I've noticed a change in attitude as EW grows closer

[Lunalepsy]

I joined at the beginning of the 'WoW Exodus' curve a while before all those allegations came out, and my first impressions of FFXIV were amazing; particularly from the community.

Everyone in FFXIV seemed extremely social, extremely helpful, and extremely patient, all things which I took full advantage of from level 1 all the way up to where I am now. I made a few cool friends and joined a FC, and had tons of fun hamming it up with people in the Diadem while I saved up for an apartment. I was having a blast!

But as time went on, it felt like all those chummy, friendly people stopped being chummy and friendly, with the pervasive attitude I felt shifting from social to... silent. No responses when I wave hi in dungeons, nobody wanting to talk in the Diadem, even Limsa is silent except for RP ads and RMTers.

And as time continued to pass even further, the silence turned into uncomfortable judgement. A situation that is recent in my mind is an Eden's Promise: Litany run that I was directly responsible for wiping once. I was being bothered by someone IRL and couldn't put my full attention into healing, and died a few times before the other healer couldn't take the stress anymore and died as well. I knew it was my fault, apologized, and got a very passive-aggressive response. We pulled again and I feel like I did a real good job. When we killed it I thanked the RDM for their help, and was met with another passive-aggressive response before everyone dipped out of the lobby.

Now, I'm not saying people aren't allowed to be passive-aggressive; I'll admit that I was pretty toxic too during my time in WoW (though I swore to leave it behind when I came here). But such a drastic change in attitude in both open world, low, and high level duties? What could have happened?

Did hardcore WoW players saturate the game? Did all the friendlier people leave to wait for EW? Am I just going insane and nothing has actually changed?

It has been like this for a long time. The marketing gimmick is wearing off, so you are noticing what lies beneath.

[Vahlnir]

Nothing has actually changed. Yep, that's all I've got.

[Katie_Kitty]

You people are crazy, I swear. Some of you act like everybody needs to be sugary sweet and super enthusiastic about everything all the time. No. We are all human beings here, not robots designed to make you feel good.

[Kolsykol]

I rly dunno what some people expect exactly.
People act as if because they've had negative experiences in the game it means that it's toxic.

When people say that FFXIV has an amazing community they're speaking in relative terms.
Gaming is extremely toxic, FFXIV is significantly less toxic than what is normal.
No one is saying that it doesn't exist at all some of you seem to have extremely unrealistic expectations and it really comes across as just wanting to hate on the community and I dunno why.
The only explanation I can think of is that you come from another game and you're mad I dunno what other reason there can be.

Either that or you've never played another game in your life or in a VERY long time before and you don't remember how bad it actually is in other games.

[Xuled]

Yeah it's pretty bad once the polish wears off. Great gameplay though.

[SugarPuff]

It's been a long time since I've had a truly negative experience. Admittedly, I don't join that many random groups but I never really have. When I do, people seem a little quieter than what I remember of my first couple years playing but also a lot less inclined to snipe at each other. If I had to choose I'd take the peace and quiet (whether I'm the target or someone else is it's just not what I enjoy listening to) but from my perspective it's been a subtle change over the course of several years.

[Kozh]

Welcome to ffxiv OP. This is pretty much always the same thing, a lot of people have this fake nice attitude to stroke their ego.

I still remember being harrased by people during my first castrum run back when I was a sprout. Just because I didn't know we're supposed to ignore some of the mobs and turn off the lights. And this isn't the last time I saw it too, as it also happened to newer players. Not always, but often enough that I start questioning if this community is as nice as they claimed.

Passive aggressiveness, positive toxicity, doxxing, cultist behavior etc.; they're all there, only slightly hidden from the public. Though I'd say reddit and Twitter are really good at making that all transparent to everyone.

[Gameovers]

Pat a cat, boop a dragon, and hug a midlander. Doing these things will spark at least a :3 I promise you. But yeah, people are bore, going thur the motions and waiting for patch day. Plus most dungeons go mostly silent anyway. People should be pressing buttons. Tho it does help if a random is thrown in somewhere randomly. My point, give good vibes and you'll likely get em back no matter where in the timeline you fall in.

[White_Wolf_X]

Seems about the same it's always been to me.

^This.

/10char.

[yajnaji]

Jokes on you I am nice to everyone ingame.

huh huh sure you are. you and everyone else.

sick of you hypocrites.