I recently had a thread of mine locked, with good reason… and while it did devolve into juvenile mud slinging there at the end, it did raise som importat points that I’m hoping to constructively approah here.
A large portion? You mean a small portion of all forum users who keep posting about it over and over.
And let’s not forget the forum users are a small portion of the player base in total.
To answer your questions:
Why should our community be split into two separate parts?
Because members of our community have different goals. It’s not just TWO parts but if you want to look at it from 2 points of view here goes :
There are role players who enjoy the dungeon’s “experience” – the story, the lore, the encounters plus role playing and feeling immersed and there are farmers who don’t even care who they’re fighting – why – or what the heck is going on but want the end rewards.
Of course these aren’t the only groups – we have record chasers, casual people and so on and so forth but these are generally the two ends of the spectrum.
How can these groups play together when they clearly want different things from the game.
Why should some game aspects be considered worthless or otherwise sub optimal?
Because depending on your goals some things might be worthless. For me the story of Twilight Arbor is worthless – if i go there I only do it to farm.
For other speed clearing is worthless because they like playing casually and try to enjoy the encounter which they might not have done 1000 times.
Why should only one the sided dictate builds and gear to all the others?
One side is not dictating builds and gear to everyone else. The meta side is dictating what builds and gear people who want to play with them should have – don’t want to play that build and have that gear – no problem – you’re free to do it but respect the meta side’s wishes.
Don’t try to join meta parties if you don’t fulfill the requirements.
Meta players have a right to choose who they play this game with – same as everybody else – if they want strict build and gear requirements as much as you might hate it they have the right to ask for it.
Don’t like it? Don’t join.
Why does this split amongst us even exist?
Because your goals are not everybody’s goals – and your fun isn’t everybody else’s fun.
If I can’t have fun with certain people in my party then I can’t play with them – ergo the split.
What can we, as a community do to combat the negativity?
There’s no negativity – just people being free to play however they want and other narrow minded people insisting they should dictate how others play.
If you see a full meta party and you don’t want to play meta – don’t join – don’t ask them to change for you.
If you see a casual non-meta group – and you don’t want to be casual – don’t join – don’t ask for them to change for you.
It is that simple – live and let live.
What change, or changes can be made to merge our two communities into a cohesive whole where the vast majority of angry or otherwise upset folks have different opinions?
None – because if you try to force different people – with different goals, means, different ideas of fun and different mindsets together you’ll only get conflict.
It already happens when non-meta players join meta parties and vice versa – if you were to make it happen more we’d have even more turbulence.
Should we embrace the split?
Yes – because each player has a right to play however and with whomever they choose.
Though this would upset half of us, and cause the other side to breathe a sigh of relief… all of us, including myself, would be upset at our investment into the changed gear… and would certainly be only a small part of a larger fix.
Im curios if anyone else has ideas to solve and not perpetuate this issue.
Thanks in advance for your courtesy and constructive debate.
This is not a fix – it’s just a silly notion. Ruining one set doesn’t solve a meta vs non-meta issue which is at heart a vision and mentality not a gear problem.
The main fix is to separate the groups even further in such a way that they hardly interact with each other at all – ensuring that conflict and trouble is kept at a minimum.
If here they fall they shall live on when ever you cry “For Ascalon!”
