World of Warcraft - Almost A Single-Player Experience

I've been subbed to World of Warcraft for more than 8 years now. Unfortunately, gone are the days when I could spend all day playing, and raiding all evening and laughing with people on voice comms. Real life gets in the way, and we must embrace it.

Fortunately for people like me Blizzard has realized that those of us who have commitments still want to experience content and may never lose their emotional bond with their character (my Paladin and I are tight). WoW now offers more ways to play without the need for friends (or scheduling the game into your life).

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Solo content

Back in the olden days of lovingly auto-attacking my way through the expansive zones of Azeroth, group quests were either an exciting or irritating addition to the questing experience. I played on a low populated server and this meant that it was usually difficult to find other people on the same group quest as me. I'd often end up abandoning them, dismayed that I was unable to complete the zone. This is rarely an issue these days, playing through Draenor it was rare I found a quest that I was unable to solo. I was able to leave each zone content that I had finished it 100%.

Speaking of soloing, everyone at max level is now able to solo old dungeons and raids. Not only is this great fun (smashing bosses down in a few hits that would've previously made guilds disband is crazy enjoyable), but there's also a lot to get out of it, such as transmogrification gear, gold, mounts and pets. This has become one of my favorite past times in the game, and I am always excited when it’s reset-day so I can go run every raid again.

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Looking for group and Looking for Raid tools

The game would get dull fast, however, if the player didn't experience any multiplayer at all. I mean, we're playing a MM[ultiplayer]ORPG right!? In a sense both the LFG and LFR tools allow a player to be matched with other players who want to run the same content as you with little to no effort. This is great as it allows players to see the game's content without having to commit to a raiding schedule, and players are able to easily gear up their alts with little effort.

However, if you're looking for a sense of community LFG and LFR are rarely a good place to find it. Join an average LFG dungeon run and it's pretty rare to actually talk to another player (unless something goes wrong, then you get a nice big dose of JohnnyCapsLock). This is apparent also in LFR where player attitudes are rarely positive, and mistakes (though much easier to conceal than that of harder raids) can be called out by other players, which can end up with half of the raid harassing one player. It's toxicity that can ruin a community (here's looking at you League of Legends).

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The Group Finder

Possibly one of my favorite things about the current state of WoW is that the group finder allows players to look for groups for any kind of content they desire, and pick and choose who joins their group. Gone are the days when the player is limited to other people on their server. The group finder allows players to find others of the same region who want to group for harder or niche content, and find groups for PvP.

The only issue with the group finder is a player finds someone that they have genuinely enjoyed playing with. To play with that person again both players must agree to add each other on Battle.net. But some players are reluctant to do so as it can reveal the player’s name in real life, and a sense of anonymity is lost. However, if you are content to add people to your friends list, or never play with those people again, then the Group Finder is a great tool.

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On the Flipside...

By no way am I endorsing that playing the game solo is in any way better than having a great group of friends. WoW contains content that is still very difficult to do without people to help you—for example the Shadowmorne questline requires a few friends in order to complete the Blood Queen quest correctly. There's an extremely low chance you will find anyone to help through the group finder tool. Challenge Mode dungeons are extremely difficult, and downright frustrating without proper voice comms and group setup, but with a small group of friends they become some of the most fun bits of current content in the game.

I believe WoW is still a game with social requirements—endgame PvE and PvP are nigh impossible without knowing other players to group with, and having friends to help. I think this is apparent in the way Blizzard is moving forward in Legion, putting particular emphasis on 5 man content, putting players in a position where it's in their best interests to form small groups. For that I am genuinely excited, and wishing my life away for Legion!