Has roleplaying become too isolated?

[Deleted]

It's more like filling in the holes in the lore that already exists. There is essentially no standard for the lore on Alliance shadow priests in it's practice, training, and practical use as there is for say warlocks which are very firmly represented in such ways through locations, quests, and lore. So, no it's not really free fantasy as much as it is adding on to existing fantasy as it does fall into the already set boundaries of the game's lore.

There were one Human Shadow Priest, her teachings were confiscated by the Kirin Tor. There are no legal shadow cults in the alliance we know and it's to assume that the Church of holy Light wouldn't allow void users and whores to train on their ground.

That's just like forming a warlock cult on the exodar.

[Lady Dragonheart]

There were one Human Shadow Priest, her teachings were confiscated by the Kirin Tor. There are no legal shadow cults in the alliance we know and it's to assume that the Church of holy Light wouldn't allow void users and whores to train on their ground.

That's just like forming a warlock cult on the exodar.

So you're saying that there are no Alliance shadow priests in existence? That must suck for any Alliance shadow priest roleplayers, as they're a specialization that shouldn't exist now.

Where do they train? Where do they learn the specialization in the first place? Where is the catalyst for people that possess the specialization?

[Koryn123]

So you're saying that there are no Alliance shadow priests in existence? That must suck for any Alliance shadow priest roleplayers, as they're a specialization that shouldn't exist now.

Where do they train? Where do they learn the specialization in the first place? Where is the catalyst for people that possess the specialization?

Well, in the Vanilla WoW guidebook my uncle gave me when I was like 13 and I pored over extensively, there are little page-long short snippets of story to give each class some identity, and for the warlock, it told a short little thing where a caster enters an inn, and people look up, but don't stare too long, as mages aren't too uncommon in those parts, then the person walks to the cellar in the kitchen, stepping down into the basement where some warlocks are practicing. So the person was a warlock, but people assumed they were just a mage, and they practice in secret down in basements because most people would see them and freak out because of demons and such. They're about to start learning from them, when they hear someone about to walk down to the cellar, but they turned out to just be some drunk guy who stumbled, but the two pulled out their wands, prepared to kill somebody if they had to in order to keep their activities a secret. It's just not something people generally respond well to. I doubt a common peasant kid, brought up on stories of how evil the demons are, would react well if he saw a huge Infernal walking around with a warlock. I'd assume it's a similar situation for shadow priests in Light-based regions, practicing in secret.

Not knocking it or anything, but I can't really see the Cathedral of Light folks being too keen on having stuff they'd probably normally condemn happening in their own building. Just my opinion, though. RP is fun in that you can do whatever you like if everyone involved in your RP circle is fine with it, and people who don't like it don't have to be a part of it if they find it too lore-breaking.

[Lady Dragonheart]

Well, in the Vanilla WoW guidebook my uncle gave me when I was like 13 and I pored over extensively, there are little page-long short snippets of story to give each class some identity, and for the warlock, it told a short little thing where a caster enters an inn, and people look up, but don't stare too long, as mages aren't too uncommon in those parts, then the person walks to the cellar in the kitchen, stepping down into the basement where some warlocks are practicing. So the person was a warlock, but people assumed they were just a mage, and they practice in secret down in basements because most people would see them and freak out because of demons and such. They're about to start learning from them, when they hear someone about to walk down to the cellar, but they turned out to just be some drunk guy who stumbled, but the two pulled out their wands, prepared to kill somebody if they had to in order to keep their activities a secret. It's just not something people generally respond well to. I doubt a common peasant kid, brought up on stories of how evil the demons are, would react well if he saw a huge Infernal walking around with a warlock. I'd assume it's a similar situation for shadow priests in Light-based regions, practicing in secret.

Not knocking it or anything, but I can't really see the Cathedral of Light folks being too keen on having stuff they'd probably normally condemn happening in their own building. Just my opinion, though. RP is fun in that you can do whatever you like if everyone involved in your RP circle is fine with it, and people who don't like it don't have to be a part of it if they find it too lore-breaking.

This is essentially the case, when around the Cathedral of Light or in SW (or any other major Alliance city), we are normally garbed in clothes that wouldn't announce our study of darker arts. Sometimes that of the same as out Light-based sisters and brothers. When entering, it is actually custom to enter the building in those means, were we disrobe while in the catacombs unveiling ourselves as we are in order to continue the training.

This is beside the point in times when Lorelei is doing other things. As her nature takes her to a variety of places, those places often require a variety of appeal in order to do her duties to her priesthood. It is why I keep a variety of other vestments, commoner's clothes, noble's finery, nightwear, in addition to combat regalia.

I mean, in all seriousness, if evaluating everyone on what they wore in combat as what they wore all the time would be very tedious, especially when out of character and just in town doing game-orientated objectives and not RP ones.

[Koryn123]

This is essentially the case, when around the Cathedral of Light or in SW (or any other major Alliance city), we are normally garbed in clothes that wouldn't announce our study of darker arts. Sometimes that of the same as out Light-based sisters and brothers. When entering, it is actually custom to enter the building in those means, were we disrobe while in the catacombs unveiling ourselves as we are in order to continue the training.

This is beside the point in times when Lorelei is doing other things. As her nature takes her to a variety of places, those places often require a variety of appeal in order to do her duties to her priesthood. It is why I keep a variety of other vestments, commoner's clothes, noble's finery, nightwear, in addition to combat regalia.

I mean, in all seriousness, if evaluating everyone on what they wore in combat as what they wore all the time would be very tedious, especially when out of character and just in town doing game-orientated objectives and not RP ones.

Yup, sounds about right. But I mean, like, in my opinion, the Church of Holy Light folks probably wouldn't allow a shadow priest sect to practice in their building. So, unless they were in disguise, and the Holy guys didn't know they were doing shadow stuff, it'd be hard to explain.

So do they do all their shadow priest stuff in the Cathedral of Light? Or some other sneaky spot away from followers of the Light? Like a basement of a tavern run by a follower of the shadow priesthood people, letting them hang out there?

[Lady Dragonheart]

Yup, sounds about right. But I mean, like, in my opinion, the Church of Holy Light folks probably wouldn't allow a shadow priest sect to practice in their building. So, unless they were in disguise, and the Holy guys didn't know they were doing shadow stuff, it'd be hard to explain.

So do they do all their shadow priest stuff in the Cathedral of Light? Or some other sneaky spot away from followers of the Light? Like a basement of a tavern run by a follower of the shadow priesthood people, letting them hang out there?

There other RPs outside of the Cathedral, naturally. It's more like a meetup spot than anything else. Of course we RP there in some aspects, but it is also a very limited setting to begin with. Most places are sites of Old God activity and conquered Twilight's Hammer locations. Especially since some of us are ex-Twilight, Lorelei included.

[Koryn123]

There other RPs outside of the Cathedral, naturally. It's more like a meetup spot than anything else. Of course we RP there in some aspects, but it is also a very limited setting to begin with. Most places are sites of Old God activity and conquered Twilight's Hammer locations. Especially since some of us are ex-Twilight, Lorelei included.

Gotcha. That's neat. If it were me, I'd do a lot of stuff in those Whispering Woods in Tirisfal Glades with the circle of mushrooms and all those freaky black stags with green glowing eyes. All those creepy whispers that play there periodically like the "You shall dwell in Nya'lotha" stuff.

[Pua]

Gotcha. That's neat. If it were me, I'd do a lot of stuff in those Whispering Woods in Tirisfal Glades with the circle of mushrooms and all those freaky black stags with green glowing eyes. All those creepy whispers that play there periodically like the "You shall dwell in Nya'lotha" stuff.

The original Strahnbrad was one of my favourite places. The haunting sounds of people eating at the inn, despite nobody being there... Loved it.

[Deleted]

So you're saying that there are no Alliance shadow priests in existence? That must suck for any Alliance shadow priest roleplayers, as they're a specialization that shouldn't exist now.

Where do they train? Where do they learn the specialization in the first place? Where is the catalyst for people that possess the specialization?

There is no shadow-based religion in the alliance. Even Moira, the Leader of the Darkiron-Dwarfs seems to be a Light-Priest. I think the darkest Priests of the Alliance would be Discipline Priests, Priests wo still believe in Light and use it predominantly but are not above using dark spells if it helps their higher goal.

[PuppetShowJustice]

There is no shadow-based religion in the alliance.

Which is absurd, really. Let's be honest, Priest lore hasn't really been fleshed out in....forever? The game lore also never really justified Gnome Priests at all but they exist. I consider Alliance Shadow Priests to be in pretty much the same boat of "This is a thing but we don't really talk about why."

[endersblade]

I have tried to RP in WoW, but I don't feel that WoW lends itself to good RP'ing. It's very limited in scope of what you can accomplish in my opinion.

Now, I may be a stuffed up snob about RP'ing, as I've spent many decades doing it in real life. Especially Vampire: The Masquerade, not to mention tabletop stuff like D&D. (I know, D&D isn't the same KIND of RP that we're talking about, but there are similarities.)

I had a lot of fun RP'ing in games like Neverwinter Nights (Not the MMO, and again, similar but not the same was what goes on in WoW because of lack of a DM), and again, tried for a while in WoW. Making a million macros for emotes and stuff just got tiresome, and I found that many times the childishness on RP servers was just not worth the effort.

I even tried RP'ing in dungeons once, and that was a mighty headache.

As for the immediate time period, again, it's because we're in a content drought. Lots of people have unsubbed for the time being, it happens all the time. RP servers tend to not feel this AS much, but they still do. It'll pick back up once Legion releases.

[Deleted]

Which is absurd, really. Let's be honest, Priest lore hasn't really been fleshed out in....forever? The game lore also never really justified Gnome Priests at all but they exist. I consider Alliance Shadow Priests to be in pretty much the same boat of "This is a thing but we don't really talk about why."

It's absurd that it would be illogical that a faction who predominantly worships order, the nature or the holy Light has no Shadow Religions? Also, I don't see how former Twilight's Hammer Members should get a place in the Alliance.

[Deleted]

The only RP I've actually engaged in within WoW that was somewhat engaging was when I organized some old guildies to level a brand new batch of characters In-characterly as a group, once a week. It ensured that the interactions brought to the table was level-headed, from socially well-adjusted people, and gave tons of non-city derping around to actually interact about.

Beyond that I don't think In-client RP is actually worth much, all you are doing is putting up limitations for yourself in visual/location/scene potential with nothing in return. Perhaps cutting out on text requirements for positional emotes and an actual combat system being available if you want to take advantage might be two minor pluses, but it's far better to try and figure out off-server RP with likeminded.

My two cents anyway.

[Lady Dragonheart]

Gotcha. That's neat. If it were me, I'd do a lot of stuff in those Whispering Woods in Tirisfal Glades with the circle of mushrooms and all those freaky black stags with green glowing eyes. All those creepy whispers that play there periodically like the "You shall dwell in Nya'lotha" stuff.

There some people that take it in the darker direction like that, yes. Some have more of a focus on sanity vs. insanity. Lorelei wasn't really one of those characters, she was very fanatically devoted to Benedictus and the part of the Cathedral of Light that split to join the Twilight's Hammer (which is actually a base for the Cathedral of Shadows, the notion of training, understanding, and learning the art and dangers of shadow magics instead of having a completely sociological disconnect from them, which is what many thought to be the cause for so many to be led astray by Benedictus to begin with, since it wasn't standardized or monitored then). However, she was actually captured by Horde, then saved by Alliance adventurers, which originally she thought of betraying to her masters, but over days and weeks of adventuring she grew fond of and learned that the world wasn't the horrible place that she'd been led to believe. That being the catalyst for her defection to Alliance, it wasn't that easy and Twilight's Hammer didn't take kindly to such defections, of course... Between bartering Twilight recon information and actively taking part against them in the wars that came along, it was a long journey towards a mild acceptance back into the Alliance. Even long after the defeat of Deathwing, she was still looked down on, not trusted, and has many social enemies.

[Cwimge]

RP servers/community can seem isolated because blizzard quickly stopped giving a fresh shit for us. Servers are pve realms that happen to have role players there as well. The more withdrawn attitudes are a result of every fucker with confused anger toward roleplaying rolling an alt on rp servers to screw around and generally piss everybody off.

[Pua]

RP servers/community can seem isolated because blizzard quickly stopped giving a fresh shit for us. Servers are pve realms that happen to have role players there as well. The more withdrawn attitudes are a result of every fucker with confused anger toward roleplaying rolling an alt on rp servers to screw around and generally piss everybody off.

I do think that's an issue, actually. I'm, at most, a casual role player; but the servers could be better used to house the community rather than having it a weird addition to what's essentially a PvE realm.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Compared to my current guildies and the players I meet on my regular PvE server, I am very much a role player. I have a sense of who each of my characters are, why they make the choices they make, and I sometimes decline quests/refuse to kill certain mobs because it just wouldn't make sense for my character to do that.

I grew up playing old school role playing games (DnD, Rolemaster, Hero Games) and game-mastering. But in those the players actions and role play could lead to real changes in the environment. The game master could play off the players role play too, having NPCs react. So I'm still on the fence a bit as to whether to take a plunge into WoW role play.

I like the idea of surrounding myself with players who try to flesh their characters out as fully dimensional personalities with their own goals and motivations. I'm not a big fan of clique-eshness, drama, or exclusive groups (even though I understand the need for boundaries to avoid some of the drama).

I did apply once to join Shadow Tusk with a new Troll character I developed, but got zero replies. Even after sending a follow-up message telling them I was open to tweaking anything that didn't fit with their group, I couldn't get the courtesy of a reply. And I tossed an idea out for another toon in this forum without getting a response. I get that many players are busy doing their own thing and no one owes it to others to invite them in, but it does leave one wondering "why bother?" I mean, if you aren't interacting (even if it's just hearing constructive feedback), then how is that different from role-playing in your own head on any other server?

[Felnoire]

I find that the isolation occurs most for new people, as they try to find where they'll fit and with whom they'll get along best with. It's quite a daunting prospect to step onto a stage, and in WoW your fellow actors are also your critics. More irksome for someone like myself who likes to know people beforehand, it's a quirk but it can certainly make this type of rping a difficult first step. So I can certainly understand why people would rather stick to guilds or small groups, than say going fully method mode and be in character to anyone they come across