Player Courtesies do they even exist in this game?

[Hawklaser]

Maybe I have just been fortunate, but yet to run into many issues with this myself using the DF. Worst has been wanting people to skip CS in a story dungeon. Can usually get a good idea of the attitude of people in the run if just say hello at the start.

[Lstkaws]

I have had good and bad experiences, unfortunately mostly bad. Case in point, last night during a CM run the tank runs out and aggros ALL the mobs from the start, including the mobs you are not supposed to pull. He did not seem new, so I am immediately thinking he's a troll. Everyone wipes right off the bat. When we do get to the first boss he says BBL and just stands there. I politely explain to the group that I am not willing to carry this guy through the run and I will take the 15 minute lockout. I wish them all good luck and apologize. Then one of the other members said "fine, you are worthless anyway". I find about 25% of my runs with DF are good and 75% are bad. May just start running purely with FC from this point.

[Nanga]

I don't experience any (well, 95% of the time) of these problems. Maybe because I'm playing on a JP server Yep, that is why

[Conkers]

Mostly it comes from the "farm runs" people have ambition to complete the dungeons as fast as possible, ... however we have new level fifties coming to the foray and do not know anything and maybe afraid to speak up. So when things go bad people either "A" jump ship or "B" just berate and belittle the person or persons who errors. It just reminds me of the world of Warcraft community and it saddens me to see this happening here, the game is really good however the public experience has been horrendous at 50.

This is what happens when games are designed less like MMOs and more like single player / segmented small co-ops and when a significant portion of the player base is only there to play the game as a thinly disguised Skinner Box, for whom things like challenge, interaction, gameplay, etc are a distant second (in the case of 'challenge', actually considered a hindrance), with game design focused on that.

[Vahlaria]

I agree.

I came here hoping for a better community. Wow, was I wrong. I play to have fun and to meet new people, not get emotionally abused from some sick, sad kid with mommie issues.

I love the game and am having a blast, but I'm leaving because I just don't see this community getting better ever.

Maybe at my age I'm just too relaxed to be playing mmos, but after 13 years of mmo gaming, what "accomplishments" I "achieve" here does not define me.
It just breaks my heart to see people treat each other in this manner.

It just reminds me of the world of Warcraft community and it saddens me to see this happening here, the game is really good however the public experience has been horrendous at 50.

Mistakes happen and do not expect anyone to be perfect but we all actually "pay" to play the game and remember there is another person at the other side of the screen.

[v_jones]

It seems like the majority of these lamentations could be solved by not using the Duty Finder anymore, and putting a little effort into socialization and grouping with people on your server. Add people you like to your friend's list/Link Shell/Free Company, and in a couple of weeks, you may find your problem solved. At the very least, it will be more productive than flexing your superiority on a forum.

[Seraphe]

And no, the MVP system won't change anything. "MVP me or I'll afk" "MVP me or I'll wipe us". Sure you could always lie to the person begging for it but then we're not any better than the guys who are telling lies, insults and other stuff atm.

[Haymitch]

I think most of this depends on the tanks. In my runs I typically help out by explaining what is going on. Why I'm doing what I'm doing. This tends to keep people focused. As I explained to a new tank last night - people will always complain. Just ignore it. I realize for dd or heals this can be harder. But really the only easy way to combat this disrespect is to just ignore it. The first time tank was heckled by one person. I told him to ignore it. To focus on tanking. I explained the fights. He continued to get heckled because he struggled with aggro. Told him he was doing fine. Ignored the heckler.

He made it through. Heckler was ignored. Group stood up for the new tank. I think he learned a lot. Turned a negative into a positive. Just need to stand up for people. One heckler doesnt mean anything when one person believes in you.

[Makeda]

Hello everyone,

Something has been grading on my for a while regarding the way people act towards one another in this game. Mostly it comes from the "farm runs" people have ambition to complete the dungeons as fast as possible,
...
It just reminds me of the world of Warcraft community and it saddens me to see this happening here, the game is really good however the public experience has been horrendous at 50.

Mistakes happen and do not expect anyone to be perfect but we all actually "pay" to play the game and remember there is another person at the other side of the screen.

A number of elements work to promote the kinds of communities the speed levelers have found:

• The Duty Finder tool making random groups. No need or even ability to use social skills in forming groups.
• No account wide accountability. You can't even tell what server or FC a PUG-mate comes from.
• Cannot friend cross server, so Duty Finder groups are more or less forced strangers.
• Events/Fates on predictable cycles to feed farmers.
• No benefits built in for helping random strangers in the open-world.
• No ability to rez random strangers in the open-world, encourages just sitting there as someone else is stuck.
• Mob tagging exists, even if limited to 'leve' / quest mobs - you cannot help even if you want to.
• Vertical Progression system - encourages an "I'm better than you" mentality.
• Vertical Progresson system - encourages a need to keep farming up the 'latest / best' gear rather than the 'explore and make stories' situation seen in horizontal progression MMOs (City of Heroes / GW2 / soon EQNext).
• Trinity based combat model - sets up roles that do not have equal popularity, allowing the less popular roles to dictate play / enjoyment for players on more popular roles.
• Lack of build variety - one build for each class, so there is not much meta to explore, and usually a "right way" that you need to follow.
• Discouragement of alts - less ability to just sit out on another character to de-stress, and less ability to make a alternate theme character. Makes a roleplay community less viable (and such communities tend to be more social, and thereby make the servers they take over more friendly).
• Seemingly uninvolved community-managers so the inworld community feels 'unpoliced'. This might just be perception, but perception is often more important than reality.
• The English servers are the "foreigner" servers, and we can feel it. I'm sure this exact same issue happens in other MMOs for the Asian / European servers. Here, its happened to the English servers - and we're a community not used to that in MMOs we buy from western shops.

With a list like that you'd think I'd hate this game, but I actually like it a lot. I just have to work to avoid certain pitfalls the above list has built into it... and I know that eventually, the community will reach WoW levels and one won't even be able to "hide" in a good FC... But for now, its a very solid replacement for my former WoW fix.


Short version:
Duty Finder, Trinity, and Vertical Progression - will all eventually "kill" community here. So while I love the game I've recently landed on, I know the ride won't be as long as it was for me in WoW (where I held on for 7 years) - those things will eventually be more pressing than the benefits. It just becomes a question of how long can that 'eventually' be pushed out for each person.

.

[Kayo]

Its just sad that we'd need some stupid reward thing just to get people to act like anything better than rabid savages. Honestly, I just wish theyd get banned for acting up. Much better option IMO than having some would be jerk smiling through their teeth at everyone pretending to be nice for the points.