Why the hate with endgame fights?

[Jerichai]

Snip.

The problem is that you've made a declaration that any example I provide is not 'toxic' as an absolute. You're not leaving any room for personal interpretation of those comments, and I'm kind of surprised you can't see how someone might not enjoyed being labeled lazy or entitled by someone who barely knows them.

I mean, let's look at it from another perspective:

Let's say you're at a party and see someone new and think about trying to go meet them. Your friend who's with you informs you they before having met you, this new person told your friend he thought you were lazy/stuck-up/etc (based solely on appearance or maybe catching part of a conversation you were having in passing). Would you be eager to invest more time with that person? Even if you personally could work through that, could you at least see where someone else might not be so willing, especially if they have other people around/things to do to invest that energy in instead? And it's not even about being easily offended. I think being a bit defensive towards people who make such a broad, negative judgement about you with no real knowledge about you as an individual is just about self care.

[MoroMurasaki]

snip.

Some of those posts with no context surrounding them could put someone off if they were especially sensitive but I think anyone smart enough to play this game at that level is also going to understand that the posts above that post came first and likely effected what those posters had to say.

If an entirely blank slate of a person were to read this thread I'd imagine they would be much more scared of the casual playerbase than the raiders and I think if you looked at things objectively you'd agree.

I can't take most of what you're saying seriously because I hear it all through the filter of you having a clearly anti-raiding community outlook.

It's alright to disagree but I don't think you're gaining any ground here and it seems like you want to. You aren't going to convince a bunch of raiders or people with raiding friends that that community is this toxic cesspool because they already know better. You also aren't going to convince them that a thread like this offering frank discussion about that community and it's needs is bad press because they've been here and seen what they've put out into the world in comparison to people like Rhiya.

This thread is, as Kavia said, a debate but at this point at least there is a clear winner and it's been a landslide victory.

[Jerichai]

Snip.

Umm, no my friend...it would be strange for me to have an anti-raid outlook considering I've raided across multiple MMOs for more than a decade. I do enjoy the content, and most of all, I enjoy bringing people into the content who have been hesitant to try it for a multitude of reasons (many I can emphasize with as someone who's dealt consistently with depression and anxiety over the years).

Here's the issue I feel like you keep missing: Perception vs. Reality. I have never argued as a whole that the raid community is a toxic wasteland. That said, I can also understand how those 'on the outside' with no leg in the raiding game could perceive many needlessly harsh comments that quite frankly are a daily occurrence on any MMO forum as a sign of a toxic community. Are their perceptions in line with reality? No, cause the raid community doesn't have an agenda to go out of its way to be toxic. But when you consider that many of these outlying negative comments typically go unanswered (as well as many times GD being skewed negatively) you have to consider how that impacts perception. Considering those not raiding likely don't have the benefit of interacting with those raiders who aren't complete assholes, then these kinds of blanket statements make up a larger percentage of a person's perception of the community. Perception vs. Reality.

My main goal in continuing this conversation is that I noticed quite a bit of anger/frustration towards people earlier in the thread who stated that they avoided raiding due to their perceptions of a toxic community. Some went to imply that these people were lying or had ulterior motives. I just don't see how this helps. Acting in this manner does nothing to try to understand how their perception developed, and worse yet, probably just helps to affirm their perceptions. I really wish folks would try more often to engage in a good spirited way to help people see past their first impressions.