I don’t personally remember rampant elitism from Vanilla to WotLK at least, mainly because so many people were new to the game and roleplaying in general, and still finding their footing in the setting (and the community) themselves. People were generally enthusiastic to find spontaneous roleplay and were more okay rolling with come what may. Doesn’t mean there weren’t people who acted all high and mighty & their way or the highway, but I never perceived it as something widespread.
This trend probably started more Cataclysm/MoP onwards, with long-lasting sub-communities emerging and becoming more coordinated, people having evolved deep attachments to the game with youthful vigor, and lore becoming more and more an arguing point as expansions came and went.
These people would inform you that any non-Ebon Blade DK would basically be hunted down by the whole organization as if he/she/them were Arthas himself.
Another example were warlocks using verdant spheres IC. Were they enchanted floating spheres similar to K—- NO! Kael’s balls had a very specific lore concept and you possibly cannot replicate that.
And speaking of elitism.
I remember a huge word thrown around was “pillars” of the community, basically event organizers and guild leaders. While I believe the concept originated as something benign, simply someone who organizes stuff for many role-players and is therefore a stable supporter of the RolePlay on AD, hence a “pillar”, in the lenses of gatekeepers it often got to a point where some of these people were seen as celebrities or had their own cult of personality, with some defending them no matter what, and others trying to viciously assault them.
I have very little knowledge of AD during Classic-WotLk times and even during Cataclysm I was mostly in small guilds.
During late Cata/MoP, my experience is entirely tied to Horde roleplay, I should add!
Back in my days, we RPed for 18hrs a day - uphill bothways, in rain sleet and storms we RPed. Every morning when we woke up we would RP, from sunrise to sunset - and we had to THANK the PCs for allowing us to RP every day.
And when we got home from the RP, our parents would beat us for only RPing for 18hrs a day, and we had to go to sleep beneath a lake, under a road, with nothing to cover us as we were beaten to sleep!
Kids these days doesn’t even know how easy they have it, phah!
Seconding this, many of these “pillars” themselves were vicious trolls, who relentlessly harassed and bullied people who didn’t give them their way. And that trolling often spilled over into OOC, too. You had grudges that lasted for years.
Reminiscing, I am glad that I always stood at the sidelines, so I never became a victim of this myself.
So, as I said earlier, I have fond memories of the, so called, golden era, but I don’t look back at it through rose-tinted goggles.
As a former Blood Knight Guard member, I distinctly remember the map we had on the guild forums with a huge X over Murder Row, accompanied by “DO NOT GO IN THERE. JUST DON’T”. xD
Also, no, we weren’t the ones using cops radio, but I’ll say you’d be surprised by the amount of rogues assaulting us out in the open claiming their knives could pierce plate + mail + under padding. xD
Something I also just remembered is that long ago, Game Masters were also much more involved in the ongoings of the RP realm.
E.g. it was during the first or second Eastvale Tournament (2006 or 2008) I was riding from Stormwind to Eastvale for the event. A GM whispered me out of the blue if it’d be okay for him and one or two other GMs to come spectate the event. Of course I welcomed them.
So there they were, our robed overseers seated on the roof of the little house, giving us the occasional firework and removing a disruptive player or two from the tournament ring.
I’m fond of that memory.
And the original official WoW website was more fan-inclusive as well, for instance having a fan art gallery section. I was honestly so over the moon when my submission was added there.
Amusingly even a first glance at the wiki confirms this too.
The natural, untempered ore is seemingly near-indestructible (But only tested with nature, some holy magic and a slashing attack), but when worked into actual useable metal it doesn’t seem keep those properties, and the wiki shows MANY examples of how while it is resilient, it has flaws and is not immune to damage or magic.
The term ‘pillar’ has definitely been misused in the past as it’s mostly just referred to semi-notorious players (often guild masters) who didn’t actually contribute anything to AD other than generating some RP with their infamy and cult-like followers.
That said, I think the term itself is still valid and applicable to people who have actually consistently supported the community. Like Acrona, for example, who’s someone that has put in a lot of time and effort in hosting countless community events (both in game and irl) and just generally helped foster a positive server environment for years and years.
Please don’t put me on a pedestal and especially not on a pillar, it’s scary up there - the higher people place me the harder I’ll eventually come crashing down (Nonetheless thank you for such kind sentiment Morghan)
insert meme of all the buzz lightyears on the shelf together thinking they’re unique but they all have a “Two Steps from Hell” ‘theme song’ in their OOC information.
man if starting rp in WoD / Legion makes you a ‘newer’ rper then i’m an actual infant. Reminder that legion was released almost ten years ago so if you started rping then, you have been rping for close to a decade!
(Nonetheless thank you for such kind sentiment Morghan)