WELCOME TO ARGENT DAWN EU!
Argent Dawn is the most populated roleplay realm on the WoW EU servers, and still very active to this day. There are many public roleplay events organized every week, a great number of guilds to choose from, and plenty of spontaneous roleplay opportunities in the open world. This thread aims to help both new and returning players get connected with other roleplayers on the realm, and feature helpful resources related to roleplay.
ROLEPLAY GUIDES & LORE TIPS 
GUIDES
Created by members of the community
(Video series) Roleplay Basics & AddOns by Thistle
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp6Q-aP1KyRwHZYaUTsqBLGDJw-AUIFGQ
Guide to Roleplay for Newcomers by Spradley
General Roleplay Guides by Tenasa
Agtherianâs Beginner Arcane and Mage RP Guide
Askariâs Guide to Shamanism and the Elements
Manâari Eredar Roleplay Guide by Desolaari
Metals and Minerals by Telaryn
LORE TIPS
Understanding the setting as a new player
(Video) The History of Warcraft Explained in 1 Hour by the Karazhan Library
https://youtu.be/2gzICQiAVmY?si=_HsYmBF4Sn9twBdA
(Video) Major World of Warcraft Lore Every Player Should Know
https://youtu.be/u5OL3Z3w3ro?si=xLJBgmJdLjJliAqf
Other lore YouTube channels:
Nobbel87: https://www.youtube.com/@Nobbel87/playlists
The Lost Codex: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLostCodex/playlists
FINDING ROLEPLAY & COMMUNITIES 
ROLEPLAY HUBS
While roleplay happens all over the world, the following locations have a higher chance of finding spontaneous walk-up roleplay:
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Stormwind
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Darkshire
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Stromgarde
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Orgrimmar (Valley of Honor)
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Silvermoon
You may also find roleplayers from time to time in Gilneas, The Hinterlands, Belâameth, Astranaar, Booty Bay and The Crossroads, but it might not be as consistent as in the above locations.
Please note that the activity in the hubs is not representative of the roleplay landscape as a whole. While the faction capitals Stormwind and Orgrimmar are seen as melting pots, other hubs may lean more into particular themes. New content releases may also temporarily affect the activity levels in hubs.
OUTSIDE HUBS
Outside hubs, thereâs always roleplayers on adventures or socializing with their guild, community or friends, so you might stumble into people in the wilds. Many public events are also organized outside the hubs; theyâre advertised on the forums, on the Argent Archives website https://www.argentarchives.org and/or on Discord servers. Adventure and conflict campaigns are often advertised on the realm forums when public, and on Discord when targeting a more focused audience.
If you see a group of armed roleplayers in a forest, for example, they may be having a private roleplay event and running parts of it in a raid chat invisible to you. In this case it might be good to send one of the players a /whisper message to see what is going on before approaching them in-character.
If youâre informed itâs a roleplay event, you may politely inquire whether itâs possible to join or if itâs better not to. Please donât be discouraged if itâs not always possible to partake; it might just be that the groupâs story plot, ongoing scenario, or the event organizerâs capacity with player numbers makes it difficult to include new people on the spot. Wish them well and donât take it personally!
DISCORD SERVERS
Discord servers have become common for staying in the loop about the many different roleplay scenes revolving around particular themes or areas. The realm forums display only a fraction of all the buzz happening in the roleplay community as a whole.
Argent Dawn EU Roleplay https://discord.gg/N6323v6sSU is currently the largest general discord where you can find a repository of more niche community discords and roleplay resources. Public roleplay events found across different advertising platforms are also posted there in daily, weekly and monthly listings. Please note that guild advertisements and inquiries are not allowed on this discord server.
If youâre looking for Horde roleplay in specific, thereâs the Horde AD RP Community https://discord.com/invite/jnf3qVm9Ha discord.
Here are forum links to some of the more niche communities; to ensure the list includes only active communities, they will be featured as long as their respective forum threads remain open.
- Assembly of Dusk
- Death Knight RP - The Scourgeborne
- Draenei of Argent Dawn
- Night Elf Roleplay Discord Servers
- NPC Volunteer Force
- Vulpera Community
Not all communities are active on the forums, and you can find a lot more servers listed on the Argent Dawn EU Roleplay discord and this forum thread.
FINDING GUILDS
Guild recruitment posts are typically shared on the realm forums, on the Argent Archives (see https://www.argentarchives.org/guilds ), and in the more niche community discords that cater for a specific race, area or theme.
For a compilation of guilds posted on the forums, please see the RP Guild Directory Thread.
Other than these, your best bet is to meet people in the game world and look for interesting guilds through the many public events organized on the server. Some guilds host information on sites like Carrd, and the members may have a link to it from their TRP AddOn profile.
Donât be shy to post on the forums if youâre looking for a specific type of guild - people are often happy to offer tips and recommendations.
Finding the right guild can feel like a gamble as far as roleplay preferences, expectations and group dynamics go. Donât be disheartened if the first guild you join doesnât work out; take it as a learning experience and check out what else there is that might interest you. It can sometimes take time to find the right environment you enjoy.
IN-GAME COMMUNITIES
On occasion, you might see invite links to in-game communities https://us.support.blizzard.com/en/article/311333. These communities are player-made groups where members can chat and organize events. To access the Communities in-game, open the Guild & Communities interface. Theyâre used to stay connected without the need to share the same guild or faction, though most players seem to prefer chatting over Discord. However, this feature is useful for setting up a crossfaction party/raid group among the community members, which may benefit crossfaction events if youâre not in the same crossfaction guild with the other players.
WEBSITES 
USEFUL WEBSITE LINKS
The Argent Archives https://www.argentarchives.org
A webportal created in 2007 to help tie the Argent Dawn roleplay community together. Despite running on an old framework, many roleplayers continue using the site to this day for sharing public character profiles and events, and for posting literature, visual arts and screenshots related to roleplay. Logged-in users have an access to the archiveâs search function - thereâs a lot of server history at your fingertips!
Warcraft Wiki https://warcraft.wiki.gg
When it comes to WoW lore, this site is great for finding information about anything and everything related to the setting, with sources provided (in-game, books, etc.). Formerly known as Wowpedia, and before that as WoWWiki, the website was split from Fandom and moved to wiki.gg in 2023. Please refer to the Warcraft Wiki for the most up-to-date content. The Timeline page https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Timeline may be useful when planning your character background.
Wowhead https://www.wowhead.com
Having difficulties with a quest? Unsure where to find a specific NPC or item? Need help with talent builds? Head over to Wowhead - a searchable database created to provide World of Warcraft players with tools and information to make their gameplay more enjoyable.
The Ultimate Guide to Warcraft Lore in Print https://blizzardwatch.com/warcraft-lore-books-guide/
If youâd like to get your hands on WoW literature outside the game but are unsure where to begin, Blizzard Watch maintains a guide listed in chronological order. This means that instead of being listed by when the material was published, itâs being listed by its order in the Warcraft lore timeline so you can start at the beginning and read your way all to the end if thatâs your desire.
IN-GAME ROLEPLAY RESOURCES 
ROLEPLAY ADDONS
AddOns are widely used by WoW players in the context of RP, PvE and more to improve the gaming experience. WoWHeadâs guide on installing AddOns: https://www.wowhead.com/guide/addons-how-to-install-and-maintain-1998
Total RP 3 https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/total-rp-3
For creating and previewing character profiles in-game. Usually referred to as TRP, this AddOn is very widely used, and will help you identify other roleplayers in-game. The AddOn also has a map scan for finding other roleplayers if they have enabled the setting. If you were to have just ONE roleplay AddOn, this would be it. This is enough to get started.
Cross RP AddOn https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/cross-rp
To view TRP profiles of the opposite faction.
Simply RP - Looking For RP (LFRP) https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/simply-rp-looking-for-rp
A lightweight World of Warcraft addon designed to help roleplayers find organic, spontaneous RP in the world. Itâs not widely used by the community at the time of posting, but might be a nice extra to give a try.
Listener https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/listener
For easier tracking of chat messages when there is a lot going on, such as busy events. It lets you see the chat messages of a targeted player cleanly in a separate overlay window.
Story Teller https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/story-teller
Useful for sharing longer stories, songs and theatre acts in-character, potentially saving you from exhaustive copy-pasting from an external document.
Musician https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/musician
Musician allows your character to play music that can be heard by the other players nearby, provided that they have installed the add-on as well. Any song file in MIDI format can be played. There are 24 instruments available including lute, harp, trumpet, violin, war horn but also drum kit and electric guitar. Itâs also possible to perform live music using your computer keyboard as a piano. Related plugin: MusicianFX https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/musicianfx
Shortwave Audio Player https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/shortwave-audio-player
This iAddOn lets you create playlists from in-game music and audio files, and broadcast them to your party members. Might be fun for adding extra immersion to your roleplay events!
RPEngine https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/%E2%9A%99%EF%B8%8F-rpengine-v10-the-ultimate-event-system-addon-events-stats-crafting-lfrp-and-more-out-now/597612
A comprehensive suite of tools to bring a new and immersive feel to your DM events. Building upon the previous version, RPToolkit, and inspired by various other RP addons, RPEngine has been designed from the ground up to be more robust and flexible than any other event system out there.
USEFUL ITEMS
Elixir of Tongue https://www.wowhead.com/item=2460/elixir-of-tongues is widely used for crossfaction roleplay, to understand the common language of the opposite faction. This means âCommonâ for the Alliance, and âOrcishâ for the Horde. You cannot understand for instance Darnassian or Gutterspeak using the elixir.
You might also enjoy browsing Useful Trinkets and Items for RP, War Within Edition
If youâd like to slightly alter the size of your character, thereâs the [Noggenfogger Select Down https://www.wowhead.com/item=235703/noggenfogger-select-down and Select UP https://www.wowhead.com/item=235704/noggenfogger-select-up potions, with each stack up to 10 subtly increasing the effect.
A list of other size-altering items with descriptions. I recommend using these sensibly in everyday roleplay, but they might be helpful to portray a huge foe at a guild event for example.
FORUM FORMATTING 
TRUST LEVELS & POST FORMATTING
The Ultimate Forum Guide (Codes, Trust Levels, FAQ may help with the formatting of your event and guild posts.
You might wonder why some people are able to post images and hyperlinks to external sites, while others canât; this is due to Trust Levels implemented by Blizzard on their forum platforms. Please note the requirements and perks mightâve been revised since 2018 - thereâs little official information about the trust levels for the WoW forums. Trust Levels arenât permanent, and inactivity can cause your Trust Level to decrease.
You should be able to link to other threads and posts on the WoW forums regardless of your trust level.
SHARDING AND PHASING 
SHARDING AND PHASING EXPLAINED
Sometimes you may see roleplayers mention sharding and phasing, terms referring to technology in which players are divided into separate copies or versions of an in-game area.
Sharding is the most common culprit behind not seeing other players when arriving at a roleplay event location, and in such a situation, please check with the event host if thereâs a raid group for pulling players into the same shard.
https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Sharding_\(term\
When too many players are in an area, the game automatically creates a new âshard,â a copy of that area. Players entering the area will be placed on the new shard. The world appears identical from the playerâs perspective, with minor differences:
- Players can only see other players on the same shard.
- Each shard has its own set of NPCs. As such, rare NPCs may respawn at different times on different shards.
- Each shard has its own set of objects such as herbs and mining nodes.
Shards can be any geographic size but are usually limited to zones or smaller areas. The borders of a sharded area are invisible to players.
By design, players usually do not notice when the game moves them between shards, but players may notice NPCs momentarily disappear.
Sharding and parties
When joining a party or a raid group, all party members are automatically moved to the leaderâs shard, but only if they are in the same zone as the leader. If they are not in the same zone as the leader, party members will not change shards.
On roleplay servers, most areas should have sharding turned off, however itâs usually turned on for the most recent game content, or special event areas. Yet, it may also impact past expansion zones, such as Pandaria and Amirdrassil at the time of writing.
Phasing is a game design tool that changes outdoor areas, based on an individual playerâs accomplishments or quest progress. Some zones have different phased versions that can be accessed by the NPC Zidormi.
https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Phasing](https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Phasing
For some places like the Dragon Isles, players have found that characters below level 70 cannot interact with players who are level 70 or above.
GRAPHICS 
GRAPHICS FOR ROLEPLAY POSTS
If youâd like to use graphics for a roleplay event poster, banners, etc. but canât make them yourself, or commission an artist, and want to avoid image generators - thereâs thousands of WoW themed artworks on Blizzard Press Center:
Blizzard Press Center: World of Warcraft: https://blizzard.gamespress.com/World-of-Warcraft/
Blizzard Press Center: Hearthstone https://blizzard.gamespress.com/Hearthstone
Especially the Hearthstone section has plenty of illustrations of characters, scenes, and environments fitting a variety of themes, and you can always crop the image to use only the part that you like.
Additionally, thereâs Warcraft Trading Card Game images on Warcraft Wiki https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Category:Warcraft_TCG_images, which contains over 4000 images.
If youâd like to do Warcraft inspired lettering, check out these free fan-made fonts by Feyawen: https://feyawen.carrd.co/
Letâs have more people see this great post.
I love it when someone makes a good looking one like this <3