Lets talk about dragons

Wyrmrest Accord
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Hi everyone-I’ve posted here a bit on other alts,(If you see a goblin named “Zkruu” thats me) and I’ve asked for alot of advice and gotten plenty of great feedback. After trying alot of ideas, I came up with Mozho here-which leads to a topic that I’d like to ask about.
Dragons. Mainly, Rping them. This is basically opening pandoras box, but here we go.
So-why can’t we? They can shapeshift into races, and they interact with society sometimes-either in secret, or not.

Lets start with what I think is the main complaint:

Dragons are overpowered.
Incase everyone forgot…
Dragons are going extinct. With Deathwing dead, alot of them lost most of their powers-AND they all lost the ability to reproduce. I’m not really here to talk about the eventual doom of dragons, though-I’m talking about their power level. Even the former aspects we’ve seen die-and a few of them we’ve had quests to kill. And those are the ASPECTS-the biggest manifestation of power in their flight.

We, as players-who in canon are just wandering adventurers-kill dragons constantly-often without any plot-device-y relic.
There are strong ones sure-but a lot of them aren’t necessarily stronger then any other magic-user you’d encounter.

So, unless I’ve missed something, theres no reason they’re too strong.
Lets move on to another thing I’ve noticed:
Dragons in RP should hide that they are dragons.
Some explanations of this I’ve seen as just dragons being secretive-but for most times I’ve seen, its more that they keep it secret so everyone doesn’t give them flak for it-or react ICly as a jerk for no reason to try to get them to go away.

So yes, alot of dragons are subtle about it-
But lots aren’t.
Chromie, who is a bronze dragon-is just chilling near normal people, waiting for adventurers.
Theres no reason to specifically advertise it, sure, but why hide it if you’re not a malevolent manipulator trying to start wars?
Some might-but why should all of them have to?

To me, this is like RPing any other race-ones that you can play in wow or cant. You’re not RPing a faction leader, you’re just a member of the race.

Chances are I might have missed an issue here-if I did, please say so.
That said, I really don’t see the problem with having a character be a dragon.
So what is the big deal?

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im pretty sure everyone here is going to be supportive of rping whatever you want

i personally, probably wouldn’t approach a dragon, but if one were to approach my toon he’d at least hear them out

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I’ve RPed dragon characters in the past, and I even have some dragon characters active right now.

For the most part, I have them keep their true heritage a secret because:

  1. People may try to hunt them given that dragon scales/eyes/etc… (are rumored to) have properties that may be beneficial in alchemy/magic.
  2. Mortal pushback. My characters do not want to be hassled with constant questioning- “Why did you not help us do something about something?” “Why are you not sharing more of your knowledge?”
  3. The threat of seeming arrogant, or not of their right mind. As you said- dragons are few and far between. Imagine if an almost total stranger told you they were a dragon with little reason for you to believe them. They probably wouldn’t look totally sane. Dragons interact with the murder hobos, sure, but they are the murder hobos. RP toons aren’t, however, necessarily the murder hobos (unless they’re RPed as one of them, but that’s a whole different ballgame.)
  4. OOC pushback. Dragon RPers tend to have a bad reputation (rightfully so, I would say.) I try to avoid all of that OOC stuff entirely, so I tend to have my characters keep mum if they’re something strange or fantastical (i.e. dragons) lore-wise.

People can RP whatever, whoever they want. However, it is important to remember that not everyone will want to RP with whatever and whoever. I try to take that into consideration when I make characters that are dragons or ‘other’, and in doing so I have created the above ‘rules’ for myself and my characters.

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Thats fair-theres good characters, and theres good rp characters.
I can rp an introverted character-theres nothing wrong with that.
But introverts wont go-interact with people-so RPing them is kinda pointless.
Similarly, you can rp a dragon-or any other powerful entity-
But why would someone willingly approach a ten-foot tall lizard just chilling in the middle of a city? Sure, they MIGHT-but they probably wouldnt.
So I guess thats probably why people tend to hide it.

Side note: I adore the term “Murder hobos.”

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insert Grimmel type speech about how dragons and people cant coexist and how dragons must serve people

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I have played two dragons in my rp career. One was simply an NPC in a plot I was running and nothing more, not meant to be used with the playerbase at large. The other one, indulge me a moment:

The Badlands was and still is my favorite questline in the whole game. If you have never experienced it, I won’t spoil it, but this character is inspired by the trinket you get at the very end of that questline. A trinket that’s a dragon egg that summons a little whelp, with the flavor text of: “Take care of him for me.”

This character is that whelp. What happens if an adventurer takes up the responsibility of raising a dragon? He’s still a whelp, to the point that the toon I use to represent him deliberately stays at level one. But because he is so darn weak and like Maxi above stated, people use dragon parts in alchemy (and cooking, don’t forget the Cata dragon feast) he has to remain hidden for his own safety. But he’s also young and naive and wants to think the best of people, a little red dragon with an overwhelming love of life.

…I have no idea where I’m going with this, uhhhhh play the Badlands questline and remember the age and the color of your dragon will influence both how they see the world and how others will see them. Also there’s no such thing as a bad character concept but some characters are harder to play than others and that’s a responsibility you take on when playing something exotic that strays from the norm. Okay? Okay.

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Awww I remember that little guy-
Rheas last egg-even when I was overleveled I still couldnt bring myself to sell it
I also remember doing the “Day that deathwing came” storyline afterwards all while thinking “Bruh I litterally just saw him earlier”
That said, deathwing is dead so dragons cant be born anymore
So rping a dragon means they should probably be a bit old if they’re interacting with the world because I doubt any young would want to venture out

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i dont get this

dragons lay eggs, they dont magically pop them out

so theyre missin reproductive organs just…magically?

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Basically the titan’s empowerment removed their fertility bc that was what was making them dragons. All dragons are essentially mutated proto-drakes meant to serve a purpose. Kinda like planned obsolescence once they fulfilled their use in stopping the hour of twilight prophecy they stopped being able to reproduce. (Super primary source is the aszuna (spelling?) blue drake quest chain in legion).

IN terms of biology I presume it’s because the titan empowerment was fortifying their genes bc they are essentially mutants. Once it was gone their DNA probably cannot properly perform mitosis or even their previous cell division hence why they are now mortal as well. I am a nerd tho so the answer is prolly just “Their magic is gone silly!”

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Play what you want. Everything else is extraneous noise.

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I’d argue that young drakes would probably be essentially larping as a mortal race bc otherwise they don’t do much. I also imagine its probably the safest way of hiding since your hidden amongst all these other magic users or peasants. Since there’s magic everywhere who is going to suspect a disguise spell?

That or they could be a recluse but given how usually happy and social dragons are (excluding the old ones) they’d probably still interact with people willingly.

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I’d say being a giant winged fire breathing lizard can be a bit of a hassle when trying to just go about your business in mortal lands. Walking through tiny streets, scaring babies, drawing too much attention (even if people just want a clawtograph) and other annoying little things.

Some people might say a dragon shouldn’t be vibing in a bar having a drink with mortals but to that I ask… why? A dragon is a person, an emotionally complex person. Why couldn’t a dragon enjoy a simple night of drinking and talking to mortals? It’s not all world protecting and ancient charges, they have to find ways to unwind too. And if some think having engaging conversations with mortals is fun, then there’s no harm in it.

And lastly, about power levels. There’s usually a point of absurdity that breaks immersion, like being able to move faster than the speed of light or punch out the sun. But besides that, it’s okay to be overpowered. Not all characters have the same power levels. Some people will be playing an arcanist apprentice who’s scared of bugs, others will be playing elite knights of the Lich King that wear nigh invincible Old God blood as armor.

It’s all a matter of how you use it and understanding the important concept of conflict. People want conflict for their characters to overcome. If your character can wave all problems away from others without meaningful thought, people won’t appreciate that. They want struggle. The thing is, though, power doesn’t necessarily correlate to that one for one.

It’s all in how you play the character and treat their responses to conflict. Maybe you have a wyrm (a fully realized, adult dragon) and they are a master of multiple schools of magic, who has a highly respected position in mortal society when in mortal form, and owns glorious amounts of wealth. There are easily still ways to generate conflict or maintain suspense that is meaningful to that character and those around them. Perhaps they’re too arrogant to simply solve their friends’ problems. Perhaps they are bound by an oath. Perhaps, in spite of all their experience and knowledge, they still encounter something they don’t know how to solve. Maybe they’re a little slow and people are frequently outwitting them.

I think, if we had to have a rule, it should be about not resolving conflicts instantly, unless both parties involved explicitly wish to. That should be the hurdle people need to jump over when making powerful characters, not the power itself.

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RPing Dragons used to be bad form, back when everyone took their Pretend Playtime seriously. One advantage of the game (and the players) getting older is people are infinitely more accepting of such RP characters than back when I had a Draenei Fire Mage named “Rygalastraz”. And the name (To which he’d only give in-game as “Rygal”) plus the Fire Breath spell were the only two indications I ever gave of him being a Dragon.

Still got harassed out of playing him by the community at large, though. Ah well. I thought he was a fun idea.

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All my characters are dragons, but it will never come up ICly, so essentially they are not dragons. Or maybe they’re not, but it’ll never come up ICly so they might as well be. Or not. Or are they? I will never tell.

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as someone who played a dragon, I played a netherwing that was saved by an adventurer in Outland during BC. And she basically followed that adventurer around like a puppy until the adventurer died. the first people she encountered were dragon hunters, so she intentionally decided to hide her heritage and pretend to be an elf.

I did have a philosophy that an adventurer should be stronger, in most cases, than my little drake, and that most of her powers were in running away or shooting a gun. She was very young-- less than 20 years old-- and most of her stuff was just that she liked to hide and be sneaky and collect shiny things. She was a hero’s mount, not a real hero, and her only job was to fly around very fast and stay out of danger.

I think dragons in this canon are quite fun to play but I do run into issues of playing certain ones casually. It’s easiest with Blues and Netherwings, and now Greens, because those flights are now disbanded. But then again I get really easily annoyed when the only RP I can get is walk-up or casual RP, and I have major goals for the character. That’s part of why I went back to RP forums-- I feel it’s easier and less exhausting to find actual plots there. Hillie worked because I didn’t have goals for her, I was just vibin’. Besides, her goal was just to find someone to protect her again because she was scared and grieving and didn’t want to go back to Outland.

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The real question is why can’t we PVP as dragons?

Come on Blizzard! Let me spread my wings over Warsong Gulch and eat a whole battleground!

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you can in hots :slight_smile:

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rp a dragon!!! i’ve had two long-running plotlines with characters (not mine, people i was rping with) who were secret dragons and they were excellent!!! really enjoyed it.

i think being a secret dragon is a prudent way to go b/c you may wanna avoid all the OOC harrassment. it can make people be a bit leery sometimes, and worst-times it can make you get actually bothered which is stinky but unfortunately true. other than that, just keep your character’s flaws and strenths in mind and make an interseting dragon character!!!

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Draenei is the best race for hidden dragon since we have tails and horns like we are little dragons. Thanks for reading my post

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I actually started my first ever Dragon character recently. 15 years playing this game and this is my first attempt at RPing a Dragon. This character is him, Tyranthion. My general idea behind him is that he is one of the clutch of whelps purified by Wrathion at the end of Ny’alotha, making him one of the first Twilight Dragons finally free of Old God control. RPing him has been great so far. He’s only 2 or 3 years old, so he is NOT very powerful, but he does blend in well with the Void Elves. He has only told one or two of his true nature, and they have been very understanding.

Imgur

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