Guild Wars 2

I’ve noticed nobody talks, nobody answers questions nobody does anything social. This seems to be the least helpful MMO I’ve played. I’ve asked questions and get nothing. Try to see where people are and be vocal in pvp and show positions and such and nothing.

Nobody says a thing in this game. It’s so odd, and makes me want to play less and less because it feels stale like a single player RPG with a bad story line.

I didn’t find WoW to be any friendlier. At least question wise. Whenever someone asked something there, the first few answers were almost always… well less than helpful.
There certainly was more activity in the chats in WoW, that’s for sure. But I’ve always gotten an answer in GW2 chats if I had something to ask. And whenever some group event starts, it’s very often informed in the map chat, even without having to ask if there was any events going on in that particular map.
The only other MMO I have experience in, besides this and WoW, is Star Wars: Old Republic. Now that was a quiet game. The chats in GW2 are much livelier than I ever saw in SW:TOR.

It’s because GW2 plays like a single player game. You can go though level 1 to 80 with having to communicate with anyone. The gameplay enforces the everyone for themselves with there being no dedicated healers and everyone is in charge with keeping themselves alive.

One reason I quit, i wanted to play an mmo yet it feels like an single player game.

Are you talking in /say?

What?
MMO don’t magically turn bad people into good ones and vice versa, people is the same.
A bad person in GW2 will be a bad person in EVE and in Darkfall too.

Unless some games reward people for faking friendly behaviors, in that case yes.
But I’d take anyone of the kids in WvW that yell garbage over a cheesy person trying to be cool to me to get something.

And they said Henchies in GW1 was the devil.

Perhaps an evolution (other mmo’s) to open World DE’s is auto-grouping as well, where those in your area bunch up on your screen as icons etc, limit say 8, system will determine who groups with who on the fly. Those already grouped will stay grouped and fill to 8. Perhaps a needed trinity brings more bonding to.

FWIW I believe I read the new expansion for Rift does something similar to my writings.

It seems GW2 should be sending some ideas out to other mmo developers and hopefully we’ll see this become more a base and working from there.

I concur… For a game that’s supposed to be social it is by far least social game i played. I mean there are players that help with skillpoints and such but that is it. No one speaks except for map chat so they can say some event is about to start… If you don’t have a friend ingame or a chatty and friendly guild, most of the time it will be more like a singleplayer game then a MMOrpg.

My first server was The Ruins of Surmia and I almost didn’t see anyone in game even if it was medium population, now I’m on Aurora Glade and at least there are a bunch of people playing, and speaking in chat it at least feels like a MMO now …

It’s the game’s design… it doesn’t foster social situations in any way, shape or form.

Agreed. It’s funny because guild wars 1 was hell of alot more social. Yet it was instanced. I’ve made plenty of good friends in gw1 and here my friend list is empty.

You have loads of options that were intended to encourage socialization, but it actually works in a completely different way. In traditional mmo people would at least notice you (it would probably lead to them being kitten off) and here they don’t pay attention to you since there are no such problems as resource or mob stealing.

Even instances do not bring people together. You find a team, finish the run and everyone leaves. It’s just sad.

I am afraid things are not going to get any better.

Idk what you’re talking about. I’ve met many many friends and randoms to just talk away with.

This is the first MMO my gf has ever really gotten into and this game made her come out of her anti social gaming shell. She’s met a few people on there that she enjoys playing with now.

Just have to know how to chat in /map or /guild and not be a butt.

It’s interesting to hear people say this, because I always thought it was more like “you don’t really need to talk to people that much in most situations because everyone knows what to do”.

Larger events like dungeons or temple runs or WvW require more fine-tuned coordination and communication to be successful. An untrained zerg rabble will often lose to a well-coordinated one.

Horrorscope.7632:

And they said Henchies in GW1 was the devil.

Because they were. They were so stupid that it had to be intentional. They were working for Abaddon all along, I swear. ._.

Also, Friendly isn’t the right word imo, I haven’t had an unfriendly moment. It’s more of people keeping to themselves mostly.

Red Falcon.8257:

What?
MMO don’t magically turn bad people into good ones and vice versa, people is the same.
A bad person in GW2 will be a bad person in EVE and in Darkfall too.

Unless some games reward people for faking friendly behaviors, in that case yes.
But I’d take anyone of the kids in WvW that yell garbage over a cheesy person trying to be cool to me to get something.

Actually in-game cultures are largely shaped through game design elements. That doesn’t mean that they turn bad people into good people, rather they exert an influence strong enough to be felt. And here I will disagree with the OP in terms of the friendliness of the game. When you design quests and resources to be non-competitive, have rezzing a downed player add XP, or include DE’s that benefit from a larger number of people, you make seeing other people on the map a positive experience. With the positive experience of seeing other players you lay the groundwork for cooperative play and encourage it. This is actually brilliant stuff in shaping game culture and especially when contrasted to another leading MMO where adding players to a zone is like adding rats to a cage. It could well be the same players in either game, but the outcome will be different because of design choices that shape the culture.

Edit: I will agree with OP that there isn’t a lot of chat involved. I often greet people and always ty for party, but it’s not fun for me to chat and play at the same time. I personally would rather not multi-task while actively playing. That said, I don’t take the absence of chat as unfriendly. I just figure they are just as multi-task challenged as I am.

Its funny you say this because I’ve found this is one of the most friendly mmo’s I’ve ever played. WoW has seriously one of the worst player bases I’ve ever come across.

I’ve had nothing but good experiences with the community in this game.

seems no different than every other mmorpg out there in that regard, I’d actually argue that the mechanics of this game lends itself to a friendlier player base. In other games such as wow everything is competitive that it certainly leads to a more vitriol environment than here

perhaps you are talking about being social as in talking in chat? yeah probably less of that here but that is certainly different than being friendly

heartless.6803:

I’ve noticed nobody talks, nobody answers questions nobody does anything social. This seems to be the least helpful MMO I’ve played. I’ve asked questions and get nothing. Try to see where people are and be vocal in pvp and show positions and such and nothing.

Nobody says a thing in this game. It’s so odd, and makes me want to play less and less because it feels stale like a single player RPG with a bad story line.

Oh the irony, dude your name is heartless.6803. Less is in your name, one would think you are use to less instead of more ….. Not hating, I’m just saying

I noticed in this game I don’t see “alt-F4” as an answer, like I did in so many other MMOs.

I was quite surprised to read this. In general I’ve found the GW2 community pretty good. On Desolation at least, questions get an answer (if they make sense…and sometimes when they don’t) and people are generally polite and helpful. Of course there are exceptions, there always are, but that’s what the ‘block’ function is for.

I wouldn’t say its more unfriendly than the next MMO. Yes a lot of the content is soloable. I think another factor is the combat requires you to pay attention and move around because it’s less forgiving than a game where you avoid/negate damage heavily based on levels or gear. Personally, when I’m in game I don’t want to squeeze in small talk with perfect strangers while trying to avoid a club to the face.

GW2 = least friendly MMO? I think you need to play more MMOs. hehe.

Less chat =/= less friendly. It’s pretty difficult during normal play to hold a conversation through text chat while not taking it in the kitten

Also depends on your server and the time of day more than the community in general not being friendly enough.

ANet have very ambitiously tried to make a game that excells at player interaction but sadly they’ve gone in the wrong direction making the game so god kitten carebear friendly and easy that you never need to work with others or communicate with them.

Look at Tera for example and its PvP realms. It seems very cruel at the first glimpse but once you take a closer look you see how easily bonds and created between players when driven by a common need to protect yourself against others.

To be honest, I don’t know why they don’t add a global chat for the server. They could at least have several channels if it’s too many people at the same time. Every MMO that I have played has always been more fun with that feature. The map chat I find is not too helpful since usually only a couple of people will reply to you if at all.

I mean, wouldn’t it be fun if people call out if Jormag is up etc on global chat? Now that is a sense of community since everyone would be pretty organized. 8-)

In my view, the only reason it would seem quieter than other MMORPG’s is because there is no serverwide chat channel for people to talk in. That being said, individual map chats always seem to have at least a few people chatting in them. I bet if you added all the map chats together this would turn out to seem like quite a busy game.

Yeah I agree, the only talking going on is usually “Thank you” when I revive someone, or ill say it to them if they revive me. Chatting in WvW is also frowned upon because some people feel the chat can be used for things that are more productive. I would love to have a friends chat.

It seems like a lot of people think it’s not social unless you talk. That’s not really true though, there’s loads of social interaction in this game, and it tends to happen very easily without much (if any) organization required. Sometimes we might gather together to defeat a problematic champion, especially if it’s between us and a temple karma merchant. I can even meet a bunch of people I’ve never so much as seen before and group for hours running events, perhaps sharing guild MF/karma buffs.

It’s just that none of this actually requires a single spoken (or typed) word.

gennyt.3428:

Personally, when I’m in game I don’t want to squeeze in small talk with perfect strangers while trying to avoid a club to the face.

You’ve got to understand, we must remain… perfect strangers…

I would say the older WoW back when you had to make it your job to play WoW to get though all the content high level dungeons. The story i here from ppl who had guild in that game who in there right mind would play a game like that let alone pay for it.

The problem is the population is not spread across all the zones. Granted that most MMOs have that same problem, however, GW2 exacerbates the problem since you do not need to leave the zone to progress. Exp and loot scale to your level even in you’re in the beginning zones. There is no incentive to progress further into the zone except for map completion, dungeons, personal story, and gathering.

I found that Lion’s Arch and Wayfarer Foothills are the most talkative zones in my server. Even then, there are gaps of complete silence.

Zones without dungeons are more barren than zones with dungeons, since at least there are people shouting, “LFG.”

They need to add a Mystic Forge in each city.

Although world chat does get annoying if there is a particular bad apple (that’s when the Block is applied), they would unify the conversation across the server.

Almost all other MMOs i’ve played in my entire life is less friendly than gw2. Notable mentions are DCUO, where everything is instanced, and RF online, where everyone QQs when the bellatos have too much MAUs.

Sometimes there’s silence, sometimes there are paragraphs of jokes about stuff in-game and out. Sometimes questions are ignored, sometimes a dozen people chime in. Sometimes a person asking for help is ignored, sometimes he/she gets half a dozen “Where?” responses immediately. It really varies (by server, zone, time of day, etc), and I’ve seen both and everything in between. Maybe you’re just lucking out.

Actually, GW2 is pretty much the friendliest MMORPG out there, some people already complained that the community is too friendly

If you’re in NA come guest on Tarnished Coast. Even when I think a map is empty I’ll see people chatting in map chat at times. And usually cries for help don’t go ignored.

LameFox.6349:

It seems like a lot of people think it’s not social unless you talk. That’s not really true though, there’s loads of social interaction in this game, and it tends to happen very easily without much (if any) organization required. Sometimes we might gather together to defeat a problematic champion, especially if it’s between us and a temple karma merchant. I can even meet a bunch of people I’ve never so much as seen before and group for hours running events, perhaps sharing guild MF/karma buffs.

It’s just that none of this actually requires a single spoken (or typed) word.

This exactly. I’ve never experienced so much social interaction in an MMO. I’ve never actually played with so many people, or had so much fun doing it, as I have in GW2. But I’m not the most talkative person in the world, and I’m perfectly comfortable with companionable silence. Maybe that’s why I consider GW2 the most social MMO I’ve ever played—because it makes it easy for people like me to group up.

heartless.6803:

I’ve noticed nobody talks, nobody answers questions nobody does anything social. This seems to be the least helpful MMO I’ve played. I’ve asked questions and get nothing. Try to see where people are and be vocal in pvp and show positions and such and nothing.

Nobody says a thing in this game. It’s so odd, and makes me want to play less and less because it feels stale like a single player RPG with a bad story line.

You’re right, nobody does anything social…

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Valentines-Event-2-8-2-9-2-10/first#post1359436

Its very friendly, but you do need to learn to read (virtual) body language. A lot of the fighting bits are a little too action-packed to stop and type.

Sounds like the Fractals / Ascended gear patch worked, then! Prior to Nov. 15th this was the most friendly MMO I had played, with players who helped each other, spoke over in map chat and generally were all around sociable. I guess now that the Nov. 15th patch has come and gone, and it’s drawn in the WoW crowd while running off the GW1 crowd, things have changed a bit.

Shame. But, I bet all the WoW players are happy!

I’ve found that the players in GW2 are either extremely nice or extremely cold with few in between.

Most of the time if I ask a question in any chat venue it will be ignored by almost everyone. But then, when someone does respond, they go above and beyond the call of duty to help out. For example, in Orr, there was one view point and skill point that I couldn’t figure out. Whenever I asked people in map chat or say chat it was ignored. But finally one guy responded and went so far as to jump with me through half of the jumping puzzle to show me how to get around the hard part. And this has also happened for some other points of interest and such that are confusing: people just help each other out. I asked one guy why he was willing to help me out and he told me that it was because someone had shown him how to find the point of interest, so he was just paying it forward. So then when I see someone else in need, I also feel the need to “pay it forward” in a way.

So yes, many players can be cold and unhelpful, but many are will and eager to assist anyone just because it’s the nice thing to do.

Red Falcon.8257:

What?
MMO don’t magically turn bad people into good ones and vice versa, people is the same.
A bad person in GW2 will be a bad person in EVE and in Darkfall too.

Unless some games reward people for faking friendly behaviors, in that case yes.
But I’d take anyone of the kids in WvW that yell garbage over a cheesy person trying to be cool to me to get something.

Hey! I’m not “bad” i’m just naturally quiet.

If asked something, I give as specific and concise an answer as possible, I value other peoples’ time too much to do otherwise.

That said, the fundamentals of what you just stated are correct.

The internet is full of anti-social people, it’s the nature of anonymized communication. It frees the unscrupulous among us to do things they would never do in anyone’s actual presence because they would be subject to ostracism and likely substantive retribution.

There is a very big difference between unfriendly and least friendly.

WoW is unfriendly, it’s not helpful in any way shape or form. Tera has an even worse player base. Yes it’s in fact worse then wow.

GW2 is the least friendly. There really isn’t anything friendly about it. People don’t rez you because they want to, they’re trained from the begining to rez anything around them that is rezable. They don’t help you with mobs because they want to, they still get loot. They’re helping because most people are lazy and want easy xp/loot chances.

They don’t really help much at all. Very boring to me, being a fairly more social person in MMO’s.

Tai Kratos.3247:

Most of the time if I ask a question in any chat venue it will be ignored by almost everyone. But then, when someone does respond, they go above and beyond the call of duty to help out. For example, in Orr, there was one view point and skill point that I couldn’t figure out. Whenever I asked people in map chat or say chat it was ignored. But finally one guy responded and went so far as to jump with me through half of the jumping puzzle to show me how to get around the hard part. And this has also happened for some other points of interest and such that are confusing: people just help each other out. I asked one guy why he was willing to help me out and he told me that it was because someone had shown him how to find the point of interest, so he was just paying it forward. So then when I see someone else in need, I also feel the need to “pay it forward” in a way.

What server were you on?

Tolmos.8395:

Sounds like the Fractals / Ascended gear patch worked, then! Prior to Nov. 15th this was the most friendly MMO I had played, with players who helped each other, spoke over in map chat and generally were all around sociable. I guess now that the Nov. 15th patch has come and gone, and it’s drawn in the WoW crowd while running off the GW1 crowd, things have changed a bit.

Shame. But, I bet all the WoW players are happy!

You guys speak of the GW1 crowd like they’re some kind of paragon of sainthood. Let me tell you a little story about my first real experience with the GW1 crowd.

I picked that game up about two years ago, long after it’s initial release. My first character was a Warrior. Shortly after becoming Ascended, I decided to give PvP a try. So I take my Warrior, by no means meta’d, to the Random Arena. And in my first ever match, a PUG mind you, I’m told that I suck (and I no doubt did) and it’s demanded of me by two of my teammates that I drop from the group. I didn’t, and so they reported me for leaching.

If that’s the GW1 crowd of which you speak, then I’d say it doesn’t matter if they stay or go or if the WoW community moves in.

darkace.8925:

Tolmos.8395:

Sounds like the Fractals / Ascended gear patch worked, then! Prior to Nov. 15th this was the most friendly MMO I had played, with players who helped each other, spoke over in map chat and generally were all around sociable. I guess now that the Nov. 15th patch has come and gone, and it’s drawn in the WoW crowd while running off the GW1 crowd, things have changed a bit.

Shame. But, I bet all the WoW players are happy!

You guys speak of the GW1 crowd like they’re some kind of paragon of sainthood. Let me tell you a little story about my first real experience with the GW1 crowd.

I picked that game up about two years ago, long after it’s initial release. My first character was a Warrior. Shortly after becoming Ascended, I decided to give PvP a try. So I take my Warrior, by no means meta’d, to the Random Arena. And in my first ever match, a PUG mind you, I’m told that I suck (and I no doubt did) and it’s demanded of me by two of my teammates that I drop from the group. I didn’t, and so they reported me for leaching.

If that’s the GW1 crowd of which you speak, then I’d say it doesn’t matter if they stay or go or if the WoW community moves in.

No, that’s the e-sport PvP crowd. They are pretty much the same no matter what game you play. >_>

From what I understand, this topic seems to be mostly covering the PvE players.

Nike.2631:

What server were you on?

Borlis Pass. Why do you ask?

Nike.2631:

Its very friendly, but you do need to learn to read (virtual) body language. A lot of the fighting bits are a little too action-packed to stop and type.

Seriously. Sometimes I would like to respond to things, but if I’m in the middle of or ten minutes into soloing a champion, I would very much like to not have my last words being “wwwwwwadwdw1211111112223sssssssssssssasdssss”

heartless.6803:

There is a very big difference between unfriendly and least friendly.

WoW is unfriendly, it’s not helpful in any way shape or form. Tera has an even worse player base. Yes it’s in fact worse then wow.

GW2 is the least friendly. There really isn’t anything friendly about it. People don’t rez you because they want to, they’re trained from the begining to rez anything around them that is rezable. They don’t help you with mobs because they want to, they still get loot. They’re helping because most people are lazy and want easy xp/loot chances.

They don’t really help much at all. Very boring to me, being a fairly more social person in MMO’s.

That seems like a lot of effort made to attribute peoples actions to the worst of many possible motivations. I personally have gone well off my normal path with the express purpose of helping people in over their heads or resurrecting the defeated. Often times people will waypoint as I reach about 900 distance, which is very frustrating.

plasmacutter.2709:

heartless.6803:

There is a very big difference between unfriendly and least friendly.

WoW is unfriendly, it’s not helpful in any way shape or form. Tera has an even worse player base. Yes it’s in fact worse then wow.

GW2 is the least friendly. There really isn’t anything friendly about it. People don’t rez you because they want to, they’re trained from the begining to rez anything around them that is rezable. They don’t help you with mobs because they want to, they still get loot. They’re helping because most people are lazy and want easy xp/loot chances.

They don’t really help much at all. Very boring to me, being a fairly more social person in MMO’s.

That seems like a lot of effort made to attribute peoples actions to the worst of many possible motivations. I personally have gone well off my normal path with the express purpose of helping people in over their heads or resurrecting the defeated. Often times people will waypoint as I reach about 900 distance, which is very frustrating.

Same. When I see someone go down on the map, I usually try to run to their location as fast as possible, but they usually respawn out before I can help. >.<

If I complete a difficult skill challenge and someone comes up afterwards to beat it, I’ll stick around and help them just because, and I’ve had others do the same for me. And for that kind of thing you get no reward at all, so it has to be out of good will completely.

That’s weird, I play during the wee hours of the night, maybe a handful of people on, and I always have nice conversations with whoever is on…always get my questions answered, or answer anyone else’s if I know the answer. But it’s also like that if I log on at primetime. Maybe it’s your server? I am on Northern Shiverpeaks…

Tai Kratos.3247:

Nike.2631:

What server were you on?

Borlis Pass. Why do you ask?

Because I’ve done exactly that out in Orr that for people on Fort Aspenwood, and was just wondering if I was being fondly remembered .

I go out of my way to help people when I can…and I don’t normally see negative behavior. Maybe an argument in LA over which dye is darkest…but I don’t see a lot of negative activity.

I have never experienced this problem before. Oh wait, I’m on Tarnished Coast. I see your problem.