Lacking Social Environment?

[Kleman]

Hello everyone! I'm Kleman Zuimiimi from Melmond server, previous FFXI player known as Kleman or Zuimiimi on Alexander server.

One thing I noticed about FFXIV and strongly wish would change, now correct me if im wrong because this may only be an issue on Melmond but, when I'm on FFXIV I see a huge lack of a Social Environment. Now unless you have a nice active linkshell, many people end up playing solo and literally speaking to no one. One thing about FFXI, and I'll admit i hated seeking parties for hours but that aside we were forced to be social. I personally enjoyed logging on to see other players which I had built friendships with and even loved the random conversations taking place in large gathering cities such as Jueno/Whitegate. Just wondering if any other players out there are finding the same on thier worlds and if others would like some way of sparking the social environment in FFXIV.

[shots]

How did 11 force one to be social. Sorry never played 11 excuse my ignorance.

[Martyr]

Some type of regional chat would be greatly appreciated.

I actually ended up quitting the first time I picked up FFXIV 'cause of the lack of any method of communication outside of being in a linkshell. Granted, at the time I didn't really know anything about the game either, so I ended up just solo crafting for a month, then dropped the game. Hell, I remember at one point in time shouting in the middle of the city "WHY ISN'T ANYONE TALKING?" and was met with silence. Of course, I guess it didn't help that I started in Gridania, which isn't the mostly lively city to begin with.

I'm a lot happier now that I've found a linkshell, but the lack of a region wide chat of some sort is still disturbing, especially seeing how common place it is in MMOs. It's a lot harder than it needs to be to meet up with new people. Only time I really interact with people outside of my linkshell is during behests when everyone is mostly forced to party, but even those tend to be quiet endeavors, as most people just want to quickly finish the behest, then go back to whatever they were doing.

[InuraBera]

I personally believe this is more of a general gamer thing now, than a particular problem with FFXIV, though I will agree, it bugs the heck out of me. Not having played FFXI, I am all too used to the general ignoring of other players unless they actually need you for something - chatting or just joining up for random groups are not something I'm particularly used too.

Unfortunately, I am falling into the same trap, as I know that if I talk, no one says anything back, and so on it goes in a kind of cruel loop. One thing I will say is that unlike many other current games out there, you do, for the most part, have decent sized gatherings of people no matter where you are in the world - was playing a Goblin earlier in WoW and noticed this, outside the city I wouldn't see a soul, but in FFXIV I do see folk no matter where I go. It is just a case of getting folk talking.

I have a feeling that the 'Quest Hubs' that are being added in 1.18 could possibly hold some kind of way of getting folk chatting, be it they come under attack and folks need to rally to defend them, or perhaps they offer quests/tasks that require grouping rather than purely being able to solo them. It was clear from one of the earlier producers letter (perhaps even the first one I think, with the poll results) that Yoshi-P noticed this (lack of socialising) as an issue, and hopefully they can build something to 'force' people into social activity, hopefully without them realising too much!

As you say, a good Linkshell helps, but the entire server shouldn't just close itself off to each other just because we have different little shield icons next to our names - we are all in this giant, shared experience, and instead of turning our backs on each other it should be something we do together.

*Edit in response to Martyr* Region wide chat channels are something I've never enjoyed, they generally are left to one or two 'nutcases' while everyone else either leaves the channel or ignores it entirely, I always immediately leave region wide channels in games as otherwise I'd have to beat someone up. The problem is giving a decent sized audience to idiots, they just can't help themselves.

I think it would be interesting to be able to see what everyone was saying (be it group, Linkshell, etc) as they are 'talking' - just because someone uses a phone doesn't mean you can't hear them, only the other side of the conversation - for privacy, just don't say anything that you wouldn't say in public in the real world either! I'd probably keep 'tells' as private though. Imagine how 'bustling' areas would no doubt seem if that was the case. Of course, you would only hear the folk near you, rather than the entire party scattered across the region, and it would just look like 'Say' chat to yourself.

[Kleman]

To both Shots and InuraBera the reason i refer to FFXI is partly because it was my main MMO for years, but in FFXI leveling was almost impossible without joining a party at certain levels. I'll admit, seeking party sucked terribly but in those parties people would socialize and meet up again to party again. (usually becuase your the same level)

As for questing and missions, alot of them also required groups which again got people talking, you saw familiar names and made alot of friends along the way.

I know FFXIV is going for a more casual gamer feel, but at the same time I think if it's extremely too casual, people log on, do thier thing and log off without a single word. I would very much agree some regional socializing would be awesome aswell.(By regional I mean in close vacinity for say and shouts with a further range) I do enjoy FFXIV and have played since release and it's getting better but the big memories I had in FFXI were over coming challenges and meeting new people along the way, I miss that feeling of satisfaction and comradery.

[Demacia]

Agreed. In FFXI every challenge required a group and once that challenge was over with I'd come out with a couple new friends, some of which would last me till this day even after they quit. In town people would randomly get together and have conversations. Not sure why FFXIV doesn't have that. Even in camps everyone will straight up ignore you, nobody talks, nobody shouts, it's boring. It's like REQUIRED to have an LS in XIV to make any sort of human contact.

[Xatsh]

How did 11 force one to be social. Sorry never played 11 excuse my ignorance.

11 did it simply, if you did not want to group up. You could not advance past level 12 without it taking 3-5hrs. Average solo mob gave like 50-100xp tops and fights for the 100xp took like 2mins or so except in a few level ranges. (few jobs where exceptions to this)

So if you where not social you where simply forced to quit. Basically there was literally no solo content outside a few side quest.

[Morticous]

who plays an MMO to solo anyway , thats what 1 player games are for.

[RedAffinity]

I think it's because 11 was heavily team-based. You HAD to communicate to get help for your subjob unlock. You HAD to communicate to get into a party of 6, it forced you to break out of your shell and socialize because after level 10, it was really difficult to level up generally speaking.

In XIV it's more structured like WoW in that you CAN go party based, but certainly your're capable of soloing. Also a lot of linkshells share Guildleves and do them together, so it's all kept within the linkshell.

Couple that with the fact that a LOT of players are new and focused on mastering the basics, and the community is small(er) and it explains partially why it is what it is. Things will change over time

[Naylia]

Region chat
World chat
Quick shortcuts to respond to multiple ls's

Are things I'd like to see - right now if you are in LS chat its a pain in the rear to respond to anyone else and that needs to change