Getting the most out of social interaction

XIV is my first ever MMO experience, and I'm psyched about it. I've played the beta since Phase 3 (thanks for the code EoFF!), and had a blast. It's a great RPG so far with an absorbing story and addictive gameplay.

But...I could write that last sentence about XII, or X, or VII, or Tales of Vesperia, or...you get my drift. This game is an MMO, which seems to suggest a certain level of social interaction. Yet, thus far, that seems to consist of:

1. Laughing at other players' funny character names and/or lack of clothes;
2. Partying with friends and/or strangers to tackle dungeons;
3. Watching other people shout stuff in the text box;
4. Buying and selling stuff maybe? I haven't really done that.

In other words, 97% of the time, other players are just bodies clogging up the screen of what otherwise functions as a solo game. Am I doing it wrong? What are some recommendations for taking positive advantage of the social nature of this game?

Nah, that's pretty much how I do it.

I think that's what constitutes a "social" game. I think the majority of the actual social aspect comes from joining a guild/Linkshell and getting to know people and continually doing runs with them.

The majority of the game is solo so you can do it at your own pace. However like Left 4 Dead for example MMOs become a lot more fun when playing with other people, whether that's simply just chatting in the LinkShell or doing Guildhests and Dungeons together or even just running around in an XP Party or even more (as is the case right now) just running around and exploring.

Alot of the social interaction also comes from striking deals with other players... ie you might be levelling your Armorsmithing but don't want to do Mining right now so you have a chat with a miner in the LS and make some sort of arrangement like "hey if you help me out with materials I'll make you some armor etc."

Higher end content like Raids etc can only be done with a group of people.

But for the most part you can do most of it without talking to anyone, the duty finder also allows you to do the group content that way. This is fine too, some people only play for the Lore etc and not being able to get a group when you really need one can be really frustrating so the bulk of it is solo so you can do it at your leisure. :)

But any MMO becomes way more fun when you do stuff in a group.

Join a few linkshells and get to know people, then the social aspect will open up greatly!

Also, I'm very surprised we didn't get shout spam about how World of Warcraft is better. Pretty much any MMO beta I get into has everyone shout spamming that. Though maybe that's due to a lack of global chat channels.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rostum

Join a few linkshells and get to know people, then the social aspect will open up greatly!

Also, I'm very surprised we didn't get shout spam about how World of Warcraft is better. Pretty much any MMO beta I get into has everyone shout spamming that. Though maybe that's due to a lack of global chat channels.

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I guess this is an American thing? In Europe whenever I go on a new MMO all general chat is full of is how much WoW sucks and how much [the game this is the beta of/new game] is better and how only kiddies and jobless basement dwellers play WoW etc.

ARR as a result has been one of the few games I haven't looked for a way of turning zone chat off within the first hour of play.