Old school, long hiatus

#1 - Feb. 4, 2016, 9:40 p.m.

Last time I really played WoW was Spring 2009. I came back to find an abysmal mess. No, I'm not complaining about classes. I'm complaining about this horrific community. I have now been called "a worthless [censored]" for not having "guild mass rez" (which I didn't even know existed), been kicked out of a dungeon group for suggesting we not pull every mob we see and wiping for it, nobody in dungeons talks or communicates what we are doing, hell people don't even grab healthstones, oh, and some guy teabagged another guy for not running back, then the guy Ankh'd and pulled the boss and left the group. I can never recall that happening back when I played.

Did I miss something, or do people just think you can do whatever the hell you want in a dungeon without consequence now? Like I get people getting frustrated, I wiped many times on Vashj back in the day, but it's like people aren't even patient enough to weather a wipe or two. They just call other people names and make fun of them. The passive aggressive nature of the community is killing me right now. I want to get to 100 to find out what PvP is like, but I'm not so sure I want to after leveling up. A lot of stuff is gone, working together is bascially discouraged. Trying to lead a group is... not welcome. What the hell happened here?

Nethaera

Community Manager

#12 - Feb. 4, 2016, 10:08 p.m.

Welcome back! I'm sure you just ran into the types that assume you must/have to know it all already. It makes returning a bit rough at first when you run into them first out of the gate. I have no doubt you'll get back in the swing of things quickly and find some people (starting here maybe?) who would be happy to help you get up to speed.

Nethaera

Community Manager

#20 - Feb. 4, 2016, 10:24 p.m.

02/04/2016 02:16 PMPosted by Brahtwurt
02/04/2016 02:08 PMPosted by Nethaera
Welcome back! I'm sure you just ran into the types that assume you must/have to know it all already. It makes returning a bit rough at first when you run into them first out of the gate. I have no doubt you'll get back in the swing of things quickly and find some people (starting here maybe?) who would be happy to help you get up to speed.

That's a good generic dev post for a game where the community is more toxic than ever. I don't have suggestions to make it better, but the community is bad.

I disagree with the statement of "more toxic than ever" but I don't want this thread to turn into that. There are some really great people in the community, many of whom (as I mentioned in my post) would love to help a returning player out. You just have to be open to it and not let the 'bad apples' spoil the whole barrel for you.

Nethaera

Community Manager

#32 - Feb. 4, 2016, 10:40 p.m.

02/04/2016 02:31 PMPosted by Haushenka
<span class="truncated">...</span>

I disagree with the statement of "more toxic than ever" but I don't want this thread to turn into that. There are some really great people in the community, many of whom (as I mentioned in my post) would love to help a returning player out. You just have to be open to it and not let the 'bad apples' spoil the whole barrel for you.

If we are looking at the community now, and the community as it was then back in 2009. Which, would be the correct thing to do since that is the last time the OP had played. Yes, it is more toxic that it ever was back then. Spend any amount of time on the forums, or in game as a normal player, without people having the fear of "Oh its a GM if I insult them I could be banned" and you would know that.

Do an experiment. Start up a second account, dont let anyone in on the fact you are in any way affiliated with blizzard, play the game, and you will se nothing but insult hurling and trolling most of the day.

I play and have played since launch as any other player. I have seen a variety of player behaviors over the years from corpse camping to insults to acts of generosity and more. I don't have the luxury of banning people in game or moderating them. I assure you. People make the assumption all the time that we are afforded special experiences in the game, but we're not. I stand by my statement on a personal level.

Again, this is a much better topic if we work on providing helpful advice and guidance to the OP and avoid trying to vilify the entire community's behavior in-game.

Nethaera

Community Manager

#61 - Feb. 5, 2016, 12:50 a.m.

02/04/2016 03:06 PMPosted by Augier
02/04/2016 02:08 PMPosted by Nethaera
Welcome back! I'm sure you just ran into the types that assume you must/have to know it all already. It makes returning a bit rough at first when you run into them first out of the gate. I have no doubt you'll get back in the swing of things quickly and find some people (starting here maybe?) who would be happy to help you get up to speed.
Wow, glad you are still here. back when I played I read EVERY single thing you ever posted on the forums. I have played all large games since I left. No one compares to you. True professional, lot's of class.

That's very kind of you to say. Thank you so much. :)

To others asking - Yes, we would love to find ways to connect people better to those they want to play with. But I think that's always any multi-player game's goal isn't it?

I can tell you about there being no CRZ or Dungeon Finder and having the same guy constantly ganking me (pvp realm) everywhere I went for probably months on end during the early days. He wasn't just doing it to me though and he wasn't the only one. But... A. it was a PvP realm and B. there was never a guarantee that if he was gone someone else wouldn't take his place and often someone would. Some people are just 'wired' that way. What was most important was how I chose to handle it and whether I let people 'get' to me or not. Just like there are those who will reciprocate your kindness/helpfulness if you're kind/helpful to them. I've encountered many many of those types too.

Those who ran me through dungeons or quests when I didn't ask. Those who handed a new character gold or items, because they could, etc. The game experience is a glass in which you decide if it's half full or half empty to be cliche'.

Nethaera

Community Manager

#63 - Feb. 5, 2016, 12:53 a.m.

02/04/2016 04:51 PMPosted by Wuatdah
Every time i hear "Toxic Players"

It reminds me of that one Britney Spears song...

There are some really great alternative versions of that song. Some are very haunting. ;)

Nethaera

Community Manager

#116 - Feb. 5, 2016, 4:13 p.m.

The fact that you as a Blizzard representative don't acknowledge there is any issue here is highly disappointing and gives me no hope that these issues will be fixed.

I think you're misconstruing that what I said means I don't believe you've had bad experiences or that others haven't either. I have had them too, but I don't agree that it's 'worse'. The circumstances in which some of those experiences happen have changed though and perhaps after years of playing (<3 and thanks for being here) some people's tolerance for certain behaviors may have changed too.

I'm by no means invalidating your experiences by saying my experiences haven't been the same. I'm disagreeing that things are 'worse' based on my personal experiences. Don't take that to mean that we (Blizzard) don't care that there is concern from the community. Just keep in mind, game play design can only go so far to shape social interactions between people. People are far more complex than what design can dictate.

BTW- We have a forum full of really helpful people (beyond those here) for New and Returning players with lots of guides and tips.