I don’t understand the general sentiment I’ve seen that retail is a lifeless husk with no interaction. Obviously pugs and finders trivialize finding groups, but I’ve have some pretty solid conversations with people and I’m a pretty new player. I just ran a key trying unholy when I’ve never touched it before and after me and the tank talked for a solid 20 min after I mentioned me looking up my rotation mid pull and hit it off talking ab classes, our favorites, and how paladin is unfortunately just better rn. So once again I feel like if you are just friendly and actively make conversation past “gg ty for run”, you’ll find some friends, I think I did today at least, pretty sure me and him are running keys later, shoutout to him.
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The only difference in the amount i talk in game now compared to before the group finders is i no longer have to spam chat to find groups.
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People talk more in low keys cuz they are casuals , same with guilds…
And what exactly is the correlation with this? Regardless of your skill level it takes 5 minutes to have a conversation which is a fraction of playing time, I guess some people just treat the game more like a job?
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Some do, yeah. Neither way is wrong. Just gotta find likeminded people. And ideally people who don’t aggressively insist theirs is the only right way to play.
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Im not sure but people just dont talking in higher keys, even when you say hi, no one says anything
Oh I 100% agree, play the game however you want, its their for you to enjoy after all.
I guess the higher level of play just makes for a more serious mindset, I hope whenever I get there tho I at least have a couple good talks every few key runs lol
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Social interaction is there if you want it. It may take a try or 2 but you will find people who interact if you are looking for it.
Yeah, there are lots of wonderful people playing! Just have to open yourself up a little find them.
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People talk about the social aspect of retail wow being dead because the group finder and queues exist in a way that allows people to opt-out of social gameplay, yet still see content, which was not the case in wow for the 1st half of it’s lifetime.
You’re spot on OP.
There are a ton of guilds there. I’m in two active ones that are very sociable. More and more though I’ve found myself on the smaller servers because there are more smaller ‘family’ type guilds which tend to be small-medium, be very tight but also helpful and that’s what I’m all about.
I’m the same way, something about a guild that feels like clocking in I just can’t do. No shade to all those who do just focus on the game 24/7, but I believe the social aspect is alive and well if you don’t ignore it/
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There was more talking in older wow because there was a lot more downtime. It’s real hard to type out a conversation with retail combat, but overall people are still just as social. You just have to not be looking for conversations in the middle of a boss fight 
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I also think that back then the novelty was that MMOs kept us connected. Before the proliferation of social media and smart phones, games like WoW expanded on the chat rooms and instant messagers of the 90’s.
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Probably because the people saying this avoid social interaction at all costs.
I don’t really get the fixation with people stressing the importance of chatter. I’ll be polite and say hello, and sometimes I’ll chat when I’m feeling sociable. Otherwise I’m fine just running the content and being on my way.
Am I supposed to talk to everybody I am riding the bus with, too? We’re all on the bus because we’ve got somewhere we need to be, or something we want to do. Does that mean we need to talk to each other?
There are avenues and channels for people who want to chat, and it’s optional. That’s not a bad thing.
This isn’t true. What do you mean by higher keys?
+18 to +24 people greet each other every time.
But often that’s as far as it goes.
Blizz gives out “behavioural warnings” and vacations like candy, but doesn’t advise what chat triggered such a flag. So there’s no way to correct it and people find themselves suspended or muted because they were doing keys…
Same with pvp, people certainly don’t talk there for the same reasons.
BR/MEX servers claim they don’t even understand when you tell them to lust so don’t expect much communication there, either.
But you get your hello+ in higher keys every time, because we all want to bring levity to the atmosphere where likely 1 person minimum is a carry, and we get muted or suspended for telling them to pull up their socks if we’re feeling brash enough to say anything at all with brother blizzard flagging everything…
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I been on retail WoW like 10 hours today and I aint done anything but banter in trade chat. Yelling NEED A TANK FOR INSTANCE X 3200 times an hour is not socialization. People who think that is socialization are probably not getting meaningful social experiences for other reasons.
No one says that
I mean classic is lifeless husk of nothing but gdkp runs and the easiest content ever reproduced
People make it out like it’s the end of the world and impossible to find people to play with, it’s not difficult.
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