So goldshire and silvermoon are big hubs for… certain roleplayers.
I am left wondering why after all these years, new hubs haven’t really popped up.
Legion Dalaran comes to mind as the legerdemain lounge seems a prime spot for this kind of thing and more people have access to it.
It is like the prime opportunity to be THE spot for cross faction rp or just dalaran like that in general with the Horde and Alliance sides of the city…
Is it just habit or tradition keeping people out or is it some other factor I’m missing?
So a good hub has a few important characteristics:
- Accessible/Convenient
- Open/Welcoming
- Populated
- Known/Acknowledged
- Interesting
Now a good hub doesn’t have to all of these, but certainly most of these. Some are of course weighted more than others and depends what you want a hub for.
The two locations mentioned that attract a certain roleplayer have these - they’re accessible areas, are open to any who wish to partake, populated, well known (for better or worse), and are “interesting” for those looking for it. Just the truth regardless of feelings.
Less controversial RPers aside, Stormwind and Org are hubs. MG SW far more than even WrA Org, but both have the same (though differing) characteristics.
- They’re both capital hubs for the factions - all players are funneled there eventually and have space (debatable in Org) to exist.
- They’re open and welcoming. No get out signs there.
- Clearly populated, though largely due to point 1, and then feeds into itself as a hub.
- Both widely known as RP hubs and acknowledged as such.
- And are interesting enough (though SW does feel bland)
Dalaran, especially now, suffers from a few limits.
- Its physically accessible but narratively inaccessible. More of a new issue but one nonetheless.
- Its open and welcoming, though a bit small for a city.
- Its not populated what so ever on a regular basis.
- Its a known location, but it isnt acknowledged as a hub nor has anyone declared it one or made major effort to make it one in recent memory.
- Its only interesting to some, especially as a cross faction location. Nothing wrong with that but as a general hub, it needs to be interesting enough to all.
Now some smaller hubs have come and gone. Silvermoon across all three major RP servers (ED, WrA, MG) were proper hubs in their own right, especially for Blood Elf players, rather than the… niche… ones they typically are now.
Darkshire often becomes a backup hub during SW phasing issues on MG, though from what I hear/understand there is a small dedicated group/hub that formed there.
Gilneas was a popping hub some time ago, and I believe players still frequent it. Especially worgen, gilnean, and related roleplayers.
Beyond that, however, there are very few. The main problem is folks want to congregate where folks are. Org and SW serve that purpose for general RP. Hubs need the dedicated population and interest to become and remain hubs and unfortunately there just are not that many dedicated folks to make a new, probably niche, hub. Even if/when someone wishes to create a new hub or establish a space for X or Y RP, they need to aggressively get the word out and really dedicate their time (along with others) to be there despite the long days and nights of likely being alone or just sitting around. At that point, its easier to just form a guild around that RP concept and help build the guild/group rather than the location.
So no one is really keeping folks out, it just that folks self select what is easiest/most visible and that answer is usually the capital cities because they’re just that much easier, convenient, and accessible.
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Good breakdown that helps put a lot into perspective.
Essentially then it is sheer force of habit which then due to it being the populated area it’s going to stay the area despite anything else.
I had been afraid that was going to be the answer as with more accessibilty to Cross faction RP having a proper permanent cross faction hub would be good rather than X city for X expansion.
We’ve been, slowly but surely, making strides towards making Undermine a bigger RP hub. We’ve been hosting rapid fire events across multiple guilds, and it has been amazing! It’s such a cool area, not just for gobs, but for a lot of others too!
I feel like Dorn is very underappreciated. There’s a lot of neat areas to host events and have things happen, but most of the city is unused. The whole northeastern part is great for a lot of things, but no one goes there.
For WrA, the RP hub is the Valley of Honor in Orgrimmar. I feel like a lot of it is just habit, and that you know people will be there? I wish Org as a whole was anywhere near as good as Stormwind, which is infinitely better. Just, in every way possible.
But hey, with Undermine being more and more successful, maybe we’ll have more people heading down there and away from the VoH dustbowl. I’m positive once Midnight hits Silvermoon is going to be a big hub.
…I have no Elven characters, so this will be interesting for me! 