Did LFG tool ruin the sense of community?

Ryuji	wysłany: 15 lat temu I played this game from launch to 2008, then just resubbed last week. The community seems totally different than it was when I left and ESPECIALLY during the BC era (my fav). I don't see much chat going on anymore nor do I see people hitting up /1 and /2 for groups or guild advertisements. Is this because of the new cross server lfg tool? I think back in vanailla and BC a lot of friendships and acquaintances were made from same server pugs. This new lfg tool removes that aspect. Also, even within the pugs (I've been in several re-running WOLTK instances), it seems like no one even talks anymore. They just run in, AOE the hell out of the entire instance, grab their loot and port back to their own server...without saying a word... VASTLY different than BC where every heroic required careful CC planning and communication or it's a guaranteed wipe, even with raid gear. It sucks and it's killing the social aspect of this game... I mean thats the point right? Why play a MMO without a sense of community and coordination with others? Might as well play a offline rpg. Also, is it just me or as there been a huge population drop within the past 2 years? Maybe it's my server, but the 80-85 areas are COMPLETELY EMPTY. I don't see anyone else besides me questing in those areas on the way to 85... It was never like that in BC. Even a year after BC was released, you could go to hellfire peninsula and see plenty of newbies in the area leveling and there was never any issue getting a group together for low level BC dungeons.
Daxxarri	wysłany: 15 lat temu This makes me wonder how little the designers and developers understand the basic concepts of sociological interaction. Community, by definition, is not one person. One person can only affect so much and with 1000+ people on one server, that one person isn't going to be changing the group-mind personality alone. Change starts small. If you want more social interaction on your realm, then you might consider starting a social pick up group. You could advertise it as a way to side-step how impersonal the Dungeon Finder can be, and to get to know other players on your realm. That's one way someone could might attract like-minded players. I wouldn't expect the process to be quick, but using the public channels to form a group never was particularly fast. An individual has a lot more power than you think.
Daxxarri	wysłany: 15 lat temu But even if not, lfg in /1 or /2 at least it felt like people were trying to communicate with people. At least it had some kind of social aspect to it. The new lfg tool has none of that, you're just randomly thrown into a group where no one talks, no one knows each other, and all of them are not even on your server. It sucks. The community is you. We aren't mere lame jellyfish, passively pulsing on the tide and snatching up whatever scraps of nutriment float our way. No! We're more like, awesome magical rainbow dolphins plunging through sparkling waves together in search of fun, adventure and ridiculously lethal uber weapons. Think: A Lisa Frank trapper keeper, but with super-knives and... explosions. The analogy starts to break down, but regardless, it is individual action shapes the whole. From what I remember of doing pick up groups prior to Cataclysm, the experience was similar, except that the wait was much longer. As someone else said, typing LFG in /2 does not a community make. Personally, I make a point of saying 'hi' when I join an instance, and tossing out the occasional joke. I have more fun, and it usually gets at least a little conversation going.
Daxxarri	wysłany: 15 lat temu 05/04/2011 03:37 PMPosted by Overture If there were an option to do server only LFG, it would be much better. That's an idea that's been tossed around before. The Dungeon Finder does prioritize finding players from the same realm, though the emphasis remains on keeping queue times reasonable.