Nobody talks?

[Assassin Aria]

Played every other MMO on the planet and veered away from this one because I wasn't a fan of 'cat girls'. Anyways, found the game on sale and went ahead and bought it. I was surprised to find that the stereotypical anime tropes aren't so pronounced in this game which is great. Started playing yesterday. I honestly love this MMO and wish I started sooner.

Fast forward to today (played the game non-stop); I'm level 34 and I haven't seen a single person speak in General chat.

Is there a general chat? Why is everyone so silent? I've visited every crowded town in the game and couldn't find a single person speaking in chat. Tried talking in chat myself and couldn't foster a reply.

[BrokenG3ars]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Caz:

Well that's just a flat out lie.

Unfortunately just because you say something is a lie, doesn't actually make it so. But good attempt.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Caz:

You just described all MMOs.

Nope not at all. plenty of MMO's have active zones such as ESO, GW2 (back in it's prime at least), BDO and so forth.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Caz:

Most MMOs don't.

And plenty of MMO's do as well.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Caz:

Anecdotal experience is anecdotal.

That literally applies exactly to whatever your own experience is as well sorry.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Caz:

You must have really bad luck.

Nope not at all, that's funny you think I was even talking about myself lol

Oprindeligt skrevet af Caz:

I'm curious what your definition of "social" is. WoW's Trade chat is frequently active, but I wouldn't classify that as any sort of quality socializing.

"Social" is any regular interaction between different players. Very active guild chats, server chats, zone chats, players communicating to complete certain objectives or talking about the game, joining some kind of content and engaging with other players and so forth. Good enough?

[BrokenG3ars]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Idontexist:

Oprindeligt skrevet af BrokenG3ars:

Unfortunately this is a very common problem with FFXIV. It actually has one of if not THE most anti-social community and gameplay systems in the MMO genre. Zones are dead boring lifeless wastelands 90% of the time, there is no global or cross zone chat outside of the novise network which is basically just trolling or having WoW vs FFXIV debates, there's no reason to talk in any content (You can say "hi" and comment 100 times in a normal dungeon and almost always get an awkward silence back) outside of difficult raids and if you're doing those 95% chance it's with a pre-made in discord. At least for a few months until it turns toxic and falls apart. Also it's HEAVILY DEPENDENT upon server, some servers are definitely more active then others. Oh and let's not forget the "Looking for gf, will pay" party finder listings.

Unless you're lucky enough to get into one of the exclusive linkshells, or find an FC that isn't like 5 members then you're pretty much ♥♥♥♥ out of luck for social elements unfortunately. Oh or you could join the creepy pedo softcore porn IG community but that's a big yikes. Even the housing area is usually a dead wasteland most of the time since it's so heavily instanced and has no real area or reason for players to gather at.

If you're looking for a truly social MMO you'd frankly be much better served else where.

I've had the exact opposite experience. Kinda feels like you're just talking and haven't actually experienced what you are saying.

Right so because you've had a different experience that completely invalidates my or anyone else I know's experience hey? What makes your experience so special that it's apparently the only one anyone is ever allowed to have? I've got over 3k hours on FFXIV across 6 years (mostly just because friends played) so is that enough "experience" for you hmm?

I'll also point out that I literally did say a lot of it is heavily server dependent. But I guess that's impossible too.

Here's another recent thread discussing the games social aspect with some others having similar experiences to myself.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/39210/discussions/0/5739253211819095533/

[๖ۣۜGodSpeed]

@BrokenG3ars: Aren't you kind of invaliding other experience over your own as well? Just wanted to point out that some of the comments they made to you in regards to your original post you basically used a UNO reverse card. That being said.
You make a good argument on the fact each players has a different experience and you are right another player shouldn't invalidate your experience. Yet you then go back to invalidate their experience. To then flaunt playtime and link another person with a similar experience. For example until I joined a free company yeah the game community felt anti social. How ever I remember being new back in HW and I do recall I had a lot of people helping me learn the game. They didn't upright offer it of course I did have to make it known I am knew. Open up LFG type of deal and within minutes got several players asking if I'd like help or to party. The way I've always experience it real life or in game. I as the person need to in some way initiate the conversation. No MMORPG I ever played had people send a message to me unless they wanted me to join their guild/FC/Company. But when I put out the invitation for conversation I have never had an issue with getting social. How ever like in Duty Finder I never say hello unless some one else does. I don't communicate in chat unless its some ones first time in that dungeon. Personally opinion if you don't put your self out their its not the people around you that are Anti social, its you. But for like my FC I'm in its a big one few hundred players with a good active community. We have a discord server and its how many of us communicate as well with each other. So yes the game does feel like its anti social but for those who put themselves out their like joining a FC for example. My opinion at least has change on the subject of how social FF14 community is.
This post is also not me siding with them on the topic. Experiences of something is always different for each person. How ever there is always better ways to improve some ones experience from its current state. With anti social to stay on topic I often tell people to join a FC or a fellowship. I notice people use fellowships to talk others in it way more than any other besides maybe the FC chats.

[BrokenG3ars]

Oprindeligt skrevet af ๖ۣۜGodSpeed:

@BrokenG3ars: Aren't you kind of invaliding other experience over your own as well? Just wanted to point out that some of the comments they made to you in regards to your original post you basically used a UNO reverse card. That being said.
You make a good argument on the fact each players has a different experience and you are right another player shouldn't invalidate your experience. Yet you then go back to invalidate their experience. To then flaunt playtime and link another person with a similar experience. For example until I joined a free company yeah the game community felt anti social. How ever I remember being new back in HW and I do recall I had a lot of people helping me learn the game. They didn't upright offer it of course I did have to make it known I am knew. Open up LFG type of deal and within minutes got several players asking if I'd like help or to party. The way I've always experience it real life or in game. I as the person need to in some way initiate the conversation. No MMORPG I ever played had people send a message to me unless they wanted me to join their guild/FC/Company. But when I put out the invitation for conversation I have never had an issue with getting social. How ever like in Duty Finder I never say hello unless some one else does. I don't communicate in chat unless its some ones first time in that dungeon. Personally opinion if you don't put your self out their its not the people around you that are Anti social, its you. But for like my FC I'm in its a big one few hundred players with a good active community. We have a discord server and its how many of us communicate as well with each other. So yes the game does feel like its anti social but for those who put themselves out their like joining a FC for example. My opinion at least has change on the subject of how social FF14 community is.
This post is also not me siding with them on the topic. Experiences of something is always different for each person. How ever there is always better ways to improve some ones experience from its current state. With anti social to stay on topic I often tell people to join a FC or a fellowship. I notice people use fellowships to talk others in it way more than any other besides maybe the FC chats.

I'm genuinely curious where I discredited anyone elses experiences? And how did I use an UNO reverse card? I made a comment with MY view and experiences in the game, and 2 people came in and told me "No sorry you're wrong". That's it. All I did was point out that them having a DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE doesn't in any way change MY experiences or those of other players I know or have known.

I "flaunted playtime" because the person I was responding to quite literally told me "You haven't experienced what you're talking about" so I included my playtime to show that I have plenty of experience with the game? Not really sure why that's an issue...? And I linked a thread including people who have had similar experiences to my own to back up the fact that no I'm not just making ♥♥♥♥ up? Again, not sure where the issue is there lol.

Furthermore, the OP of this post is not talking about guild chats, they are specifically talking about the overall social level of the game which is much lower then other MMO's. As you yourself have pointed out in your comment, you basically need to join an FC (and an active one at that) to have a social experience. This is NOT the same in every MMO and one area where FFXIV is severely lacking. Also in MANY MMO's other players will try to recruit people to their guilds first or at least advertise their guild, very common in other games.

I fully included in my original comment the fact that very rarely do you get people who actually talk in duty finder even when you do say hi or make comments and "put yourself out there" so to speak. In many cases "putting yourself out there" does not guarantee results whatsoever, unfortunately especially if you don't play a skimpy female character lol. I can tell you right now that your FC size and activity is pretty rare, many or I'd even say most FC's in FF are small ranging all the way from just 1 active player to 10 - 15.

It's all well and good to join an FC (assuming you can find one that's active and that you actually fit in with) but again, the post and OP are specifically talking about how anti social the GENERAL game is, especially compared to some others.

[๖ۣۜGodSpeed]

Oprindeligt skrevet af BrokenG3ars:

Oprindeligt skrevet af BrokenG3ars:

I'm genuinely curious where I discredited anyone elses experiences? And how did I use an UNO reverse card? I made a comment with MY view and experiences in the game, and 2 people came in and told me "No sorry you're wrong". That's it. All I did was point out that them having a DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE doesn't in any way change MY experiences or those of other players I know or have known.

Rereading your interaction with Caz & Idontexist. Sounded like you were invaliding their experiences while they in turn made comments invaliding yours as ether lies or not experiencing what you are talking about. That was the UNO reverse card. I will say it again I don't support their comments towards you in the same regard.

Oprindeligt skrevet af BrokenG3ars:

I "flaunted playtime" because the person I was responding to quite literally told me "You haven't experienced what you're talking about" so I included my playtime to show that I have plenty of experience with the game? Not really sure why that's an issue...? And I linked a thread including people who have had similar experiences to my own to back up the fact that no I'm not just making ♥♥♥♥ up? Again, not sure where the issue is there lol.

I often see people use play time as a form of elitism when used in debates or conversations. My personal opinion play time means little in ether. Only probably i have with it is. Its a form of showing elitism. When playtime doesn't automatically mean you are knowledge in the field or good at it. Example being I'm trash at driving games even with several thousand hours I put into the Forza Racing series.

Oprindeligt skrevet af BrokenG3ars:

Furthermore, the OP of this post is not talking about guild chats, they are specifically talking about the overall social level of the game which is much lower then other MMO's. As you yourself have pointed out in your comment, you basically need to join an FC (and an active one at that) to have a social experience. This is NOT the same in every MMO and one area where FFXIV is severely lacking. Also in MANY MMO's other players will try to recruit people to their guilds first or at least advertise their guild, very common in other games.

This is common and an issue in all MMO though. Take WoW how often do groups talk in Random dungeons? A lot of things Blizzard did to WoW was make it where you didn't need to socialize with people. I remember having to talk with dozens of people just to get a group going and when I found that group I could add them to friends. After Dungeon Que. Never talked to any one unless a Hi and GJ at the end. Similar to FF14. Same can be said about a lot of MMO's some a bit better than most. But socially all are the same join some type of guild

Oprindeligt skrevet af BrokenG3ars:

I fully included in my original comment the fact that very rarely do you get people who actually talk in duty finder even when you do say hi or make comments and "put yourself out there" so to speak. In many cases "putting yourself out there" does not guarantee results whatsoever, unfortunately especially if you don't play a skimpy female character lol. I can tell you right now that your FC size and activity is pretty rare, many or I'd even say most FC's in FF are small ranging all the way from just 1 active player to 10 - 15.

Oh course putting yourself out there doesn't guarantee results. Any one who has ever socialized before should know that as a given. Indeed my FC is pretty rare. The reason I applied to join it was because every where I went I saw players with the FC Tag. With this many active players on maybe they are social. The FC i left was small. like you said 10 15 active players. All they did was raid content. They were not a social FC at all. Only did Raids and PVP stuff. Thats also what they advertised and coming from WoW I thought it be a similar experience. It wasn't. The Company I am in has enough of variety of players type from hardcore raiders to those like to casually play and have fun.

Oprindeligt skrevet af BrokenG3ars:

It's all well and good to join an FC (assuming you can find one that's active and that you actually fit in with) but again, the post and OP are specifically talking about how anti social the GENERAL game is, especially compared to some others.

Fitting in, is key to any social gathering(that being a FC) It wasn't too hard to find this one I'm in. All very friendly and helpful. We can even talk about things we don't like about the game and have very productive conversations in regard to how to fix it. I take notes in our conversations and post them in the forums. Some getting replies from forum mods. No idea if they are Devs but who knows. Wouldn't be the first time the Devs implemented a players ideas or feedback. But on topic. Personally I don't see a difference between FFXIV or lets say WoW. The longer I play the more I make myself known the more social people get with me. In WoW I was known as the Gear'er. Because I would take people who didn't know how to raid and help them. OR help people gear up for raids. I was also helping smaller guilds out. In FFXIV I've been called out by people I honestly don't remember. Who like the fact I can Heal while doing DPS in dungeons. Also how I always have a macro ready for each Boss fight. Just in case some one doesn't know what to do. And like always after each fight I always ask to get Rec. . . gotta get that achievement. Gotta put myself out their.

[Shadowreaver]

Myself I've seen plenty of people talking in Limsa and Gridania not so much Ul'dah but those places atleast I've seen plenty of conversations what time of day were you there? That would really depend on how much talking. Could of been the time of day or people right then busy with duties.

[Assassin Aria]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Shadowreaver:

Myself I've seen plenty of people talking in Limsa and Gridania not so much Ul'dah but those places atleast I've seen plenty of conversations what time of day were you there? That would really depend on how much talking. Could of been the time of day or people right then busy with duties.

Yeah, depends on the people, I guess.

Been playing for 4 days now and I find randoms in dead spots are a lot more talkative than randoms in urban centres.

[BrokenG3ars]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Aria Darabi:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Shadowreaver:

Myself I've seen plenty of people talking in Limsa and Gridania not so much Ul'dah but those places atleast I've seen plenty of conversations what time of day were you there? That would really depend on how much talking. Could of been the time of day or people right then busy with duties.

Yeah, depends on the people, I guess.

Been playing for 4 days now and I find randoms in dead spots are a lot more talkative than randoms in urban centres.

Because usually everyone in urban areas is either afk, talking exclusively to their FC/LS or pming and there will be the usual handful of female chars and 1 male char awkwardly being cringe in public chat while doing lewd or flirty emotes and totally ignoring anything or anyone else that exists.

FF is an incredibly anti-social game if that's why you're playing it. There are much better MMO's out there if you're looking for a good social or organic grouping experience.

[Assassin Aria]

Oprindeligt skrevet af BrokenG3ars:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Aria Darabi:

Yeah, depends on the people, I guess.

Been playing for 4 days now and I find randoms in dead spots are a lot more talkative than randoms in urban centres.

Because usually everyone in urban areas is either afk, talking exclusively to their FC/LS or pming and there will be the usual handful of female chars and 1 male char awkwardly being cringe in public chat while doing lewd or flirty emotes and totally ignoring anything or anyone else that exists.

FF is an incredibly anti-social game if that's why you're playing it. There are much better MMO's out there if you're looking for a good social or organic grouping experience.

Yeah, great game, but really anti-social.

This is the last MMO that I haven't played so this is pretty much the end of the line for me until New World releases.

[Komarimaru]

Oprindeligt skrevet af BrokenG3ars:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Aria Darabi:

Yeah, depends on the people, I guess.

Been playing for 4 days now and I find randoms in dead spots are a lot more talkative than randoms in urban centres.

Because usually everyone in urban areas is either afk, talking exclusively to their FC/LS or pming and there will be the usual handful of female chars and 1 male char awkwardly being cringe in public chat while doing lewd or flirty emotes and totally ignoring anything or anyone else that exists.

FF is an incredibly anti-social game if that's why you're playing it. There are much better MMO's out there if you're looking for a good social or organic grouping experience.

This has my curious now. I've played MMO's pretty much since their inception. Ultima online, was very social, but had to be. Same for everquest when it came out, and FFXI. WoW used to be social, but not much anymore. Wildstar was never very social from beginning to end. BDO is also anti social, and EOS is pretty much the most anti social MMO still out.

To continue, Anarchy Online, Runescape, EvE, Guild Wars 1 and 2, and SW:TOR, not very social. Some ya may not have heard of or played though.

What MMO, do you consider, a more social experience? Keeping in mind, I've gone to end game, in all of those listed, and well versed in all of them.

[Etraux]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Komarimaru:

Oprindeligt skrevet af BrokenG3ars:

Because usually everyone in urban areas is either afk, talking exclusively to their FC/LS or pming and there will be the usual handful of female chars and 1 male char awkwardly being cringe in public chat while doing lewd or flirty emotes and totally ignoring anything or anyone else that exists.

FF is an incredibly anti-social game if that's why you're playing it. There are much better MMO's out there if you're looking for a good social or organic grouping experience.

This has my curious now. I've played MMO's pretty much since their inception. Ultima online, was very social, but had to be. Same for everquest when it came out, and FFXI. WoW used to be social, but not much anymore. Wildstar was never very social from beginning to end. BDO is also anti social, and EOS is pretty much the most anti social MMO still out.

To continue, Anarchy Online, Runescape, EvE, Guild Wars 1 and 2, and SW:TOR, not very social. Some ya may not have heard of or played though.

What MMO, do you consider, a more social experience? Keeping in mind, I've gone to end game, in all of those listed, and well versed in all of them.

Oh, why did you mention Wildstar? I miss that game. And Eve was pretty social atleast a year ago, from newbie channel to miner's network. Also, mailing lists for incursion fleets, etc.

As for topic, I think problem is twofold. First, games are no longer desinged to require grouping. All of the big MMOs are pretty soloable, outside of high-end content.

Second, right now there are so much more ways of staying connected. You don't have to use in-game chat to talk to people anymore. Why stick to in-game chat when you have Mumble/Teamspeak/Discord/social media?

[BrokenG3ars]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Komarimaru:

Oprindeligt skrevet af BrokenG3ars:

Because usually everyone in urban areas is either afk, talking exclusively to their FC/LS or pming and there will be the usual handful of female chars and 1 male char awkwardly being cringe in public chat while doing lewd or flirty emotes and totally ignoring anything or anyone else that exists.

FF is an incredibly anti-social game if that's why you're playing it. There are much better MMO's out there if you're looking for a good social or organic grouping experience.

This has my curious now. I've played MMO's pretty much since their inception. Ultima online, was very social, but had to be. Same for everquest when it came out, and FFXI. WoW used to be social, but not much anymore. Wildstar was never very social from beginning to end. BDO is also anti social, and EOS is pretty much the most anti social MMO still out.

To continue, Anarchy Online, Runescape, EvE, Guild Wars 1 and 2, and SW:TOR, not very social. Some ya may not have heard of or played though.

What MMO, do you consider, a more social experience? Keeping in mind, I've gone to end game, in all of those listed, and well versed in all of them.

Some good examples I've played over the years for at least a couple hundred+ hours in each:

Star Wars Galaxies
Ultima Online of course
DAoC
Warhammer Online
EvE (The community ♥♥♥♥ that goes on in that game is just nuts)
WoW (pre probably Warlords or so, when the game really started to get more casual/solo friendly)
Everquest
Archeage (Forever sad it was ruined by greed)
BDO (very social from a chat perspective which is what the OP was talking about. People are ALWAYS chatting constantly in server and the 8 completely different themed chat groups. There's entire communities to each chat group and whole communities are built on the specific server channels. Also the entire endgame is built around massive guild interactions)
ESO (Amazing organic grouping. Widely regarded as having the best and most welcoming community, I've made so many great friends just doing public dungeons and delves with randoms, usually organically grouping up and talking after. Zone chat is usually pretty active, lots of people talking about world events or asking for help with world bosses and the like. Then it also of course has large open world PvP that is extremely group and communication focused. Even trading requires a fair amount of communication as you need to join and work with a trading guild to sell items. Also has a great and in my experience pretty wholesome RP community that it's cute to go into a random Inn one day and see like 30 people in it RP'ing together)
Runescape (I actually disagree about it being anti social. Maybe now yeah but when I played from like 2007 - 2013 or so, before massive botting, it was very social. Most of the events in the game were based on teamwork or you needed an actual clan for, many people would chat while just relaxing and skilling and such. The few times I've gone back since then though sadly it definitely did seem like a very different game)

Those are some pretty solid examples. Of course your mileage will vary to some extent in some of the games and all I have to draw on is my own and friends experiences and what I've seen in the actual reddit or forum communities for a lot of those games.

The commentor above me also did make a great point that there are a lot more ways to stay connected/communicate now outside of the game that people don't always make use of in-game means, and sadly in many games there's just flat out no reason to do so.

[Caz]

Oprindeligt skrevet af BrokenG3ars:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Caz:

Well that's just a flat out lie.

Unfortunately just because you say something is a lie, doesn't actually make it so. But good attempt.

What you said is objectively a lie. Not even going to bother with the rest of your reply. You objectively lie about things.

[BrokenG3ars]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Caz:

Oprindeligt skrevet af BrokenG3ars:

Unfortunately just because you say something is a lie, doesn't actually make it so. But good attempt.

What you said is objectively a lie. Not even going to bother with the rest of your reply. You objectively lie about things.

Again, unfortunately your opinion that something is a lie, doesn't actually make it so. What I said is an objective fact. But good luck with that though lol. I'm sorry you're so hurt and emotional because I said something not super amazing about FF?