[RP][Hardcore] Dedicated immersion

[Astariella-argent-dawn]

Greetings roleplayers!

I’m entertaining the idea of creating a community of dedicated roleplayers who share my passion for immersion. I recently returned to WoW vanilla and found the Hydraxian Waterlords server, which is marked as a roleplaying server. Additionally it seems like the primary server for the new influx of hardcore players. Suffice to say, I was quite excited to try it out. The prospect of losing your character is thrilling and it adds a new layer of intensity to the game.

Alas…

I am greeted by a literal wave of muggles bumbling around with names so appalling that my poor roleplaying heart near broke into a thousand pieces. Suffice to say the vast majority of hardcore players have no interest in roleplaying what so ever and that’s totally fine…

But…

Can we not try and make use of this potential? This thrill of losing something dear to your heart? Certainly this sort of gameplay is not for everyone. If you’re a dedicated roleplayer, you know all too well the amount of time and effort that goes into creating your character, their background, their personality, their looks… Days, weeks, months… Even years of constant development. The prospect of losing this progress to a random gnoll in Loch Modan seems like blasphemy to say the least, but… Could it not also add depth to the game?

Imagine a guild where all members are dedicated roleplayers. In character all the time. While subsequently playing the game as a hardcore character.
You’re in character while levelling, walking around the city… Even when your character is killed by before mentioned gnoll in Loch Modan…
Your characters power is determined by your skill, gear and- WAIT! Let me finish, I can already sense the fuming hatred coming from you all, at the prospect of limiting yourself to the in-game mechanics, but stay with me!

Would it not add a much needed thrill to an otherwise time-worn and tried old game?

Starting as a fresh recruit and building upon that foundation with a community that supports you and mourns you if your time comes too soon?

The thrill of finding that one item you REALLY really want, and knowing that it’s in character and part of your development?

Now… I’ll be honest, I don’t agree with everything that hardcore add-on brings to the table. For one, you should definitely be allowed to trade among members of the community. But I do agree that using the auction house has some drawbacks looking at it from a roleplaying perspective, considering how the vast majority of items presented at the auction house are farmed by people who are not roleplayers.

Instead of making it a boring farming trip, make it a roleplaying event! We’re gathering copper ore for new weapons! New armor! Trade between community members. The possibility of multiple themed guilds. Suddenly the guild leader dies! What the fudge! New event… Mourning… Funeral… Speeches from people who knew the player…

Also, you should be able to “group up” for any content regardless of playing duo of trio runs. It would make sense for comrades in arms to help each other.
You wouldn’t have to actually party up, merely move as a unit and support one another.

I’ll be honest… I miss the immersion… I’ve seen my fair share of people who afk in the city, waiting to be approached by someone who wants to do some roleplaying… Sitting there, writing elaborate stories of their progress… Their background… But when they actually play the game, it’s just a… Chore? Seems like a wasted potential to me…
Could we not create something awesome here? A new start? A new way of roleplaying, with far more realistic and immersive gameplay? Is that not what roleplayers strive for in the first place? Could “Levelling and gearing” not also be a part of your roleplaying experience?

Now I realise that this is not for everyone, and the guidelines would of course need some polishing, but could we not try and entertain this idea? Maybe come up with something awesome together?

What are your thoughts? Would anyone be interested in giving this a go?
Maybe start out with a smaller, themed guild and see how it goes? Test it out to see how it feels?

Ideas are very much welcome!

Thank you in advance, you’re all awesome!

[Malóu-laughing-skull]

Sounds a lot of more fitting to a RP realm, as most hc player are doing

The problem will be, to find the roleplayers in all of the normal HC crowd.
As you said - most don´t care about Roleplay. They don´t even see the “RP” tag, for them it´s just “the” HC realm

You might face similar issues as “normal” players on HWL at the moment.

But overall, the idea is way more fitting as what we see currently

You should just make sure to stress out that you do not completely obey to the HC ruleset, because other HC players runs might be invalidated in the end at 60, if they play with you.

Given the issues the realm faces currently, i´d start alone, playing as you have in mind, and try to connect to the RP community/normal community that is still there.

Your character would start this way, too, right?
There are no guilds out of the sudden, your character will have to create it, get to know people, and so on

[Astariella-argent-dawn]

Finding the people will definitely be the main issue. As you said, if you bend certain rules the run will not be validated. In some ways I suppose I’m encouraging people not to use the hardcore add-on because it’s not immersive by my definition, so it’s definitely gonna be a small niche of players who’d be interested. I just figured it could be so much more than standing in line, waiting for named NPC’s to spawn, utterly surrounded by players who have all manner of “HC” letters in their name.

My own character would definitely start from scratch too. I do have a few themes in mind, but I’m open to suggestions if others wanna play along.

Suppose I could always start the journey alone and hope to invite more people along the way, but it does make the development prospect more appealing to have allies to fight with.

[Malóu-laughing-skull]

The problem you´ll face is, that the “real” hardcore player won´t be allowed to interact with you.

And your rules might prevent you from really interacting with the RP community.
For example trading only within the “HC-RP” community.
Absolutely no AH.

When there are HC realms you´ll have to decide if you follow the HC crowd (with almost no RPer there probably), or to stay on HWL. With potentially more PVE and RP player, but probably not many HC-RP player

I´d try to not even more divide the RP Community. There are not sooo many on HWL era anyways

[Astariella-argent-dawn]

Hmm, good point. I suppose an easier concept would be to create a more strict roleplaying community, rather than relying on the hardcore add-on. You could impose some of the same rules, like a 1-life character while leaving trade open with all RP oriented guilds and communities. If the hardcore fanbase decides to switch servers I’m definitely not following, as roleplaying will always be my main focus, but I do like the potential the add-on might bring to a roleplaying setting.

[Malóu-laughing-skull]

In the end of the day: The HC (or “Ironman”) challenge is way older than the addon.
It´s mainly a challenge for one self, the addon just helps to prevent that people cheat and claim they didn´t die while they did (and apparently some guilds do cheat, trade with eachother and then manipulate the addon. It seems the addon does now recognize it and the run is invalidated in the end, but… the main reason for the challenge is of course gone)

If you like the immersion part, i would really focus on this.

For example, there might be character and guild concepts, which make it more likely that characters do not trade (that) often.
Smuggler, Thieves, an defias outpost for example. (Smuggle could also help to trade between alliance and horde, if there are alts on both sides).

They would probably rather trade with eachother and help eachother, than “outsiders”.
But, if the occassion is there and a reason, they would.

It would go in the direction you wanted, but would leave options, and it would have an in character reason.

But what you also should not forget:
The HC Challenge does work, because the “real” HC player don´t care that much about their character (except to complete the challenge).
If it doesn´t work: Delete and repeat.

For RP chars, that might not be THAT easy.
A RP Char who has just found a friend, or has some really good plots ongoing, and suddenly the char dies (because of soemthing stupid - often the HC player die from something stupid )
Some might leave their char dead, as intented, but some might not.
Even some “normal HC player” decide at one point, to quit the challenge or to keep the char despite dying.

You´ll have to figure out, how you want to deal with it.
If the char died from something stupid, alone, you might either never know it, or decide to ignore it.
But if the char died next to yours and the player wants to keep the char?
You can´t force him to delete him, even if he is still around as exactly THIS character.

It´s a good precondition for some drama
It´s just something you should figure out before you invite more player to the “HC-RP”

[Astariella-argent-dawn]

Definitely a risk of drama and people dying to stupid things
And I do second the notion that I’d not wanna force anyone to delete their character.
That said, gotta start somewhere, even if the majority might not agree.
In the end I’m hoping to work out guidelines for a potential guild/community in cooperation with a few likeminded souls. Being likeminded might at the very least reduce the risk of drama. It’ll suck to lose a character you’re fond of, but that’s also part of the appeal.