The longing for the good old days and the “Everything was better back then!” calls in the forum have existed in World of Warcraft for at least since The Burning Crusade. Even with Legion, the calls do not fade away. The blame: the LFG tool and the throw-away mentality it represents.
Nowadays, you can almost daily read in the forums from people who want to vent their anger. There is always at least one post stating that the WoW community is becoming increasingly unfriendly, increasingly less social.
Usually, this is about WoW’s LFG tool and its impact on the game.
Blessing and curse since its existence: The group search tool
The Dungeon Finder was a controversial topic even at its introduction. The LFG tool came in December 2009. No one could have predicted that the situation would still not have calmed down eight years later.
- Previously, before December 2009, groups were formed manually. One would look for a group in chat or approach people directly, come together, and travel to an instance.
- With the LFG tool in WoW came “automated matchmaking.” A player indicates that they are looking for an instance. The game automatically forms a group and ports the players into that instance. There is no prior exchange between the group members. One moment players are on their fishing trip, following their gathering route, or busy with a world quest; the next moment, they are in a group and standing in an instance.
Some find it great that you do not have to plan a long journey or specifically search for a group for a short excursion into an instance. Others are bothered that groups have since shown increasing lack of cohesion.
If something does not go as planned, the first person disappears immediately. If a group’s playstyle does not fit, they get kicked. With the LFG tool, players come and go from the group.
The somewhat different Pay 2 Win: Real money replaces social interaction
The possibility of character transfers and faction changes contributes to such attitudes.
- “Back then,” players made sure not to upset people to avoid having a bad reputation on the server (both as a guild and as a player).
- Today, it is possible to simply join the other faction or another realm.
- Or one can quickly start from scratch since character boosts to level 100 are just a click away.
You do not “bear” the consequences of your behavior as you did before, and you do not feel the repercussions as strongly anymore. If your reputation is ruined, you start anew under a different name elsewhere.
AFK Pizza topping
The LFR phenomenon is now affecting guilds and raids, as selfish behavior has become socially acceptable due to the LFG tool.
The sense of obligation that many players feel toward other members is hardly present anymore. Instead, selfishness has taken its place.
It is considered “okay” to let the other 19 members of the raid wait because one still needs to top their pizza.
Little connection to the guild
The loss of social bonds hits “medium-sized” guilds the hardest. Those that do not raid in the top 100 in the world but still want to achieve some success. Those that aim for cozy, family-like raid nights while still wishing to conquer the mythic difficulty.
Since there are relatively many of these guilds, the selection is large – and the strongly simplified options to look for something new when tempo or behavior do not fit are tempting. Not a few guilds are therefore short-lived, and even some older guilds are losing players increasingly.
Eight years after the introduction of the LFG tool, its effects can be seen everywhere in WoW: Just as players come in and out of groups, some today switch guilds, servers, or their own identity.
The price for the increased level of convenience in WoW is higher than one thought eight years ago.
Sometimes, you don’t even need a group – A WoW player completes mythic dungeons at level +19 alone!
