More toxic than ever.

[Trend]

So im playing on and off since day one.
Used to play in a very good guild pushing content hard with a few realm first boss kills etc [ive grown up since and dont care for trivial stuff like that anymore] more power to those that do but its just not for me anymore, life is too busy for that.
These days im a lot more casual, no interest in raiding but do like to do mythics.
My guild have died off so im pugging content but my god is this game more toxic than ever.
Every single mythic run there are arguments, toxic abuse, really bad stuff not just blame game etc.
Its actually got to the stage where im questioning playing anymore as im holding my breath every time i join a mythic group, its just too stressful.
Maybe its a society thing but im not so sure as i play other games and few are this toxic.
Grow a thick skin you might say but ive grown a very thick one over the last 16 years but right now im finding it hard to log in anymore.

Nothing has changed. Humans can be nice or shitty and since day 1 the anonymity of the internet has had a tendency to bring out the worst.

Sounds like you should just quit. You feel some obligation to keep playing?

[T-34]

So im playing on and off since day one.
Used to play in a very good guild pushing content hard with a few realm first boss kills etc [ive grown up since and dont care for trivial stuff like that anymore] more power to those that do but its just not for me anymore, life is too busy for that.
These days im a lot more casual, no interest in raiding but do like to do mythics.
My guild have died off so im pugging content but my god is this game more toxic than ever.
Every single mythic run there are arguments, toxic abuse, really bad stuff not just blame game etc.
Its actually got to the stage where im questioning playing anymore as im holding my breath every time i join a mythic group, its just too stressful.
Maybe its a society thing but im not so sure as i play other games and few are this toxic.
Grow a thick skin you might say but ive grown a very thick one over the last 16 years but right now im finding it hard to log in anymore.

Well, I very rarely have "toxic" experiences when I pug dungeons.
The most important thing when pugging is to ruthlessly filter out your applicants if you create the group and also be very selective about which groups you join when you apply for groups.

The worse the players you play with the higher amount of "toxic" players you will meet.

[vincink]

"Toxicity" scales with level of dungeon difficulty and "prestige" (or epeen, if you want to be old school). The more elitist the content, the worse the pug. And I'm referring specifically to pugs.

Like others have said, either brush it off and push through or join a good guild.

[La]

Your statement is pretty weird because first you say that you played on and off since day one, mainly in a guild. Now you say you don't play in a guild and the game is now worse than it's ever been. But if you never pugged in the past because you were in a guild then perhaps you were simply ignorant to the fact the game has always been like that. In fact, every game is like that these days, especially if there's any sort of competitiveness, and while WoW is not exactly competitive, the mentality that M+ has brought has most certainly made people more toxic. The funny thing is that it's also caused people to think they're better than they really are.

[Seranthor]

So im playing on and off since day one.
Used to play in a very good guild pushing content hard with a few realm first boss kills etc [ive grown up since and dont care for trivial stuff like that anymore] more power to those that do but its just not for me anymore, life is too busy for that.
These days im a lot more casual, no interest in raiding but do like to do mythics.
My guild have died off so im pugging content but my god is this game more toxic than ever.
Every single mythic run there are arguments, toxic abuse, really bad stuff not just blame game etc.
Its actually got to the stage where im questioning playing anymore as im holding my breath every time i join a mythic group, its just too stressful.
Maybe its a society thing but im not so sure as i play other games and few are this toxic.
Grow a thick skin you might say but ive grown a very thick one over the last 16 years but right now im finding it hard to log in anymore.

Maybe find folks you enjoy, group with them. The world is very different now than it was 16 years ago. You aren't even the same person you were 16 years ago.

[Irian]

It's WoW. Other games that aren't competitive are a lot nicer. I've played almost every MMORPG and I will say they all have way less vile communities than WoW. Christ, even most competitive games do.

I keep my mouth shut and play well enough so people tend to be nice to me but the community is petty and vicious as hell. I wouldn't suggest trying to play WoW solo, it's really not worth the amount of bullshit you're going to have to put up with to get anything meaningful done in the game.

[crakerjack]

I'd join a guild. Pugging isn't always bad, but expecting a smooth run is wishful thinking.

[Tesshin83]

The biggest problem with pugging is the meta way of assuming that any problem can be solved by enough big numbers and speed.

This works to a degree at the end of an expansion, but now pugs need to play along with the mechanics.

They rarely do as they prefer to mindnumingly dps instead of interrupting and stunning etc which makes everything easier.

The clue is to get with people who understand how the game works and this is true in guilds and outside of guilds as well.

[Loveliest]

This stuff happens in guilds too

Not as much. Or rather, not if you actually make friends in that guild. If it's a random guild you joined for leveling or a guild who raids and you log casually and take long breaks, don't expect to be included.

Basically, this is the core of your issue, OP. You used to enjoy playing wow with friends and now you dont have friends anymore. Of course it's gonna suck and be toxic, what do you expect?

The rest of the world doesnt care that you want to be casual or that you are new and took it slow and don't know the tactics or whatever. Puggers are usually pugging because they have no better alternative, for whatever reason, they are not really there to be chill and make friends.

So that is the core, no matter how you look at it - make friends. And if your time does not allow you to make ingame friends and you kinda wanna play it as a solo game where you log whenever and do whatever you want, then this type of game probably does not fit you anymore. It happens, especially as we grow older and our priorities change.

[Zig Zug]

This stuff happens in guilds too

Sure, but that's really the fault of leadership.

A guild's atmosphere is a reflection of the GM and officers, and who they let into the guild.

If a guild is toxic, that is because the GM and Officers are toxic, or tolerate it from the members.

In general, I laugh so hard in our discord, that it's caused wipes in our guild runs. Which leads to more laughing.

If you don't enjoy the game anymore, be honest with yourself.

16 years, is a long, long time.

Treat it like a pre-divorce, take a trial separation. See how you feel in 3-6 months.

[Efioanaes]

Your statement is pretty weird because first you say that you played on and off since day one, mainly in a guild. Now you say you don't play in a guild and the game is now worse than it's ever been. But if you never pugged in the past because you were in a guild then perhaps you were simply ignorant to the fact the game has always been like that. In fact, every game is like that these days, especially if there's any sort of competitiveness, and while WoW is not exactly competitive, the mentality that M+ has brought has most certainly made people more toxic. The funny thing is that it's also caused people to think they're better than they really are.

Not weird at all, its very common to play the game on and off, i played with guilds when active and pugged when not so its not as if ive never pugged in 16 years lol but thanks for your reply

[glowpipe]

Step 1 to successfully pugging: be on proper power
Step 2: be following the meta
Step 3: be good at the game and know what's going on

If everyone did those 3 things, there wouldn't be any toxicity because you wouldn't ever get randomly paired with scrubs who make things take 10x longer than they need to with their failness.

following the meta and requiring everyone to be good is what made this game this toxic in the first place

Only advice i would give anyone is to join a proper guild and stop pugging, thats where the poison is

[munkeyinorbit]

So im playing on and off since day one.
Used to play in a very good guild pushing content hard with a few realm first boss kills etc [ive grown up since and dont care for trivial stuff like that anymore] more power to those that do but its just not for me anymore, life is too busy for that.
These days im a lot more casual, no interest in raiding but do like to do mythics.
My guild have died off so im pugging content but my god is this game more toxic than ever.
Every single mythic run there are arguments, toxic abuse, really bad stuff not just blame game etc.
Its actually got to the stage where im questioning playing anymore as im holding my breath every time i join a mythic group, its just too stressful.
Maybe its a society thing but im not so sure as i play other games and few are this toxic.
Grow a thick skin you might say but ive grown a very thick one over the last 16 years but right now im finding it hard to log in anymore.

I've seen one problem. Some guy said something questionable, another guy took offence and left, first guy asked what was wrong, us other three were "hmmmmm maybe you were right or the other guy was it's a grey area".

Tbh wow isn't that toxic anymore. If you are seeing a lot of "toxicity" then it's likely a you issue. I would say to stop stirring the pot.

[A Chozo]

Look dude, you aren't the only one. Lots of people are fed up with the toxicity. This isn't even the first post about this here.

But the thing about that group finder is that you too can make groups. If someone is toxic, you can kick the problem. You can put "chill run, not a speedrun, newbies welcome" on the title and other similar "tags" that toxic people usually avoid, for example. Try to group up with like-minded players!

Hell, there's bound to be some Discord or Bnet Community with more patient people who know how to behave like normal humans.

There are ways to play with good players and humans, but you gotta extended your hand first.

[[KJ]]

keep playing pal. best to try and find a team to do mythics with. I was in your boat, people leave, get upset, stressed. its the nature of the beast unfortunately, however putting up with pugging allowed me to find new people to play with weekly. Start adding people as friends, arrange a time to do stuff. It's a battle at first because its a bit of a chore but will pay you dividends in the long run when people are used to those times

[erifwodahs]

Welcome to World of Warcraft in 2020.

Gaming* 2020

[callipygoustp]

Haven't run into much toxicity at all thus far into SL. Been running M0s and Heroics: other than people dropping group after downing a boss that had the one piece of loot they were after, people have been pretty decent.

[Eurhetemec]

Step 1 to successfully pugging: be on proper power
Step 2: be following the meta
Step 3: be good at the game and know what's going on

If everyone did those 3 things, there wouldn't be any toxicity because you wouldn't ever get randomly paired with scrubs who make things take 10x longer than they need to with their failness.

Yeah that's total bollocks right here.

What you're detailing is the precise attitude that causes toxicity. Any errors - or even perceived errors (often incorrectly perceived) at all get people screamed at by people with attitudes like yours. The victims of the shrieking and screaming are always blamed by people with attitudes like yours. And people with attitudes like yours think they're "good at the game" and "know what's going on", when they're in fact they're just as often clueless and inept, and scream and shriek because some specific, generally bad, strat they thought should be used wasn't used (a strat which had never been discussed, but some nutcase thought was "the meta" because he saw it in a Youtube video one time and just assumed every person on the planet knew it by heart).

I've played with people with attitudes like this. They're the worst, most toxic people on the planet. You can play perfectly, but it's not good enough, because their obsession with bullshit metas (which are very often outdated or just outright wrong) causes them to have tons of bad ideas, and to have screaming abusive tantrums whenever anything doesn't go 100% perfectly, and causes most of the delay. The "scrubs" don't cause things to "take 10x longer". The meta-obsessed meltdown-types do. They are people who think they themselves aren't scrubs, but insist on spending several minutes having a meltdown because a certain skip wasn't used (even though not using it lost them like 30 seconds overall - and their meltdown cost far longer), or having a complete legs-in-the-air screaming fest because someone took a different approach to them (often, again, the correct approach, but they're both out of date and think they're omniscient and infallible).

Even when everyone does everything on that list, the sort of people who believe in lists like that will find ways to cause toxicity. They're looking for any tiny perceived imperfection to pick on and be horrible about. They're checkboxers, not actually good players. They've existed in and been an absolute bane on every MMO. They completely ruined GW2's endgame, by infesting it so thoroughly whilst being so bad (ironic given how casual the rest of GW2 was - but then you get in even a leveling dungeon and some guy is splashing lines in all-caps into chat about skips and how everyone is bad and so on).

[Hobbidaggy]

I am trying to employ the opposite. I have been helping others and also the opposite faction. Hitting them up on a Battle.net request and messaging them to offer help. I feel what you put out can be very effective at trying to counter players with a negative attitude. I have had a few who are rude but majority are thankful or pay it in kind back. Random resurrections on dead bodies helping save the run back or healing someone fighting a difficult mob. Very little bit helps in my opinion and does make an impact

[eternal curse]

Join a guild.

Stop pugging.

Shouldn't stress out due to entertainment.

I haven't found a guild with people I like in the last 8 years.