Three reasons why WoW's community is toxic

[Kumorii]

You learn by doing, it works in every single other game and frankly part of the fun. Having people assault you for not already having done all that or not yet mastered it is where the WoW community shines brighter than all the rest.
In FFXIV for example if I'm doing a dungeon and say that I'm new and ask of there's anything important I need to know people will tell me, every single time. Doesn't matter what role I play. If I do that in WoW I get called names and a vote kick out of the group.

Whenever I asked and had people asked about certain mechanics people reply and tell them/me what needs to be known... no toxicity at all.

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Human beings are toxic in general. It's human nature, not gamer nature, or any other labels human beings want to use on certain groups.

What? no they aren't...If everyone or majority is toxic that you meet, I think it says more about you than others tbh.
I can only speak for myself, but majority I've met in life have been nice and courteous as the default.

[KTM]

i don't really see that much toxicity in wow tbf. I remember in vanilla the most toxic thing would be stealing an herb to someone that was fighting a mob near it, or tag a quest mob and let the other kill it, or the guy that join the guild to get equipped and then leave.
what's toxic now? after playing lol for several years, wow is so chill i could fall asleep while playing.

[ek0zu]

I'm assuming you don't know what thottbot and vent are?

You did not get what i wanted to say ofc we used all resources available, but our relationships where not depended on them! cannot really explain it better tbh, cheers ! o/

[T-34]

Unlike animals, humans are capable of introspection to prevent self-destructive behaviors.

Exactly! I couldn't agree more!
That is why I try my best to play with people that bring me in-game enjoyment and also try my best to avoid people that lessen my in-game enjoyment!
So in order to avoid being unhappy I do my best to avoid players that are wilfully bad and entitled and only participate in activities in-game that I find enjoyable.

I can strongly recommend that everybody spends 10 minutes to determine what/who makes you happy in-game and what/who makes unhappy in-game and do your best to pursue the former and avoid the latter. Works like a charm for me.

[Caerrona]

You did not get what i wanted to say ofc we used all resources available, but our relationships where not depended on them! cannot really explain it better tbh, cheers ! o/

You depend on wowhead to play wow?

[erifwodahs]

Man ease off on the random passive aggressiveness. No I don’t. I expect to learn any doing. Duh.

But wow is great at that - letting people learn at their own phase with so many difficulties available.
Create your own group -> add Chill run -> profit. I literally was farming my pvp mount like that in BfA with my previous arena experience being TBC. Out of like 10-15 people no one was an ass even with massive loss streaks.

Had couple of friends dinging 60 Tuesday 20PM. Needed to d a m+, they were 144 and 153, we went and joined a +4 chill group. Easy timed, no one gave a shit that they were below tank dps.

Using tools correctly is the key.

[slime]

You learn by doing, it works in every single other game and frankly part of the fun. Having people assault you for not already having done all that or not yet mastered it is where the WoW community shines brighter than all the rest.
In FFXIV for example if I'm doing a dungeon and say that I'm new and ask of there's anything important I need to know people will tell me, every single time. Doesn't matter what role I play. If I do that in WoW I get called names and a vote kick out of the group.

Sir, you and I are an evaporating, dying breed.

P.S. - You better turn on your DBM and let it play the game for you!

[erifwodahs]

Agreed. I think part of what happens early on though is the nolifers who study before they play are on the same level as everyone else for a few weeks so they get super toxic with the people who learn by playing.

Remember, a lot of people’s sense of self worth and accomplishment is tied to progress on the game, and they forget that for most people it’s a relaxing pastime. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to progress - I’ll get +15 on every dungeon eventually- just means the pace is different.

But nolifers can do that - it is perfectly fine but "slow pacers" should not expect to join a group listed as "push" and learn there tho OR nolifers joining a +5 key and expect people to be fully in line with meta pulls and route or even bitch about something. Both cases would be douche thing to do.

[ztkraptor]

Is watching pornography the same experience as having sex too?

Pretty much. Thats where I learned how to have sex for the most part. SO yes to answer your question, a resounding yes.

[Zephire]

The most toxic thing is that we focus on the toxic things. If 1 out of 5 people leave a M+ then it was a toxic run, disregarding that 80% of the players did not leave.

If we put as much energy into applauding great experiences between random strangers and one self as with lifting up toxic behaviour then I don't think the community would be seen as toxic at all.

Just a personal opinion.

[meowfurion]

Ugh. You typed up all that crap? First of all, define "toxicity."

...Because so far, it just seems like anyone or anything in the game you don't like is "toxic."

[Stormcall]

When I run into the same type of player over and over again, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, it's not a generalization anymore. It's the truth of the WoW community.

You know what the one common denominator in all those situations is? It's you. Ever stop to think YOU might be the problem?

[meowfurion]

You know what the one common denominator in all those situations is? It's you. Ever stop to think YOU might be the problem?

This.

/10char

[Freedom]

So some of you would rather spend an extra 12 hours or more total on a boss over time just so you can experience it "pristine" without spoiling rather than read a simple IcyVeins explanation of the fight and eliminate all that extra time spent? I would rather have read and watched the fight so that I can be more efficient and use that time to do a greater variety of things in WoW such as old raid soloing or casual PVP, or even just play less time altogether.

It's your time and you can be as inefficient as you want, but as soon as you enter a group with others who have my set of assumptions as opposed to yours, you can expect friction. If you insist on not doing research, make your own chill run, and if you don't, expect some raging from others for not knowing what to do. And honestly I see all these "lul why you take a video game so srs only losers do homework for a video game" posts as just as toxic as raging at people who don't prepare, if not more so.

[Merlunie]

But wow is great at that - letting people learn at their own phase with so many difficulties available.
Create your own group -> add Chill run -> profit. I literally was farming my pvp mount like that in BfA with my previous arena experience being TBC. Out of like 10-15 people no one was an ass even with massive loss streaks.

Had couple of friends dinging 60 Tuesday 20PM. Needed to d a m+, they were 144 and 153, we went and joined a +4 chill group. Easy timed, no one gave a shit that they were below tank dps.

Using tools correctly is the key.

They don't want to make their own groups though. Too much work. They want to come to my groups and then when I decline them that makes me an elitist.

[Rissler-Dark-]

Pretty much how I feel. But I have a beer and keep my thoughts about it to myself.

[Kyphael]

What? no they aren't...If everyone or majority is toxic that you meet, I think it says more about you than others tbh.
I can only speak for myself, but majority I've met in life have been nice and courteous as the default.

Allow me to re-phrase. Human beings can be toxic in general. It's not a gamer thing, or whatever label you want to use. Every community can be toxic to an extent regardless of what kind of community it is. If 10% of the human race is toxic by nature to varying degrees, or 10% of all people you'll ever meet are toxic, then it's just human nature. Of course a majority of people I've met online or off are not toxic, but I'd say a notable percentage is. What I mean is, human toxicity isn't just pigeon holed into the Warcraft community like people say, or the online community. People have the potential to be jerks and just are regardless of what community they belong to.

Take NRA for example. Depending on one's points of view, toxic AF, right?

Take Satanists. Toxic as hell depending on probably most people's points of view.

It's a human thing, not a "Warcraft player" thing.

[Otimus]

Everything that requires strict team dynamics is going to be toxic if you don't play with friends.

WoW's problem is that it's designed in a way that teaches you that strict group mechanics aren't important, then almost every facet of the game halts it's progress until you engage in strict group mechanics, and the game literally teaches you nothing.

That, and Blizzard communities are just all around famously toxic. They even gave birth to the MOBA! The most toxic genre of all!

I think the key thing is is that, yes, most gaming communities are toxic, that much is true, but in most other types of games, you can actively ignore it, and your gameplay experience won't be hindered by it. Personally, I think that's why the MMORPG genre is so stagnant. Other games aped it's mechanics (the carrot on the stick gameplay, loot, etc), are more fun, and don't require that sort of social baggage.

[NewportsDentarg]

I bet there's one common denominator in all your groups.

[Naturalis]

Idk. I mainly play League of Legends and I find everyone says its the most toxic game. I think everybody says their game is the most toxic.

But it depends on how toxicity is defined. "Toxic" like hate and disrespect, I don't encounter it very much in WoW, practically never and I've played about 4-5hrs/day since SL release (Played pre-Legion as well but can't remember). If you mean "Elitism" then yes, WoW definitely has a lot of class discrimination that I don't see in League unless you join a competitive team, which is a tiny fraction of players. The pool for how people pick certain classes (I've seen even M7s they want perfect comps and check IOs) is much much larger, but I think it's just the nature of the game by having unique classes.

If all classes were equally strong and provided the same benefit, it'd be boring, as well as impossible to balance.