I really do not see your point OP, I assume you are talking about grouping for PvE with your rant. I have not found a need to group at all this far in my travels for PvE. I have 5 characters, 36 is the highest so far also a 31 two 25's and a 23. I have not tried the first dungeon yet because I was wrapped up in the story lines and completeing maps 100%. 

In a way your already grouped with everyone on the server. I like just running around exploring whatever I feel like running to with no plan at all, plans or following others is boring for me and if I had to group just to explore the game would not be as fun. Everywhere I go though there is atleast 1 or 2 others people there so I just hang along side them and chat a little, if they respond great if not no big deal for me. If I see people fighting something I run over and help out or heal them if they have fallen.

This game is actually pretty hard to chat and explore at the same time since you always have to pay attention to what your doing. I miss alot of stuff in guild chat or map chat because I don't have time to sit there and read it all while trying to navigate, fight, stay alive and collect stuff at the same time.

WvW we group up with guild members and thats about the only time I actually grouped with anyone yet. But for PvE, I love the freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want without being ball and chained to a group that wants to go down a certain path that I may want to go another way.

Originally posted by Kuro1n
I agree OP, this game really is a SOLO game deluxe. lol

^ hasn't played the game ^

               or

^is being sarcastic^

Originally posted by Wrender
Wat about  The Secret World? Is it any different because I was interested in trying it simply for the challenge everyone is saying it can be tough as hell later lvls...

I beg forgiveness posting this in GW2 forum, but he did ask:

For social interaction you'll need a guild (cabal) or rely on the random PUG experience like in most games.

I find the game harder than most (not Kingsmouth, the first starter zone) and you sure can get horrendously difficult encounters both group-wise and solo.

The main reason to play TSW is the storyline. The main reason not to play is hmmm character development (crafting, occupation, house/ cabal-projects). Also, completing the epic epic storyline left me empty with a feelig of just having finished a wonderful journey (no pun intended).

I had to create a seperate tab just for guild and switch to it because /map kept spamming so quickly it was pushing out guild chat before I could read it, so not sure what we are talking about here. I feel far more social in this game than I have in a long time. To me, being social is helping each other complete the events, fighting through waves of mobs to help get a downed person up, watching a guardian push to the front to try and protect people the people behind them that they have never met, watching an ele switch weapons so they can cast their heals and support spells so that everyone can complete the event, that is as social as you can get, and to me blows what any other game has done in a long time out of the water. 

Forced grouping, or even dungeon grouping is not social. I must have completed 100+ dungeons in the dungeon finder in WoW without anyone ever saying a word, and I cant tell you how many group quests I completed in SWTOR where no one said a word after the initial group was formed. 

People may not chit chat through the DE's, but to me the actions of all the players around you makes it a great social experience. 

It's true that you don't have to set up a group or talk to other players in order to play together, but I find the best thing about the gw2 system is that you can just dive in and help others first, and then this often leads to a conversation later - and usually a pleasant one due to the feeling of cameraderie which has grown in the shared battle.

I think while we're all quite new to the game a lot of people are still figuring out how to play, and in busy events there always seems to be something happening, so sometimes I find it's all you can do to bash out a quick 'thanks' to the guy who comes and rezzes you, before the next wave of the event starts. This is most often the case at busy times when there are loads of players for each event.

At quieter times though, it's different. Yesterday I was playing at about 5am (a quiet time for me before work when the kids are still asleep) and got involved in a boss fight at the end of an event chain in Kessex Hills. There were two other players, and we kept going at the bandit foreman, getting downed, rezzing each other and coming back from the waypoint. Even though we didn't manage to kill the boss in the end it was all great fun and I ended up chatting to these two players for ages afterwards.

Originally posted by StanlyStanko
Being auto-grouped hasn't made people much more sociable. Most still just run off in all directions when the DE ends. But it's not really a game problem, it's a people problem.

 Actually ...It is the games problem, because for people to really interact in a game ..Well,  they NEED to be forced to do so. Sorry, but as much as I hate to say it, this is the truth.

These past years and a multitude of MMO's later has proven this point many times over..

Just bacause a game has a auto group feature , did they really expect players to talk..the group is already  formed so what more is there  to talk about then ???

Strategy ? Hmm..I guess these solo missions really needs a strategy !!

It's the age of mainstreaming and solitude, and It will not go away..

TSW is the best alternative for you thou,  If you want a new MMO atleast,,sure it has alot of solo stuff in this game aswell, but the group missions are really really good and demands alot from your group..

+5% Magic Find for being in a group. Everyone is happy.

If you can not find anyone to play with in guild wars 2 then maybe it's just you.

Originally posted by Wrender

C'mon I thought pretty much all new MMO's were nothing but solo online games but GW2 takes the grand prize here. No one groups at all, ever...

 I feel like I am playing a solo game.

I havent played a solo rpg in like 10 yrs and this aspect of GW2 is driving me absolutly crazy. I play MMO's to interact and overcome challenges with like minded players I meet in game.

I left TERA for this?

I like the games asthetics and artwork but this lack of any social interaction is killing me and I see myself going back to TERA pretty soon now.

There is just really not much point in lvling to 80 if I am doing it without mingling with a single real life human being?

Is this what our society has become? Anti social freAKS THAT ARE HATING ON EVERY OTHER HUMAN BEING ON THE PLANET? iT'S BAD ENOUGH driving around in my car and observing how pissed off about 90% of everyone I meet is but it should be different in an mmo game where everyone is expected to have fun in an online game.

ANyone else feel this way.

I am not in a guild yet so hopefully when and if I get in one this will change or it will sadly be uninstalled and sold to a friend.

I have ran my guild  for 14yrs, this is true and seen how many people are anti social in this game compared to any MMo on the market, we had to change rules  on recruiting because people refuse to use forums, they refuse to use teamspeak, they refuse to group.

I have never ever seen this in any MMO, ever, we been a guild that loves to talk to our members and hang out, and we see the opposite from new members and from recruiting, them saying we have to use TS no way, we have to sign up to a forum no way!!

So its a joke in this game, if I wanted a single player game, I would NOT have a guild and I would play Skyrim more often and alone.. Sad but the OP is correct, also I seen most people join guilds just for the upgrades.....

They want guilds of 200 people, which is a Joke, I have ran guilds with 4k members and its full of drama and most big guilds to explode, we been around and done well with being a guild of 50 members in each game, we also complete all content with that amount..

Sometimes we may go to 100 but very rare. Maybe we are old school,. we like to hang out and get to know people for years not just for a few months, I dont get alot of gamers today, so anti social.

---

Originally posted by romanator0
Maybe if people stopped bitching about how nobody talks and then actually spoke to other people they might have less of a reason to bitch. 

GW2 is putting people to stick together and encouraging them to stick together. That's more social than just about any other MMO out right now. The game isn't going to make people be social automatically so why don't the people complaining actually put in an effort to be social.

And LOL at the person who said GW2 is anti-social because everything is a zerg. Even if everything were just a zerg at least you are still running around with a group of people. That's more than can be said of games like TOR, WoW, TSW, etc. where you run around completely alone and game mechanics actively discourage being near people.

---

honestly?

if I ask a question I get trolled. Sometimes I get an answer, but never a discussion.

any time I say something silly .. to try and lighten the mood or start a conversation, I get crickets.

in fact anytime I say anything that isn't really troll worthy, all I get is crickets.

maybe you should stop assuming we aren't trying to be social?

Originally posted by terrant

Here I am, derping along on my thief, all by my lonesome in some scary part of the world. I round a corner and BAM! Veteran Somethingoranother waiting to gobble me up. It hasn't seen me yet...I might be able to take thisguy but it would be tough. Wait, there's a Warrior over there. He looks at me, I look at him. No words are said. As one, we charge the soon-to-be-pasted Vet.

 

I'm on my Mesmer. Scooting along, indiscriminantly murdering things, having a good time.There's an enginner down the road who bit off more than he can chew. He just dodge rolled right into a knock down...ouch. He's on the ground, health is low. It looks bad for him...the first mob eats the magic bullet and is stunned. His dazed friend can't attack. The third one is blind, his attack misses by a mile. By the time they recover, I'm in the middle, sword swinging.  The engi offers his thanks as we take out the trash.

 

I'm on my Guardian doing jumping puzzles. Because I like high repair bills and I might be slightly crazy. But I have fun. There's a big fatass Charr in front of me.Somehow, as we mess up and start over during the easy parts, we're always side by side. We develop a grudging respect as we clear bottomless pits and mobs together. Then I spazz out on a jump, fall, and die. well, time to release and run...wait, what? He carefully made his way down, meaning he has to start all over again, to rez me? Later we BOTH screw up a jump, his corpse landing neatly on top of mine. "Nice of you to drop in" I quip. We laugh for a good ten minutes.

 

This is the kind of thing I've had happen to me in GW2. You just have to look for it.

 I have had the exact oppisit experiance. Just yeaterday I was derping along, and there was a Vetern somethingorother. There was also a Warrior. I charged. The Warrior let me get aggro, clicked the clicky behind said Vet and took off to let me die.

Originally posted by Misaris

@OP I feel with you

GW2 fails in more ways than expected, even the socialising aspect of other MMOs is weak here

 

 

It is the same as any other mmorpg. You form groups the same way and interact through a chat window. Your party is pulled up on the left hand side the exact same way as WoW and Rift or any other top AAA game. No difference.

Hey here's an idea, lets suggest Anet that they remove the shared contribution system, so that everyone needs to group up manually for each event before engaging in it! No wait, lets not suggest that, since it's stupid D'OH!

I dont recall anyone talking in Rifts invasions either, or in TOR's heroic quests, in WoW people dont talk for a fact since there's not even any group content in that game on the open world. But I know for a fact that people are talking to eachother, I talk with my brother when we play, and I talk with some friends on my guild often, maybe try to make some friends if feeling a bit lonely? It helps. Sometimes I go totally nuts and chat with some complete strangers about builds and stuff!

Originally posted by rodingo

Originally posted by Kuro1n
I agree OP, this game really is a SOLO game deluxe. lol

^ hasn't played the game ^

               or

^is being sarcastic^

Because I think this game is a solo game? Really now, are you trying to bait me with that lame comment? 0/10.

I played the game and I'm not being sarcastic, I've tried to talk to people lots and lots with no response most of the time, in map talk theres usually just no response and in /s people just walk past you etc.

Thing is this game is designed in such a way you dont need to talk to others in order to complete stuff, 95% of the time you can just go with the zerg and finish your task then back to solo again or simply follow the zerg for something new unless they simply instantly port away to a waypoint in order to run their DE loop.

There's a major gap trying to compare more modern faster paced MMO to Everquest or Shadowbane where you had camps and one person pulling while everyone else waited for the pull and sat on thier asses. Downtime leads to chat. Guild Wars 2 has no downtime other than being dead and waiting for a rez, which most people take the time to type, "ty".

Join a guild, get ventrillo or skype and talk to friends while you game. You can't blame the game for being anti-social when it's entirely up to the player.

Originally posted by terrant

Here I am, derping along on my thief, all by my lonesome in some scary part of the world. I round a corner and BAM! Veteran Somethingoranother waiting to gobble me up. It hasn't seen me yet...I might be able to take thisguy but it would be tough. Wait, there's a Warrior over there. He looks at me, I look at him. No words are said. As one, we charge the soon-to-be-pasted Vet.

 

I'm on my Mesmer. Scooting along, indiscriminantly murdering things, having a good time.There's an enginner down the road who bit off more than he can chew. He just dodge rolled right into a knock down...ouch. He's on the ground, health is low. It looks bad for him...the first mob eats the magic bullet and is stunned. His dazed friend can't attack. The third one is blind, his attack misses by a mile. By the time they recover, I'm in the middle, sword swinging.  The engi offers his thanks as we take out the trash.

 

I'm on my Guardian doing jumping puzzles. Because I like high repair bills and I might be slightly crazy. But I have fun. There's a big fatass Charr in front of me.Somehow, as we mess up and start over during the easy parts, we're always side by side. We develop a grudging respect as we clear bottomless pits and mobs together. Then I spazz out on a jump, fall, and die. well, time to release and run...wait, what? He carefully made his way down, meaning he has to start all over again, to rez me? Later we BOTH screw up a jump, his corpse landing neatly on top of mine. "Nice of you to drop in" I quip. We laugh for a good ten minutes.

 

This is the kind of thing I've had happen to me in GW2. You just have to look for it.

 Awsome story man, That actually perked me up! Thanks

Originally posted by Kuro1n

Originally posted by rodingo

Originally posted by Kuro1n
I agree OP, this game really is a SOLO game deluxe. lol

^ hasn't played the game ^

               or

^is being sarcastic^

Because I think this game is a solo game? Really now, are you trying to bait me with that lame comment? 0/10.

I played the game and I'm not being sarcastic, I've tried to talk to people lots and lots with no response most of the time, in map talk theres usually just no response and in /s people just walk past you etc.

 

Thing is this game is designed in such a way you dont need to talk to others in order to complete stuff, 95% of the time you can just go with the zerg and finish your task then back to solo again or simply follow the zerg for something new unless they simply instantly port away to a waypoint in order to run their DE loop.

Exactly this, this has been driving me insane.

I don't know why, but the GW2 playerbase is the least talkitive, least social playerbase i've ever seen, and the game's design isn't helping.

I'm going to have to agree also. GW2 is probably the most anti-social friendly MMO I've seen. Sure some people will find it easy to make friends and what not, but the problem is the forced grouping system. As past posters have said, everyone is ALWAYS in a group, no communication necessary. Basically you run around to different events and do them beside other people not with them. You're not working as a team, you just happen to have similar goals in the same area. It's like if they let exclamation quests share with non group members just for tagging a mob (oh wait....dynamic events).

Guilds, dungeons, sure whatever, but the major problem really is how you FEEL like you're halfway part of some larger group (read: posts above). BUT you're not actually in social contact with any of them, nobody talks or anything. This isn't anything bad, anti-social as I am, I prefer this "soloing." Its actually no different from playing with NPC henchmen. But just looking at the stuff above you can see that people think they're "grouping." I dunno, maybe the feeling is different for everyone. But to me these dynamic events feel like soloing.