So OP you are saying that you are incapable of talking with someone that has nothing that you want or with someone that wants nothing from you.
OK.
I know it is hard and scary without the safety net of mutual need...
But so much more enjoyable- being with someone just for the pleasure of being with someone...
But maybe I'm just weird...
The problem is that at least in real life, you have far more things in common with such people: you usually live in same country or city, know same languages, know the culture of the country, often similar age, etc. In MMORPGs, you can only be rather certain that you share one common interest: the MMORPG itself and sometimes that just isn't enough.
Sure, I would imagine that social contact is something most humans need from time to time to feel content, but not at every place and at any time.
Maybe I'm reading this wrong but it seems to me you are saying that you might not want to be social but still want to be in a party.
So, being in a party without socializing is great but being around, chasing the same objectives without a party is bad.
I don't get it. Is it because you are the tank and others depend on you? Or you click in people bar and heal it? What about DPS - aren't they just around?
But more important, in what themepark MMOs do you actively play in an organized party in the Open World PvE?.
If I go start WoW with no friends, Open World experience will be exactly what for me? A solo experience. Actually there are reasons not to party with others (maybe they changed it in MOP). Or you go do LFD which you don't get much chance or need to talk either and GW2 dungeons are clearly content for voice chat.
If one wants to complain about something is that GW2 doesn't have in game voice chat options.
Currently playing: GW2 Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
If your guild has lost reason to group it is not the games fault, our guild is almost always grouped as soon as one of us enters the game and chatting is thick about whats going on all over the game even when we are not playing in the same areas..
GW2 is one of the most truly social games i have ever played and grouping with others when my guildies arent on or to fill an empty spot in our guild group is almost automatic its so easy and playing in a group outside of dungeons is a blast until 2 hours later i realize my experience/karma has been diminished to near nothing...
If you feel your guild needs reason to group (forced) you should do the exploratory dungeons more often they arent that bad once your group gets a handle on them..
You know, there's no REASON to have friends. It's just that it's fun to be with them.
I am with them, just not in-game. I voice-chat to real-life friends and family (whether they are playing GW2 or not) all the time.
It's been 12 years since server populations were (relatively) low enough so that people could be remembered by name and personality and were actually interested in chatting. In those days MMOs were more like small villages where everyone knew each other. Now, MMOs resemble a bustling metropolis, where nobody talks on the streets to one stranger amomgst thousands.
There are many good replies to this, but I believe this one hits it on the head. Society itself is changing as is the society within MMO's. People who desire the more social aspect really should look for a good duild that is active and suits their playstyle. My guild is very active both in teamspeak and in guild chat. We do dungeon runs, have contests and there is always a WvW group happening somewhere.
I really can't fault the game, I think it's player dynamics have changed in the last 10 years.
If your guild has lost reason to group it is not the games fault, our guild is almost always grouped as soon as one of us enters the game and chatting is thick about whats going on all over the game even when we are not playing in the same areas..
GW2 is one of the most truly social games i have ever played and grouping with others when my guildies arent on or to fill an empty spot in our guild group is almost automatic its so easy and playing in a group outside of dungeons is a blast until 2 hours later i realize my experience/karma has been diminished to near nothing...
If you feel your guild needs reason to group (forced) you should do the exploratory dungeons more often they arent that bad once your group gets a handle on them..
I wouldnt go so far, MMOs used to be more social once upon a time but that was because you were constantly dependant on other players. You just didnt solo to max level as many people do in many games today. They also had long waiting time meaning you had long time chatting to your group.
GW2 is however the most social AAA game I seen in many years. My guild is usually grouped and play together as much as we can. If OPs dont, that sounds more like their problem and not the games fault.
Sure, DEs are not so social compared to a dungeon, but compared to the soloquests most games have instead it is a huge difference and advantage for GW2.
Sorry to hear that. I've been grouping with my guild non-stop for WvW, sPvP, dungeons and orr events. Even before I had a guild, I found the fact that the game promotes auto-grouping much more social than all the other MMOs. I mean most MMOs discourage the whole concept behind an MMO and that is to play with others. No more SP quests and mob tagging. I also agree with Loke that this is the most social AAA game I've played.
It sounds like the great social experiment is working...
I would respectfully suggest that you don't actually like the people you are playing with. Now that you are not forced into some false represention of social interaction, you can no longer find a reason to group with your guild.
I personally like this because it means that real social interaction can happen instead and so I would rate that as a success.
Forced social intereaction and interdependence. Some folks love it, makes the entire game for them, others loath it.
As mentioned above, some people are naturally social, they'll discuss just about anything with just about anyone, and I suspect they have no issues socializing in GW2 or any other MMORPG for that matter.
But there's an equally large number of people who really can only socialize in context of the game itself, they're really not interested in sharing personal stories, discussing the latest sporting event, or the new IPhone release.
If the game itself doesn't offer the opportunity and context to provide for socialization, they won't find the game very friendly. (hence the diamatetrically opposed viewpoints in this thread).
I fall in the latter category myself, and understand the OP's viewpoint completely. Its not that we aren't or can't be social, but only under a certain context and outside of that it just doesn't work for us.
Kyleran, what you said there baffles me. How can one *not* be interested in discussing the new iPhone? It's taller!!!
In GW2 I make a point of spamming invites and going on about the new iPhone. But people just leave the group. Such an antisocial generation. Tsk tsk.
So OP you are saying that you are incapable of talking with someone that has nothing that you want or with someone that wants nothing from you.
OK.
I know it is hard and scary without the safety net of mutual need...
But so much more enjoyable- being with someone just for the pleasure of being with someone...
But maybe I'm just weird...
The problem is that at least in real life, you have far more things in common with such people: you usually live in same country or city, know same languages, know the culture of the country, often similar age, etc. In MMORPGs, you can only be rather certain that you share one common interest: the MMORPG itself and sometimes that just isn't enough.
Sure, I would imagine that social contact is something most humans need from time to time to feel content, but not at every place and at any time.
Maybe I'm reading this wrong but it seems to me you are saying that you might not want to be social but still want to be in a party.
So, being in a party without socializing is great but being around, chasing the same objectives without a party is bad.
I don't get it. Is it because you are the tank and others depend on you? Or you click in people bar and heal it? What about DPS - aren't they just around?
But more important, in what themepark MMOs do you actively play in an organized party in the Open World PvE?.
If I go start WoW with no friends, Open World experience will be exactly what for me? A solo experience. Actually there are reasons not to party with others (maybe they changed it in MOP). Or you go do LFD which you don't get much chance or need to talk either and GW2 dungeons are clearly content for voice chat.
If one wants to complain about something is that GW2 doesn't have in game voice chat options.
I am saying that being social in the same way you are with a friend but with a random person in a MMORPG is probably significantely less pleasant than being social with a random person from your neighbourhood/work place/educational facility.
I am discussing the statement of "But so much more enjoyable- being with someone just for the pleasure of being with someone..."
It sounds like the great social experiment is working...
I would respectfully suggest that you don't actually like the people you are playing with. Now that you are not forced into some false represention of social interaction, you can no longer find a reason to group with your guild.
I personally like this because it means that real social interaction can happen instead and so I would rate that as a success.
If you care about what is "real", then you should allow Open World PvP, node-competition and gear-rolls, because that truly shows how people are in a game when they actually need to resolve conflicting interests.
Edit: It is like the idiom stating that you don't know who your true friends are until everything goes to hell.
Forced social intereaction and interdependence. Some folks love it, makes the entire game for them, others loath it.
As mentioned above, some people are naturally social, they'll discuss just about anything with just about anyone, and I suspect they have no issues socializing in GW2 or any other MMORPG for that matter.
But there's an equally large number of people who really can only socialize in context of the game itself, they're really not interested in sharing personal stories, discussing the latest sporting event, or the new IPhone release.
If the game itself doesn't offer the opportunity and context to provide for socialization, they won't find the game very friendly. (hence the diamatetrically opposed viewpoints in this thread).
I fall in the latter category myself, and understand the OP's viewpoint completely. Its not that we aren't or can't be social, but only under a certain context and outside of that it just doesn't work for us.
Kyleran, what you said there baffles me. How can one *not* be interested in discussing the new iPhone? It's taller!!!
In GW2 I make a point of spamming invites and going on about the new iPhone. But people just leave the group. Such an antisocial generation. Tsk tsk.
Heh.... I have a Samsung Galaxy II, Death to Apple! But if you want to discuss how much more damage that broadsword you just got in a dungeon does, I'm all ears.....
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Forced social intereaction and interdependence. Some folks love it, makes the entire game for them, others loath it.
As mentioned above, some people are naturally social, they'll discuss just about anything with just about anyone, and I suspect they have no issues socializing in GW2 or any other MMORPG for that matter.
But there's an equally large number of people who really can only socialize in context of the game itself, they're really not interested in sharing personal stories, discussing the latest sporting event, or the new IPhone release.
If the game itself doesn't offer the opportunity and context to provide for socialization, they won't find the game very friendly. (hence the diamatetrically opposed viewpoints in this thread).
I fall in the latter category myself, and understand the OP's viewpoint completely. Its not that we aren't or can't be social, but only under a certain context and outside of that it just doesn't work for us.
An argument could be made that for everything of the former there is Facebook...
You know, that might be an interesting experiment, I wonder if the people on this thread who feel there's no issue socializing in GW2 are also big users of Facebook/Twitter. Myself, while I did get an account, I don't care for the tool and even when chatting with long time old friends, I really am not interested in what they say about their average daily life.
I find myself rolling my eyes when one of my former guildmates, ex marine, business tycoon, hunter of moose posts cute messages back and forth with his new girlfriend..... ewww...
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I had 3 characters in WoW, one level 85, one 60+ and one 40+. I never felt the need to group with or speak to anyone in that game either.
At least in this game I get my fair whack of loot when joining events and dungeons.
I'm not particularly anti-social and have been in guilds requiring voice chat for other games. I much prefer having a choice though and not being penalised by the game for playing solo.
It's a matter of perspective. If you don't take the time to find friends you won't have friends. Now sure you can play the game without friends or a guild and just find pick up groups for dungeons. If you don't want to talk with your guildies or group with them for anything then you're the unsociable one. I run into plenty of people and we just sit around joking around in between events.
My guild we have dungeon runs all the time to get our tokens for the armors. We have wvw groups going pretty much throughout the day (most of the times) and generally every night. And we have guild chat and vent open to anyone to advertise what they're doing to find people to join them. Such as spvp or a tough part in their personal stories, etc etc.
If no effort is put into the guild to make it sociable it obviously won't be sociable.
I belong to a very reputable Guild. The first week we had at least 40 people on ventrilo voice chat at one time, it was hard to get a word in. There were many others in sub chanels playing WvW as groups. We had at least 100 players online most all the time. WE STILL HAVE AT LEAST 100 PLAYERS ONLINE YET NO TALKING. No one one in sub chanels.
ITS NOT OUR GUILDS FAULT......We had lost our rasion to group. Don't get me wrong I still love this mmo and same with our guild. It's just another anti social mmo. WvW is fine for grouping, but how much can you play it.
The open world social seems to be totally non-existent. No one is ever in heavy trouble, but with the occasional rez of the guy next to you. Like in another topic here, players names a just a bluer.
NO REASON TO HAVE A FRIENDS LIST. In weeks of playing I had one request to group, and dismissed the invite. I wish I took it but reacted to quickly to reject it. Besides what would be the point. The game is made for auto group.
MMO's like this is why there is no longevity, other than being B2P. My guess is population will drop often until major patches are given or expansions are released.
I agree- It has nothing to do with the player as everyone here is so quick to point out- "its the players fault!"
This game was developed / designed to not promote grouping. I think what people dont understand is that this game is a themepark and it funnels you along a predetermined path- the developers control your path in this game - you have very few choices as to what your going to do. It does not promote grouping- if it did, there would be lower level dungeons and in world events or WvW you would join as a raid like in rift so at least you can see your comrads health / name. This game promotes anonimity except in a very few instances - dungeons - which dont happen till half waty through the leveling cap.
I belong to a very reputable Guild. The first week we had at least 40 people on ventrilo voice chat at one time, it was hard to get a word in. There were many others in sub chanels playing WvW as groups. We had at least 100 players online most all the time. WE STILL HAVE AT LEAST 100 PLAYERS ONLINE YET NO TALKING. No one one in sub chanels.
ITS NOT OUR GUILDS FAULT......We had lost our rasion to group. Don't get me wrong I still love this mmo and same with our guild. It's just another anti social mmo. WvW is fine for grouping, but how much can you play it.
The open world social seems to be totally non-existent. No one is ever in heavy trouble, but with the occasional rez of the guy next to you. Like in another topic here, players names a just a bluer.
NO REASON TO HAVE A FRIENDS LIST. In weeks of playing I had one request to group, and dismissed the invite. I wish I took it but reacted to quickly to reject it. Besides what would be the point. The game is made for auto group.
MMO's like this is why there is no longevity, other than being B2P. My guess is population will drop often until major patches are given or expansions are released.
There's nothing 'respectable' about a silent guild. Sounds more like a bunch of people spam-recruited and just hang out together.
And that's typical. In LOTRO it took SIX GUILDS before I found a social guild. In DDO it took four. In Fallen Earth it took two. In Eve Online it took two. In GW1 it took one and it's the same guild I'm a member of in GW2. In SWTOR it took two.
I've also been officer's in guilds. I've seen them wax and wane. I've seen them be social or not-social. I've seen them break into cliques or lose focus and break up. I've seen them go from 'raid heavy' to 'pug yourself' because nobody shows up...
Game mechanics have LITTLE, if anything, to do with the social 'talking' aspects of guilds.
I belong to a very reputable Guild. The first week we had at least 40 people on ventrilo voice chat at one time, it was hard to get a word in. There were many others in sub chanels playing WvW as groups. We had at least 100 players online most all the time. WE STILL HAVE AT LEAST 100 PLAYERS ONLINE YET NO TALKING. No one one in sub chanels.
ITS NOT OUR GUILDS FAULT......We had lost our rasion to group. Don't get me wrong I still love this mmo and same with our guild. It's just another anti social mmo. WvW is fine for grouping, but how much can you play it.
The open world social seems to be totally non-existent. No one is ever in heavy trouble, but with the occasional rez of the guy next to you. Like in another topic here, players names a just a bluer.
NO REASON TO HAVE A FRIENDS LIST. In weeks of playing I had one request to group, and dismissed the invite. I wish I took it but reacted to quickly to reject it. Besides what would be the point. The game is made for auto group.
MMO's like this is why there is no longevity, other than being B2P. My guess is population will drop often until major patches are given or expansions are released.
There's nothing 'respectable' about a silent guild. Sounds more like a bunch of people spam-recruited and just hang out together.
And that's typical. In LOTRO it took SIX GUILDS before I found a social guild. In DDO it took four. In Fallen Earth it took two. In Eve Online it took two. In GW1 it took one and it's the same guild I'm a member of in GW2. In SWTOR it took two.
I've also been officer's in guilds. I've seen them wax and wane. I've seen them be social or not-social. I've seen them break into cliques or lose focus and break up. I've seen them go from 'raid heavy' to 'pug yourself' because nobody shows up...
Game mechanics have LITTLE, if anything, to do with the social 'talking' aspects of guilds.
I would agree with you that some guilds are more social than others and it usually takes a couple to find the right fit. However, I diagree with your assesment that it hs little to do with the game mechanics. I think the way a game is developed / the game mechanics have a lot to do with how social you are within a game. If you have no reason to group or join a guild then that is a game mechanic issue. If you can solo the whole game minus a few dungeons and never group / guild like many posters have said then its a game design / mechanic issue.
You know, there's no REASON to have friends. It's just that it's fun to be with them. You could go to a concert alone, but you get more laughs and a better atmosphere with friends. Same for GW2: a story-mode dungeon with random people is not bad, but being able to joke around while trying to understand how to kill this annoying boss or comment on the storyline (how many times have you wanted to shout "Rytlock, shut it damnit you're just making it worse!" in AC? )
Now it's true that it makes guilds quite different: either they are PvP teams, with their WvW or sPvP rooster and tournaments, or just fun people to hang out with. Competitive PvE guilds may not really find their place in there (maybe in Orr, but yeah not on the long term); but they have their place elsewhere, MoP is a great game for that, and you can hang out with friendly people and have fun in GW2
Then why play guild wars 2. Any games is fun as long as you with firends.
You know, there's no REASON to have friends. It's just that it's fun to be with them.
I am with them, just not in-game. I voice-chat to real-life friends and family (whether they are playing GW2 or not) all the time.
It's been 12 years since server populations were (relatively) low enough so that people could be remembered by name and personality and were actually interested in chatting. In those days MMOs were more like small villages where everyone knew each other. Now, MMOs resemble a bustling metropolis, where nobody talks on the streets to one stranger amomgst thousands.
I've played in those kind of MMOs. Maybe 2500 people logging in on server over the day during weekend play. But those days are long gone.
I belong to a very reputable Guild. The first week we had at least 40 people on ventrilo voice chat at one time, it was hard to get a word in. There were many others in sub chanels playing WvW as groups. We had at least 100 players online most all the time. WE STILL HAVE AT LEAST 100 PLAYERS ONLINE YET NO TALKING. No one one in sub chanels.
ITS NOT OUR GUILDS FAULT......We had lost our rasion to group. Don't get me wrong I still love this mmo and same with our guild. It's just another anti social mmo. WvW is fine for grouping, but how much can you play it.
The open world social seems to be totally non-existent. No one is ever in heavy trouble, but with the occasional rez of the guy next to you. Like in another topic here, players names a just a bluer.
NO REASON TO HAVE A FRIENDS LIST. In weeks of playing I had one request to group, and dismissed the invite. I wish I took it but reacted to quickly to reject it. Besides what would be the point. The game is made for auto group.
MMO's like this is why there is no longevity, other than being B2P. My guess is population will drop often until major patches are given or expansions are released.
It's not your guild's fault. It is the players' fault. I belong to a SMALL guild but we have a lot of chat on the vent server. We have a lot of grouping going on between people as well. Just yesterday I went to the lower zone to group with some guildmates because I still get decent xp and loot because of scaling. We then moved to do a jumping puzzle together and had great fun together from all the falling off the puzzle.
I dont believe in forced grouping. The game allows you to group. It is up to YOU to find people you like to play with and make friends in game.
Ah yes, blame the players for bad design decisions.
When I played MMO's, part of the reason why we grouped was the environment around us. You cannot "force" players to do something when there is no incentive to do it.
You know its funny, this post is so ridiculous it almost sounds sarcastic. Except its not.
I belong to a very reputable Guild. The first week we had at least 40 people on ventrilo voice chat at one time, it was hard to get a word in. There were many others in sub chanels playing WvW as groups. We had at least 100 players online most all the time. WE STILL HAVE AT LEAST 100 PLAYERS ONLINE YET NO TALKING. No one one in sub chanels.
ITS NOT OUR GUILDS FAULT......We had lost our rasion to group. Don't get me wrong I still love this mmo and same with our guild. It's just another anti social mmo. WvW is fine for grouping, but how much can you play it.
The open world social seems to be totally non-existent. No one is ever in heavy trouble, but with the occasional rez of the guy next to you. Like in another topic here, players names a just a bluer.
NO REASON TO HAVE A FRIENDS LIST. In weeks of playing I had one request to group, and dismissed the invite. I wish I took it but reacted to quickly to reject it. Besides what would be the point. The game is made for auto group.
MMO's like this is why there is no longevity, other than being B2P. My guess is population will drop often until major patches are given or expansions are released.
There's nothing 'respectable' about a silent guild. Sounds more like a bunch of people spam-recruited and just hang out together.
And that's typical. In LOTRO it took SIX GUILDS before I found a social guild. In DDO it took four. In Fallen Earth it took two. In Eve Online it took two. In GW1 it took one and it's the same guild I'm a member of in GW2. In SWTOR it took two.
I've also been officer's in guilds. I've seen them wax and wane. I've seen them be social or not-social. I've seen them break into cliques or lose focus and break up. I've seen them go from 'raid heavy' to 'pug yourself' because nobody shows up...
Game mechanics have LITTLE, if anything, to do with the social 'talking' aspects of guilds.
I would agree with you that some guilds are more social than others and it usually takes a couple to find the right fit. However, I diagree with your assesment that it hs little to do with the game mechanics. I think the way a game is developed / the game mechanics have a lot to do with how social you are within a game. If you have no reason to group or join a guild then that is a game mechanic issue. If you can solo the whole game minus a few dungeons and never group / guild like many posters have said then its a game design / mechanic issue.
Just my opinion,
Lath
Trinity/forced grouping games, for which you bash this game constantly, don't do any better. I've played too many MMOs over the years to fall for that kind of blather.
This game has social ties and social events built into it including 5-man dungeons, which you constantly bash, WvWvW, which you constantly bash. These are primary examples of non-solo content. Problem is, you just troll/hate the game and refuse to see that you have no case. You just want to complain. And your history within these forums demonstrates it.
Maybe it's "Spam Recruiting Are Us..." I've joined those kinds of guilds when I've started into a new MMO. Failure to thrive is at least 50% in my experience.
Even helped to build a couple (Eve Online & Mabinogi). The churn is incredible. Eventually, you can build a solid, respectable guild. But it takes MONTHS AND MONTHS to get there as most of the people you recruit have no social ties to each other.
I belong to a very reputable Guild. The first week we had at least 40 people on ventrilo voice chat at one time, it was hard to get a word in. There were many others in sub chanels playing WvW as groups. We had at least 100 players online most all the time. WE STILL HAVE AT LEAST 100 PLAYERS ONLINE YET NO TALKING. No one one in sub chanels.
ITS NOT OUR GUILDS FAULT......We had lost our rasion to group. Don't get me wrong I still love this mmo and same with our guild. It's just another anti social mmo. WvW is fine for grouping, but how much can you play it.
The open world social seems to be totally non-existent. No one is ever in heavy trouble, but with the occasional rez of the guy next to you. Like in another topic here, players names a just a bluer.
NO REASON TO HAVE A FRIENDS LIST. In weeks of playing I had one request to group, and dismissed the invite. I wish I took it but reacted to quickly to reject it. Besides what would be the point. The game is made for auto group.
MMO's like this is why there is no longevity, other than being B2P. My guess is population will drop often until major patches are given or expansions are released.
I agree that PvE specifically could use more socialization tools and content types that cultivate teams/friendships. As I said in a recent post, the game is great at getting strangers to play together, bad at evolving it beyond strangers playing nicely with strangers. The explorable mode dungeons are hectic and fast, DEs the same, there's no content beyond story arcs and story mode dungeons atm that really allow for much communication or socializing.
There needs to be more PvE situations that encourage some degree of socialization, it shouldn't all rest on the shoulders of players to go out of their way to make it happen, the gameplay should be somewhat conducive to it.
However, I don't forsee a mass exodus due to this as you predict, in fact our server seems just as busy as ever. After hitting 80 we've started alts and are still finding every zone on the way up populated - which I wasn't expecting, I expected a ghost town to some degree. So that was a nice bonus.
Some non fans I'm sure will be crying out that this is the downfall and sensationalizing as these boards do, but in honesty they just need to take a look at increasing meaningful and longer term player interaction. Otherwise, loving it.
I belong to a very reputable Guild. The first week we had at least 40 people on ventrilo voice chat at one time, it was hard to get a word in. There were many others in sub chanels playing WvW as groups. We had at least 100 players online most all the time. WE STILL HAVE AT LEAST 100 PLAYERS ONLINE YET NO TALKING. No one one in sub chanels.
ITS NOT OUR GUILDS FAULT......We had lost our rasion to group. Don't get me wrong I still love this mmo and same with our guild. It's just another anti social mmo. WvW is fine for grouping, but how much can you play it.
The open world social seems to be totally non-existent. No one is ever in heavy trouble, but with the occasional rez of the guy next to you. Like in another topic here, players names a just a bluer.
NO REASON TO HAVE A FRIENDS LIST. In weeks of playing I had one request to group, and dismissed the invite. I wish I took it but reacted to quickly to reject it. Besides what would be the point. The game is made for auto group.
MMO's like this is why there is no longevity, other than being B2P. My guess is population will drop often until major patches are given or expansions are released.
There's nothing 'respectable' about a silent guild. Sounds more like a bunch of people spam-recruited and just hang out together.
And that's typical. In LOTRO it took SIX GUILDS before I found a social guild. In DDO it took four. In Fallen Earth it took two. In Eve Online it took two. In GW1 it took one and it's the same guild I'm a member of in GW2. In SWTOR it took two.
I've also been officer's in guilds. I've seen them wax and wane. I've seen them be social or not-social. I've seen them break into cliques or lose focus and break up. I've seen them go from 'raid heavy' to 'pug yourself' because nobody shows up...
Game mechanics have LITTLE, if anything, to do with the social 'talking' aspects of guilds.
I would agree with you that some guilds are more social than others and it usually takes a couple to find the right fit. However, I diagree with your assesment that it hs little to do with the game mechanics. I think the way a game is developed / the game mechanics have a lot to do with how social you are within a game. If you have no reason to group or join a guild then that is a game mechanic issue. If you can solo the whole game minus a few dungeons and never group / guild like many posters have said then its a game design / mechanic issue.
Just my opinion,
Lath
Trinity/forced grouping games, for which you bash this game constantly, don't do any better. I've played too many MMOs over the years to fall for that kind of blather.
This game has social ties and social events built into it including 5-man dungeons, which you constantly bash, WvWvW, which you constantly bash. These are primary examples of non-solo content. Problem is, you just troll/hate the game and refuse to see that you have no case. You just want to complain. And your history within these forums demonstrates it.
Ive never once said forced grouping, so please dont put words or ideas out there that I have never said- I have said, however, there is no reason to group. There is a large amount of space between those two realities.
I never said that forced grouping would solve the problem. I just am pointing out that there is no reason to group / guild- as many posters have pointed out. You dont have to go to the extreme with everything. I dont want forced grouping. I just want a reason to group...
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Maybe I'm reading this wrong but it seems to me you are saying that you might not want to be social but still want to be in a party.
So, being in a party without socializing is great but being around, chasing the same objectives without a party is bad.
I don't get it. Is it because you are the tank and others depend on you? Or you click in people bar and heal it? What about DPS - aren't they just around?
But more important, in what themepark MMOs do you actively play in an organized party in the Open World PvE?.
If I go start WoW with no friends, Open World experience will be exactly what for me? A solo experience. Actually there are reasons not to party with others (maybe they changed it in MOP). Or you go do LFD which you don't get much chance or need to talk either and GW2 dungeons are clearly content for voice chat.
If one wants to complain about something is that GW2 doesn't have in game voice chat options.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
If your guild has lost reason to group it is not the games fault, our guild is almost always grouped as soon as one of us enters the game and chatting is thick about whats going on all over the game even when we are not playing in the same areas..
GW2 is one of the most truly social games i have ever played and grouping with others when my guildies arent on or to fill an empty spot in our guild group is almost automatic its so easy and playing in a group outside of dungeons is a blast until 2 hours later i realize my experience/karma has been diminished to near nothing...
If you feel your guild needs reason to group (forced) you should do the exploratory dungeons more often they arent that bad once your group gets a handle on them..
Playing GW2..
There are many good replies to this, but I believe this one hits it on the head. Society itself is changing as is the society within MMO's. People who desire the more social aspect really should look for a good duild that is active and suits their playstyle. My guild is very active both in teamspeak and in guild chat. We do dungeon runs, have contests and there is always a WvW group happening somewhere.
I really can't fault the game, I think it's player dynamics have changed in the last 10 years.
I wouldnt go so far, MMOs used to be more social once upon a time but that was because you were constantly dependant on other players. You just didnt solo to max level as many people do in many games today. They also had long waiting time meaning you had long time chatting to your group.
GW2 is however the most social AAA game I seen in many years. My guild is usually grouped and play together as much as we can. If OPs dont, that sounds more like their problem and not the games fault.
Sure, DEs are not so social compared to a dungeon, but compared to the soloquests most games have instead it is a huge difference and advantage for GW2.
Sorry to hear that. I've been grouping with my guild non-stop for WvW, sPvP, dungeons and orr events. Even before I had a guild, I found the fact that the game promotes auto-grouping much more social than all the other MMOs. I mean most MMOs discourage the whole concept behind an MMO and that is to play with others. No more SP quests and mob tagging. I also agree with Loke that this is the most social AAA game I've played.
It sounds like the great social experiment is working...
I would respectfully suggest that you don't actually like the people you are playing with. Now that you are not forced into some false represention of social interaction, you can no longer find a reason to group with your guild.
I personally like this because it means that real social interaction can happen instead and so I would rate that as a success.
Kyleran, what you said there baffles me. How can one *not* be interested in discussing the new iPhone? It's taller!!!
In GW2 I make a point of spamming invites and going on about the new iPhone. But people just leave the group. Such an antisocial generation. Tsk tsk.
I am saying that being social in the same way you are with a friend but with a random person in a MMORPG is probably significantely less pleasant than being social with a random person from your neighbourhood/work place/educational facility.
I am discussing the statement of "But so much more enjoyable- being with someone just for the pleasure of being with someone..."
If you care about what is "real", then you should allow Open World PvP, node-competition and gear-rolls, because that truly shows how people are in a game when they actually need to resolve conflicting interests.
Edit: It is like the idiom stating that you don't know who your true friends are until everything goes to hell.
Heh.... I have a Samsung Galaxy II, Death to Apple! But if you want to discuss how much more damage that broadsword you just got in a dungeon does, I'm all ears.....
Oh wait... nevermind.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
You know, that might be an interesting experiment, I wonder if the people on this thread who feel there's no issue socializing in GW2 are also big users of Facebook/Twitter. Myself, while I did get an account, I don't care for the tool and even when chatting with long time old friends, I really am not interested in what they say about their average daily life.
I find myself rolling my eyes when one of my former guildmates, ex marine, business tycoon, hunter of moose posts cute messages back and forth with his new girlfriend..... ewww...
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I had 3 characters in WoW, one level 85, one 60+ and one 40+. I never felt the need to group with or speak to anyone in that game either.
At least in this game I get my fair whack of loot when joining events and dungeons.
I'm not particularly anti-social and have been in guilds requiring voice chat for other games. I much prefer having a choice though and not being penalised by the game for playing solo.
To OP:
It's a matter of perspective. If you don't take the time to find friends you won't have friends. Now sure you can play the game without friends or a guild and just find pick up groups for dungeons. If you don't want to talk with your guildies or group with them for anything then you're the unsociable one. I run into plenty of people and we just sit around joking around in between events.
My guild we have dungeon runs all the time to get our tokens for the armors. We have wvw groups going pretty much throughout the day (most of the times) and generally every night. And we have guild chat and vent open to anyone to advertise what they're doing to find people to join them. Such as spvp or a tough part in their personal stories, etc etc.
If no effort is put into the guild to make it sociable it obviously won't be sociable.
I agree- It has nothing to do with the player as everyone here is so quick to point out- "its the players fault!"
This game was developed / designed to not promote grouping. I think what people dont understand is that this game is a themepark and it funnels you along a predetermined path- the developers control your path in this game - you have very few choices as to what your going to do. It does not promote grouping- if it did, there would be lower level dungeons and in world events or WvW you would join as a raid like in rift so at least you can see your comrads health / name. This game promotes anonimity except in a very few instances - dungeons - which dont happen till half waty through the leveling cap.
Lath
There's nothing 'respectable' about a silent guild. Sounds more like a bunch of people spam-recruited and just hang out together.
And that's typical. In LOTRO it took SIX GUILDS before I found a social guild. In DDO it took four. In Fallen Earth it took two. In Eve Online it took two. In GW1 it took one and it's the same guild I'm a member of in GW2. In SWTOR it took two.
I've also been officer's in guilds. I've seen them wax and wane. I've seen them be social or not-social. I've seen them break into cliques or lose focus and break up. I've seen them go from 'raid heavy' to 'pug yourself' because nobody shows up...
Game mechanics have LITTLE, if anything, to do with the social 'talking' aspects of guilds.
I would agree with you that some guilds are more social than others and it usually takes a couple to find the right fit. However, I diagree with your assesment that it hs little to do with the game mechanics. I think the way a game is developed / the game mechanics have a lot to do with how social you are within a game. If you have no reason to group or join a guild then that is a game mechanic issue. If you can solo the whole game minus a few dungeons and never group / guild like many posters have said then its a game design / mechanic issue.
Just my opinion,
Lath
Then why play guild wars 2. Any games is fun as long as you with firends.
I've played in those kind of MMOs. Maybe 2500 people logging in on server over the day during weekend play. But those days are long gone.
What is the name of this "very reputable guild"?
Ah yes, blame the players for bad design decisions.
When I played MMO's, part of the reason why we grouped was the environment around us. You cannot "force" players to do something when there is no incentive to do it.
You know its funny, this post is so ridiculous it almost sounds sarcastic. Except its not.
Scary.
Trinity/forced grouping games, for which you bash this game constantly, don't do any better. I've played too many MMOs over the years to fall for that kind of blather.
This game has social ties and social events built into it including 5-man dungeons, which you constantly bash, WvWvW, which you constantly bash. These are primary examples of non-solo content. Problem is, you just troll/hate the game and refuse to see that you have no case. You just want to complain. And your history within these forums demonstrates it.
Maybe it's "Spam Recruiting Are Us..."
I've joined those kinds of guilds when I've started into a new MMO. Failure to thrive is at least 50% in my experience.
Even helped to build a couple (Eve Online & Mabinogi). The churn is incredible. Eventually, you can build a solid, respectable guild. But it takes MONTHS AND MONTHS to get there as most of the people you recruit have no social ties to each other.
I agree that PvE specifically could use more socialization tools and content types that cultivate teams/friendships. As I said in a recent post, the game is great at getting strangers to play together, bad at evolving it beyond strangers playing nicely with strangers. The explorable mode dungeons are hectic and fast, DEs the same, there's no content beyond story arcs and story mode dungeons atm that really allow for much communication or socializing.
There needs to be more PvE situations that encourage some degree of socialization, it shouldn't all rest on the shoulders of players to go out of their way to make it happen, the gameplay should be somewhat conducive to it.
However, I don't forsee a mass exodus due to this as you predict, in fact our server seems just as busy as ever. After hitting 80 we've started alts and are still finding every zone on the way up populated - which I wasn't expecting, I expected a ghost town to some degree. So that was a nice bonus.
Some non fans I'm sure will be crying out that this is the downfall and sensationalizing as these boards do, but in honesty they just need to take a look at increasing meaningful and longer term player interaction. Otherwise, loving it.
Ive never once said forced grouping, so please dont put words or ideas out there that I have never said- I have said, however, there is no reason to group. There is a large amount of space between those two realities.
I never said that forced grouping would solve the problem. I just am pointing out that there is no reason to group / guild- as many posters have pointed out. You dont have to go to the extreme with everything. I dont want forced grouping. I just want a reason to group...
Lath