WoW RP - dead or not?

[May90]

Hi guys.

First a bit about myself. I am an old-school gamer, playing different games since 1992. But I didn't play MMOs much, except for Ultima Online about 10 years ago.
A few days ago I started playing SWTOR F2P and really liked it, the story, the gameplay, etc. Unfortunately there are not many people on European servers: even PvE has only about 100-150 people on each planet, let alone RP with 10 to 20 people mostly. It's great for story based game but, since it's made as MMO, feels a bit lonely sometimes.

So I decided to try WoW (Starter Edition). However, being not as story-based as SWTOR, the experience would be just slaying endless monsters while leveling-up. I read some articles about RP servers and decided to give them a shot. I picked Argent Dawn as seemingly the most popular RP server in Europe.

So I spent some time reading about post-WC3 events (as I had no clue what has happened since the end of TFT), made some research on Forsaken specifically and built up my female undead's story. Then I started playing.

However, in a few hours I've met only somewhere like 10 players, and they did not interact with me at all, they just ran around leveling up. I tried to roleplay my character, to talk to other people, but the only response I got once was 'hey' and the guy ran away, and others didn't respond at all. It felt even more lonely than on SWTOR PvE servers, and nothing resembled the promised roleplaying at all.

Is it always like this? Is there any roleplaying today at all? Is it worth playing on RP servers if I can just play on a PvP server with hundred times more people?

 

[Chaosy]

not much role play in wow atm sorry

 

[Footmanspam]

Well, i think it is kinda both, and some these tips are important: 1.GET THE #!@# AWAY FROM GOLDSHIRE! 2.If the person doesn't rp, leave him

 

[May90]

Yes, but the problem is no one did any rp with me at all. I tried to talk to over 30 people I think and no one responded, except for occasional 'hey' or 'hello'. Only when I got to Undersity did I see some small rp, but that was among members of some guild and they completely ignored me.

I looked at the population charts of the Argent Dawn realm and found that almost no one plays Undead on it, it is the least popular race there. Maybe with other races the experience is different?

 

[Footmanspam]

You play with Hordies? Try going on Moon guard, Stormwind City, Cathredal Square and try Rp, try a walkup or get MRP. And p.s, try to get some RP-friends and level! P.p.s, Alliance it!

 

[Footmanspam]

Oh and Gallaylas-Human Warrior-20'd (Full time skills OOCish) Plerd-Worgen-Hunter 20'd Emmant-Human Hunter 20'd Cylnerfala (name might not be correct) Nelf Druid 20'd

 

[HammerFist132]

I have expirience about playing wow starting edition and in short its this:
-Up to lvl 20 not more
-unable to talk with others, they what answered hello probably said it by accident. So I know that u cannot talk with others, make test say in middle of city WHO WANTS 1000 GOLD, and all will ignore u. Try playing on private servers, better leveling and I know to they are more talkaitve.

 

[May90]

Footmanspam, I started playing on Stormwind yesterday after I figured that this realm has more Undead players than any other realm. But there is no RP at all since it is PvP server. It's still pretty fun, I didn't expect such good quests and story from WoW, but it doesn't make me want to pay 12 euro monthly for experience very similar to what I have on SWTOR which I play for free.

HammerFist132, you either played some time ago when limitations could be more strict, or something else, but the version I play limits only chat messages and some other social activities, while such commands as 'say' or 'yell' are available.
As for private servers, the problem is there are not so many people on each of them. I feel a bit lonely even on Stormwind which is full all the time, and on private servers with few players this experience would be even worse.

 

[Footmanspam]

Its a pvp..... Expect RPs from rp servers.....

 

[Sterling]

In my opinion, the RP community has almost disappeared from most RP/RPPvP servers (with a few exceptions). While I don't have numbers to back up my claim, I experienced firsthand how three different RP realms decayed over time. When I played from 2004-2007, I could find role-players everywhere and role-playing even took place in the RP channel (and sometimes in General chat). There were many active RP guilds of varying "RP-weights" (light, medium, or heavy). A guild was not necessary to role-play -- you could easily walk into someone and start an in-character conversation. It was not uncommon to role-play while running a dungeon, too. To summarize my experience, the majority of players in an RP server were proper role-players, and consequently it was a very pleasant experience.

The same cannot be said for today. You will have a hard time finding random role-play unless you join an RP guild. A few exceptions exist (namely Moon Guard-US and Wyrmrest Accord-US), though they don't enjoy the same level of participation from the past community.

My recommendation is to look at the official forums for RP realms with active RP guilds and to apply to one of them. Or you could also ask on a realm forum where the most frequented RP area is.

 

[takakenji]

all remaining rp is bad

 

[Eagle_11]

You cant FRP much in a mmo anyways. Since its based on grinding levels and the next tier gear in dungeons and raids. A FRP worth a damn would require a predefined group and a Game Master/Dungeon Master that plans and executes a plot for this group. And thats not something you will find on Blizzard servers. Ive been on private RP servers in the past,around time of TBC/Wotlk but im unaware if any remaint today.

 

[Razosh]

Well the RP servers still remain and there are quite a few guild on the European servers still dedicated to RP but as Eagle 11 mentioned RP in MMO's is very limited simply due to the way games are designed.

 

[Aeliren]

WoW RP is FAR from dead. On Moon Guard US and Wyrmrest Accord US there's LOADS of RP. I hear there's some on Cenarion Circle and Earthen Ring, but I don't know how active/open it is.

I myself usually play on Moon Guard, and played a bit on Wyrmrest. Good people on both, great guilds and a great atmosphere. Most of the Rp happens at higher levels (Guilds, more zone/RP gear accesibilities, don't have to be your portal servant, etc...) but you can almost always find people around the Cathedral Square Alliance-side.

I don't play Horde that much, so unfortunately I don't know where their hotspots are, just like I don't know the ones on WRA, CC and ER.