It used to be the place for role playing. Everyone walked through Goldshire, people were always hanging out, almost every server had a guild running the tavern, it was awesome.
It was the one constant of nice friendly RP where you had a good chance of meeting someone that fit your character due to all the traffic. Everyone had to walk through Goldshire if you wanted to get somewhere in the greater Kingdom of Stormwind area. Dark spooky folk from Duskwood, the peasantry and bandits of Westfall and Redridge, nobles and fancy folk from the capital city, the explorers and adventurer heading north through the mountains or even further south into the jungles or swamps.
It was awesome. Everyone went through Goldshire. It was the hub. It was the starting point of so many grand adventures and stories.
Back when i was playing on a different servers, it was still pretty much what you described. Lots of low and high lvl folks just hanging out, chilling. Was even lots of small rp despite the realm being PVP before the change. No ERP in sight too.
Argent dawn’ goldshire though is like a completely different, deformed beast, and i’ve heard it was like that for years before i got onto the server.
Even just a few years ago it was possible. My earliest screenshot of Argent Dawn is in fact of me, on Obahar, in Goldshire, around December 2017 I think. There were still weird OOC folk there and there were also probably ERPers there too, but I got my start on Argent Dawn by meeting up with similarly new roleplayers in Goldshire and then going out and doing the Elwynn quests in-character because none of us knew what we were doing and we all just assumed roleplay worked that way.
I’ve no doubt that the likelihood of that happening in GS has plummeted ever since though.
I think there’s just a naive blessing with these memories tbh, Goldshire has been a dodgy place since the big bang. Just we were all a little more ignorant/unknowing of it back then.
Yes and no
I do recall sometime in WotLK it was still a den of degenerates
but you could actually find some nugget of meaningful casual rp with strangers.
like telling stories over a drink, go to the lake and fish, etc.
heck during the pre-event to the expansion it became like and actual zombie survival story.
THAT SAID! you would without a doubt still find erp there.
It has defintily gotten worse over the years, and it hasn’t helped with guilds like the Lux or other troll guilds setting up camp there over the years.
Even if this was the case why would you want to go roleplay there when its positively full of OOCers duelling and ERPers? Unless of course you’re there for one of those reasons.
That said, if you turn on war-mode you’ll find a Goldshire a lot less populated (which is good considering its regulars.)
Because we all start somewhere when we first come to the server, and I am not shamed to admit like many others I began my journey in goldshire and Stormwind, playing shallow and lore breaking characters.
I have said this before and I am not afraid to remind people but “i’ve been there, done that.”
I started in the gutter of the server and I have matured beyond it long ago.
Possible for sure, there’s definitely some characters on screen in the screenshot I have who I now know were most likely doing naughty things in party chat or whispers, but there were also some people trying to set up actual RP initiatives there too which is where I ended up finding myself.
I’m not even sure I (or those I was with) had TRP at the time.
Very much the same for me as well, though funnily enough it was leaving Goldshire and joining a guild in Stormwind that resulted in me being dragged into the ERP well for a little bit.
Starting to think I just entered Argent Dawn backwards somehow.
Yeah and that’s fine, its a starting zone which naturally will have a lot of traffic. I’m not implying anything, I just don’t think the the good ol’ days were as bright and colourful as nostalgia would have you believe.
Oh no it was by no means bright and colorful, ERP was still present and a daily thing.
but you could if you wanted to, find nuggets of wholesome fun, at least to an RP noob like I was back then.
Idk what old times people are talking about, but I remember the place being swarmed with coomers and lolers as early as Cata (when I joined AD) and I’ve heard much the same from Earthen Ring and Moonglade.
I started on a PvE server (Anachronos) and there Goldshire was just a social hangout, I remember making friends there and spending downtime during Cataclysm duelling or just chatting with people. There was this quiz addon that also people used for mini-quizgames.
I sorta miss that.
It was also there I met one friend who I’d go on to explore RP realms with, so funnily enough I have Goldshire to thank for my RP beginnings. And not in that way.
Ahwell, that’s the beautiful things of free countries, you’re free to disagree!
It may be me but I personally never found any of these trolls funny. When I came here in 2013, the first forumtroll I saw was Hrothgarr and the Dfndrs of hev rp. Seen Brodef and the OG’s too. The best thing I can say though is that they weren’t like later iterations of the likes of Lilynore and such.
