The current duty experience in XIV

[Jeeqbit]

I've had more social interaction in dungeons in the last year or two than in many of the years prior. Maybe even more than at any time in the past. I always say Hello, and after that, while many dungeons you just run through without talking, if you do them enough, you get ones that are chatty, ask for guidance, talk about their cats, make jokes, and that's especially the case when it's a partial premade so 2 of them know eachother.

It being a "silent run" isn't some new thing. I would experience this even in Heavensward. Because while dungeons were less streamlined, they were still very easy overall. Healers had to heal, tanks could actually die, but it wasn't exactly at the point where you needed to stop and chat. My POTD and HoH exp farm runs weren't exactly chatty, either.

And people being rude isn't new either. That was definitely common in Heavensward and Stormblood. I got thorough attacked when I started tanking level 50 and 60 dungeons in Heavensward. They'd type something rude then enter it in chat before immediately abandoning and it was rude. Rude and impatient people were present when I was raiding in those expansions as well, and actually I've found people to be less impatient since Shadowbringers ever since the massive WoW influx, which just seemed like it changed the playerbase.

But you will always have that impatient player camp. They've always been there and they will always be there somewhere. The ones who will abandon the moment they judge the party to be the sort that will wipe them or waste their time, even if they are misjudging them for a single mistake.

[Valence]

This is essentially how interactions are with random players in any MMO these days. Talking is minimal mostly because people do their talking with their friend groups in their FCs, Linkshells, Guilds, and Discords. It also doesn't help that most games have made it easy for people to be reported for things, even just offering help if you end up wording it wrong which is likely since you are typing while doing things.

I don't buy it. People stating they're afraid to talk in public chats or party chats are usually outing themselves as toxic players.

[Daralii]

I don't buy it. People stating they're afraid to talk in public chats or party chats are usually outing themselves as toxic players.

"You shouldn't use Cure 1 at lvl 100" counts as telling someone how to play the game and is a reportable offense. If something like that is toxic, you're unlikely to find a single human that isn't.

[ovIm]

I feel like it's become more and more the norm rather than the exception even in dungeons today: people get in, nobody says hello even if you say it, nobody says thanks or bye. It's literally fast food MMO, macdonaldized enough to the extreme because there is no surprise, everything must go fast so everybody can get out as fast as possible. Everything streamlined to avoid bumps on the road.

I was expecting matched parties in deep dungeons to prove different, especially in the more challenging parts. But no, it's very similar, people are rude, consider each other like random numbers or AIs. The only time they'll wake up and start speaking is if there is something going awry, and that's not a guarantee either.

What has happened to this community?

Dont know about you, but I have been playing this game since 2.0, and I rarely experienced people talking in instances. Like even now I don't think I can recall more than two dozen instances of people chatting in between pulls, which may of course also be due to the way dungeons are laid out, and how there is no downtime between pulls.
The McDonaldization of course has only worsened that, mind you, same with that one change to TOS which may or may not have been misinterpreted by the community, making them kinda fearful for consequences.

It is a bit sad to never see people talk about how they want to approach the current Deep Dungeon though, especially once you start approaching the higher levels.

[Teno]

The streamlining of jobs and duties has naturally led to the streamlining of interactions. #ChangeMyMind

Pretty good summary, people are just mindlessly doing their roulette without even remembering they queued up with others, for good reason. Content and gameplay are just that mind numbing.

[CCheshire]

If you started in ARR you should also know that the TOS changed significantly around 2018.

Before that point it was for example actually pretty common to tell people exactly why they're getting kicked from a PF party.
Fast forward to the new TOS and you just kick people in complete silence or even worse the entire party simply disbands. Everyone probably knows why, but better not risk that a GM decides it falls under "offensive expression".

Even if you word it as nicely as possible, you are still technically telling someone how they should play the game.

Doubtful as someone who is always doing DF with randoms and not being good at games as I never had a situation where saying X player is not doing well enough to be called out in party chat to be a positive interaction as it ends up with both players who end up arguing and ruining the exp of sprouts along with both later getting a GM warning. For example, how would it teach others to do better other than showing there are rude players everywhere and just doing duty support from now on is a good idea? If the party is doing extremely poorly, it's much easier to leave or vote abandon than start fights with strangers.

[Alicie]

I feel like it's become more and more the norm rather than the exception even in dungeons today: people get in, nobody says hello even if you say it, nobody says thanks or bye. It's literally fast food MMO, macdonaldized enough to the extreme because there is no surprise, everything must go fast so everybody can get out as fast as possible. Everything streamlined to avoid bumps on the road.

I was expecting matched parties in deep dungeons to prove different, especially in the more challenging parts. But no, it's very similar, people are rude, consider each other like random numbers or AIs. The only time they'll wake up and start speaking is if there is something going awry, and that's not a guarantee either.

What has happened to this community?

In an MMO where I can get a real ban (not even just chat restriction) just because someone took an offense from an advise or a factual statement, I'll prefer to keep my mouth tightly shut.

[Exinias]

I rarely say anything in dungeons and most content I do. I'm genuinely here to just play the game and if you enjoy playing the game while chatting in dungeons then please chat, I just won't say anything back most of the time lol I'm more apt to chat in a zone like Occult Crescent.

That said, the best way to get people to chat is by memeing or asking random stuff like "Why does this dungeon have the best aesthetical design?" or "I wish more fights were mechanically like this". There's not much I can reply with or converse with when asked "How is everyone's day?" other than "It's good", "It's alright" "It sucks". They are kind gestures for sure and anyone that asks definitely means well, but for me personally it gets stale typing two words describing how I feel for the 6th time in 2 hours after several years of playing.

Sure, you could argue and ask "Why are you playing an MMO then?" but my answer is I'm playing because it's a Final Fantasy game and I love Final Fantasy games and this is a Final Fantasy game.

One other thing to possibly consider is there's a lot more console players/people playing on controller nowadays and they might not feel it's necessary to hit select multiple times just to say "Hi" and "gg" in every dungeon or trial.

[DynamoAce]

what's happened is that the average FFXIV player got so coddled by EW that they can't do basic mechanics on floor 70+ and then cry when someone pulls an amount of mobs they're comfortable dodging (lol)

That mocking elitist attitude is exactly part of the problem of what OP is saying. If you think Deep Dungeon (With a matched party of variable skill level) on those floors is only about "basic mechanics" and pulling everything as if you're in a DF dungeon then you really do not know what you're talking about in context to people sharing their experiences in those moments. DD has RNG and variables that can cause approaches like that to fail when there is no coordination in a matched party.

[CidHeiral]

Sometimes people just aren't in the mood to chat, including myself occasionally, but I don't see that nearly often enough for it to strike me as any kind of general community trend and I do group content with randos nearly every day. People almost always start chatting when I strike up a convo in a dungeon if they aren't already. Go try WoW if you want to see an actual case of what OP is talking about, you're can't pay people to say anything over there.