The Struggle to Find RP - Phasing & Roleplay Accessibility

Community General Discussion
1

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share some frustrations that I—and many other roleplayers—have been experiencing lately. It’s been getting harder and harder to simply exist and roleplay in Azeroth, especially in zones like Tirisfal Glades and Khaz Algar, due to phasing, crowd control mechanics, and fragmented layers.

1. Tirisfal Glades – A Forsaken’s Home… If You Can Access It

I run a Forsaken-themed RP guild, and we’ve been working hard to rebuild our presence in Lordaeron, but phasing makes it nearly impossible for us to gather in one version of Brill or the surrounding ruins. Many players can’t switch between old and new phases, and Zidormi doesn’t always offer the option to return. This means that half of our guild can be in one version of the zone, and half are stuck in another, unable to RP together. luckily Deathknell is spared from this fate. :crossed_fingers:

Lordaeron is our home. We want to tell our stories here. But right now, a big struggle just to stand in the same version of the game, together.

2. Khaz Algar – Where Is Everyone?

As a roleplayer, I love to stumble upon RP. It’s one of the best feelings when you randomly come across a group, join in, and see where the story takes you. But in Khaz Algar, I barely see anyone. I know RP happens there, but due to phasing, sharding, and crowd control layers, it feels empty. It’s isolating. Some moments I wonder if I’m the only roleplayer logged in, even though I know that’s not true.

I don’t mind organizing RP in Discords and planned meetups, but part of the magic of WoW RP is the spontaneous, organic interactions that make the world feel alive. Right now, I feel like that’s getting harder and harder to find. :disappointed_relieved:

What Can Be Done, maybe?

I understand that changes take time, and I truly appreciate all the work that goes into shaping Azeroth and the game. That said, here are a few ideas that could make a big difference for roleplayers:

  • A more reliable phase toggle for Zidormi (for example) in zones like Tirisfal, so RP communities aren’t split apart. sometimes she refuses to offer players options.
  • An option to manually switch to a dedicated RP layer in major zones like Khaz Algar, to reduce fragmentation.

I know WoW is an evolving world, and I love that zones change over time. But RP thrives on accessibility, stability, and community. Right now, those things are harder to maintain than ever.

Is anyone else struggling with these issues? How do you manage RP with all these phasing challenges? I’d love to hear your experiences and suggestions!

**Thanks for reading, and much love to all my fellow RPers, Gamers and the Blizzard Team. <3 **

:prayer_beads: Shadows Watch Over You :pray:
Elisa Day

21 Likes
2

Why does Roleplay has some snowflakey leftist vibe to it?

4 Likes
3

The different versions of zones, and navigating them, have gotten pesky by now. Undercity and its surrounding area are the worst, and it affects players who don’t rp too with Hallow’s End activities and such. I can imagine as a forsaken rp guild it’s a pain in the butt.

Personally, even if it is less immersive than Zidormi, I’d prefer if I could simply have a menu where I can choose which phase I want a zone to be in before I enter it. There are no doubt prettier solutions but I can’t think of any myself where you still have the different phases accessible.

4 Likes
4

I agree that multiple phasing is highly damaging to RP. I personally encountered couple minor phasing misunderstandings while i was creating TRP3 quest-campaigns, some people couldn’t find hint in the environment - which is simply not there on players end because player started and not finished some quest.

I also do not like artificial meetups/gathering for events through discord or any other OOC way, its immerse-breaking just as “stuck in the past” old locations. Sure, you can refer to it IC like “notice board in our camp/castle/quarters/embassy” but its just not that immersive.

Sadly, working on old content - its clearly not main focus, and RP is obviously not main priority to deal with, which is highly upsetting but understandable.
Majority of players simply want newer and newer content, which is forcing stockpiling old content/locations without any work on overall view of them, simplest example is 2 Dalaran-city while in the latest lore its destroyed.

Can’t say anything about latest expansion locations, i don’t have TWW, but i can imagine how random RP could be there and how can phasing/sharding can be damaging to this RP. Im pretty sure that there is at least one player, who did RP walk and RP questing there, expecting to stumble upon same exact type of player and interact with them. But due sharding it can’t be done, for sure. Most RP players can remember what happen to Stormwind with sharding during Hearthstone event.

4 Likes
5

Socialising is leftist?

13 Likes
6

Boosting this to hopefully bring attention to it. 🩵

I’m aware that a RP Community on my server, quite a large one, wished to move to Valdrakken after the loss of their Dalaran RP hub, but unfortunately phasing issues there forced them to move to Dawn’s Blossom, Pandaria. Now even that area is getting sharded and their event plans will be impacted once more. It isn’t just them using the location, quite a few other writers- so hopefully, this will get fixed.

I’m seconding the proposed idea of a drop-down menu for phase selection. If it is possible for it to be implemented, it would do wonders.

4 Likes
7

I guess having fun together instead of alone is woke? :dracthyr_shrug:

9 Likes
8

Great suggestions. They need to fix that Tirisfal phasing!

2 Likes
9

Yeah socialising is GIRLY. Being sad and alone is for real manly men.

9 Likes
10

Must be you.

4 Likes
11

This is a you problem for sure.

2 Likes
12

Hey guys and gal and nonbinary pals, did you know it’s woke to be a roleplayer?

3 Likes
13

is nag ur alt and u repeat ur joke second time or are u apeing the poster above and cant come up with anything new or sensible like usual?

1 Like
14

First it was Deja now its Nag you really need new material, you know believe it or not people can share the same view that it is a YOU problem and not leftist at all it is such a weird take by you.

Irony :rofl:

1 Like
16

What has that got to do with RP in a game please just leave the thread you bring nothing to it apart from insults and trolling.

@OP thank you for making such a post great topic.

1 Like
17

and I asked you to quit your forum RPing of this mage avatar and abandon this quirky faux AI-esque old timey lingo you are trying to use every time you post on that particular alt of yours and that makes everyone cringe.

2 Likes
18

Just stop derailing the thread and leave not everything is about you. go self reflect somewhere and leave the thread be for once.

no thats a you problem.

1 Like
20

Coming into a thread to say

checks notes

whatever that was about leftist vibes (lol) isn’t a win and you’re making yourself look silly. It’s like walking into a café and saying “gosh, so woke to drink coffee!” or something dumb like that. This thread is about RP. You don’t like it, I assume?

RP is about consent which is something rightwingers etc don’t know much about, so ofc it’s ‘lefty’.

3 Likes
21

Here we go.

Almost got my bingo now.

1 Like
22

Is consent a lefty thing or something?

2 Likes