Is WoW really social anymore?

[Deleted]

Like people have said - the tools are there but people don't co-operate. But it's just a vicious chain reaction, i used to always say "hey" whenever i joined a LFD group but nowadays i just don't waste my time typing, if someone else does then i will say hi back but if not then i'll just focus on killing stuff as quickly as possible. There is on the rare occasion when i do find an entire group that does chat to one another and imo it makes the dungeon experience so much more fun but it's not something to expect going into an instance.

The majority of PVP communication really is just "Goto X" "Everyone sucks but me" "Y is a noob" etc etc. I just don't bother any more and im gunna guess others feel the same and because so many don't bother talking it just makes others not bother and so on.

As for open world content, the only time i ever have a proper social interaction with someone is if i end up seeing them on more than 1 occasion while leveling - we tend to just group up and do some quests together but a lot of the time i meet people who group up for 1 quest and then they're off without saying a word. The social aspect mainly lives within Battle.net and particular guilds. But it's all down to the individual, personally I like social interactions more than playing in silence but I can't just rely on friends to be there every time i want to do something so sometimes just gotta suck it up and go with it.

[Akka]

You could but it really was shooting yourself in the foot. Oh I don't like all these people, well nobody I like is online and want to run a dungeon, well shit, guess that grind for blues will have to wait till tomorrow. I can't mention the times I had to run with the most elitist douchebag dps'er, just because no one else was around.

Or you might just try to look for other people than the ones you dislike.
It's funny how people's passivity tends to be expressed in "I'm being forced to".

[Templis]

There is incentive to be part of a group (High-End Playing), but there is no more obligation (You can see content without relying on others). Which is better in my opinion.

Either way, desire to be Social should be 90%+ of the reason why anyone socializes. If you're socializing because that's the only way to go and not because you want to, I wouldn't approve of the game rules.

Also, Part of a Group =/= Being Social, back in the BC (or at any point) you didn't need to be social. Just because you were in a guild doing progression it didn't mean you were socializing. Communicating which add you were going to Crowd Control and how to beat a boss isn't more than a few words thrown there. I had/have/will have people in my raid group that shows up for every raid, exchange strats, raid plans and don't socialize with other members aside of raiding (or doing anything else in game). Well, unless you consider that as socializing...

So yeah, if you desire to be social, you'll have plenty of opportunity in game, as you always had.
If you're waiting for the game to force you to socialize, sorry. (And be grateful :P)

The game never forced you to socialize any more than it does now, so I'm not sure what you're getting at. No one forced anyone to complete tough group quests like the chain in Jintha'Alor. You were free to go on your merry way and skip it if you didn't want to group up. You're confusing incentive and being forced to do something, or you just don't know the difference between the two, I dunno.

The game used to give incentive seek groups and communicate for for various reasons in the past, including heroic dungeons, raid attunement, while leveling for quests, rares and other challenges, summoning, and so on. The incentive was that doing things with other people made the game more enjoyable and your characters more powerful. Think of what it used to take for a warlock to get his or her dreadsteed.

As you mentioned, the only incentive I can think up to group up with players today is to perhaps do normal or heroic raiding. I can't think of any other incentive to group up with players from 1-90 and up to that point. Questing is a solo endeavor, LFD groups you with people you don't need to talk with to complete the content, rares are indistinguishable from normal mobs in terms of difficulty, summoning and group quests don't seem like they still exist. The game offers no real advantage to group up anymore, and that's fine, most players enjoy doing things by themselves, although it's led to a very stale and watered down world where killing the last boss in the current tier on some arbitrary difficulty setting is the only thing that seems to be of any value.

[Vaelorian]

It's as social now as it's ever been, in the sense that there's nothing stopping people from being social if they really want to be.
It just isn't forced anymore, which is a good thing.

You know what? That answer speaks volumes about how the "new gamer" is. The new gamer does not know what is good for him at all anymore. They claim they want choice. But is choice always good?

As I know you are a regular poster and firm defender of the sentence: "But you don't have to do it if you don't want to - it is not required, leave X alone!"

This term is used for the following (of the top of my head):

- Flying (and therefor using a groundmount)
- being social
- LFR and other pathetically easy and boring stuff
- Being instantly teleported to the instance
- 5 mans being so fucking short


Let's not even go into the detail of each one. Let's just say that it is human nature to ALWAYS (except to purposely deny themselves that way in order to achieve something like climbing mount everest instead of just flying to the top) to be efficient in order to get something done. We will take the shortest road to victory.

The shortest road to victory:

- flying = if you use a groundmount you will might be happy riding, but since others are not riding you hindered yourself in progressing your character as quickly as possible, which is a serious drawback for almost everyone who cares in the slightest about progressing ones character
- not needing anyone ingame except dungeons and raids (pvp) to avoid slowing down and be hindered by someone else's timetable or skill
- getting the best gear preraids (LFR, atleast in MoP) in order to apply to a decent guild (if not gear then atleast the valor points - see the also boring scenario's)
- being teleported to the instance = not needing to argue about who goes to the instance and summon

The faster you progress your character, the faster those nice little substances get released into your brain that make you feel happy (seratonine?). So everyone in their right mind will go for the fastest way to achieve this.

Now since this is an MMO, you SHOULD need people/guilds. Socialisation SHOULD be the base-thing you require to progress in an MMO. I am not just talking about raids here.

You SHOULD be encouraged to work together else you SHOULD play another game.

How to get people to socialise more?

FORCING THEM into it.

- Making 5 mans more challenging/longer so that communication is required atleast and since you are there for longer then 30 min it is something that is desired (maybe in WOD?)
- Make people fly/ride again to the instance. Sure annoying, but it also creates friendships and possibly a new guild or will provide a new member. Because you need to fly to an instance, you'll be killing time to get there = socialisation.
- Merge servers instead of having different servers = accountability = nicer players because they are FORCED (you always will keep assholes, but less)
- It should be encouraged to join guilds to overcome obstacles such as 5 man quests or other stuff

Stuff that like. If it is not forced, it won't happen. There should be a BONUS into cooperation not a penalty. All the while people who do not want to socialise "that much" can safely do these objectives too, just slower.

[Lochton]

I find it social, it's about connecting with the right people I think.

I run nutcase BG's twice a week as well as active raiding and fun with the guilds.

[cityguy193]

So you're telling me Raiding, Challenge Modes, RBG's and Arena don't exist anymore?

There's a community still, close knit and tight. You're just not forced into one in order to play the game anymore.

That literally all thats part of the game that requires a social factor anymore, and you can get a raid with 0 words said in LFR already.

[LeperHerring]

Like people have said - the tools are there but people don't co-operate.

Exactly. Blizzard has been working hard to build tools that let you "play with friends". Unfortunately, while doing so they gutted the game of the aspects that catalyzed the social interactions in the first place. WoW used to be the game where people made friends, because the game was built in a way that catalyzed it. Today making friends in WoW is extremely rare. Most of the time you just get grouped with random people who you will never see again, and who might as well be NPCs.

[Sansnom]

Been trying to bring back the social atmosphere into WoW. Bring back the kind of guild that was around in Lich.

Do you think that WoW has lost its community?

It depends on your guild and the people you played with. With LFD and LFR, organized raid group is no longer mandatory. This is a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that people can do things on their own when they have time and no longer dependent on others. They don't need to schedule time for doing raids. The problem is that some would prefer this option because it means they can be more flexible with their playtime. It can kill raid groups.

If the guild already has dedicated raid groups with already well established raid groups, then LFR would not have changed anything. Flexi raid is also a welcomed change in that it no longer has a set number of people required.

How social is the atmosphere in general? I have not noticed much change in the general chat before WoTLK and now. PUGs are still there but less now because of LFR. Dungeons PUGs are no longer in existence due to LFD. It still fill with the same trolls spamming immature and stale jokes.

[Master Tinker]

Things that broke the community (in no particular order):

1. Random Dungeon Finder - You no longer have to rely on people who are part of your own realm to join a dungeon

2. LFR - You no longer have to rely on people who are part of your own realm to join a raid

3. BG queues - You no longer have to go out with friends or form a Pre-made to just spam BGs

4. CRZ - You no longer only have to deal with your trolls, you now deal with 5 other realm's trolls also

5. Removal of elites in lowbie zones / group quests - Now that everything is phased, or solo'd, no more relying on others

6. More solo content - In addition to the above mentioned, if done right, you can solo almost anything in Azeroth

7. Realm mergers - When realms were connected, they left the name plates/chat names with the realm behind it. Still causes drama having to "share" a city.

8. Introduction of Guild Perks - Before there were perks, guilds actually functioned as a group of people who WANTED to hang out together. Now, lowbies just spam for a lvl 25 to enjoy the perks, and seldom interact while playing.

I'm sure there are more things which have brought us to where we are now, but the list above are my main points of contention. Had Blizz just MERGED realms 5 years ago, removed the other realm nameplates, and left CRZ out of the equation, people never would have drawn battle lines in the sand against the other realms invading their turf. Just merge the realms and rename the realm. Instead, we now have this patchwork of realms and zones rather than the solid backing we had with a full realm and no one to rely on but ourselves.

[MasterHamster]

When you stop chatting, because "no one chats anyway lol", you're part of your own problem.
That said, a lot of the lessening of "social interaction" is due to communication not being required to progress anymore (LFD, LFR, anyone-want-to-cap?2v2 teams, 5mans)

[SeyserKoze]

no, not even in most guilds

[Deleted]

Imho you meet more ppl than before, just conection isn´t so forced as it was, you can still find and pick your friends.

[Jamie71]

I havent found many guilds where people actually speak in G chat, Social nope, I remember back in TBC the thing i hated about not being in a guild was the lack of guild chat now its like being guild less. They made the game more single player friendly ie you can do a ton of stuff on your own without having to interact with other people, like LFR , RDF etc etc.

[silvercentric]

Blizzard can make all the content they want, they can make content till it pours out their ears, but in the end the number one resource Blizzard has is its community. If you want NEW players to have fun in your game you want them to form meaningful connections with the players they meet. People defend Blizzard's streamlining trend as a quality of life improvement... and it is in a way, but it guts the core social experience that an MMO is supposed to offer.

Consider someone logging onto WoW for the first time, they have no experience playing MMOs before, consider what they're experience is going to be like...

Before their race's intro cinematic even ends they're going to be mass-spammed a guild invite. A new might not even understand what this popup on their screen means.

I know... to us veterans it seems obvious. It's a guild invite. But you really need to STEP INTO the shoes of a new player. What does this screen mean? If I say no will I ever get another chance? They may think that this is something the game world is offering and be completely unaware that it's a player initiated invite.

So they hit accept and join this guild. I'm trying to be fair here so I can't say what will happen next. It may just so happen they were invited by a guild that is actually really helpful and friendly to new players. But... from my observation of social/leveling guilds (I've joined at least several dozen) that's not what really happens. More often than not the only motivation for the person inviting is that they want to get as many members into their guild as possible, for one of two reasons: They want to level the guild to 25 so they can sell it/use it for personal use or they want to get as many members as possible so they can milk the Cash Flow perk (which in high population guilds can net you as much as 5-10k gold a week...).

Guilds are supposed to be a way for a group of players to form a community, acting as a way to help organize said group to PvE, PvP, RP or whatever else you're interested in. The way most are treated now is pretty poorly and completely anti-social experiences. I remember being in one leveling guild when it dinged level 25... the guild master then proceeded to kick everyone out of the guild.

The same anti-social experience can be found in LFD, LFR and the removal of elite quests. Blizzard has to design these encounters as if nobody in the group can effectively communicate with each other. Yes... being able to queue up for a dungeon at any time of day on your dead server is convenient. But when those people you get grouped with chain pull the dungeon without ever talking to each other and then never to see each other again... why go through all the hassle? There's no social aspect there, the other players in your group might as well be bots.

Way too many players these days are focused on "why can't I get what I want" or "adding LFD means I can get my loot". Getting a group together to run a dungeon was once a sort of reward in and of itself. You might randomly get grouped with that one amazing tank on your server or maybe you'd make a new friend. And don't get me wrong... all of that can still happen today... but it's much less likely and there's way less incentive to form connections with other players.

A good example of the inverse of this situation is the Censer on Timeless Isle. I've made a whole lot of new friends (and enemies ) because of it. I've run into people on my server who've also been playing since Classic and we get to have a good chat about old times or "do you remember that guy who X". In all honesty with MoP I felt like WoW was growing really stale for me but all the social elements of the Timeless Isle were a nice breath of fresh air. I hope Blizzard will come around to realize this.

tl;dr: The community is the best resource the devs have and they should be taking more advantage of it instead of shying away from it. I don't see how promoting a single-player MMO and instant gratification is going to help increase subscription rates.

[docterfreeze]

As mentioned above there is less forced socialization, which is good. People shouldn't be forced to make goody goody with people they actually despise, just to get a blue item.
And of course LFR and LFD destroyed the entire game and it shuts down the chat window, so you can't communicate with your fellow raiders/dungeoneers. Lies and more lies, you actually have the chance to meet thousands of people, yet people somehow forgot to press enter, type /p and say hi/hello/greetings; which is players own damn fault. The game is not the problem, we have far more tools to socialize with people, yet people just ignore that and blame the game.

Also, signature tells it quite well

Let's be honest, the only thing that is said in LFD/LFR is "wtf is your dps/tanking/healing (player's name) the tank/healer/dps is doing better dps/healing/tanking than you noob" and "vote kick this scrub"

And another thing: With the introduction of cross realm stuff, there is no longer a community, nobody knows each other, nobody has the need to know each other, and nobody has to rely on each other until they start raiding at max level.

[clevin]

Revamp of the guild system, Looking for X, no group quests, lack of challenging content, +++

You can still choose to be social if you want to, but it no longer comes naturally in this game. It's barely even a benefit anymore.

This, especially the bolded part (my bolding). People used to join guilds partially because it was a way to find help with group quests, others to run 5 mans, etc. Now? Why bother? Group quests (i.e. quests where there's an elite involved) are soloable easily and LFD killed the need to find others for 5 mans. CAN you be social? sure, but there's no real incentive to be. It's not a matter of being forced to be, it's that all of the in game incentives to group with others, even for just a quest, are gone.

[Airlick]

I don't think WoW is a social game anymore - social as in, encouraging players to interact with one another. Everything but the hardest content can be done solo or in PUGs... This is not good. I quit the game shortly after Cata release, but I was thinking about quitting even some time into WotLK, but I never did because I had a guild that would keep me in. I knew I could always log in and just chat with them, even if I had nothing else to do. I finally did quit despite that, because chatting is all cool, but I didn't have to pay 15 euros a month to do this - I could just log in on our Mumble channel.

Recently I came back. I lasted, what was it? Not even 3 months. I was in 2 guilds, and they were supposed to be actual social and raiding guilds, not some shitty "recruit 500 level 5 alts for 10% gbank profit". There was literally noone I could speak with. I tried and tried, people were online and kicking, they just refused to speak. Their TS channels were also empty. It's a sign of times. WoW has changed and it has definitely changed for worse.

[Hardkorr]

tl;dr: The community is the best resource the devs have and they should be taking more advantage of it instead of shying away from it.

I just wanted to quote you by emphasizing how true this statement is. Valve gave the community some power by potentially allowing them to make items for TF2, and it's both engaging to the community and making the company money hand over fist (as well as help make content for the game).


Onto a different point, it is simply not because tools like LFR, LFD, easy guild invites, lack of group quests, etc that made the game less social. Rather, it is the side effects of these systems that has changed how socialization works.

Before these systems, other players were an investment: You asked in trade, ran to the instance, and helped each other out to do an instance. Yeah it might've taken a very long time (explaining fights, helping others with their class, going off the beaten path for quest items/objectives), but players took that time to make new friends/potential guildies/potential raiders/pvp pals/etc.

Now, other players are simply a means to an end: LFR/LFD/BGs with all its cross-realm glory, fast pace, transparency, and negligible penalties for getting kicked don't require much socialization outside of telling people what they are doing wrong, if even that.

[Thessik-Irontail]

So you're telling me Raiding, Challenge Modes, RBG's and Arena don't exist anymore?

There's a community still, close knit and tight. You're just not forced into one in order to play the game anymore.

No, no there is not. Raiding is done by most players through LFR where there is no need to say anything at all. RBGs you join some vent you listen to the leaders orders, you dont talk, you just do what they tell you and that does not qualify sorry, though admittedly this is the best of the bunch. Arena, no, the most popular bracket is 2v2 for points with a friend or spouse.

[Deleted]

It's as social now as it's ever been, in the sense that there's nothing stopping people from being social if they really want to be.

It just isn't forced anymore, which is a good thing.

And again.. only shit comes out of Itisamuh's mouth. It was good when they forced it. It's an MMORPG. You ARE SUPPOSED to socialize. If not -> Wrong Game, buddy.