Likes
See I am still going to have to disagree with you lol. I don’t think they are any more prevalent now then they were back then. I do wpvp and bgs occasionally and I rarely get toxicity towards me nowadays. I couldn’t tell you the last time I had a Horde jump on an Alliance toon after wpvp to pst me and troll. But I used to have it happen all the time when I first started playing.
I only play Alliance so I just used them as an example
1 Like
“Hey we have a raid at seven tonight. Guess I should get on at four and spam trade chat for those extra slots I’m going to need to fill.”
1 Like
They aren’t more prevalent, imho. People are still conflating forced interaction with friendship. The toxic people today would have been just as toxic back then. The only difference is they may have put on a fake veneer because they needed or wanted something out of you.
6 Likes
Well said 
2 Likes
My stance as well-- I’ve never equated the two. But I see a lot of players that do and it’s very hard for me to make “friends” in an online environment-- I take players at face value and with a grain of salt.
2 Likes
But the number of subs has nothing to do with how long people stay subbed. Between 2009 and 2014 active subs went from 12m to ~7.5m. Loss of 4.5 m right?? But blizz also said that by 2014 they had more than 100m accounts started. That means that more than 92m people had quit the game by 2014.
People were always leaving in droves. Up until 2010 they were just joining in bigger droves.
2 Likes
Exactly. I mean I have made friends with people in the game (or online in general), but it’s been more from someone talking about an author they really enjoyed that I enjoyed too… or someone mentioning a kid near the same age as mine… etc etc. Strictly game stuff I don’t really consider friends. I mean I don’t consider them “not friends”… but it’s the difference between an acquaintance and a friend for me.
1 Like
I think you’re probably looking at this a bit in the wrong way. I’ve been playing since vanilla, so I can tell you what it was like then, just as well as it is now. I can also tell you it wasn’t so group dependent that you couldn’t go be ‘casual’ back [then]. Yes, it had more forced group things, but not to the extent you couldn’t get around it and do things alone, and just have fun…or even until those ‘friends’ came online to do something with.
My point is, you make connections and friends as you go, through your guild or as you are just sitting in the harbor [I’ve actually been surprised by making a couple there]. It takes time, patience and by opening yourself to them by sharing a little bit of your personality [not life, or anything personal, etc]…by just having some fun. Eventually all that leads to everything you are talking about. Everything. You find friends that enjoy what you do, and before you know it…woohoo you go out and tackle that achievement that’s been giving you a hard time or you have a group of friends now for those dungs.
What you are expecting is friends in only one way or no way. When yeah, sure, that was one way to do it…but you are totally overlooking the other ways you can be making friends too and that is just by being friendly to those around you. Try it out, you may be surprised! 
1 Like
I think a lot of players like to throw out the word friend-- to make other players feel obligated to play with them. I know that sounds very paranoid, but it’s been the experience since getting into the game.
I’m in this situation now.
1 Like
OP probably considers it “friends” if they’re on a list.
If I have a good OW game, sometimes I’ll accept a friend invite thinking that I’ll play with them later, only to realize months later they’re still there, I never bothered inviting them because I already have a group of IRL friends I played with, and it’d be awkward at this point to say anything.
So they got deleted. Now I just don’t bother accepting them because I know I’m never going to play with them again.
1 Like
People throw out the word “friend” because they have a list labeled “Friend’s list”.
We’re not talking about building relationships that last from 1st grade until you go into the ground. We’re talking about networking on a video game.
How about instead of debating what constitutes a “friend” we address the actual argument.
Yeah that sucks. I know what you mean though, I have had a few situations like that with people in a guild. We exchange btag so we can be in contact about guild things but then on my free time “hey come heal xxx” or “can I get some xxx” which would be fine if it was a friend… as in if I got whispers that did not involve “Can you do this thing for me?” but that tends not to be what happens.
What holds you back from saying “no thanks” or “not right now”?
It’s fairly easy to do. If you’re not interested, you don’t do it, no feelings will be hurt.