So why have things changed?

[voltaicbore.8012]

On 12/5/2022 at 1:14 AM, The Greyhawk.9107 said:

Doesn't seem radically different to me, and I've been playing fairly regularly since Launch.

I haven't been around since launch, but have played quite regularly for 6 years, and I agree. I haven't seen much of a change.

[Okhu.7948]

On 11/29/2022 at 9:33 AM, Serynna.3786 said:

I used to think that GW2 had the best and friendliest community of any MMORG I've played - and I've played quite a few. However, of late, there seems to me to have been noticeable increase in the number of arrogant, aggressive, rude and plain nasty players in this game. So why has this happened? What has changed?  Steam????    

What do you mean? I've always been here.

[Chyro.1462]

When it comes to dungeons, I think it's fair that the one making the party gets to decide how the run goes. If he just wants a quick run for the dungeon-clear rewards, then it's understandable that he doesn't want someone sitting around watching cutscenes half the time. Of course there are kinder ways how to communicate that. But I feel like by joining a LFG group, you agree to play by that party's rules.

 

You always have the option to just make your own LFG advertisement. "Story Mode - Watching cutscenes, going slow" for example. There are other players that want that too, or that are happy to help a new player get the full experience. I've done a bunch of LFG groups like that cause I like playing with new players and letting them go at their own pace. You can do that on your own just fine. I just wouldn't drop into some other group and expect them to adjust to my pace, if all they want is a quick clear. Of course going in and asking about it is a possibility. "hey, I would like to watch cutscenes. is this okay or should I look for another group?"

 

Communication is key ^^

[Migraine.5810]

On 12/17/2022 at 12:38 AM, Chyro.1462 said:

When it comes to dungeons, I think it's fair that the one making the party gets to decide how the run goes. If he just wants a quick run for the dungeon-clear rewards, then it's understandable that he doesn't want someone sitting around watching cutscenes half the time. Of course there are kinder ways how to communicate that. But I feel like by joining a LFG group, you agree to play by that party's rules.

 

You always have the option to just make your own LFG advertisement. "Story Mode - Watching cutscenes, going slow" for example. There are other players that want that too, or that are happy to help a new player get the full experience. I've done a bunch of LFG groups like that cause I like playing with new players and letting them go at their own pace. You can do that on your own just fine. I just wouldn't drop into some other group and expect them to adjust to my pace, if all they want is a quick clear. Of course going in and asking about it is a possibility. "hey, I would like to watch cutscenes. is this okay or should I look for another group?"

 

Communication is key ^^

 

That sounds fair. Unfortunately I've been threatened by players that join my party, don't even greet and also seem to ignore that I wrote "not skipping cutscenes" in the party info for story... So there are people like that too 

[Ashen.2907]

Honestly Ive had the opposite experience. More interactions with friendly players. It can be easier to focus on the negative, and if you have some repeated bad luck with people, it can leave you with a negative impression that isnt necessarily truly representative. 

Any way, hope things get better for you.

[Ashen.2907]

Honestly Ive had the opposite experience. More interactions with friendly players. It can be easier to focus on the negative, and if you have some repeated bad luck with people, it can leave you with a negative impression that isnt necessarily truly representative. 

Any way, hope things get better for you.

[Lanfear De Noir.9127]

I am new to GW2...

I am a refugee from other, more toxic games which I left for this reason (amongst other reasons). These games particularly engender toxisity by how the game is run and how the companies treat their customers.

 

I am sure there are a number of players that have also immigrated from other toxic games and have not realized yet that GW2 is a player friendly place.  This is partly why I now play this game, I have found that others players are friendly and helpful... very little arrogance.  Maybe other new players will see this and change their bad habits.

 

I hope so as I LOVE this game and its players... I want it to continue its friendly and inclusive ways.

[Mantis.6102]

I think that as humans spend more time socially interacting online and less time doing it face to face with people, we are just on a single-track path towards more rude behavior. Pretty much any online forum or chat venue has the incidence of rudeness or inappropriate behavior increasing as we go on. It is just a function of socially interacting with less consequence to our actions. The best thing people who don't enjoy this can do is to ignore it completely; attention-seeking behavior only gets worse if it is fed. Block them if you want, just don't brag about blocking them in chat because that is what they want.

[Caid.4932]

On 12/27/2022 at 6:40 PM, Migraine.5810 said:

 

That sounds fair. Unfortunately I've been threatened by players that join my party, don't even greet and also seem to ignore that I wrote "not skipping cutscenes" in the party info for story... So there are people like that too 

People have metioned wvw and pvp but my experience with dungeon groups is the one that most often brings about hostile players. Strikes have their moments but dungeons really seem to attract the grumpiest, rudest players in the game.

I think my server in wvw is pretty friendly, a bit trolly but good natured mostly. Maybe its a bit of an exception?

My attitude to dungeons is pretty laid back, watch cutscenes if you like, i'm not in much of a rush.

Maybe they could adopt the Final Fantasy thing for people playing a dungeon for the first time. Gives the other party members bonus rewards, so leading a new, possibly slower, player through a dungeon is almost a bonus. Just a nice incentive that helps the community be welcoming.

It kind of sounds like you've done everything reasonable that could be expected to warn people. Go at your own pace, your not obliged to make every run a speed clear.

Edited January 1, 2023 by Caid.4932

[Lord of the Fire.6870]

I also think that steam had something to do with it but certainly not all.

 

From my experience spiking toxicity in MMOs has mostly to do with unresolved brewing problems / that the game already entered a death spiral.  I don't want to to be too pessimistic but this is true for Gw 2 for a better part  of 2 years but Arena.NET had a lot of credits in form of good will from the people who knew the old Arena.NET.

 

In general problems like this can be slice in 4 part:

1.Accessibility

2.Balance

3.Content

4.Bugfixes

 

For 1 they did a lot, actually a bit too much some changes like the change of the exposed buff did hurt the balance and so the game a lot.

 

Balance there are 2 sides to this first instead of balancing they the often switch-out specs which mean every build that become meta they force another out for it . This was to some degree always so because of the nature of the subject what changed is they do it in their tower alone before they talked a lot to the community . They may talk in shadow forums with streamer/youtuber what needed to be done but those streamer/youtuber aren't geniuses and the community still fells left out and steamrolled by the changes.

 

Content well what comes next ? Living story 6 ? Gw3 ? what is with 5 people content? Since 2020 it always feels like the game goes into maintenance mode any moment.

 

Bugfixes I can only speak from experience I can discuss about how the Packed Dolyaks don't fit in trough the east gate of the stronghold in the dessert map in WvW  but what I find  undiscussionable is how Revents skill change randomly or how Weavers attunements bugs and you need to change your rotation to let it work again.

 

So yeah there isn't much investment into the game anymore from Arena.NET people see it, ask about it and Arena.NET is mute. The good will because of old times from fans + that most content creators for GW2  are affiliated with Arena.NET did contain all critics on Arena.NET.

 

I can also see when new players come from steam they see this and ask why you guys let you do this to you? They are used to that things blow up in media big when developers let it grind and it gets solved or the game dies down to very  low player count.

 

Edited January 21, 2023 by Lord of the Fire.6870

[aspirine.6852]

I have not seen this at all. Are you playing on a EU or NA server OP?

[Rogue.8235]

I don't notice any change in the sociability of the GW2 community in the game.  PvE is still full of nice, cooperative people willing to help and PvP is still an "omg what have I done with my life" kind of interaction.

One thing that is proven is negative bias.  That is, we humans are more likely to recall bad experiences and negative interactions.  This, as theorized, is predicated on an evolutionary psychology paradigm, wherein hunter-gatherers must remember the bad stuff more easily to stay alive.  It takes a lot of work to change your attitude on this, and is not something that can be easily done by yourself.  Just keep this in mind, and remember that you're probably not recollecting all the good stuff that happened as easily.

 

On 1/1/2023 at 1:55 PM, Caid.4932 said:

Maybe they could adopt the Final Fantasy thing for people playing a dungeon for the first time. Gives the other party members bonus rewards, so leading a new, possibly slower, player through a dungeon is almost a bonus. Just a nice incentive that helps the community be welcoming.

I'm always a fan of systems that incentive playing with new players and helping them out.

 

On 1/1/2023 at 11:28 AM, Mantis.6102 said:

I think that as humans spend more time socially interacting online and less time doing it face to face with people, we are just on a single-track path towards more rude behavior. Pretty much any online forum or chat venue has the incidence of rudeness or inappropriate behavior increasing as we go on. It is just a function of socially interacting with less consequence to our actions. The best thing people who don't enjoy this can do is to ignore it completely; attention-seeking behavior only gets worse if it is fed. Block them if you want, just don't brag about blocking them in chat because that is what they want.

 

There are studies into this.

2007 study published to Cyberpsychology & behavior (link to abstract in PubMed, U.S. Library of Medicine)   The study is by Arkansas Tech University, which is an institution I'm not familiar with.  I have not done any search for validation studies, take with normal level of skepticism in how the researcher  obtained and analyzed the data sets.

2020 study by University of California (link to abstract in PubMed, U.S. Library of Medicine)  A study on the positive and negative psychosocial impact of the recent paradigm shift towards online socialization.

2021 study published to Frontiers in psychiatry. by Henan Normal University (link to abstract in PubMed, U.S. Library of Medicine)  A validation study that looks into the association between online interactions in gaming and video game addiction.  A major limitation is the single scoring system quantifying the qualities of online interactions, whereas more robust studies look at 2-3 dimensional factors.  Additionally, the regional limitation of the sample study group may not necessarily correlate to the American population.  Still a fascinating read.

 

I can link to more upon request.

 

[aereton.5491]

Immigrants from other MMOs bring their culture with them. Best way to deal with this is to keep being nice and just hope that some of it will rub off to the others.

[EriskRedLemur.7153]

I've played GW2 off and on since after launch. Having gone back to WoW with a few mates for their xpac I gotta say GW2 toxicity is nothing haha. I'll take it. I've seen posts like this every year tbh. Same with the games dead, Arenanet doesn't do this or that. Timeless story. People look back with rose filled glasses. I think spikes in toxicity come when lack of content or direction. Esp in group play; and any PUGs in any mode in any MMO has this issue with toxic aholes but despite MAYBE a spike in GW2, it's diddly compared with games like WoW lol I think we're spoiled in GW2 a bit.

 

I remember when NCsoft gutted Arena net n ppl left everyone thought it was the end, a lot more toxicity back then imo esp with the Icebrood livestream everyone mocked because no xpac already for years. Communication was far worse back then between devs and a tired and wanting community.

 

I know recruiting is slowwww n I notice both some more questionable ppl and also ppl who are impressed how nice GW2ers are esp on reddit believe it or not lol these forums can be a toxic dumping site sometimes. Anyways, I think it's a cycle, I don't see now being more toxic than anytime in GW2 I've seen way worse as I said above in GW2's history and way worse in other MMOs. So, eh, just be nice and helpful yourself in-game and out and it'll echo

[EriskRedLemur.7153]

EDIT: Double post darn lag 🙂

Edited January 20, 2023 by EriskRedLemur.7153

[genjonah.1253]

On 12/4/2022 at 11:50 AM, Luthan.5236 said:

 

Steam ... well the amount of people using Steam that are NOT toxic ... sure is more rare than precursor drops in GW2. 😄

 

 

Day 1 player with only two decent sized breaks. Still never once had a precursor drop

 

As for the OP, thankfully in my experience it has been largely relegated to end game sections. People being nasty in strikes is really the only place I remember more than one instance, not even in raids (though admittedly I only ever really work in training guilds where the whole point is to be patient and learn through trial and error)

[Drax.7308]

People are people eny were, doesn't mater from were they come if it's from steam or they buy the game or not, if they buy the game from the oficial site, there's bad and good people every were 

Also I think the game have to make and promote a good and freendly ambient for others, but the game does not promote this bicose they make every thing soo complicated for new players that wen they come most of the time is veterans player that are yelling in chat to newbies, : go learn the game, unintall the game, watch are you newbies are doing, trash team, idiots, etc

You think this kind of comments Com from New players? No this come from veterans players ho forgot how it feels to be a newbie, and how much time take them to get were they are now, I think the general game is wath WY have to blame for this actitude, for doing a meta event, a fractal or a boss fight you need to wathch a hole tutorial, nothing in this game helps new players to learn the mechanics, nothing is intuitive or logical you need to go to internet a do homework abaut everything, that WY most of the time is veterans ho are making the game toxic not bicose steam, yes it got maibe worst but that's bicose there's more newbies ho don't now the mechanics of the game withch coses veterans go crazy on every thing

[Bast.7253]

On 11/29/2022 at 9:33 AM, Serynna.3786 said:

I used to think that GW2 had the best and friendliest community of any MMORG I've played - and I've played quite a few. However, of late, there seems to me to have been noticeable increase in the number of arrogant, aggressive, rude and plain nasty players in this game. So why has this happened? What has changed?  Steam????    

Boredom and stagnation. WoW gets really bad for this because players just HAVE to log in because they have nothing else to do. Get annoyed at the state of the game, start taking it out on others.

[Kozumi.5816]

On 11/29/2022 at 9:33 AM, Serynna.3786 said:

I used to think that GW2 had the best and friendliest community of any MMORG I've played - and I've played quite a few. However, of late, there seems to me to have been noticeable increase in the number of arrogant, aggressive, rude and plain nasty players in this game. So why has this happened? What has changed?  Steam????    

Nothing changed , GW2 community being nice was a reddit karma farming meme.

[Nihil.9817]

OMG HECKING WHOLESOME EPIC GW2 COMMUNITY BIG CHUNGUS KIANO REIEVES ❤️