Guild Wars 2

Not complaining, and not implying that there is anything wrong with NOT talking.

But, beyond a few people calling out events. I hardly see anyone chatter about anything, nobody trying to find someone to group up with or make a pal.

I get that the combat system actually makes you put some effort in, so typing while killing isn’t exactly practical.

What’s up with this? has it always been like this since launch? is it just my world?

I’ve leveled only two characters to 80, yet this is the first MMORPG that has felt like a singleplayer game to me.

This was what I experienced when I first hit 80 and has pretty much stayed the same way since then.

As to the reason? Not sure exactly, but I myself have acted this way when trying to ‘farm’ items in various games.

Before champion farming events there were no chatting at all. It’s unusual, also because if you want to farm you don’t have time to chat. By the way everytime I’ve put up a discussion in map chat because I wanted to chat with someone I’ve always had answers and funny things. Sometimes you don’t have to wait others to chat first.
By the way players usually like to chat with guildies or friends. You would not go in a supermarket and talk with an old lady about tomatoes no?

Could be a server specific thing, or a time of day thing. I don’t know. Sometimes there’s a ton of chat anywhere I go, sometimes there’ll be 50 characters near the MF in LA and no chat at all. Maybe everyone was talking in their guild chat?

Could also be that so many times when people say something in map, the replies they get usually start with things like “your mom…”

Neve.7134:

By the way players usually like to chat with guildies or friends. You would not go in a supermarket and talk with an old lady about tomatoes no?

Oh yeah, I understand.

But in most other MMORPGs, and one in particular, teaming up with someone is so easy. Making a friend to adventure with in the future is so easy. Even without being in a guild.

But such things just seem so… uncommon or nonexistent in this game.

When I was reading reviews for GW2 I saw that whole “if someone comes along and attacks what you’re attacking, you both get equal experience, equal loot. blah blah yada yada”

I figured with that and so many things that might encourage teamwork, the game would be more… social.

Leveling up in this game is more like a single player. The zones are underpopulated also on my server, mostly because of the events and most people being level 80 on multiple characters. Perhaps other servers are different, I wouldn’t know.

I mostly play SWTOR for example and there’s a lot more activity on the individual leveling planets there. Sure it depends a bit on the time of day but usually there are people around and you also see a counter of how many people are on that planet.

I think part of the problem is that when leveling, you can go through a zone quite quickly till you hit the max level indicator for that zone and you move on. Each zones has their separate chat. In SWTOR planets often only have about a range of 5 levels and yet it seems that you can hang around and chat a bit more to people when you want. Sometimes you wanna level but when you want to strike up a conversation it’s not a problem really.

The leveling process in GW2 is just spread out over too many zones I think. It’s normal that you see less people in a leveling zone after a game has been out for a bit but the amount of zones and the fact that there are multiple zones for each level to choose from makes it that people are way more spread out than in other MMOs I played.

I think it’s because most people are talking…in their guilds. My guild is very chatty. It’s hard to talk on map chat and in guild at the same time…and I don’t usually have much reason to.

I group with friends and I have no point in grouping with others even though I need help with a group event, and mostly on low pop EU server I play on there are always enough players around to help me with the group events without the need to ask for help in map chat.

But I notice alot rudness and childish chat sometimes on the mapchat so when that happens I usually click on my friendchat tab where I have; Whisper, Guild, Party and Team.

And as many said before me, Guild chat is full of life.

And don’t forget lot of people partying together, expecially guildies, use TS or Vent for vocal chat so maybe they don’t want to chat in game.
I remember when I created my asura mesmer and I was always asking if people needed some portals or help doing their personal stories :P Met several people in that way but meh, all mostly started by me

I can’t fight and chat at the same time. It would be all “542111” in the chat and random windows popping up in the UI if I tried (again) to do that.

If I am outside a city I usually fight, so no chat. When I am in Lion’s Arch I am usually there to empty out my bags and conclude other business before I get out into the world to kick some serious behinds there.

Some people just like to talk in between fighting. Not everybody has a guild that has constant guild chat activity and there is something fun about meeting new people.

You don’t have to be efficient all the time really. You can just stop fighting and talk to people. It’s a much underrated part of the MMO experience in my view and one that this game is not ideal for in my view.

Talking to people is all good and fine and I do my share of taking in map chat when the game gives me a breather.

However standing having an entire conversation out in the world typing it out is such a chore and the resulting 3355112 with the window tp popping along with wvwvw is just a pain.
It also breaks immersion for me because every time I stop and stand around chatting for 20 min, I have to try and get back into what I was enjoying doing in the first place.
my friends and I basically talk in one liners that are spaced around what we are up to- so there is always a pause in the chat.

This weekend I was playing a trial with my friend-who doesn’t want to use voice chat but is a chatterbox- she is very funny but we got nothing done.
GW2 I find very friendly but it leads itself more towards voice chat

Guild chat is very active on my Guild. Map chat is pretty empty, even in LA.

It varies a lot depending on your server. On my server (Desolation) it varies between maps and time of day. And it’s not simply that there’s more chat when there’s more people either, it actually seems to be that there’s an ideal middle-ground where there’s enough people to get a conversation going but few enough that it won’t move too fast to keep up with (or split into 5 different conversations overlapping).

Recently in an attempt to get into Invasion events I’ve been guesting to low population servers a lot and there seems to be huge variety between ones where I’ve hardly seen anyone talk and ones where there’s a conversation going in every map I visit.

As for social play in general I think it helps a lot if you can break away from this idea that you’re only playing with someone if you’re in the same party/squad/other officially designated group. The beauty of the GW2 system is that you don’t need that, you can just start working together.

I’ve even done entire mini-dungeons working together with other people – using /say to coordinate or explain things to each other and doing things like holding doors open until everyone is through without ever being in a party.

There is talking going on in guild and party chat. But if you are in neither then you hear a lot of crickets.

It’s been this way since release. There were numerous threads created that talked about how non social of an MMO this was. It has been getting better with some of the group events introduced as of late.

I came to the realization long ago that this game was designed for voice chat. Active combat makes it difficult to type while in battle.

My guild talks and chatters constantly. My chat bar is filled with little gold guild messages. I think you need to get involved in a large guild—since it’s a group that specifically encourages talk. My guild is a WvW guild, so we’ll frequently get on teamspeak with the other WvW guilds—even more chatter.
In terms of talking over mapchat, I’ve seen it happen. One time as I was wandering around doing heart quests, I got into a long conversation with a bunch of people about religion, and marijuana, and feminism, and sylvari, and gaming, and all this other random stuff. Also, when I’m doing long tedious farming zergs, there are usually people I can strike up a conversation with to pass time. But you’re right, it’s not something that happens frequently.

I don’t know about you guys but I get best of GW2 social side. I always ask some people if they need help, ask them that i need help etc. In Lion’s Arch some people were sitting in circle, talking. I joined them we had many different themes. Also if you want people to talk to you best way to start conversation in GW2 is to ask about gear, then tell your own opinion about it, some suggestions. Start talking about other theme meanwhile so your conversation won’t end. Take the theme out of gw2 and expand it, you will see how conversation will keep up.

Most of my time in the game over the past 16 months has been spent either Solo or with Guildies. Our chats tend to be via Voice more so than typed chat but written chat is still pretty popular.

Honestly, I tend to keep Map/Say chat turned OFF because when it is turned on it just does not tend to be interesting or productive. When turned on it is more akin to children at recess then useful intelligent conversation. So 99% of the time it remains off.

When I do turn it on, it is usually to ask a quick question. Though some of the time I am greeted with some useful responses; mostly, I tend to get snide smart-aleck replies from people who think they are the six god’s gift to Comedy.

I notice a huge difference with this community as compared to GW1, where for 6+ years I tended to have chat on most of the time. So this brings up the question, what is so different with the general community of GW2 vs. 1?

If we answer that question, maybe we will have the answer to Why does nobody talk?

Yalora Istairiea.6287:

Most of my time in the game over the past 16 months

16 months?

Yalora Istairiea.6287:

I notice a huge difference with this community as compared to GW1, where for 6+ years I tended to have chat on most of the time. So this brings up the question, what is so different with the general community of GW2 vs. 1?

GW1 was a smaller, more niche game. GW2 had a huge amount of box sales off the bat. That’s the reason I usually tend to enjoy smaller games and servers though. You don’t gain the attention of people who log on just to troll for the sake of trolling.

This is one of the most single players MMO out there.

It’s just a bunch of zerk players (everyone one is a copycat of the other) doing things the fastest they can (like if they actually have something important to do in life) then leaving the zone.

Since there is no concept of team play, communications are not needed. Thus, people don’t eve say “thanks” when you rez them… you barely read a shortened “ty” every now and then.

Mesket.5728:

This is one of the most single players MMO out there.

It’s just a bunch of zerk players (everyone one is a copycat of the other) doing things the fastest they can (like if they actually have something important to do in life) then leaving the zone.

Since there is no concept of team play, communications are not needed. Thus, people don’t eve say “thanks” when you rez them… you barely read a shortened “ty” every now and then.

If you want to play Zerk you play Zerk. If you join a guild that doesn’t do that, then you have different experiences.

I definitely have different experiences than the ones you’ve outlined here.

Vayne.8563:

Mesket.5728:

This is one of the most single players MMO out there.

It’s just a bunch of zerk players (everyone one is a copycat of the other) doing things the fastest they can (like if they actually have something important to do in life) then leaving the zone.

Since there is no concept of team play, communications are not needed. Thus, people don’t eve say “thanks” when you rez them… you barely read a shortened “ty” every now and then.

If you want to play Zerk you play Zerk. If you join a guild that doesn’t do that, then you have different experiences.

I definitely have different experiences than the ones you’ve outlined here.

I’m talking about the occasional talk in the map with random people you encounter. Is it better now? I thought the message was troll proof but I was wrong…

Thanks.

Ps. Its not only the zerk gear, but the zerk mentality also. Players in this game are like a swarm. They just flow in the masses spamming 1 (this is so funny, some of them actually press 1 when there are no mobs just in case they are missing something or waiting for the spawn lol )

Tamaki Revolution.3548:

Yalora Istairiea.6287:

Most of my time in the game over the past 16 months

16 months?

Yalora Istairiea.6287:

I notice a huge difference with this community as compared to GW1, where for 6+ years I tended to have chat on most of the time. So this brings up the question, what is so different with the general community of GW2 vs. 1?

GW1 was a smaller, more niche game. GW2 had a huge amount of box sales off the bat. That’s the reason I usually tend to enjoy smaller games and servers though. You don’t gain the attention of people who log on just to troll for the sake of trolling.

Yes my first beta was in April ’12. From then to Aug ’13 is 16 months.

As for smaller from the get go; I guess that makes sense.
I do recall when GW1 hit the 5 million mark but that was many years into the game. As I recall GW2 has already hit the 3 million mark. So maybe you are right and once things calm down a bit and the griefers leave, we will be left with the nice players that I recall from GW1. I guess THEN chat will become pleasant again?

Mesket.5728:

Vayne.8563:

Mesket.5728:

This is one of the most single players MMO out there.

It’s just a bunch of zerk players (everyone one is a copycat of the other) doing things the fastest they can (like if they actually have something important to do in life) then leaving the zone.

Since there is no concept of team play, communications are not needed. Thus, people don’t eve say “thanks” when you rez them… you barely read a shortened “ty” every now and then.

If you want to play Zerk you play Zerk. If you join a guild that doesn’t do that, then you have different experiences.

I definitely have different experiences than the ones you’ve outlined here.

I’m talking about the occasional talk in the map with random people you encounter. Is it better now? I thought the message was troll proof but I was wrong…

Thanks.

Ps. Its not only the zerk gear, but the zerk mentality also. Players in this game are like a swarm. They just flow in the masses spamming 1 (this is so funny, some of them actually press 1 when there are no mobs just in case they are missing something or waiting for the spawn lol )

Right, but if they’re talking in their guild, then they’re talking in their guild. It doesn’t mean they’re not talking.

Social is a funny word. I’m a social guy…but I don’t need to socialize with everyone.

And because the game requires constantly movement and stuff, a lot of people can’t type and play anyway. I know I can’t often do that, which is why I’m on mumble with the guild most of the time.

I’ve had enough of that social garbage in other mmos.

I’ve done the whole raiding, grouping, cooperative gameplay thing. I came to Guild Wars 2 to get away from that mess. Here in GW2, I don’t group, join guilds, form parties or talk to any of you. If you are downed, I may revive you…if I feel like it at the time.

I only wish I could attack other players in the open world. I would camp all of you for hours on end, gleefully laughing at your angry whispers.

Its a combination of several things really.

Those with lvl 80s are rarely on a map for longer than it takes to kill a champ or complete a daily achievement. Since the release of the API, there’s no more hanging out waiting for Jormag or Maw for up to an hour. Outside of LA, this was where I saw the most map chatting going on. LA is the only place I still see chatting on a regular basis (on SBI).

Any guild or server events on a particular map usually use TS or some other VoIP server to chat and anyone replying to them is likely using the team, say, or guild chat so as not to spam the map chat with replies that don’t make sense.

My main guild has been doing Wednesday night champ runs where a map gets selected, and we spend 2 hrs killing all the champs/doing events. There is a lot of chatting but none of it is in map chat.

Fixed: stupid overzealous filter.

Vayne.8563:

Mesket.5728:

Vayne.8563:

Mesket.5728:

This is one of the most single players MMO out there.

It’s just a bunch of zerk players (everyone one is a copycat of the other) doing things the fastest they can (like if they actually have something important to do in life) then leaving the zone.

Since there is no concept of team play, communications are not needed. Thus, people don’t eve say “thanks” when you rez them… you barely read a shortened “ty” every now and then.

If you want to play Zerk you play Zerk. If you join a guild that doesn’t do that, then you have different experiences.

I definitely have different experiences than the ones you’ve outlined here.

I’m talking about the occasional talk in the map with random people you encounter. Is it better now? I thought the message was troll proof but I was wrong…

Thanks.

Ps. Its not only the zerk gear, but the zerk mentality also. Players in this game are like a swarm. They just flow in the masses spamming 1 (this is so funny, some of them actually press 1 when there are no mobs just in case they are missing something or waiting for the spawn lol )

Right, but if they’re talking in their guild, then they’re talking in their guild. It doesn’t mean they’re not talking.

Social is a funny word. I’m a social guy…but I don’t need to socialize with everyone.

And because the game requires constantly movement and stuff, a lot of people can’t type and play anyway. I know I can’t often do that, which is why I’m on mumble with the guild most of the time.

That’s like saying I’m a good person, but I don’t need to be good with everyone. Doesn’t make much sense does it? Anyway, your particular case is not important but what you mention: “the game requires constantly movement” it is. It’s kind of what I said about the zerk mentality. It’s not really required to be honest unless you talk about this very last living world. You don’t need to be constantly moving, its players that think it is the only way. This is slowly turning into a racing game more than an adventure type game.

If it wasn’t for the big events, I sincerely prefer if this game had a limit of 20-30 or 50 players for each map and overflow. So when you find another player hunting something down it actually means something that there is another “hero” there and not just a random grasshopper in the swarm

Mesket.5728:

Vayne.8563:

Mesket.5728:

Vayne.8563:

Mesket.5728:

This is one of the most single players MMO out there.

It’s just a bunch of zerk players (everyone one is a copycat of the other) doing things the fastest they can (like if they actually have something important to do in life) then leaving the zone.

Since there is no concept of team play, communications are not needed. Thus, people don’t eve say “thanks” when you rez them… you barely read a shortened “ty” every now and then.

If you want to play Zerk you play Zerk. If you join a guild that doesn’t do that, then you have different experiences.

I definitely have different experiences than the ones you’ve outlined here.

I’m talking about the occasional talk in the map with random people you encounter. Is it better now? I thought the message was troll proof but I was wrong…

Thanks.

Ps. Its not only the zerk gear, but the zerk mentality also. Players in this game are like a swarm. They just flow in the masses spamming 1 (this is so funny, some of them actually press 1 when there are no mobs just in case they are missing something or waiting for the spawn lol )

Right, but if they’re talking in their guild, then they’re talking in their guild. It doesn’t mean they’re not talking.

Social is a funny word. I’m a social guy…but I don’t need to socialize with everyone.

And because the game requires constantly movement and stuff, a lot of people can’t type and play anyway. I know I can’t often do that, which is why I’m on mumble with the guild most of the time.

That’s like saying I’m a good person, but I don’t need to be good with everyone. Doesn’t make much sense does it? Anyway, your particular case is not important but what you mention: “the game requires constantly movement” it is. It’s kind of what I said about the zerk mentality. It’s not really required to be honest unless you talk about this very last living world. You don’t need to be constantly moving, its players that think it is the only way. This is slowly turning into a racing game more than an adventure type game.

If it wasn’t for the big events, I sincerely prefer if this game had a limit of 20-30 or 50 players for each map and overflow the rest. So when you find another player hunting something down it actually means something that there is another “hero” there and not just a random grasshopper in the swarm

I totally disagree with this. It’s not like saying you’re a good person but you don’t have to be good to everyone. It’s perfectly viable to be selectively social.

Simply put, everyone has X amount of time and energy. That’s it. Now you can be friends with everyone, but then how many close friends do you really have?

I put my time and energy into my guild, because in the long run that pays off for me. It’s sort of like being at a party. You can go to a party and socialize with specific people you like, while not socializing with complete strangers. People do it all the time.

But when you take into account the fact that I have trouble fighting and typing at the same time, it’s more a double whammy. It was much easier in WoW or Guild Wars 1 to type and chat because I didn’t have to move. Here…it requires more focus.

But since I’m already on mumble talking to people, why would I need to make myself fight worse in game to chat with strangers I might never see again?

I think a lot of people are in voice chat with people and don’t feel the need to type.

Mesket.5728:

This is one of the most single players MMO out there.

Since there is no concept of team play, communications are not needed. Thus, people don’t eve say “thanks” when you rez them… you barely read a shortened “ty” every now and then.

Sorry that has been your experience Mesket but it has not been mine. So it is unfair to characterize the entire game experience as that.

Since headstart, I have had ppl thank me for rezzes and I thank my rezzers. I am on Jade Quarry. In LA alone, I cannot log on without being hit with mapchat. Also, throughout zones, I see ppl chatting – usually calling out events.

I’m in a small guild. We chat in the channel but mainly talk via Vent.

While I agree that the “traditional” grouping is not required, GW2 is not a “traditional” MMO. Just because you can group with a random bunch of strangers without sending a request, does not make it bad. I like being able to do large events with groups without spending 5 – 30 mins looking for a group.

If you want to talk to people or meet new people, be the initiator. I have found most GW2 players to be friendly, cooperative and fun. If someone disses you, just put them on ignore and try the next person who responds.

Elbegast.6970:

I only wish I could attack other players in the open world. I would camp all of you for hours on end, gleefully laughing at your angry whispers.

Rofl. We should have a button to vote for “post of the day.” This would be my pick.

Dude or dudette, you need to cut back on the caffeine.

Because I’m always on TS with my buddies and have absolutely no desire to communicate with random people in the game, because most of them are not the type of person I enjoy communicating and/or playing with.

If you want map chats filled with friendly banter, I suggest you look into the unofficial role playing servers (TC on NA if I’m not mistaking, no idea what server on EU). There should be more chat in the zones there.

I usually chat in Guild or teamspeak, out side of that chatting is usually a frightful experience with so many nasty people responding, especially in Lions Arch…Seems to be troll central..

Being social doesn’t mean making friends.

Do you say “hello, good morning” to the bus driver or just speak out the destination? That difference is key here. Instead of “ty” you can say “thanks mate”, not that it will take whole lotta extra second out of your gaming time.

If there is time to make a chuck norris joke during an event, there is also time to say “Hi” when pugging or grouping for anything. Take dungeons for example… if you pug for a dungeon, players don’t talk for the whole run, they just ‘swiftness/run/stack/spam1onboss’ and then leave. That’s it.

Ps. if you don’t pug and just play with your guild that’s fine but its not what the OP is talking about. Of course everyone chats with their own guildies.

Mesket.5728:

Being social doesn’t mean making friends.

Do you say “hello, good morning” to the bus driver or just speak out the destination? That difference is key here. Instead of “ty” you can say “thanks mate”, not that it will take whole lotta extra second out of your gaming time.

To use a current example, a LOT can happen in an extra second when you are in the middle of 20 to 30 Aetherblades, some of which are champions.
I rez people without the expectation of being thanked at all. Many people do so anyway, and I find “ty” to be appropriate considering the pace of the situation. If I rez someone after a battle, or if I rez someone I come across that’s dead or downed for whatever reason, they will often type out the full words, but to expect people to take the time to write a full response during a battle is self centered. On top of that there are several things that can happen to add to that second of time. Switching channels, is one. Proper spelling is another (my guess is that if people were commonly writing “Thnaks”, you’d be complaining about how they don’t take the time to spell properly either). This is a video game on the anonymous internet, perhaps try and appreciate that people make any effort at all to show their appreciation. If they don’t thank you, don’t assume they are being kittens about it either, because the message suppression system is being a kitten with chat in the large events.