Not Much of an MMO Without the Community

[Tahbitha-kilrogg]

@Recalshaman-zuljin

It’s no better than most RPGs you can snag on a console or PC; the graphics definitely aren’t in the top 10; and the game systems, when taken by themselves, are so stinking over-thought, and somehow simultaneously half-baked, that the really sad truth is that WoW’s community has been what has made this game so great to play for so long. With that dying off again, I just can’t imagine how much longer Blizzard has left before the cycle of unsub-resub finally just…ends.

Not only is it “no better” than other RPGs on console/PC, I’d say it’s actually significantly worse.

When I played back during Vanilla/TBC/WOTLK/Cata, I was in a number of solid guilds, we did raids and dungeons together plus we were all good friends and there was always friendly folks to talk to and hang out with in the game even when we were all doing solo/casual stuff. It made WoW worth playing. Servers had their own communities and to a large extent everyone knew everyone else.

Then I took a break for a long time (nothing to do with the game, RL, ya know), and came back in December of 2020 for Shadowlands. It took me a while to realize it, but the social community aspect of this game is now all but dead. And before someone comes on here and just says “get a new guild”, it’s a LOT harder to do that now than it was then. And what guilds are out there are not as closely knit as they were before. The guild I’m currently in was friendly enough during 9.0 but right after 9.1 dropped it evaporated almost overnight.

Since July, I’ve been playing WoW as essentially a solo game with a bit of LFR. There for a while I was having fun (or at least telling myself I was) chasing mogs, mounts, achievements, etc. Then I came to realize that there are better games out there to scratch that itch. Recently, just to name a console example, I’ve been having a great time playing Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition on the Switch and it has everything I like about WoW - a massive world, achievements to hunt, transmogs, etc. Plus it has an excellent story and graphics that blow WoW out of the water (although honestly it’s unfair to compare a 2020 game to a 2004 game in terms of graphics but it’s still true). I’m not trying to convince anyone to abandon WoW for XC, but it’s a good example of what I mean. And there are dozens of games out there that are just as good, and more coming.

I’m not leaving WoW. There’s still stuff for me to do when I feel like it and I can certainly afford the subscription. But WoW will never be what it once was, for the simple reason that the community is dead. And make no mistake, Blizzard killed the social aspects of this game. They didn’t intend to, and it didn’t happen overnight, but they did.

I get far more social community interaction on this forum than I ever do in the game.