1.: The expansion not being supportive for roleplay development is one issue, as we are taken away from our world, and currently, everything done in Shadowlands is down to limited people and does not affect our own world anymore, except if people create Death worshippers to strangle.
2.: Some believe they should not play the game due to current development, and have decided to find a new home, either temporarily or permanently (some sadly just go to support another bad company instead).
3.: We’re in a weird lull where the content development has been slowed down past what people find acceptable.
4.: Roleplay groups are very much being boiled into small groups, or avoiding certain other groups, this splitting the ground on an already small enough island.
5.: There are still roleplaying to be found though, you either have to seek out a community or keep your nose sniffing for regular events. I tend to catch 2-4 events pr. month. I sadly do not have much time to do roleplay hangouts.
I never thought I’d say this, but I sincerely miss the drama-hub of Duskwood with the Lyrebirds and Lucans. It was horrendously bad, but I’d stay up till 9am RPing due to constant action and it is a good memory.
What do you mean? By playing Legends of Runeterra instead of Hearthstone I’m supporting a company with no skeletons in their closet and no history of mistreating female employees!!
Yeah Riot are kind of scummy too but hey at least they’re not asking for as much money as Blizzard are so that’s good enough for me. (Because basically all companies are probably just as y as Blizzard are in terms of work environment but it hasn’t come to public attention in the same way.)
On topic: Yeah, population’s down a bit, but you can still find stuff going on in guilds, a little bit in Stormwind and a little in Orgrimmar too. And while I say this fully as a projection, sometimes it’s worth just jumping in even if you don’t think it will be worth it!
Yeah I haven’t been in Orgrimmar for RP in a good while now, but even flying over and looking down… it’s not great. I know the logical remedy is to organize some RP, get in there, and bring some semblance of sanity to the zoo… but who really has that sort of time to spend.
The lore is simply abysmal. It’s the worldbuilding & lore what kept a lot of roleplayers hooked to WoW, and Blizzard managed to pretty much dismantle it in a single expansion. Doesn’t matter what kind of character you play, even though Shadowlands lore doesn’t directly affect you, the thought of what goes on in there and what Danuser is publishing as canon lore still can gnaw on your mind.
Spoiler for 9.2
EG, even though we kinda dropped Shadowlands-related roleplay, how am I supposed to roleplay a Nightborne priestess when first Elune p much states nobody matters but night elves (bye Lun’alai and furbolgs), she turns out to have been an utter idiot and then it’s implied Elune was 3d printed by robots.
As stated, I said “some”, does not mean all. Blizzard has their drama, and following them are Amazon, and SE, and EA, and Bethesda, and a lot of other companies who didn’t give a damn about people’s right to a safe and professional work environment.
Also, Arcane was primarily animated/produced by Fortiche, a French studio, if my googling is right.
And the French sure as heck let it be known when they’re not happy with working conditions, heh
There’s stuff going beyond the Span, Tourney as well start of December. Stuff like Darkshire yea is dead, but tbh Argent Archives gives a lot of footage of what players are actively rping
Ain’t just you… there are a good few events that have caused things to trend downwards and it shows. Some people are still dedicated and attached to their chars and social groups, but it’s gotten smaller… and emptier.
From SL being a little lackluster and trending downwards, the lore of SL not lending itself for RP in all but very few cases, the actiblizz situation that goes on, continued lack of rp related additions to the game, to last but not least a seeming increase in harassment and sexual misconduct in the game where people get away with preying on other players or play out weird fantasies without being punished for it, despite it clearly breaking ToS and drastically messing with the mental health and enjoyment of other players.
I can’t even bring myself to log on anymore having been victim that to that myself, but I feel it’s important to make your voice heard all the same.
Sincerely, I hope there can be some kind of movement to make rp community heard and be considered more as it’s core part of the game and the main source of enjoyment for a lot of people playing WoW.
Give this here a look and feel free to spread the word if you want to. It’s just an attempt but better than nothing.
There have been evenings during Legion on which it felt emptier than it feels today. Maybe it is just my perception of things, but I do not think that this is a recent trend. I am not saying that RP isn’t declining, just that it isn’t a new thing.
BfA had a decent amount of RP in Boralus, at least, a hub that is still used today.
There’s a plus side to this as well, namely that a number of troublemakers have left the game, too, and the OOC “community” has become far smaller as well.
Duskwood was to me, a really good setting with RP that didn’t match it quite as well. I kept coming back for the occult themes and spooky shenanigans only to find draenei giving out lapdances or a whole bunch of Horde with neutral licenses, and I assume at some point both of those things met.
Eventually I stopped going because the pros of the zone didn’t outweigh the cons of some of the people occupying it.
The Horde races seem to be gone.
It’s quieter and less fantastical than before.
Though there’s people hunting dreardlords who are raising dead, it’s more fitting with the zone and expansion.
y as Blizzard are in terms of work environment but it hasn’t come to public attention in the same way.)
