Quote Originally Posted by Valence View Post
Everything is designed to work like a fast food venture where people can get in, and where they can just not talk to other players where other players act like glorified AIs, and where predictability of everything is key.
I feel like this is the worst long term change the game has underwent. I remember how I got recruited to my first FC when I started playing in 2.5. I was in Brayflox's Longstop and playing WHM. I was partied up with 3 other players from the same FC and they were very chatty (something which rarely happens now). Back then, a lot of tanks wouldn't wall-to-wall pull like we do now and one of the DPS accidentally aggro'd another group. I managed to stop a few of the adds with Repose and fluid aura to give us enough time to burn down what we were already working on. The fact I used CC in a dungeon surprised them since I was still a sprout.

I rarely ever see interactions like this anymore. Partially it's because of how encounters are designed and partially because cross-server roulettes cut down on sociability. I feel Yoshi and team leaned to hard into the single player aspect of the game and that hurts everything except convenience.