Parties vs Socializing

[TheNightglow]

I noticed that if you enable parties, the old players will rarely be seen socializing again
meanwhile new players that dont have a party yet can "talk" with other players (as in stand in a circle somewhere nice and produce emotes etc)
the whole thing where players are standing around and talking with other players does not appear possible for parties, and it also appears that every player will eventually join up a party
--> only new players that literally just joined the game are allowed to socialize

its a bit sad, I liked seeing players socialize with another, but I also like players fight together as a party and it seems you cant have both enabled in a single game

(also on a side note, I find players form large parties too often, it is a bit weird seeing everybody run around in groups of 4 as soon as you enable parties)

Edit:
after fast forwarding for a while I finally see players socializing again and I also am seeing less large groups
I assume players stay in parties to complete quests and once there are no outstanding quests anymore they split up again? guess i just had too many quests and it took a while for everything to clear up

[VectorStorm]

Just for clarity, players in parties tend to remain in those parties until they gain levels. You're probably not wrong about seeing slightly fewer social groups forming when parties are enabled, since parties provide some of the same social interaction benefits of social groups (both fulfill the "social" need. Social groups fulfill it more and faster, while parties fulfill it less and more slowly, but also fulfill the "advance" need, so players who really want to gain a level will usually prefer parties over joining or starting a social circle).

Incidentally, the same thing will also happen if you develop and enable instant messaging; social circles tend to form when a lot of players badly want to fulfill their social needs, and parties and instant messaging do tend to give them some of that interaction, making it less likely they'll get into critical "I need to talk to someone now" situations!