WoW feels like a single-player game now

[Tradu]

I barely see ANY interaction happening in the game, so it's not just me.

Maybe that's because people interact with their guild and friends rather than random strangers?
Also you definitely can add people from other servers to your friendslist. The game does also prioritize putting you on the same shard as friends, guildies and people from your server. It just also tries to balance the H:A ratio.
CRZ is problematic, but "social interaction" is not it.

[Runstarr]

Idk man, I don't like talking to random people, that's why I didn't like classic either, I have to talk to every random.

[Niwes]

Sometimes I think it would be beneficial if they simply removed realms and merged everyone into a mega server, kind of like what they did for ESO, that way you can have full interactivity with everyone you encounter. Only roleplayers would get their own separate server.

and who pay them multi millions for server transfers ? do you think they have a transfer option for whole guilds just for fun ? because nobody use server transfers ? they make absurd money with transfers.

[Tradu]

Because they like being able to tell shareholders about the 400 or so servers they have, even if most of them are dead. I think they would rather create even more servers instead of merging them.

They tried to connect servers(as close to merges as we'll get), but every time roleplaying idiots got upset that their name wouldn't be unique anymore and that their "server identity"(being dead is a pretty shit server identity, ngl) was being ruined.

[Mirishka]

I barely see ANY interaction happening in the game, so it's not just me.

Because clearly, it doesn't happen if you don't see it.

[Pandragon]

I have been playing for three months now and have not had a SINGLE social experience. Meanwhile I played Classic for a month and can't count how many people I met.

There's clearly something wrong with the design in retail and I think it all has to do with CRZ, sharding, and cross-realm everything.

I have played this game every day since TBC and I have not a single friend, played classic too, no friends. The closest I got was up until MOP when I quit tanking and changed my main. Until then I constantly had people messaging me to tank dungeons and raids for them cause I was very good at it.

It has very little to do with these systems.

[Redroniksre]

A single mega server would be cool but would be sharded like it is now, impossible to fit every single player into a single server (with no sharding). That said what people want out of MMOs has changed greatly. Even if say, they got rid of dungeon finder, it would be exactly the same as M+ is now. People don't -want- to talk, they want their runs to be quick so they can get back to doing stuff they want to do.

Also people don't talk in /say or /yell often because it is easier with whispers. And General/Trade/Raid/Battleground chat is usually filled with toxic players.

[deenman]

I have been playing for three months now and have not had a SINGLE social experience. Meanwhile I played Classic for a month and can't count how many people I met.

There's clearly something wrong with the design in retail and I think it all has to do with CRZ, sharding, and cross-realm everything. Why do I see random players from 20 different servers every time I log into Boralus? Especially considering I can't trade with them, can't join guilds, can't even add them to friends list, and any of us could be sharded out at any random moment and never see each other again. Why not prioritize sharding and grouping with people from the SAME realm so actual connections can form? This is a cornerstone of the MMO experience. I actually feel incentivized NOT to socialize with other players because it feels bittersweet knowing you'll never see them again.

It just seems like Blizzard sacrificed actual server communities to give us the illusion of an MMO just because they didn't want to merge dead servers because it would look bad to shareholders.

And honestly whichever genius at Blizzard came up with CRZ needs to be fired immediately and blacklisted from the entire industry. What an idiot.

personaly I like that not every aspect of the game needs social interaction,its enough that i am forced in it for raiding and pvp,honestly the fact that you havent had a single social experience in 3 months its mostly because of you,also if one person did come up with CRZ they proly got a raise as thats a fine feature to make the world feel more alive,if you meet someone you befriend you can always add them and play with them in every content the game has,even mythic raiding after a few weeks,and yeah you cant be in the same guild,but now you have the ingame comunity feature

[Telwar]

Maybe that's because people interact with their guild and friends rather than random strangers?
Also you definitely can add people from other servers to your friendslist. The game does also prioritize putting you on the same shard as friends, guildies and people from your server. It just also tries to balance the H:A ratio.
CRZ is problematic, but "social interaction" is not it.

Combine that with the absolute cesspool that tends to be Trade chat, and yeah, people are conditioned to drop Trade. I used to keep trade up and ignored the Anal, memes, trolls, and assholes for the occasional group, but group finder takes care of that now.

[Kithelle]

I have been playing for three months now and have not had a SINGLE social experience. Meanwhile I played Classic for a month and can't count how many people I met.

There's clearly something wrong with the design in retail and I think it all has to do with CRZ, sharding, and cross-realm everything. Why do I see random players from 20 different servers every time I log into Boralus? Especially considering I can't trade with them, can't join guilds, can't even add them to friends list, and any of us could be sharded out at any random moment and never see each other again. Why not prioritize sharding and grouping with people from the SAME realm so actual connections can form? This is a cornerstone of the MMO experience. I actually feel incentivized NOT to socialize with other players because it feels bittersweet knowing you'll never see them again.

It just seems like Blizzard sacrificed actual server communities to give us the illusion of an MMO just because they didn't want to merge dead servers because it would look bad to shareholders.

And honestly whichever genius at Blizzard came up with CRZ needs to be fired immediately and blacklisted from the entire industry. What an idiot.

Wow...you can clear mythic+ keys solo? You're able to top the arena charts all by yourself? You must tell me your secret to downing Azshara all by yourself!

If you answer is no to any or all of these (And we know it is) then it's not the game is single player...it's that you just want to call it single player to jab at Retail.

You're just another person suffering from RDS or Retail Derangement Syndrome!

[Gonder]

and who pay them multi millions for server transfers ? do you think they have a transfer option for whole guilds just for fun ? because nobody use server transfers ? they make absurd money with transfers.

For some reason server transfers didn't cross my mind, and I can't really disagree with your point. Maybe we'll never see a proper merge because of this reason, and the thought of that makes my blood boil.

They tried to connect servers(as close to merges as we'll get), but every time roleplaying idiots got upset that their name wouldn't be unique anymore and that their "server identity"(being dead is a pretty shit server identity, ngl) was being ruined.

The biggest solution to this I can think of would be for them to allow us to add spaces to our names so we can create surnames, middles names and titles and such, which is also a feature in ESO.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

That is purely your own fault.
There is no serious end game content in the game currently that can be done alone.
You are just choosing not to engage with these people.

In the end, this is a product of gaming in 2019, not gaming in general.

I actually have the exact opposite experience with Classic, honestly.
I spend hours upon hours in DME farming alone.
Meanwhile every time I log on to live its to do serious content that requires communication and cohesion.

[123youshowme]

Wow...you can clear mythic+ keys solo? You're able to top the arena charts all by yourself? You must tell me your secret to downing Azshara all by yourself!

If you answer is no to any or all of these (And we know it is) then it's not the game is single player...it's that you just want to call it single player to jab at Retail.

You're just another person suffering from RDS or Retail Derangement Syndrome!

He wants to stand up in LF yelling "LFM Blightcaller, need 4 more and g2g"

[Mokrath]

Sounds like OP and others only "socialize" if the game hand-holds or forces them to do it.
Don't really see how you being anti-social is the games fault.

What you really want is for the game to force you to interact with others and force others to interact with you.

Honestly, if you do any kind of end game content above LFR, you already have to do this to varying degrees.
Mythic and M+ aren't being done at a high level by randoms who refuse to communicate. You might get away with a pug for normal and maybe even heroic later in the tier where you can treat everyone else like an NPC, but it's more of an exception than the norm.
Same goes for high level PvP.

[bryroo]

People don't go out of their way to interact with strangers. Not on the bus, not on the street and not in video games. There are plenty of opportunities to form social bonds in the game and in communities.

This is another 'Blizzard isn't forcing people to play with me' post. Go play Classic.

[clevin]

... have tons of "interactions", daily. Bye.

With people whom you don't know? I do not believe you because, like OP, I never had interactions with random other people in retail. Friends, guilds etc? Sure. Others? No.

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That is purely your own fault.
There is no serious end game content in the game currently that can be done alone.
You are just choosing not to engage with these people.

That's not what OP is talking about - read the post again. THey're talking about people just chatting, helping with a quest, etc.

I actually have the exact opposite experience with Classic, honestly.
I spend hours upon hours in DME farming alone..

Well no shit, you're in an instance. Of course you don't see others (I assume you mean Dire Maul E).

[chaoticcrono]

I have been playing for three months now and have not had a SINGLE social experience. Meanwhile I played Classic for a month and can't count how many people I met.

There's clearly something wrong with the design in retail and I think it all has to do with CRZ, sharding, and cross-realm everything. Why do I see random players from 20 different servers every time I log into Boralus? Especially considering I can't trade with them, can't join guilds, can't even add them to friends list, and any of us could be sharded out at any random moment and never see each other again. Why not prioritize sharding and grouping with people from the SAME realm so actual connections can form? This is a cornerstone of the MMO experience. I actually feel incentivized NOT to socialize with other players because it feels bittersweet knowing you'll never see them again.

It just seems like Blizzard sacrificed actual server communities to give us the illusion of an MMO just because they didn't want to merge dead servers because it would look bad to shareholders.

And honestly whichever genius at Blizzard came up with CRZ needs to be fired immediately and blacklisted from the entire industry. What an idiot.

i played classic for over 2 months without social interaction... wow has always been a single player online game.

[clevin]

People don't go out of their way to interact with strangers. Not on the bus, not on the street and not in video games. There are plenty of opportunities to form social bonds in the game and in communities.

This is another 'Blizzard isn't forcing people to play with me' post. Go play Classic.

Sigh. that whooshing sound? The point, over your head

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i played classic for over 2 months without social interaction... wow has always been a single player online game.

You're avoiding it then. There are quests as you level that are MUCH easier to do with someone else and if there are others around you can invite them (or they you). That doesn't exist in retail - none of the quests are that hard.

[Nokami]

Never had an issue communicating with people, you choose to do stuff solo that's on you.

[chaoticcrono]

You're avoiding it then. There are quests as you level that are MUCH easier to do with someone else and if there are others around you can invite them (or they you). That doesn't exist in retail - none of the quests are that hard.

None of the quests are that hard in classic either... tho i suppose it depends on what class you play.

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honestly nothing stops you from playing with other people, the game being playable and friendly to solo players is one of the best aspects of wow imo