I could play arena, make friends in game, talk with people in voice chat. Sounds fun. Can’t do.
My absolute maximum is staying silent in guild raid with everyone besides raid leader silenced and play m+ without voice chat with pugs.
Text chat just isn’t enough for all endgame content, sadly.
Gonna be sad to miss TBC arena.
I actually deal with a ton of social anxiety. I find it really challenging to work up the courage to get past it and apply to join a pug group. When someone starts getting toxic with me, it’s really hard for me to depersonalize it. I know intellectually that I shouldn’t care what people say or think, but I just can’t follow through on that easily.
Maybe try some Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It can help with a lot of anxieties.
Just roll an SL/SL lock, find a shadow priest buddy and have at it in the first two seasons.
I also get some anxiety in large groups or tense WoW settings.
I don’t have a solution, OP. I just want you to know that you’re not the only person who feels this way and there are surely many other players who would be more than understanding.
Is there any method for recovery?
I know what it is like, it took me the entire week going to the huge RP event in moon guard last week to start actually trying to talk to people instead of just walking alone and watch the little presentations that required no input from me.
And it’s much worse with stressful content like raiding and m+.
Anxiety disorders never make any sense and that just adds to their frustration.
I know we don’t always agree. But I feel ya when it comes to anxiety.
i’m 29, if there is - it’s too late for me to change anyway
Anxiety is crippling, and not just in WoW.
I just have no idea how this would feel
I don’t give a jack about what or who I’m grouping with and I’ll play with anyone and everyone
Hope one day it gets easier Op
Hey! That’s MY joke!
… I haven’t used that abbreviation for a while actually.
-sigh-
Well jesting or not, it still helps. :L
Best you can do is find out what is triggering the anxiety and avoiding it.
Behavioral therapy can help as well.
You know the meme of “why do I hear boss music?” imagine that sensation, but you don’t see the boss anywhere.
Start with just talking to friends online, then gradually introduce others or get into small groups at first instead of trying with 10+ people at once
For years I used to just claim to not own a mic or it “just broke” cuz I was too nervous to talk to guild members
I gradually got over it, it’s slow but not impossible
That’s always the best part tho
i don’t have friends, never had, probably never will. It’s not just inability to use voice chat, i’m also horrible antisocial monster
I also suffer with anxiety and find when it is bad I can’t even log into the game. I will not do pug’s as I am terrified that someone will yell at me or call me a terrible player. I am not elite by any means just average and my guild tells me I may not have top dps but come prepared, fully buffed and listen to instructions. They tell me not to worry but the anxiety is so bad I can not do pug’s at all.
Anxiety sucks and there is no other way to put it!
It’s never too late. 29 is nothing. Might as well try because you don’t want to be 39 and feel the same way. Lots of things you can try/do. Cdew was on healthygamergg and they had a whole talk about anxiety. It’s on YouTube might be worth checking out. I deal with a lot of anxiety too but there’s tons of things that work for different people you just have to find what works for you. Don’t give up at all.
Taking a public speaking course at a community college or taking the Dale Carnegie course will help knock that anxiety right out.
I definitely feel the pressure in arena which I why I don’t do it. I’m not particularly good at it either lol. I find pve to be a lot more relaxing. That content is designed to be beaten after all.