I am coming back to WoW after being on-off through Shadowlands and BfA. I started WoW in vanilla so I am very familiar with the game, but I don’t like how… socially lacking… the game has become.
What I mean is, the game doesn’t seem to be anywhere as socially active as it used to be. Back in the early days, guilds were supremely important and what guild you were in largely influenced what in-game content you got to experience. Guilds also traded with each other (both materials and raid spots). Nowadays, there is a “Guild Finder” tool, but the last five guilds I joined over the last two weks (still haven’t found the “right” guild) listed hundreds of players, but there were never more than 3-5 people on at a time.
LFG/LFR provides a means of insta-que’ing for dungeons which means you don’t have to look very hard - you just sign up for a dungeon/key and wait. If you are playing dps (especially dps that isn’t the meta) you will likely get denied time and time again for M+ dungeons… but that is a separate issue.
LFR allows insta-que’ing for LFR raids which people generally just press through as quickly as possible.
I hopped on my warrior the other day and chain-tanked about a dozen heroic dungeons in a row but I think there were maybe five words spoken in /p throughout the entire thing?
I just feel that I have been “forced” to play alone over the last few months and it is killing my game experience. I miss the days when I could log into my guild and chat with dozens of people, or get into a ventrilo (who remembers that?) server and chat it up with people from the server?
Is this just me? Am I not looking in the right places for active and/or social players? I’m not a needy person… I just miss the social aspect of the game which, IMO, helped make the game truly enjoyable.
Sure, I can understand that… I am familiar with discord, but this doesn’t solve the only 3-5 people from a guild logged in at any time. Unless cross-server play is really that flexible?
No, that’s not it at all. I am not at all presuming that I will log in after a hiatus of whatever time frame and instantly find the best of friends. That is a ridiculous notion and I think you are misunderstanding what I wrote.
I would be content to find a group of active players that I can interact with and play with on a fairly regular basis.
Very true statements which is why, for a time, I played Classic and still do from time to time. But, as you said, WoW:Classic is not the same as WoW:Vanilla. Personally, I view Classic as a “better” game than retail, though some of the QOL changes available in retail make it a much more bearable experience.
There are still tons of guilds out there, I annoyingly get invitations in droves daily. Go join one! They are absolutely required if you want to take raiding seriously. And luckily, thats it. I can’t stand social aspects. Aside from pugging keys or a static… I don’t really need or want to talk to anyone. I have friends already irl dont need wow friends and the thought of me needing them to do any content I like seems like a huge design flaw.
the game doesn’t seem to be anywhere as socially active as it used to be
and then went into LFR and queuing. You then did super casual quick content and used it as an example of how it didnt used to be like that.
I responded to the bulk of what you wrote, which was about queuing and not talking to people. There are social guilds where people log in, but you will have to look around and meet people. I would suggest not using an automated system and talk to people in the guild recruitment channel or check community sites like https://www.reddit.com/r/wowguilds/.
Why is this a problem for some people? The point of running a dungeon is to complete it, not to have a social mixer. If you want that kind of game, play a game like p99 everquest where you occasionally have downtime between pulls to chat.
Yes, I remember the days of vent. Now everyone users discord. There is still social stuff going on, you just have to search it out.
It just depends on your perspective. I can certainly understand your argument - I was fortunate enough to be invited to a raiding guild in vanilla after taking a Sash of Mercy (epic BoE healing leather belt) during an undead Strath run. I was given the belt and a guild invite and got to raid MC, BWL, AQ, etc. and made some great friends. Heck, we even had some IRL meet-ups. Will those ever happen again? No, I doubt it.
I think the game was and is designed on social elements which grant and promote advancement within the game. As you say, you still require other people to participate in certain bits of content. Perhaps you desire less chatter and more pew-pew… that’s totally fine. I wouldn’t mind a joke or two as opposed to complete silence during a raid.
If anything the game doesn’t incentivize just logging in and hanging out anymore. People log in, do what they want, and then log off for a few days…which does make things seem emptier than before
But in my opinion, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because like others have said…we continue to communicate on discord outside of the game. For example, if we need people for keys or something, I just have to post in Discord and people will hop on.
Nope, as social as ever. You just have more options to avoid chatting with people if you don’t want to. I can go do 20 different 15-21 keys without saying anything other than “yo”.
You just have more options to avoid chatting with people if you don’t want to. I can go do 20 different 15-21 keys without saying anything other than “yo”.