After the wonderful AD meetup that Acrona hosted, I have been thinking about getting back to the roleplay side of things and here’s the rub. It has been 12-15 years since I last roleplayed and I haven’t really played the game itself for several years, so my knowledge of lore is mediocre at best. I’d appreciate it a lot if someone could help me remedy that by giving me a rundown of all that has happened, especially after Legion.
But where has Phaidra been all these years? 14 years ago on Argent Archives I wrote a story of her taking on a different path and becoming a vindicator, a paladin. There isn’t more than that written, not of whom trained her and where she received her training. I have to admit that when I first saw the lightforged draenei, I wondered if she could be one, but I ended up scrapping that thought when I gave up on WoW. This week the thought has been in my head again.
How feasible would it be for her to become lightforged and spend her time on Argus? Or could she remain as is but be trained by them anyway? With the storyline there ending, it would make sense for her to return to Azeroth after, but I’d only go this route if it is feasible at all.
As mentioned, it has been years since I was last active in RP. I founded and ran the guild Disciples of the Naaru for a time. I was in the Silverleaf Sentinels on my alt, Corentine. I had a few other characters that I roleplayed. With my focus shifting unexpectedly from one character to another, it was difficult to stay true with any one of them for a long time. It didn’t help that I was constantly having new ideas and wanted to try them, and that I had difficulties to separate myself from the character. The drama stew was on boil quite a few times and I sat in it without understanding the consequences of my own actions.
Nowadays I can focus a bit better and I think more than once before I decide to act on some idea or another. Most importantly I am not afraid to admit my faults. I do feel emotions very strongly and deeply, which was often the cause for me being unable to separate myself from the character. It is possibly the biggest hindrances that has kept me from returning to RP for years. As such, I would like to hear some experiences and recommendations how to handle it better.
Lastly, addons. Which ones are generally used in RP? Any other addon suggestions are welcome as well. I try not to use too many of them, so a few useful ones are enough for my needs.
Thank you in advance for reading my post and for any guidance and help you are able to give me!
The Army of the Light does their recruiting still. It would make sense for someone dedicated to go through Lightforging over the years since the Legion’s defeat, so if you want, go for it. As of the addons, TRP3 is the go-to, along with CrossRP for RPing with different factions.
Echoing Linma, Total Roleplay 3 is your big one. Cross-RP will also allow you to read the TRP-3 profiles of those on the other faction. It’s now possible to RP cross-faction using translation potions, which you can attain from the undercity of Legion Dalaran! They come at quite a premium. If you can’t afford one, most people are willing to share if needed.
Another addon people use is Musician, which can be used to play MIDI music, sort of like in FFXIV with its bards. I’d say this is one that’s nice to have, but far from necessary.
I suggest you get TRP3, TRP3 extended if you like to play around with custom items, CrossRP, Emote-splitter as well as Listener, which is especially helpful for larger events where stuff might get drowned in a sea of emotes and text.
In regards to your character’s backstory, the Army of the Light certainly still recruits and has a presence on Argus, overseeing the Penitent Eredar and probably trying to reclaim parts of Argus, so I’d say that is definitely possible.
Most addon and lore suggestions I’d have made are already covered by the posters above me, so I’ll tack onto this bit:
I’m going to assume that by “unable to separate myself from the character”, you mean IC emotions bleeding into OOC emotions. On that, some tips:
It’s important to keep reminding yourself that you are not your character. You, the player of Phaidra, are not Phaidra the vindicator. Sure, your character might have some quirks, likes, dislikes or other things that they share with you as the player, and that’s normal—every character does, and it helps us relate more to our characters. But be sure to limit those similarities: we’re roleplaying a character, not ourselves shipped into a race on Azeroth.
Something that might also help with this is setting goals for your character. What does Phaidra want to achieve? How would a draenei like herself go about achieving those goals? Do you, the player, want to explore certain parts of her personality? Knowing what her goals are and how the character would go about achieving them will help you keep a healthy perspective on Phaidra in the long run.
Thank you for the addon suggestion! I’ll be sure to load TRP3, CrossRP and Listener. Emote-splitter sounds like something I wouldn’t use as I like to keep my emotes/messages short and concise.
Yes, you assumed correctly! To be honest I completely forgot the IC and OOC terms when I wrote my message. x)
And the points you make and the questions you ask are extremely helpful, so thank you for them! To remind myself that I am not my character is something I will have to keep in mind. It’s been years, so I can reflect and use Phaidra’s past as a base when I think further on her goals and personality while keeping in mind to limit the similarities. I think I’d be ready to get back to RP once I do that.
I feel that Lightforged Draenei Vindicators are more limited then Draenei Vindicators. Generally because Vindicators are already dedicated to the Light to a degree, almost unmatched, in any other Warcraft society. But also because to become Lightforged, you have to forego any and all doubt with the Light or its plans what so ever. So if you feel your character trusts within the Light’s plan without any doubt, then go for it… But if you do want to have wiggle room with even a sliver of doubt for it to manifest within an (near-)immortals lifetime? Go for Draenei!
Don’t follow the sheep! TRP3 might be overwhelming for some people! Its alot of Bits & Bops and imho MRP is way easier to… Ease into! Its a single tab added to the character panel, with an even easier overlay!
Can’t really, 100%, disagree with his coment, though?
Like I have seen people emote something simple and then end up /e 5 times because… It makes them look smart or something?
Only to have him “stab the enemy through the heart”.
Like, lmao dude I got it within the first /e, no need to add 4 more to feel important/needed/usefull/powerfull?
Pfftht. TRP3 is the superior addon and it can be as simple as you want it to be. It’s got a good layout with descriptions on the tooltips to help you understand each thing, and you don’t have to use the bloat at all. You just have your name, title, a few or more fields you can fill in with basic info if you want, about page if you want to use it, glances, and currently and OOC! Easy to use and understand. I don’t use the bloat, personally, but some people do (bloat being items and stuff). It also has that handy frame to give you quick access to putting yourself IC/OOC, away, etc.
I do suggest emote splitter in case you go over the limit because not everything can be boiled down to one action.
This is clearly the reason why its not whats it made out to be. Brainwashing. (defending it within a span of 15 minutes) MRP is way simpler and easy to get into. I tried TRP(3) on multiple occasions during my RP years and it just hasn’t got it for me… But try telling that to the TRP(3) crowd.
Without a shadow of doubt, she does. She was a priest when I first created her. Back then you had to pay trainer to learn all the spells and you could choose were you put your talents. I did not buy a single shadow spell or put any talent to the shadow tree at all. It didn’t fit the character I had in mind and she was ruined in my eyes when I did some raiding and was basically forced to buy that one shadow spell. I couldn’t RP her much after that, yet I then renamed that priest and created Phaidra as a paladin after. Perhaps I could just call her paladin instead of a vindicator then. Just went with the latter as that is what I was somewhat familiar with.
Thank you! And by Vaxir’s post explaining the bloat that TRP3 has, I might go with MRP instead if it is much simpler. I will look into both and decice which one to load after.
Hmm. I’ll look into it as well then just in case. I honestly don’t remember the character limit for emotes in game.
TRP3 is absurdly simple.
You click on the button that opens up list of character profiles (at start you will have 0).
You click on “Create Profile” button, then click “OK” (it comes with name of your character filled).
You click edit and fill up your character’s IC name (and title, if you want).
The end.
Everything else is optional, people just keep making big deal out of the addon having additional options even though you don’t have to ever touch them, as if there was some moral obligation to fill out everything. There isn’t.
It looks like I had used XRP before and TRP3 is way too overwhelming for me with all the options available. Decided to give MRP a go for now.
Even if those things are optional and there’s no obligation to fill them out, for some neurodivergent people those options being there is too overwhelming and it truly feels like you have to fill everything out. For them it is better to have less options from the start.
I wouldn’t diss either addon just for the sole reason of thinking that one of them is superior to other, when in reality they cater for different kind of players. That is something that should be kept in mind, at least in my opinion.
I suggest TRP3 for your profile, you can have as much or as little detail in your profile as you like and if you like even more widgets and doodads you can get TRP3 extended for more stuff like inventories etc. MRP is a good alternative if you want a very basic package with room for the base details and a description.
I also use cross RP to see the profiles cross faction as well as emote splitter. Emote splitter is great if you want to do longer emotes that all post at the same time rather than being limited by the chat message length, but if you like the character limit it’s not a super important addon.
It’s awesome to hear the meetup has sparked your interest in giving WoW and roleplaying another try! Others have already covered the pros and cons of useful AddOns, so I’ll try chip in on this part:
In addition to Andreleth’s helpful suggestions, I would suggest considering some questions about roleplay themes and situations that might present challenges for you to navigate emotionally. These questions can assist you in establishing personal boundaries and increasing your self-awareness regarding the potential overlap between in-character actions and out-of-character reactions.
E.g. Is there a higher risk of emotional attachment in romantic relationship roleplay compared to sticking to friendships or comradeship? What if that relationship changed course unexpectedly? How do you handle conflicts in roleplay, especially when characters provoke or argue with each other? To create a distinction between yourself and the character, it could be beneficial to consider in advance what kind of code of conduct your character adheres to. Creating a set of code bullet points for the character to follow and keeping it within reach might be an idea?
The above questions are simply examples of internal dialogue that can help you avoid taking roleplay situations too personally and affecting your enjoyment of the hobby. You’ve bravely raised a subject that can sometimes be difficult for both new and experienced roleplayers.
You can’t control how other people play their characters, but through some preparation and healthy caution, you can increase the chances of feeling steady and quickly moving on whatever happens. Fall in love with your own character’s story that is a product of your own creativity!
The alternative people were using was typing it out in notepad so they could quickly copy/paste it so that if an emote went over character limits there wouldn’t be a break in the action or an awkward pause where you have to scroll up and down to read both parts of an emote
I don’t get the hate it gets, some people enjoy big emotes, some people enjoy small emotes, both feel as valid to me.
If you’re a big emoter personally I’d say yeah get it cause its better then whatever the alternatives are, wether its reading or typing
On topic, but I’m sure this has been stated before.
As someone who dipped out of RP for a few expacs and then came back again, the best thing you can do is just start where you left off, maybe make up a small story for what you did in the meantime (in your case you can say lightforging happened offscreen, or you can actively try to RP it out and start as the regular draenei if you want to RP the lightforging out.).
I would say that if you are incapable of separating your own emotions from the character… that needs work, because that really can only lead to drama because of taking things personally that shouldn’t be taken personal, because they weren’t personal, they were directed at your character, no one likes to be around people they feel like they need walk on egg shells around. Sorry if that sounds harsh but I think that is really the one thing an RPer should try to get down as quick as possible, that separation of self and character
The notion of walking on eggshells, though it may sound harsh, is undeniably true and can pose challenges in group settings. It’s not really acceptable to join a guild or community and expect other characters to act perfectly according to one’s own preferences and wishes (excluding obvious cases like the want to avoid sexual advances). Expressing dissatisfaction with how other characters behave could be seen as an effort to exert control or manipulate them by eliciting pity, and such behavior could potentially make other players feel uneasy when interacting with you.
