Heyo everyone,
Reviving an older thread in general in the hopes that it may get some traction here rather than the underused lore section of the forums.
Not to long ago there was quite a hype about adding more allied races or customization options regarding character height among other things.
Now I think people understand that making the models, rigging them, and making armors fit etc or adding anything major especially given the current pace of content creation due to covid as well as some other issues.
Especially the roleplay community has been asking for a good few features and most pleas seem to go unheard, or if not there isnât a healthy discussion going on about what can or cannot be done and blizzards overall view on the state of roleplay servers that have been left to themselves for quite a while now.
I understand that the majority of the playerbase may have priorities elsewhere, but with that in mind, there are a lot of people loyal to the game and their chars gladly logging in every day even in times where others find a lack of content or to much repetition, because we make the content ourselves.
So the idea is to be able to implement things that can go a long way, with little amount of work required for the dev team in order not to strain the already stretched shedule.
Roleplay Item and Tool Overhaul
To explain, offering a variety of items that could be easily put into the game, that have the desired effects without being limited in their use such as:
- A set of potions to increase the size of the player character by 5%, 10%, 15%, etc. or decrease it.
(While they already exist in other shapes and forms, it would let people slightly modify height without going through much trouble, adding to immersion.) - Appearance swap items. Now I know the prisms exist but they are extremely unfriendly to use, requiring the use of a rogue or mage to obtain the desired appearance and then the aid of other players or other workarounds to upkeep what is a 5 minute buff.
Instead there could be a version of these to simply copy the appearance (usable by any class) of the targeted npc, (likely humanoids only) that would last a far longer time, ideally until dispelled in order not to have to deal with mid-rp breaks to reobtain the desired appearance.
It would allow people to make roleplay more immersive by adding a huge selection of races that would be now accessable and would perfectly fit the role as mercenaries, traders or villains alike. - Potions/items akin to the inky black potion that would allow players to temporarily override the skybox and weather effects of a zone to use them for events when needed.
It would allow you to use those effects to create more immersive scenes using rain, fog, snow, sandstorms and more with varying levels of severity. (Light rain, Heavy rain, etc.)
As those visual changes are only present for the player using them, they would also cause no interruption for anyone else. - Small roleplay prop items akin to the vulpera tent. Such as items to temporarily spawn a tent, torch, crate or other useful roleplay props to temporarily help building a small scene such as a campsite, field hospital etc.
(Perhaps adding a option to derender them in order to avoid possible griefing.)
You could even easily have all these function like toys do, so long as the duration and cooldown ratio would be respected to let you use them on your terms.
Furthermore, you can easily disallow use of any such items in pvp environments and instances in order to combat attempts to exploit them or optionally dispel effects upon taking damage, similar to how some other items work.
The idea is to make tools that can be used freely and frequently (without the need for upkeep). I doubt itâs perfect and probably has itâs own issues but I feel making a couple items or modifying existing ones could have a massive positive impact on player freedom.
Important Sidenote:
Furthermore, a harder stance against public erp needs to be taken and there has to be a no tolerance policy regarding any kind of illegal or predatory behaviour ingame. Especially considering WoWâs age rating, any sexual harassment could potentially target minors and should under no circumstances be allowed to fester. The mental health and wellbeing of players should be guarded more carefully considering that WoW is a social safety net for many and we should do better to ensure that it can be a safer place for everyone.
If anyone has any input, ideas or otherwise, feel free to add to it.
Thanks for reading and hope you stay safe and have a good time. 
EDIT:
Adding ideas below that have been mentioned in the thread below so farâŠ
- A way to use dungeons and raids in a enemy-less mode which groups larger than originally intended could utilize for rp.
- Ways to use more expressive emotes of which several are restricted to npcâs such as leaning against walls or over bar-counters
- Allowing grey and white items to be tmogged, as well as adding previously npc locked armors for a greater variety of looks. Perhaps offering more civilian/casual clothing to offset the amount of combat orientated armor sets.
- Looking into party synch to to allow raid groups to enter the same phase for the sake of not splitting the party should zone population or quest progress hinder seeing each other.
- An option for a typing indicator to easier identify if people trying to respond or are currently waiting for the event/conversation to progress. (something akin to a ââŠâ above characters for example)
- Possibility of introducing a mentor or guide tag/system to allow people to answer questions of newcomers, helping direct them towards rp events and explain doâs and dontâs for a better experience.
(Likely has use beyond rp as general game or dungeon/raid/pvp specific guidance could also be given.) - The ability to write notes/letters and your own book/diary to help narrate and enhance roleplay. Perhaps adding an option to use ingame screenshots for wanted posters and news leaflets and similar options by adding captions to them.
- Adding back the ability for classes such as warrior and rogue to shoot a ranged weapon. Itâs odd to have the ability to collect mogs and equip those weapons still but not having access to a basic âshootâ skill anymore which would be neat for rp.
- A ambassador/neutral mode to turn enemy faction npcs unfriendly (orange) instead and remove the automatic pvp flagging from entering certain areas. It would allow for smoother cross-faction rp and encourage people to band together, regardless of their characters race, thus promoting more roleplay.
- A few items or toys to apply visual effects to your character for rp purposes, such as poisoned, bleeding, cursed, or similar. (Nâzoth corruption effects for example)