You get a hell of a lot more interesting discussions once a thread effectively derails. This post was basically done with “Cross Realm BGs came out 1.12, Cross Realm Dungeons came out 3.3” but the following discussion about Diablo, Battle Net, and how online gaming has evolved has injected far more life than the OP ever was going to.
I actually think Streaming will turn things around. I’m too tires to explain but I think socializing in games will actually improve in a positive way with more interaction. It’s not a popular assertion around here but I’m optimistic for it 
as a streamer… i would be inclined to agree.
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Eh I’m not so certain of that. Streaming has been a big thing since 2011 and it was a thing back in 2008 from my earliest memories watching Drakedog livestream through Warcraftmovies, but it never really went anywhere in terms of benefitting the community.
I’m waiting for the day all of my antagonism of people culminates in some psychopathic brolic dude punching me in the face IRL after tracking me down, might make me rethink some decisions.
Hell even social media sites like Facebook before they began policing it was a toxic environment when I was still in school and these were people you’d interact with the very next day. Still remember watching two girls argue on a post, going to physics class and on the way they were fighting on the stairs with one getting shoved down the flight of stairs.
But end of the day, I’d rather people talk trash behind anonymity than make it so the world knows exactly who you are, bit too authoritarian for my tastes, especially with how people can discern everything about a streamer just because they mention either a family business in their town only in that town, or their full name gets revealed somehow and next think you know their address is online. I remember when the forums back in Wrath were going to use your real ID for posts before battletags were a thing and people were very much against it and had a borderline meltdown.
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All good points.
And getting my kids to watch an old fashioned movie instead of their latest stream or YT is like pulling teeth.
Biggest complaints I hear from midlifers: “I just want to express myself and be part of a community” Lurking on these forums I guess…(oh man…) or…streams where people are gathering, contributing, participating?
I mean even the million ton (neked) gorilla in the room has social media functionality now and connections through…streams. It’s a slow but steady revolution betwixt all kinds of media.
Steer clear of Brolic dudes! I had one once kind of from a DAOC meet in greet one summer. LOL. A lot of yapping and tough talk but eventually we laughed it all out. Truth was even though we really did hate each other in game, we needed the other person to not quit and ruin the fun (this is why people interrogate all the quitters on their way out the forums, right?)
that only happens if you live in the US.
people can try that stuff any where else in the world and get laughed at.
it’s actually hillarious how long it takes canadian police to repsond to anything, but thats a topic for another day.
side note streaming services like ustream/justinTV/livestremcom have been around before even youtube.
people would share game capture sht all the time.
(i lied justin tv came 2 years after youtube)
A) CRBG’s were in vanilla.
B) BG’s always had a queueing system, extending that to cross realm made sense. Dungeons never had a queueing system in vanilla.
YouTube isn’t as bad anymore with most of the edgy content being pushed out. However it will just find a new platform. Like the main reason YouTube even got popular is because the previous video sharing sites cracked down a lot on what was being posted and started deeming a lot of stuff too edgy. I honestly think this is going to be their primary downfall and the rise of another platform will take place in the next decade.
YouTube initially was kind of like a wild west where they mostly only didn’t allow pornography for good reason. I remember the platform’s growth basically being due to things like Bum Fights, Smosh, and Tourette’s Guy. Though now they’re the big fish they’ve decided to push away a lot of the edgier content trying to be more sensitive to advertisers.
They are, but my main gripe regarding streaming is that rather than actively participating, it’s basically some dude on a camera forcing himself to appease his audience to keep their attention or selling out entirely. However that’s not specific to streaming as much as content creation. However it’s a big indicator of a problem I feel when you see a streamer basically get reamed by their viewers because they’re not playing the game they want and having much below their normal average viewership. The only exceptions to this rule are streamers where people tune in for the person, like Tyler1 where he can do weird crap like a magic show and not notice any difference. Can’t remember which League streamer it was but they got bored of League for a week and basically straight streamed RuneScape and people viscerally hated him for it.
The main advantage I’ve ever seen from it is rather than watch content creators wait to put out material in the form of a video you get more of it in real time just with less effects. I.E Watching Drakedog stream instead of waiting another few months for Drakedog 8 to see a then very good warlock play the class and spec he chose.
I had something similar where a couple of people I did arenas with in TBC when I was 14 actually lived in the same state as me so we hung out a bit over a weekend. Was kinda mortified of meeting them. Did consider a month ago going to Blizzcon because a bunch of euros and NA people from my guild on Light’s Hope were going and was gonna hang with them for a bit but I chose to prioritize my work and save the money of a ticket, a plane trip, and a hotel room. Kinda regret it honestly, sounds like they had a blast.
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Hard to be great when the company sold it soul to Activision.
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I care about Wrath.
Cross realm bgs were in late vanilla. Cross realm lfg wasn’t until wotlk.
“Entirely classic.” Definitely not like vanilla without battlegroups.
the population per realm is also higher. each realm today is already its own battlegroup.
“But muh realm identity😭”
No one cares who you are. You just want to know who the tough opposite faction premades are so you can dodge them.
oh god, I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth.
Cross realm bgs were in vanilla. Maybe spend 2 seconds on google next time.