How does Retail fix the social issue?

[Gorsameth]

So I have spent the last week in TBC Classic and it's so evident that game is much much more social than Retail. People "have to" do dungeons while leveling for reputation, looking for groups in chat. People "have to" group up to do 4-5 group quests in every single leveling zone. People group up for certain quests naturally. People "have to" find a guild so they can start raiding Kara.

In the dungeons, people talk and try to explain pull tactics. Just at level 62, in Slave Pens, there is more chatting strategy on how to pull and where to stand, when to put down Tremor Totem, when to AoE, giving healer Mana Pots, asking for Nature Resistance aura from Hunter on final boss and in general asking for water, asking for mana breaks and helping on quest. All this socialization happened in 1 single run of Slave Pens.

The amount of whispers I did in Shadowlands between 50-60 was 0. Yes, 0. I also am pretty sure I joined a group 0 times. The first time I whispered anything was at 60 to join an early mythic.

I remember early at 60 in Shadowlands I did a Mythic +0 dungeon on my Shaman and we wiped on 2nd boss in Spires of Ascension (on my 4th dungeon or something) and the only "socializing" that happened was that the tank left and then everyone left.

What concrete changes would Retail have to do to make people socialize again?

The thing that makes a MMORPG attractive is the social aspect, no?

Its not up to the game to fix your social ineptitude.

You chose not to join a guild when given the option.
You chose not to talk in party when given the option.
You chose to play alone.

Obviously MMORPGs are not attractive for the social aspect or the community would not chose en mass to avoid social contact wherever possible.

Without fail every single time people have been given the option to avoid social contact they grab it with both hands.
Stop being blind to the fact that people want to run through dungeons without having to stand in Ironforge for hours and without talking to whatever degenerate is on the other side of the wire.

[klaps_05]

retail doesnt have social issue, solo retail players do. if you are in a group/team/community/guild/etc. you have socializing all the time.

[kamuimac]

So I have spent the last week in TBC Classic and it's so evident that game is much much more social than Retail. People "have to" do dungeons while leveling for reputation, looking for groups in chat. People "have to" group up to do 4-5 group quests in every single leveling zone. People group up for certain quests naturally. People "have to" find a guild so they can start raiding Kara.

In the dungeons, people talk and try to explain pull tactics. Just at level 62, in Slave Pens, there is more chatting strategy on how to pull and where to stand, when to put down Tremor Totem, when to AoE, giving healer Mana Pots, asking for Nature Resistance aura from Hunter on final boss and in general asking for water, asking for mana breaks and helping on quest. All this socialization happened in 1 single run of Slave Pens.

The amount of whispers I did in Shadowlands between 50-60 was 0. Yes, 0. I also am pretty sure I joined a group 0 times. The first time I whispered anything was at 60 to join an early mythic.

I remember early at 60 in Shadowlands I did a Mythic +0 dungeon on my Shaman and we wiped on 2nd boss in Spires of Ascension (on my 4th dungeon or something) and the only "socializing" that happened was that the tank left and then everyone left.

What concrete changes would Retail have to do to make people socialize again?

The thing that makes a MMORPG attractive is the social aspect, no?

the fact that you had to discuss strategy in leveling dungeons shows how bad players are playing tbc -_-

and no just because people are forced to manualy group up doesnt make it fun experience - most of them treat you as nothign but npc and hate having to waste time on manualy making groups.

- - - Updated - - -

Its not up to the game to fix your social ineptitude.

You chose not to join a guild when given the option.
You chose not to talk in party when given the option.
You chose to play alone.

Obviously MMORPGs are not attractive for the social aspect or the community would not chose en mass to avoid social contact wherever possible.

Without fail every single time people have been given the option to avoid social contact they grab it with both hands.
Stop being blind to the fact that people want to run through dungeons without having to stand in Ironforge for hours and without talking to whatever degenerate is on the other side of the wire.

people who whine about social issues in wow are the same type of people who nobody in class liked in school - and sometimes teachers forced others to interact with them/do projects toghether to desperately try to include them in social circles.

its not a coincidence that a lot of them ended up playing mmorpgs which were replacement for social interactions irl - when blizzard was still forcing others to play with them they felt ok - the moment lfd came and people could avoid them like plague they stopped having fun - because they were very oten kicked from groups for underperforming

its the same type of people who whine about people leaving their m+ groups /shrug.

[Koward]

Its not up to the game to fix your social ineptitude.

You chose not to join a guild when given the option.
You chose not to talk in party when given the option.
You chose to play alone.

Obviously MMORPGs are not attractive for the social aspect or the community would not chose en mass to avoid social contact wherever possible.

There are countless, and I do mean countless, activities where people put themselves in situation where they have to be social.
Socializing being easier when doing it through something (boy scouts, army, a game, sports, whatever) does not mean you're socially inapt.

So of course that when you design a MMORPG you direct players so that they find themselves in groups and develop contacts.

[iamthedevil]

Mail drugs to every subscriber. That'll fix it.

[Otimus]

The reason the game is in the state that it is now is because forcing socialization didn't work. It worked on a micro scale, which is why you always hear people talk about their little awesome experiences, but on the macro scale, most people just don't seem to want to bother with that sort of thing. Wether that's a good or bad thing, or if there's a larger discussion to be had for Blizzard targeting an audience that seemingly wasn't meant for MMORPGs as it's primary audience all along is up for debate, though.

But people seem to think the current systems in place happened for no reason, and were just put there for the hell of it or something. There's a clear path that was took for specific reasons. Mostly, that the endgame for most players went down in several ways:
1) Get to level cap, grind battlegrounds, get bored and quit.
2) Get bored on the way to level cap, quit.
3) Get to level cap, try to do things, realize you can't really do anything in the game at all without other people and a whole lot of monotony unless you join a guild, get bored, and quit
4) Get to level cap, realize all these things, level alts, get bored and quit.

Most people didn't raid. Most people didn't even do heroics. A ton of people didn't even ever touch any dungeons at all. A LOT of people never even did group quests. Most people still don't raid or do even moderately high level content that they can't queue for. Like, trying to entice people with titles, the best gear in the game, exclusive content, mounts, cosmetics, etc. hasn't worked. Nothing is ever going to work. There's a stark contrast in what the game is in reality, what Blizzard thinks the game is, what hardcore players think the game is, and what most of the people actually playing the game experience. At least that's the way I see things.

[Helander]

What concrete changes would Retail have to do to make people socialize again?

Nuke it straight into the ground. There is nothing good about retail, anyone who says otherwise is high on copium.

[Big Thanks]

The reason the game is in the state that it is now is because forcing socialization didn't work. It worked on a micro scale, which is why you always hear people talk about their little awesome experiences, but on the macro scale, most people just don't seem to want to bother with that sort of thing. Wether that's a good or bad thing, or if there's a larger discussion to be had for Blizzard targeting an audience that seemingly wasn't meant for MMORPGs as it's primary audience all along is up for debate, though.

But people seem to think the current systems in place happened for no reason, and were just put there for the hell of it or something. There's a clear path that was took for specific reasons. Mostly, that the endgame for most players went down in several ways:
1) Get to level cap, grind battlegrounds, get bored and quit.
2) Get bored on the way to level cap, quit.
3) Get to level cap, try to do things, realize you can't really do anything in the game at all without other people and a whole lot of monotony unless you join a guild, get bored, and quit
4) Get to level cap, realize all these things, level alts, get bored and quit.

Most people didn't raid. Most people didn't even do heroics. A ton of people didn't even ever touch any dungeons at all. A LOT of people never even did group quests. Most people still don't raid or do even moderately high level content that they can't queue for. Like, trying to entice people with titles, the best gear in the game, exclusive content, mounts, cosmetics, etc. hasn't worked. Nothing is ever going to work. There's a stark contrast in what the game is in reality, what Blizzard thinks the game is, what hardcore players think the game is, and what most of the people actually playing the game experience. At least that's the way I see things.

There is already ingame a place for random socialization in the world (of warcraft)
Yes...there is an easy solution for the OP

"Play on a Roleplay server"

With that out of the way...i just want to say EVERYTHING gets boring after a while.
I spent 2 months straight playing on a Roleplay server for the first time and everyday i had amazing moments...
It was trully amazing and unique.

But... even that got boring and i cant even push myself to login anymore.
Even though i made like 10 different amazing friends ingame...even though i felt adrenaline everyday for the past 2 months...suddenly...i got bored.

We are:
1) Cyclical (i know this because its been 10 years and i always end up coming back to wow eventually)
2) Only enjoying certain things depending on the situation we are experiencing in real life AND depending on our needs and tastes

My 2 cents

[Big Thanks]

This is definitely the case, but it's DUE to the convenience of tools like LFG that people no longer have any drive to communicate.«

That is a very outdated and old opinion imo.
The only thing stopping you from having an interaction ingame is:

"a person not willing to reply to you"

Thats quite literally the only thing bro...

There is no magical game design and whatnot...its just that.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

Its not a problem for the game to fix.
Its a problem for you personally to fix.
Some don't want to.
But if you are making threads about fixing it, there are a lot of options out there for you to do so.

[Nnyco]

It really isn't lol

It is. If you decide to avoid any social interaction its not blizzards fault.(spoiler: its your fault)

[Stardrift]

It is. If you decide to avoid any social interaction its not blizzards fault.(spoiler: its your fault)

??

What about the interviews where devs acknowledged older versions of the game had a much stronger community and social aspect to it?

Why even lie? Just to be a contrarian or something lol?

[Progenitor Aquarius]

It wont. We have to fix it ourselves.

[Big Thanks]

And that person doesn't want to reply because?...

Absent any other reason, "They don't need to" is a perfectly valid response. It's a reason I myself have used many times before. If, in fact, that person HAD a reason, for example trying to avoid the shitty toxic cesspool that is this game's playerbase and group with semi-likeminded individuals that they've already grouped with once before - Well, by jove, look at that! All the criteria for a potential group made.

That never happens in retail. Because it doesn't need to, it never will. You know where to find groups - You don't need to form a community around group finding. You CAN, but there's a reason those places are devoid of life - Because nobody uses them. Hell, Classic TBC has TONS of this still.

It's not "magical game design" - It's sensible game design. The game can in fact be designed around people slowly forming a group together and continuing to play together afterwards. Not doing so DOES encourage and promote players actively not playing together, and perfectly explains Retail's current climate.

Ah, so you want to create an enviroment where is mandatory to interact.

You think being forced into it is the right action to take in the game?
Is open to debate...but there is probably many people who dont want to interact...and they would just pick another MMO where they can be as antisocial as possible.

Roleplay servers are everything i hoped for...people who share your opinion SHOULD try them
For real...is amazing...is insanely social and you DONT have to "actual" roleplay.
You can just play normally and you see all the other people talking round you...and you can join at any time

[arkanon]

People simply need to stop trying to "fix" games, you either like it, or you dont. That includes every single aspect of a game, even the social part. For example - I dont like the LoL community, or the Moba communities in general. My solution? I don't involve myself with that community. If I was a huge moba fan, maybe I would overlook it and still play the game, but I don't, so I simply avoid them.

As for wow, the "community" is what you make of it. Want to play with really dedicated and serious players?> Find a guild or group of individuals who think the same, and play with them. Want to just have fun and talk some shit and play however the hell you want? Cool! do it.

Whenever I read someone saying "how do we fix [social issue]?" all I hear is "how do i force everyone to play like me, think like me, and behave like me, so i can enjoy my happy space". Forcing people to play together is an absolutely terrible solution - just look at this very forum, and ask yourself "would i like to be forced to group with all these people?"

[Gorsameth]

??

What about the interviews where devs acknowledged older versions of the game had a much stronger community and social aspect to it?

Why even lie? Just to be a contrarian or something lol?

Yes, because the game forced you to. When it stopped forcing people to interact people massively chose to not interact with other players.

The same means of social interaction are still in the game. Infact Retail has more ways of socially interacting with other players then Vanilla did.
Given the choice people chose not to be social. Ergo the problem is not that the game is no longer forcing others to interact with you, the problem is those people didn't want to interact with you to begin with.

Its not Blizzards job to make people interact with you because you lack the ability to socialize on your own. That is between you and a therapist.

[Stardrift]

Yes, because the game forced you to. When it stopped forcing people to interact people massively chose to not interact with other players.

The same means of social interaction are still in the game. Infact Retail has more ways of socially interacting with other players then Vanilla did.
Given the choice people chose not to be social. Ergo the problem is not that the game is no longer forcing others to interact with you, the problem is those people didn't want to interact with you to begin with.

Its not Blizzards job to make people interact with you because you lack the ability to socialize on your own. That is between you and a therapist.

Nobody said the game didn't force you into social interactions?

This is a thread about putting things back into the game to bring social aspects a sense of community back.

[luciano]

Blizzard had the right idea before with Guild Rewards.

Those Guild Perks and Rewards gave people a reason to join guilds, which gave people a more manageable amount of people to build relationships with. Guilds provided some degree of help and training for new players, and a place to ask the dumb question and get an answer. Guilds are functionally tribes and that is the level where the most important interpersonal communication humans have takes place.

That's kind of why it feels so good when guilds work out right. Getting more people sorted out like that would help the game.

[Gorsameth]

Nobody said the game didn't force you into social interactions?

This is a thread about putting things back into the game to bring social aspects a sense of community back.

Holding a gun to a players head and forcing them to interact is not a 'community'.

The people have overwhelmingly displayed they do not want to socialize.
If you want a community go join a social guild, don't expect Blizzard to take other players hostage and force them to pretend to be your 'friend'.

[Stardrift]

Holding a gun to a players head and forcing them to interact is not a 'community'.

The people have overwhelmingly displayed they do not want to socialize.
If you want a community go join a social guild, don't expect Blizzard to take other players hostage and force them to pretend to be your 'friend'.

Nobody had a gun to their head. Only the extremely introverted would phrase it like that. This is coming from an introvert myself.

There have also been people who overwhelmingly displayed they do want to socialize, but it's hard to do so because the game rewards people who refuse to socialize.

You seem like you need to go outside. Nobody was taken hostage. People have developed lifelong friendships through this game. They still do to this day because they seek it. It just isn't as common anymore, which is what a lot of people want.