The WoW Community

[Peelyon 416]

Hello everyone! I've been really busy so not managed to login here much but thought I might try and create a bit of a discussion.

Theres been a thread being passed around the internet with regards to some players in South Korea. Some of you may have read it, if you havent it really is worth the time to have a read

HERE

It got me thinking about the current situation with the WoW community and how it is perceived. With the way of the internet there will always be trolls, but places (like Icy Veins) do give me encouragement, I think the community that is building on these forums is a lot better than most and hopefully we can keep the trolls away as long as we can!

I've recently had to migrate and change servers due to the low population and arguably poor community that was on my old realm and we were reminiscing about how we all met in game long ago.

I was wondering if any of you have some "good feel" moments that you can share about WoW and whether any of them were recent, or has the game moved on so far that people don't have as much time to go through the basics anymore?

[Pandariah 6]

That post was so sad... It's strange reading it, because I'm blown away that people can be so cruel, especially over a game. There was a moment recently for me, albeit much less dramatic, where a guy in a random regular (Shado Pan) asked if Priests were worthless, and if he should quit playing altogether, due to what a guy in a prior dungeon said. My exact response was, "Wow. That guy's a douche and should die in a fire." Just to be clear, I wish no harm on anyone literally. But after the rest of the party left, I helped him with rotations and such for a while.

It's very disappointing that SO many people think their digital selves count for anything. We're no better than one another, even less-so due to a game we play. I pray that this man finds friends, regardless of his performance. In total... I have more "bad" experiences than I do good. But those good ones really stick with you, huh? Thank you for this bit of news. I look forward to others' responses. Please take care.

Edit: I cannot type today. Fixed a few typos.

Edited February 9, 2013 by Pandariah

[Soultrain 7]

That is terrible. People play games most times to escape their real lives, to make new friends and to have fun. To have that taken because you are sub par in a game is just wrong. I try to make it a point to help those on my server who post in trade chat with questions. I'll bring them to a target dummy or on a random dungeon and help them tweak. I have directed more than a handful of people to icy-veins. This site is great for helping new players, returning players and veterans alike. Definitely a helpful and good natured community

[Marles 2]

I feel real sorry for that guy and it’s such a shame to be treated the way he has been. Do these ‘elitist’ not even consider taking a moment to think that they too had to start somewhere? All too often players ridicule others because they do not come up to a certain level. They mock their gear, tactics, dps, healing and even what questions they ask.

There will always be those that treat others like they don’t belong and will never consider ’lowering’ themselves to help those that need and would greatly appreciate some pointers. Thankfully I am in a great guild that helps with most of my simple questions and often take out time to help with various aspects of the game, such as enchanting, gemming etc.

Being directed to a great site such as this one and others is great and can help immensely, being given the opportunity to put all the advice into practice is the key. Just because you get the best gear, get the top dps, heal for the most doesn’t make you a better person than anyone else all it means, to me anyway, is that you know how to play the game well. So those that mock and ridicule and have the all the best stuff etc. should ask themselves ‘How did I get where I am’?

I wish that guy all the best and hopefully some of his haters realise what they have done and go out of their way to help.

[NightShade 14]

I am personally that way a lot of times in real life. I am disabled due to back and shoulder problems and unable to actually work. I am also a geek/nerd and the story reminds me of growing up and always being the odd man out. I tend to do very well in wow as once I know the stats I can make pretty good decisions on how to setup gear and learn very quickly. I also do my best to help others out whether it be explaining how to make a macro work for them or to share changes that can be made to their setups that can make things easier or to increase their DPS. I have taken supplies from my guild and characters to help someone in another guild to get her character to the point of getting into LFR because she is a good person and though she doesn't 100% understand her class she tries to learn and that is what means a lot more to me. She thanked me a ton and that was enough for me.

I still try to play for fun as well, and that is truly what the game is about anyways. My DK is Unholy because I like having the ghoul around. Had a "leet" player come into a heroic and complain about being unholy and that it was wrong and I should be frost. There were wipes here and there and I heard more complaining. I finally initiated a vote kick of the person in question for being an "asshat" almost instantly they were removed and another tank came in. The rest of the heroic went great and we actually ran a couple more after because things went so well. The tank had a lower DPS but a better understanding of how to work with the group than the "leet" tank we had before.

My warlock is Demonology speced as well, again not the spec that would be accepted as being the highest damage. It's a lot of fun for me and I can solo very well. In fact I have been taking down rare's that I have been unable to beat with my warrior which is around 482 ilvl with my warlock that is 466 ilvl and I don't even have to think twice about taking most of them on.

I love my arms warrior and the play style just fits me, tried fury and just can not make it work. I started working with another guild and was asked many times to leave mine and join theirs. I declined but offered to place my paladin in their guild level it and act as a healer. I stuck with that commitment and have continued to keep that character in their guild to this day. There are some good people there but it seems my other characters are no longer needed or desired as their guild has grown beyond me. I was directing them here for information as soon as I began running with them as they were doing progression and I was relearning after a long hiatus form the game.

I still have my own guild and though I would enjoy doing much more of the end content I have one major problem, sometimes it is hard for me being the geek to go out and join in on the pug groups and I do not want to leave all the work I have put in to my own guild either. I am severely saddened that people can be so cruel as to not give someone a chance or to try and help them out in the first place. It doesn't take being a member of a group or a specific community to help your fellow human being out so why should it be ANY different in game? I would hope that anyone who is saddened by the story Peelyon found to not only think about in game but real life as well. If you look at someone else and judge them before understanding them then you surely should think about changing the way you look at things.

[Peelyon 416]

Great replies everyone.

For me there are two important things to mention.

1. I think a large proportion of the game have forgotten that at one time we were all "new" to WoW. For some WoW was the first MMO they have played, so as well as learning the actual game, the interactions and the fact that the game is an MMO also has its challenges when you are first starting out.

Warcraft is so old now that players who have been playing for a number of years can sometimes get frustrated by new players, after all things like finding the reagent vendor in a city was something you've known for ages right? Even myself (who I consider to be fairly helpful and friendly in game), have become frustrated when players ask really simple questions such as where is the auction house. This is sometimes compounded by the fact of "why don't you just ask a guard?". The fact that the player may have no idea that guards actually provide information may have slipped our minds, because for us its second nature.

I hardly ever play horde (highest lvl toon is lvl 34), and so on the odd occasion I do make an alt in a city I am totally totally lost! Now I would never ask in trade where the auction house is because I know it is quicker easier and less hassle than asking in general chat or trade chat. Sadly on the flip side, when people do ask these certain questions (and this has happened to me before), the person asking them has turned out to be a troll and you feel stupid yourself for even being helpful (which is sad in a totally different way).

2. The second point is players need to help themselves. I have had various players who have been under performing and you try and have a discussion with them about how and why, and you perhaps give them information, show them a few websites and try and get them to understand. They nod, they agree but never actually do anything about it. This again is another way of deterring players from helping each other. I've spent a fair amount of my time to help players when they aren't actually wanting to help themselves. Sadly the more WoW has developed the "easier" the game has become, and for certain players they feel they should be rewarded for little effort.

I think it's easy to say that players and the community should help each other more, but when you have been burned on many occasions when you have been trying to be honest and helpful it can make you feel even worse than if you hadnt have bothered to help in the first place. This in itself is very sad, but there will be a lot of players out there that maybe think after 5+ years of being as helpful as they can be, they have done their "time" of being helpful and now just want to play the game.

(More food for thought perhaps).

[Raventiger 0]

Well am old new player, in that I played a lot of vallana WOW, took a big break and came back to it just recently to find a very different game. Having said that I've found this community and my guild to be very welcoming, although I'm a tad worried about my Fire mage's dps in dungeons, he' only 33, and I keep telling myself that he's got a lot way to go.

[Chibrius 2]

This hit me right in the feels as well... I personally was too afraid of that kind of bullying when I was new to the game, so I refused to raid, and instead stuck with battlegrounds. Finally, I had a friend notice how terrible I was, and he instructed and guided me, molding me into the player I am now. I have done my best to pay it forward, doing the same for some guildies that my husband and I picked up a couple years back. They were a mage and warlock, husband and wife team, whose DPS was inconsistant and usually below the tank as well. My husband, being a warlock, helped out as best he could. I didn't know anything about mages, but the friend that taught me all I knew, did, so I grabbed him and asked him to teach our new guildie everything he could.

Point A. Helping these guildies out earned my husband and I some wonderful friends, and they always come to us with questions about mechanics or rotations, because they know we will not make them feel more inadequate than they already do. It would behoove us all to remember that we all learn differently, and sometimes it takes being shown and verbally explained before something clicks, rather than just reading a thread online about rotations or a boss encounter.

Point B. The amount of elitism, and just plain bad manners due to not being held accountable, is rampant. LFR, LFG, all those things that have been implemented to make the game more accessible has really only served to make players whine more, sit back and be carried, not have to learn mechanics, and not have to form core groups of friends or guildmates. Nobody has to be civil to each other if they don't want to, and its just sad.

I know the community here at Icy Veins is wonderful, but perhaps we should all go out of our way to show some of our guildmates and friends the article that sparked this thread, especially those ones (you know who they are) that have sounded much like those elitist bullies.

Sounds like an anti-cyber-bullying campaign, lol... I'll get off my soapbox now. =) Cheers!

Edit: Typos!

Edited February 10, 2013 by Chibrius

[NightShade 14]

I fully agree about helping others and them helping themselves. I have a sometimeish friend who COULD NOT figure things out. I showed him some tricks and how to work the characters a little better. Preached about moving to an area with the proper level quest to help maximize xp gains and even sat down one evening and worked his character up from 76 to 79 Nearly 80. He still was unable to continue progressing after that point through cata at a decent rate. Once he did make it to 85 he was unable to do dailies regular enough to pay back the gold he had gotten from me for flight skills. But putting the effort in to help others is something we should all be doing.

I think one of the bad things for LFR has been the inclusion of the brazillian and south american realms. The players have been in the game much less time and just like other areas they have their own. . . unknown way of doing things. I know that playing on US realms you often ask before needing on something that would be offspec so that others have the opportunity and if you don't need it it's a greed role. I have noticed that the other area's just roll need on anything that has a need button especially lockboxes and blue or purple items. It makes things difficult when there is not only a language barrier but also an etiquette difference as well.

I know that a lot of LFR groups votekick them for things like that especially because if its just a green now it may be something much more worthwhile later and it seems to be the only way to teach them as they ignore chat.

I myself had never played a MMO before starting wow but had played Diablo2 a ton and am actualyl geek enough to have the LOD symbol fromt eh back of the box tattooed on my back. Before starting wow I had been helping to maintain and admin some FPS servers and Though I sometimes got complaints that I was too strict on keeping people to the rules it was few and far between because I kept EVERYONE to the same rules paying members or general public were treated all the same. I started playing WoW as I had always thought it would be fun and at the time I was donating over 50.00 per month to help keep the other game servers going and I had said I wouldn't play WoW as it was a monthly fee. I finally said WTH am I doing paying so everyone can play on my dime and bought a copy of wow that day.

[CyaSteve 3]

Everything about this hit me right in the feels. I'm not anything super spectacular but I'm also not a low-end player either. It took me a bit to get to where I am today and although I didn't get much help, the help I did get was appreciated. I try to pass that on to others when I play. I compose raid groups of pugs and will typically give everyone a shot provided they are willing.

I have also experienced first hand how aggressive and unforgiving gaming communities can be and it warms my heart to see people out there who are willing to help upcoming players.

[chillerfreezer 5]

this is a bad news :( whats happening!

[Damien 1,514]

I think that, from now on, I will be more patient with people in Heroic Dungeons or in LFR :)

[Mixae 0]

I read the whole thing and almost cried. I empathize with this guy I know how it feels to be hated by people and have a shitty family. I hope he's doing better...