Does Gw2 Feel More Toxic Lately?

[Sobx.1758]

59 minutes ago, Gravitron.7982 said:

A lot of people on these very forums say that GW2 is the greatest game ever created in the history of mankind, and it can do no wrong. 

Not really.

Notice how you still didn't respond to anything here:

1 hour ago, Sobx.1758 said:

Who said it is? Other than you trying to miscontrue what people write in an attempt to avoid addressing what you've quoted, of course.

People disagreeing with your criticism doesn't mean they're taking criticism against gw2 as personal attacks. I'm not sure how you went from point a to point b here.

 

 

Basically throwing out a claim and when you get asked for any details, you bow out of it and repeat your generalization (or make a new one instead). This repeats in this thread for at least 2 pages now. 🙄

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by Sobx.1758

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

On 8/1/2023 at 10:24 PM, Mic.1897 said:

There are too many human players and not enough Charr players

True unironically, playing Charr literally mellows you out I highly recommend it. 

On topic:

In game:

Quote

 

PVE? Nah. People are usually chill and I have nothing but pleasant experiences in PvE.

WvW? Nah. Same thing, usually chill, nothing out of the ordinary.

PvP? Depends. More toxic? no. The place was forged in salt though, so by definition it is more toxic than the other two spheres. 

 

It would make sense if players are more toxic, life is hard and getting more annoying as people age so I'm sure some of that frustration bleeds over.

I do think, however, that the only places it would consolidate to a point that you'd notice are in spheres of the game where the skill demand is high, and in those areas you'd expect it on poor performance anyway. It may also bubble up in long periods of balance changes that make the game feel worse to play for one reason or another, and we might be in the middle of one of those for PvE. 

Edited August 3, 2023 by Azure The Heartless.3261

[Dibit.6259]

I don't think the game is anymore toxic just that things are more "broadcasted" these days. Forums becoming more active with people complaining about aspects of the game for example. Some of these are legit complaints/suggestions but usually people kick off at any form of disagreement or when people point out flaws/why something won't work etc. People sometimes forget that forums are there for discussion so chances are there will be conflicting views but for whatever reason people get instantly defensive and insult one another.

[Gravitron.7982]

10 minutes ago, Dibit.6259 said:

I don't think the game is anymore toxic just that things are more "broadcasted" these days. Forums becoming more active with people complaining about aspects of the game for example. Some of these are legit complaints/suggestions but usually people kick off at any form of disagreement or when people point out flaws/why something won't work etc. People sometimes forget that forums are there for discussion so chances are there will be conflicting views but for whatever reason people get instantly defensive and insult one another.

Yeah I agree with you here, that's pretty much what I noticed on these forums.

[Jianyu.7065]

22 hours ago, Tren.5120 said:

D3 Forums weren't that bad, and frankly such a tiny portion of the player base ever used the D3 forums that using that as a view into the entire community for that game is basically intellectual dishonesty.  Certainly, there has to be a better example?

Was your first time in the D3 forums yesterday?

[PeterRedhill.3182]

1 hour ago, IAmNotMatthew.1058 said:

Last time I checked the reactions on post don't affect the visibility of said post. It just means people either don't agree with you or can't figure out what you're trying to say. It's that simple. Make a post about something that concerns you, but if it doesn't concern others they will react that way, this is not some conspiracy that will kill the game through the power of confused emojis.

I also wish people could discuss things as adults instead of being upset over emojis being passive agressive apparently.

I'm not remotely upset about it.  I couldn't care less how people choose to live their lives.  I'm just calling out the bs for what is.

[Infinity.2876]

define toxic:

map chat in LA and heart of the mists is not talking about gw2 99 percent of the time.

wvw chat has a few salty people.

pvp chat is very salty.

over all gw2 chat is significantly less toxic than in a lot of other games.

[Hsanrb.1570]

I don't think the game is getting more toxic, I just think more people are logging in and attempting to optimize the experience, and by putting efficiency and math into the equation are subtracting fun and discovery. Every time I stroll through LA to do crafting and banking, someone is usually asking about how to make money (to buy something with gems) which a broad statement "Just do content" is suffice but also not helpful? What is the best build/class to play? How about something you enjoy instead of what has the biggest numbers. Once in a while I do HoT content and people seem to cherry pick someone who comes through with Celestial gear and everyone in map chat is talking about how that's awful and Beserker's is better.

I was starting Skyscale, someone is asking for help with a few of eggs. I was trying to be helpful and nudge the player a direction without outright saying where things are... the rest of map chat turns into "Just use the wiki", "Just use this app." IF gaming is reaching a state where the players are optimizing the time with guides and not wandering in circles for 2 hours looking confused in a hunt to check under every tree and on top of every building... count me out.

[Gravitron.7982]

1 hour ago, Hsanrb.1570 said:

I don't think the game is getting more toxic, I just think more people are logging in and attempting to optimize the experience, and by putting efficiency and math into the equation are subtracting fun and discovery. Every time I stroll through LA to do crafting and banking, someone is usually asking about how to make money (to buy something with gems) which a broad statement "Just do content" is suffice but also not helpful? What is the best build/class to play? How about something you enjoy instead of what has the biggest numbers. Once in a while I do HoT content and people seem to cherry pick someone who comes through with Celestial gear and everyone in map chat is talking about how that's awful and Beserker's is better.

I was starting Skyscale, someone is asking for help with a few of eggs. I was trying to be helpful and nudge the player a direction without outright saying where things are... the rest of map chat turns into "Just use the wiki", "Just use this app." IF gaming is reaching a state where the players are optimizing the time with guides and not wandering in circles for 2 hours looking confused in a hunt to check under every tree and on top of every building... count me out.

Yeah I have noticed that too in game and out of game. It seems "check the wiki, duh!" is the default verbiage used when a most likely new player is asking for something as simple as how to get to xyz place, etc. It seems a big theme within the GW2 playerbase, is to direct players outside of the game in order to accomplish things inside game. I understand that some components will exist outside of the game, but should everything? If so, what's left in the game at that point if everything is outside of it? But I agree with you here and appreciate your post, it's great feedback and a great subject for discussion!

[ArchonWing.9480]

Think the issue here is that some of you are assuming the worst from people, which has happened many times throughout the thread.

Yes there's that smart kitten "check the wiki", and there is a tendency for people to want to say something when they don't really know anything but there's also a distinct possibility that they never really knew or remembered themselves, so that's how they got the answer themselves. And in all fairness, telling people to check the wiki will give possible answers to future questions.

My point is there are many that will unironically see "check the wiki" as a piece of advice.

Especially concerning the locations of Skyscale eggs or whatnot; most people are just not going to remember doing that.

I wouldn't really blame the community on this. The wiki did not get its information from thin air, it's the community that provides the information.; If anything, you should blame the game itself for being too cryptic at times.

Edited August 3, 2023 by ArchonWing.9480

[Gravitron.7982]

1 hour ago, ArchonWing.9480 said:

Think the issue here is that some of you are assuming the worst from people, which has happened many times throughout the thread.

Yes there's that smart kitten "check the wiki", and there is a tendency for people to want to say something when they don't really know anything but there's also a distinct possibility that they never really knew or remembered themselves, so that's how they got the answer themselves. And in all fairness, telling people to check the wiki will give possible answers to future questions.

My point is there are many that will unironically see "check the wiki" as a piece of advice.

Especially concerning the locations of Skyscale eggs or whatnot; most people are just not going to remember doing that.

I wouldn't really blame the community on this. The wiki did not get its information from thin air, it's the community that provides the information.; If anything, you should blame the game itself for being too cryptic at times.

Oh I definitely do, and think there should be a lot more systems in game that provide this kind of information, as well as other types of information. 

[ArchonWing.9480]

16 minutes ago, Gravitron.7982 said:

Oh I definitely do

I don't want to be misunderstanding this, but I'm reading that as you do expect the worst from people. Is that correct?

And yea it'd help if the game explained itself more. Games in general, unfortunately after manuals died out.

[oCynder.5136]

It really depends on the type of content you are doing. If it is any pvp related, more likely toxicity will be there. But again, what is considered toxic to you? A simple hurtful word is considered toxic? Someone not helping you when you ask for help is considered toxic? Define toxic. It is very hard to answer the question when you it is an open ended question/answer.

[vicky.9751]

i havent played in a year, but when i did play people never talked at all. i was doing t4 fractals. so unless you did something to make the team mad, most people wont say anything

[Awn.1327]

In game: no.

The forums, reddit etc. just keep getting worse and worse.

[almostdaft.4319]

I circle around to guild wars a couple of times a year among many other MMOs and it's always felt like the more inviting guild among the top few.

[Obfuscate.6430]

17 hours ago, Irastira.8643 said:

More toxic lately?  Personally, I have all ways found every spot on the internet to be a hyper toxic hell hole.  GW2 is not any different. Its not any better.  Everything wrong with WoW is just as wrong with GW2.  The difference is, people just pretend the bad things that happen in GW2 never happened.  For example, I know plenty of girls who have stopped playing GW2, because of the community constantly harassing them.  That is just an example of the game has all ways been Toxic.  People just don't talk about it is all.

Being critical of GW2 myself, I run into a ton of toxic people.  I don't hate GW2.  But it has a few issues. like Content Gating.  A lot of people like mounts. Personally, I think mounts were damaging to the integrity of the game.  Before Mounts, Waypoints were Frequent so it wasn't horrible if you ended up dying and had to waypoint and leg it back.  After Path of Fire, Waypoints became a lot less frequent.  Sure, you could move faster, but Your mount isn't faster then TPing to Mount Maelstorm from Divinity's Reach.  It also added a few annoying things like, See that Mastery Point?  Yeah, Sorry. You can't reach that.  Come back in 13 Hours when your Raptor is level 3 so you can unlock Canyon Jumping and get that Mastery Point.  Warclaw Ruined WvW for me.  I have been trying to get it for like 15 hours.  I can't because I can't keep up with a Group, and I often get caught by enemy raid groups who have Warclaw and proceed to 1V40 me. 

Rather then being the nice, polite, welcoming, understanding community every one claims GW2 is.  I get told "Shut up, if you don't like it don't play." I never said GW2 was a bad game.  But, Telling some one to "Shut Up" is quite rude and Toxic.  I guess its ok to be Toxic to some one if they are critiquing that thing you like.

Up next I would like to talk about High level content. Well, I am using "High Level" loosely here.  What I mean is, Fractals and Raids get very sweaty.  Like people lose their mind if you don't have a the Defense Potion in Fractals.  However, the problem is much deeper then that. When you Ruin T1 fractals, you find really experienced players being complete jerks to people who have like 400 Achievement points. They probably just hit level 80. They probably has been playing for like a week. Many of these result in kicking new players from the group.  I have kicked more then a few players with an insane amount of Achievement points from the group for being jerks to new players.   If you don't have have free time to kill, don't queue.

This becomes a problem when these new players make it to T3 Fractals and have not the first clue what to do.  Like, I made it to T3 a few weeks ago. To that end, I had not the first clue how to do MOST of the fractal mechanics.  Why is that? because of Min-Max culture.  I don't need to know how to do the mechanics. Some one else will handle it for me.  To which I was informed that "T3 is not the place to learn."  To that, I kind of Agree, but clearly T1 also known as Entry Level  where over half the fractals don't even require Agony Resist to join in the first place.  Is also "Not the place to learn."  T1 would be better to learn, but Min-Max doesn't care.  Struggling with the Harpies that Shove you off the jumping puzzle?  All you will hear is "Just /GG and stop wasting my time." 

"Just skip it." If you are part of an Experienced group thats done it all 100 times. and every one knows what to do, that is fine, skip to your hearts content.  Getting mad at new players who are struggling to learn the buttons never mind the mechanics is unappreciated and unwelcome.  The "Just skip it" mentality is not only annoying for new players to deal with, It creates further toxicity down the road when no one knows what to do because "Just skip it."  I was not the only T3 Fractal player in that group that didn't know how to solve the Thermonuclear Reactor puzzle with the maze and the Lazer gate that prevents you from hitting the second terminal.

GW2 is barely an MMORPG, but it is still an MMORPG. With that, there comes certain expectations. That goes double for High end content like Raiding.  For example, Apparently its Illegal to raid in Exotic gear.  Even if you have everything else sorted from Rotation all the way down to correct food buffs. If you gear is not Ascended, you're not coming. End of story.  Its a 5% difference.  Skill is more important then Gear.  As they say in WoW,  "Item level can't fix stupid." If some one lacks the mechanical skill to be in a raid, Ascended Gear is going to do literally nothing to help that situation.  Conversely, If some one has the Skill, but lacks the Gear.  They are still capable of clearing the content.

You also have stuff like "You need the achievement for completing this raid or we won't let you raid.  Which, Oddly enough is in every other MMORPG community as well.  Which is what I have been saying since I started playing this game.  Its filled to the brim with people from other toxic communities. Youtube comment section, Twitch Chat, Twitter, Tumblr, 4Chan, Call of Duty, MLP, Steven Universe, League of legends Ect.  I have been called more Slurs in GW2 then I have in League.

In league, People typically get banned quickly after breaking ToS.  In GW2, That person continues to play 5 months before quitting of their own volition. You'll still see them a round a year or two later. Picking up where they left off.

Lets be honest, We've all heard some WvW horror stories about players being Doxxed.

Anti-Help is common in the GW2 community. Which I would say is Toxic.  I spent a lot of time in the Path of Fire Expansion.  One of the most common things players asked for help with, was the Caffinated Skritt. And every time I saw "Can some one help me Kill the Caffinated Skritt." Every time with out fail.  Some kitten 4Head would chime in "Sounds like a skill issue."  Which, might not be wrong.  But its extremely rude.  I mean, all of the powerful specs are locked behind a pay wall.  If they are new to the game, They don't have the busted specs unlocked yet. They are probably also missing stats that would really help in killing Caffinated Skritt.  Its not unthinkable that a Core Guardian might struggle to kill Caffinated Skritt while the Sand Sharks hard core CC's the Guard locking the Guard in combat as the Skritt runs away.

I don't have an issue with players being busy with their own objectives to assist a new player.  However; going out of your way to antagonize some one who is frustrated enough to ask for help is toxic behavior.

Which also leads me to map chat.  Ask map chat how to make gold.  Go ahead, do it.  The answer you probably recieved is "Wh*re yourself."   Can't tell people about RIBA farming, Bitter Frost Frontier, Palawadan, Thunderhead Keep, Dragonstorm, Literally any other META event, Fishing, Any of the hundreds if not thousands of ways they could be saving gold.  Nah, just tell them to "Wh*re yourself."  Classic non-toxic community. You get the same response in WoW.  You get the same response in FF14. And in FF14, that is actually solid advice.  What? Who said that? I guess we will never know. Moving on.

I don't know.  It doesn't feel like the community is any better than any other online community.

What is worse than the toxic community, Is whenever a community member is being toxic and throwing personal attacks at people, The community sees it, but doesn't do anything to stop the toxic personal attacks, but rather dog piles the offender in massive groups of like 15-20 players.  If that is not a Toxic community, I don't know what is.

This was such a well thought out response. 
I have seen examples of everything you have said, except the doxxing in wvw because I do not spend much time pvping. 
Despite this however, I have found there is an equal amount of kindness in the community as well - someone I didn't know gifted me a chair from the gem shop for example. 
A stranger helped me explore Tangled Depths when I was working on a legendary, even asking map chat for help on my behalf on occasion. I will never forget that. 
People making portals at JPs during dailies - and not even asking for tips.  Just as many people helped downed players as don't during meta events, that I have noticed. 
Sometimes when answering questions found in map chat I choose to whisper a reply; it could be that people are sending good advice via whispers. 
I often see just as many helpful comments as disruptive ones. 

I mean, I see both the bad and the good, but I feel the community in the game is overall good, and kind. 

[DanAlcedo.3281]

15 hours ago, Dibit.6259 said:

I don't think the game is anymore toxic just that things are more "broadcasted" these days. Forums becoming more active with people complaining about aspects of the game for example. Some of these are legit complaints/suggestions but usually people kick off at any form of disagreement or when people point out flaws/why something won't work etc. People sometimes forget that forums are there for discussion so chances are there will be conflicting views but for whatever reason people get instantly defensive and insult one another.

Like always. 

Happy players play the game. 

Unhappy players are on the forums. 

 

Game gets worse? More people complaining. Which makes more people complain about the people complaining. Which makes the first group even saltier. 

 

Easy solution would be to not make the game worse, but.... Yeah Anet at it again. 

[Lord of the Fire.6870]

From my experience it is the age which cause the increase of toxicity.

Games which change a lot with updates are susceptible for this is especially true for the balance and often also game mechanics.

Even part of the game play philosophy the game was build on itself change over time . This is problematic for gaming as live service and especially true for MMOs

This basically alienate the playerbase and their are going and the once remains become toxic this I have seen time and times again.

 

Why things change its not just time, to be fair company decisions and how the personal change are  also a key stones.

Neither Arena.NET nor Blizzard have much left of their original devs. Their is also a tendency to increase grind in the whole gaming industry atm which personally let me jump around.

Edited August 4, 2023 by Lord of the Fire.6870
I need to hurry for a meeting D

[Shiina.4192]

tl;dr To this day, I have yet to see higher levels of toxicity IN-GAME. From my experience, 99% of encounters are friendly and non-toxic.

 

First, what's your definition of "toxicity"? Where have you encountered most of said toxic behaviour? Does it involve elitism? Bullying? Hostility towards each other and lack of open-mindedness?

If so, here's my opinion.

Having played this game for a couple handful of years, I would say that the GW2 hasn't gotten more toxic - it mainly depends on a little bit of luck and which portion (in-game, Forum, Reddit) of the community you are interacting with. The (especially PvE) portion of the in-game community is mostly fine and full of folks wanting to chill and play the game. Reddit and the Forum you have to visit with the expectation that you'll find a lot of criticism directed towards GW2, which is common for many games. In addition to that, it is important to remember that the unhappy part of the community is always going to be the most vocal - the rest are busy playing the game.

That being said, GW2 is not without its flaws. You are going to have people rightfully complaining about said flaws - sometimes ending up in long and uncivilized debates - and people who may go out of their way to encourage toxic positivity, completely disregarding constructive criticism and seeing the game through rose-tinted glasses. For a good chunk of the time, though, the criticism is by people who love the game and want to see it grow. In these cases, it is often out of concern and not meme levels of doomerism.

If it is not the criticism/doomerism part that is bothering you, then I don't understand why the game would feel more toxic to you. I would say that one visit to a different MMO community is going to set you up for disappointment, as - speaking from experience - it is a lot less forgiving and welcoming as GW2's has been. GW2, by design, encourages players to want to co-operate. With that in mind, I firmly believe that in-game, the casual portion of the game (having done lots of open world metas and achievements) has been accommodating. Needless to say, I may even strike conversations with random people during my daily Tequatl run. The few unlucky encounters I have had the years would either be kicked from the group, ignored, or pushed away by others. Good stuff.

But hey, your mileage may vary, I suppose.

[Dante.1508]

13 hours ago, vicky.9751 said:

i havent played in a year, but when i did play people never talked at all. i was doing t4 fractals. so unless you did something to make the team mad, most people wont say anything

Same with most guilds these days, malware infested Discord ruined them.

[bruakumfd.4817]

I never thought the community was nice as a whole, if you can get kicked from playing a certain profession/spec. For instance, I've had my older sister saying she's tried to use the LFG feature as a Necro, and she got booted right away. It could've been due to her being a streamer. Or it could've been due to her using all minions at max level. I suppose telepathy exists.

I tolerated it for the longest time because other players were making me laugh when waiting for big events. Nobody seems to know how to do that now, though. Of course, that's still preferable to people using their Raptor to ensure they get the lion's share of the exp. Either that or to lead a string of enemies into another player.

Oh, and don't get me started on strike missions or the some of the names I've been seeing lately. 

[SouthPaw.9705]

OK. As a general observation, you can log into any PvE instance (say it be a World Boss, or Meta Train) with 0 XP in it  and most  people like myself will have a bit of banter over the map chat, but we will give advice on what is happening and why. I still see people asking how the Octovine/Dragon's Stand/ Death Branded Shatterer or any other event works. I always answer their question so that they can come back to the event next time with more information on how to approach the evet. 

Now, when it comes to competitive gameplay modes (PvP/WvW/Raids) even I can expect some  backlash against myself because I'm not running (what is considered to be) the "right" gear/ rotation yada yada etc... I won't get into that specific discussion, but I do understand how some people's tempers may "boil over" that they may get frustrated with newbs, but, to be honest, I would expect that in any competitive gameplay whether it be Guild Wars or MMO's/ FPS/ RTS kinda games in general.

Personally, I do try to make a good impression on new-comers and gently ease them into the "hey how are you doing? Need advice?" etc etc kinda crowd but when I see someone typing in 'gamer-speak' or looking like they have the oldskool 'know-how' I will give them a little grief, (who here has never said panic/picnic on Octo?) even when you know that person is just kicking back and chilling out?

It's not a question of Guild Wars itself, just people being people. If I really don't like the way someone is talking to me, or i think that they are just wasting my time, I leave and find more down to Earth/ chilled out players. That's the community I want to be a part of :)

Ultimately, if you feel like someone doesn't gel with your kinda of gameplay or communication, there's always the block button. Personally, I strive to make sure everyone feels  as welcome as I did when I first started playing 10 years back :)

Edited August 5, 2023 by SouthPaw.9705

[Gravitron.7982]

22 hours ago, ArchonWing.9480 said:

I don't want to be misunderstanding this, but I'm reading that as you do expect the worst from people. Is that correct?

And yea it'd help if the game explained itself more. Games in general, unfortunately after manuals died out.

In general? No. On the GW2 forums specifically? Yes. I find that people are more helpful in other MMORPG's when compared to GW2, and when comparing say ESO's forum to GW2's forum, there seems to be less of an elitist attitude over there than here when a newbie asks a question. On the ESO forums, if you ask where XYZ is, or how do you get XYZ, you don't as many "check google/wiki/manual/KB" as an answer, most people just answer it. Here though, "check the wiki" is the default verbiage pasted as a reply, which is fine, but it seems the attitude here is like "How dare you ask a question here as a new player instead of checking the wiki first!". 

That's just what I've observed here. I will say, that there seems to be more helpful people actually in the GW2 game itself, than here on the forums, which is why I specifically reference the GW2 forums. That's just been my personal experience.

Edited August 4, 2023 by Gravitron.7982

[Morvran.8265]

I don't think it has. OP should probably elaborate on what type of negative encounters he's experienced so we understand what counts as a toxic interaction for him.