I wrote about this before but I have a hand disability which means it’s hard for me to do combat RP.
Generally speaking I would prefer to avoid it but if I was in combat I would usually do emote battles.
I find combat RP to be generally quite dull. It’s more of a means to an end for me, where it helps add or build on my character’s narrative.
Perhaps because of that, I don’t have a great amount of interest for attempting to apply real world techniques to my writing - particularly since I can be as flowery in my prose as I like about how my swordsman attempts a reprise, but the mage can still just respond by bubbling and throwing fire in my face.
In my experience, the classes in WoW and what they’re capable of just don’t work particularly well with any dedication to ‘realism’ in the vast majority of cases.
Combat for me is a means to an end. It’s about the destination and not the journey.
I’d choose emotes over duelling with someone I knew, and duelling over emotes with someone I didn’t - although that being said, I probably wouldn’t get into combat with someone whose RP I didn’t know anyway.
It is dull. And anxiety inducing.
A friend of mine tends to say that the most effective weapon in RP combat is a shovel, because as a blunt, simple weapon, people will almost always allow their characters to take the hit rather than dodge as they would a sharp weapon, a ranged weapon or a spell.
I believe he and a few other RPers once went around Stormwind as a shovel-gang, mugging people to great results.
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This is very true. If you play an epic master assassin who always tries to cut heads off, you probably will end up not landing any hits.
But if you’re a soldier with a simple weapon, people will feel more relaxed in allowing their character to take hits without fearing for having their character just keel over and die on the spot, which paradoxically ends up making the soldier more effective.
i cast hex on u all
wait, im not a shaman
I dodge, smirk and teleport behind you. Then it’s over.
In all seriousness, I keep it brief and efficient as other people are also emoting. Some basic awareness of weapon techniques help, if in melee but I won’t go full HEMA nerd on anyone.
To be fair, I try to avoid getting into fights with other characters that escalate beyond a bit of pushing and shoving, or perhaps one punch and backing off. Basically the sort of stuff that allows both parties to come out of it with some kudos, I mean to use the above example, You punch a Dude, you punched him, you look kinda baaaad. You the dude getting punched, and take the punch, stay standing and just smile sweetly, you look kinda Baaaad. Either way, you can look cool.
Its tough. There isn’t an In Game way of dealing with it, without massively breaking immersion. “I want to smash a bottle over your characters head, can we both leave the tavern, and the City, so that we can /Duel?” “Well, I have like eight friends with me, how is that going to work?” “Oh, that’s fine, I will /Duel them one at a time”
“Errmmmm No, howabout you don’t play ego games and smash a bottle over my head…I mean why are you even doing that?”
“I’m bored, and conflict creates Roleplay”
“Yeeeeah, not sure you understand quite how that works…”
I really don’t like Emote fights. They’re fine against NPC’s, but between players, unless they are kind of pre-organised they’re a bit naff. Thing is, they’re even better than /Duels which are just crazy in their limitations. Check out every Cinematic Blizz have released where a member of a faction fights another member of a faction. All those fights? Impossible.
The best way of handling it is by clever conflict, as in not letting it get to a silly stage that the game cannot reflect via its mechanics.
Get into arguments, get into spitting, fury and fist shaking rage, threaten and get vituperative. You want real conflict? Real enmity? Your enemy has to be alive, for that to work.
Combat RP is awesome, against NPC’s, against PC’s y’all need to cooperate with each other as to how it can work. And it -Can- work. The IC aerial combats between the Sun Hawks and the Knights Gryphon, and Clan Stormheart, and that weird Draenei bird who hangs around them prove that. If everybody is chilled and agreed, you can have some storming battles, the sky full of flame and stormhammers, lances and arrows. Not pre-agreed in terms of outcome, oh heck no, just pre-agreed in terms of “None of us are going to act like a total jellyhead, lets make it enjoyable for all”
You can really easily do that.
My opinion on it is essentially the same as everyone else here. I’d much rather interact with and talk with another player character for hours on end learning about them or a story than sit for 3 hours doing a back and forth contest to see who wins.
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