My biggest frustration with community building is how it’s so hard to do natively in game. (I play WoW.) Typing is slow and takes away time from DPS, especially if you are in a group with impatient veterans who want to chain pull. There needs to be quick communication, like a wheel or something. (I use Opie to create this, macro common sayings, like in Helldivers.) I need a V button like from Deep Rock Galactic. Give me fast way to communicate simple emotes and I’ll build from there.
Additionally, I’ll never see the people in PUGs again. Why bother being friendly? In Vanilla, we had the same server, a reduced population. I could literally run into a person in Ironforge a few days after a group. (Don’t group with that guy, he’ll yell at you for jumping.) I’d see the same names in trade chat. (Oh, that’s the nice blacksmith that made my sword!) When everything is cross server, the population is so large and I’ll never see them again, and 1 dungeon run is not enough to know if someone is worth making friends. Friends happen by repeated forced interaction and then realizing later that you liked them.
I also think that a 3rd place would help. Give me a space and a reason to be there. Only running dungeons thru magical teleport menus is immersion breaking and doesn’t foster any social interactions. Chat channels spamming LFG was terrible and slow, but at least you talked to people. The Theme Park nature and menu driven dungeons build zero community.
I stopped WoW a bit after the server instancing thing happened. I was in Detheroc pretty much from launch and got tossed into I think Shadowburn for the server group. I actually made a name for myself as a bit of a go to PUG tank for just about anything and was probably the closest one got to a mercenary in that game.
It was clunky but they were my people and we got to know each other. Once that started to fade away so did I. I miss those days but know they’ll never be back so I’ll just think back on those days and smile. If anyone reading this remembers a human warrior named Stem, hi.
My biggest frustration with community building is how it’s so hard to do natively in game. (I play WoW.) Typing is slow and takes away time from DPS, especially if you are in a group with impatient veterans who want to chain pull. There needs to be quick communication, like a wheel or something. (I use Opie to create this, macro common sayings, like in Helldivers.) I need a V button like from Deep Rock Galactic. Give me fast way to communicate simple emotes and I’ll build from there.
Additionally, I’ll never see the people in PUGs again. Why bother being friendly? In Vanilla, we had the same server, a reduced population. I could literally run into a person in Ironforge a few days after a group. (Don’t group with that guy, he’ll yell at you for jumping.) I’d see the same names in trade chat. (Oh, that’s the nice blacksmith that made my sword!) When everything is cross server, the population is so large and I’ll never see them again, and 1 dungeon run is not enough to know if someone is worth making friends. Friends happen by repeated forced interaction and then realizing later that you liked them.
I also think that a 3rd place would help. Give me a space and a reason to be there. Only running dungeons thru magical teleport menus is immersion breaking and doesn’t foster any social interactions. Chat channels spamming LFG was terrible and slow, but at least you talked to people. The Theme Park nature and menu driven dungeons build zero community.
Yeah, servers were dope. Building a reputation for yourself, making friends outside your usual group
I stopped WoW a bit after the server instancing thing happened. I was in Detheroc pretty much from launch and got tossed into I think Shadowburn for the server group. I actually made a name for myself as a bit of a go to PUG tank for just about anything and was probably the closest one got to a mercenary in that game.
It was clunky but they were my people and we got to know each other. Once that started to fade away so did I. I miss those days but know they’ll never be back so I’ll just think back on those days and smile. If anyone reading this remembers a human warrior named Stem, hi.