It was nice getting to know you

So, as I write this patch 3.3 is being greased up and shoved into the server. It is truly a bittersweet moment for me. On the one hand, I am chomping at the bit to get the random dungeon tool and the anticipated drastic reduction in time and effort required to find a group to run an instance, as well as the inflated rewards, but on the other hand, I will miss only having one server's population of puggers to choose from.

This sense of loss was driven hom for me last night. I ran five dungeons with three different groups and I recognized people in all but one of those runs - heck, the last pair was a case of someone who'd tanked for me many times over the last few weeks specifically picking me out as a good healer he could trust.

Pugging has its downsides, sure, but you cannot dismiss the fact that it was always a way to get to know people on your server and for people who were actually good at playing the game, it was a doorway to content. Adding and being added to friends lists was always a compliment and you could expect to get that stray tell now and then when a tank or healer was needed.

Cross-server LFG is going to put something of an end to that networking componenet of pugging. We're going to be running things with a pool of people so very much larger, the vast majority of whom we will be completely unable to communicate with or to seek out for future runs. Sure, you can still have a little cadre of people from your server that you can form a group with and then finish out the roster with the tool, but the chances of meeting those people going forward will be much reduced.

Oh sure, you can still try to form a group just from people on your server. You can spam the server LFG channel, you can shout in trade and general, but why would you do that? The new tool will match you faster and give you greater rewards if you aren't picky about which dungeon you go to. What you can do will always take a back seat to what you will do.

In the end, we are getting to run more instances, shorter queue times, and less shouting in LFG, but the price we pay in anonymity - for ourselves and from the people we run with. This worries me somewhat. In server-only pugging, you had a reputation to play for. If you were a jerk, there were 4 people who might never run with you again. If you ninja'd that sword, someone would never forget it. If you were awesome, you went on the list of someone who could pay you back in the future. People would often appologize for mistakes, people would often ask politely to roll on off-spec gear, people seemed to have a sense that they were operating in a closed community for the most part. I worry that the new tools, with their combination of seperation and escape will only allow the worst in people to emerge - both the active asshattery and the passive inhumanity - and bring with it a general decline in civility and enjoyment.

Even if it doesn't, the odds of my ever getting paired with anyone I know ever again are slimmed. That is a bit sad. As I said to the group I ran ToC with well after I should have been in bed last night - this could very well be the last time any of us see one another, it was certainly nice getting to meet you all.