So I’ve recently gotten myself back into WoW after a healthy half a decade break and after reinstalling all my addons I figured now would be a good time to try to get back into the RP scene of things.
My main question now though, is what have I missed? I’m seeing a lot of “[PCU]” being thrown about, and all I really know about that is it’s got something to do with Perroy and I’ve heard some mixed reviews on whatever this PCU stuff is, some say it’s great. Others say it’s not so great. Other than that, I’m totally in the dark with that. But it does bring me to my second question. What’s the generally accepted way to get myself into an RP guild these days? I know way back when Cathedral Disctrict in Stormwind was practically a breeding ground for IC recruitment into guilds, but nowadays I’m seeing nothing there, and I’ve no clue on where to look to get myself into an RP focused guild.
If I could also be real cheeky and ask for a brief rejog of my memory for what is generally accepted in RP, that would be wonderful. I wanna put my best foot forward here, and get myself back into the swing of things in the best way possible.
About the PCU: They are a group of people who have created their own community on the AD scene, and this is nothing new, been around for years.
( The Rottgarde is still in my memories)
Perroy’s Cinematic Universes, I do belive it stands for, and made up of many individuals and guilds.
They have their standard for RP, who for some may come across as hardcore, or strict and some may view it as good RP and even on point. It’s quite subjective as RP preference can be. They Host many big server campaigns, and events who in my experience and from what I gather primarily focus on RP-PvP.
I’m sure there are plenty of others who are, far better at explaining the concept than I am.
But alas, an attempt was made.
I’m going to be the first here and tell you to form your own opinion on the community. Argent Dawn has many people who are all entitled to their own opinion on many things, and the PCU is no different. Perroy no longer leads the community, though.
In regards to what it is, PCU stands for Perroy Cinematic Universe. It’s a community of guilds that banded together to create roleplay with each other under some shared rules and with coordination between them. You can find out more about the community here.
Probably the forums or Argent Archives. In-character recruitment isn’t what it was, so you’re better off looking at different mediums there. Getting into guilds is still the same, though; you usually chat with the guild master and express an interest in joining, and it’ll flow from there.
I think this is very hard to summarise in one post, but beyond the basics of writing with full punctuation and using TRP3, I’d say the most important is to know what and where you are roleplaying. Our characters aren’t really that significant in the broad scale of things (because we have no impact over the in-game world), so it’s generally a bad idea to portray archdruids, archmages or similar high power concepts that could alter the world in a way it would affect the lore.
I’m sure other, wiser people will have much more to say on this, but I think this is one of the more crucial rules to stick to.
I cannot overstate this too much: IC interaction will always be the most engaging and interesting way to becoming a member of a roleplaying guild. So if you have the time, get out there and start roleplaying.
There are more hubs than just Stormwind - try Duskwood, Stromgarde, Gilneas or any of the other smaller, more localised places spread across Azeroth. (The latter may prove spotty or even rare, but when they flare up, it’s probably really good and loads of fun)
If time is your enemy (to who is time not an enemy!?), browsing the forums here or joining some of the roleplaying community discords may be your most premier step.
It must also be mentioned, that a lot of communities and guilds have moved to Discord!
Here all manners of community oriented matters takes place, from events, to recruitment, off screen RP, Advertisement, rumours, sharing of art etc
It’s easy to get into these discords, you simply need to get an invite link.
Many players are apart of several communities at once, both large and smaller sizes.
To keep track, I have personally organized Horde oriented ones in one folder, Alliance in another and more neutral ones in a third. As they quickly adds up!
Myself and others I’m sure, would be happy to provide you with links to communities of your interest!
No metagaming, your character does not have access to the same information that you the player has, so if you the player hears something that your character doesn’t, you shouldn’t RP your character as having that information.
No powergaming, your character is not the stories antagonist, its fine if you play him as if he has protagonist syndrome (maybe even funny) but when engaging in RP PVP, no one likes it when others expect their characters to roll over and die in the face of how awesome the others charactert is. Its fine to define between combatants and civilians ofcourse but make sure to check the other side.
These two might get some backlash, but I’m posting it anyway.
Could also be regarded soft rules, whereas no one likes what is described above, the two points I’m about to deliver are dependent on who you ask, but I will try to give my reasoning for them as best I can, they’re more opinions then hard rules tho
Careful with romance RP, not don’t do it, but make sure you know and trust the other party to not turn it into a headache for you; you cannot be 100% certain that this won’t turn parasocial and become a headache for you to deal with OOC, do not engage with people you have no trust in or barely know
Try to avoid ERP and ERPers, this can be even worse parasocially (the romance was just a warning but here I’d say just don’t) because it is still engaging in acts of intimacy even if its just text based + you have no way of knowing how old the other party in most cases is and the internet is full of horny teenagers so the chances are bigger then you would think.
As for joining a guild, others have already stated the IC approach, but most guild threads have names of the player characters you can approach, it’ll be different per guild, some will appreciate a message beforehand stating your interest, others might think its cooler if it happens organically (you happen to be near an event, take part, and then join)
As for the PCU, I think Andreleth’s take is about the best take you can have for forming opinions about communities you have no real experience with or exposure too.
I have to echo what has been stated above is that IC will always range above the OOC where the latter is more so an aide to find you pointers to with which Guild it may click: from my own personal experiences there’s an abundant difference in “'quality” between communities that derrive their main number growth by pure OOC contact and those that build RP around it.
Discord/Argent Archives/ Forums are an excellent searching nest for Guilds that operate to the approach and standard that leans to what you’re the most comfortable with.
As for finding Guilds in game: Stormwind still is heavily used for conscription RP but has dwindled down in comparisson with the Square of past.
However do be cautious as with an abundance of communities that have bloomed and grown this does not directly mirror the entiriyy of the lake so to speak, some Guilds may stay to certain areas example for Alliance: Gilneas, Stromgarde
I am obliged to speak that Horde RP is very much excistent through several initiatives being made, but it may be more focussed on communities and guilds with the lack of a proper casual hub (Ogrimmar is horrendous) .
Silvermoon City is active on the daily, but may be less of a fit for certain Horde Races and archetypes.
But seeing you are an Elfposter that is absolutely based
Either way! I hope you find what you’re looking for and very much welcome back to Argent Dawn and it’s coalition of nerds! And maybe until we see each other IC!
Not sure how relevant that tag is these days, nor am I sure it really matters. Others have offered more in-depth takes on that matter and I’ll leave it there.
Summarizing half a decade’s worth of stuff is a gargantuan task under the best of circumstances, and I won’t profess to hold the Deep Lore on what has and hasn’t happened on the server for the past five years.
In my personal opinion? You lucked out on not being around for Shadowlands. Never have I known an expansion to so tangible atrophy the RP scene as that one did.
I’d suggest putting that as your second priority, and instead come up with a character you’d really like to RP - or bring back an oldie for that matter. Get your feet wet again, explore things IC and form your own opinions of what you encounter.
If and when you find a guild that tickles your fancy, generally, there are two ways of going about joining. One is to simply RP with them regularly and you’ll (usually!) end up getting contacted OOC to guage your interest, or, and this is what I’d personally advise, you do the reaching out and attune your mutual expectations for what such a process might look like.
To peruse events and the like, AA is still around.
Though as others have said, a lot of planning and RP communications are on Discord nowadays. Usually it’s simple to get an invite once people get to know you.
Well, you still have this “PcU kIlLeD rP oN hOrDe SiDe” people and then you have the side of “They do some rp on both sides”
My take is They do rp. Its community and that’s about it. They just have bigger effect on forums as they update their guild posts quite often and I had no issue in RP nor overall interaction with them.
Imo most people just speak more air than facts since “They killed rp in Orgrimmar” is a cap. They just felt bored being in one place constantly and it became semi Stormwind. Whole world to explore and make new stories is better than just be in one place constantly.
Community groups have always been targets for flak and drama. Between members, former members and people who just don’t get on with people within them. Truly -insert community- ruined roleplay. It’s all pointless fractitious drama.
Thanks for all the replies and shared information, it’s actually helped me out a lot. I can’t express how grateful I am for you all taking the time to get back to me on it.
I can’t wait to get back into things and hopefully bump into all you wonderful folk IC at some point!
