Patch 8.1 and Cross-Faction Roleplay

[Jacquell-wyrmrest-accord (Jacquell)]

Lending my support to this thread. I never got the opportunity to use the add-on but I appreciate the effort to make it easy roleplaying with the opposite faction. I know how hard and what a hassle it is having to use Bnet whispers. Bring CrossRP back, Blizzard!

[Girminn-moon-guard]

I’m a bit late the show I’m afraid by the looks of it. But, while I don’t use this Addon a great deal I know it has been a boon to the RP community. So I’ll gladly throw whatever support I can its way.

[Resanity-moon-guard (Resanity)]

I’m going to throw my hat in the ring of supporters for Cross-RP. My guild engaged in an amazingly fun Gurubashi arena smack down with a horde guild on WRA. We had so much fun! It was amazing. I can’t imagine the barriers this broke for the many RP guilds who are neutral / cross faction and for leadership trying to coordinate dual faction RP events.

It doesn’t function on non rp realms.
It doesn’t work in BGS/Arena.
There is plenty of reason to argue why our characters should be able understand each other.

C’mon Blizz.

[Knickey-moon-guard]

Whenever something good happens to roleplayers, Blizzard finds a way of ruining it.

Stop screwing over your most loyal players.

[Adraenon-wyrmrest-accord (Adraenon)]

(Repost of mine from a smaller thread.)
Just tossing my two cents into this. When Blizzard constantly shows us NPCs communicating cross faction, I mean just play warfront and you’ll have both commanders talking trash about each other no issue, but to deny that ability to players it kinda just feels off.

Like yes there’s the risk of people using it to be nasty but the same could be said about literally every way of communication in this game, like wise that issue is by no means exclusive to opposing factions. Be it trade, a random battle ground, ect, I’ll semi-often see someone being nasty or just trying to aggravate people.

Finally coming to the Cross RP addon itself, the author, as stated, built in a plethora of fail safe-ish features to help keep the addon from being abused, disabled in BGs, manually opt in, only works on RP realms , ect. The addon was built to make sure it was used by people just wanting to have some fun across faction lines.

Which leads me to figure this is a oh so famous case of Blizzard being fun police, can’t have any harmless fun in their games it seems.

[Altherei-wyrmrest-accord (Altherei)]

So just to condense a lot of what I’ve seen today in various channels- here and in discord, for the ease of Blizzard devs/CS folks who will read this thread. There are a few main guesses as to what’s happened to Cross RP and why- if I miss any, feel free to add them:

1. Privacy. This is a concern I can understand. That you have to give out your battletag and be connected to a relay where your emotes are logged is something some might not be comfortable with.

• Suggested solution: remove the language barrier on RP realms in the open world. This allows for players to retain their privacy while upholding the immersion that Cross RP provided. It also has the added benefit of not requiring a community to connect to, which makes it even more open.

2. Harassment. Again, a fair concern, except that harassment happens in this game on a daily basis, with or without this addon. The steps taken by Tammy to ensure the safety of those who -do- opt-in to its use cannot be understated. Harassment will still happen no matter what solutions are implemented, or what blocks Blizzard puts in. The only effective way to truly end harassment would be to make WoW a single-player game (and nobody wants that).

• Suggested solution: Give players a more effective account-wide block feature, make reporting more streamlined, and enact harsher punishments for those who harass/stalk/doxx others.

3. Not Intended Use. With the comments about the ToS, it was bound to come up. However, Blizzard has already previously stated that this addon wasn’t in violation- if something has changed, it’s only courteous to let us know. If not? Then it doesn’t matter, as Blizzard’s own ToS allow for pandaren, demon hunters, and void/blood elves to chat across faction barriers. Bnet also allows for this, as do btag communities, so it seems a moot point to limit it in other ways. Not to mention there is ample lore backing up the ability to speak across factions from major lore characters, other NPCs, the lore indicating everyone can speak Common, and the fact that the player characters were important enough to be Champions of their class- surely we know how to talk to others!

• Suggested Solution: Remove the language barrier, same as Argument 1.

4. Unintended Victim of a Larger Purge. I consider this option to be the most likely situation, in which case hopefully we’ll get some more info soon. However, it’s indicative of a larger issue wherein harmless addons (or beneficial to the community in this case) are affected by a blanket ‘fix’ that ultimately breaks more than it fixes, in addition to the playerbase not being warned in advance.

• Suggested Solution: Communication. Devs, you have repeatedly said you want to have greater communication with the playerbase- this is your chance! We want to know what’s going on, what’s being done, how it can be fixed, etc. Keep us in the loop, please!

Ultimately, I think the continued existence of the faction language barrier is antiquated and unhelpful in the larger scheme. Removing the language barrier provides the following benefits (in addition, reinstating the functionality of Cross RP would also):

1. Provide greater immersion for all players seeking that environment. As it would be contained to RP servers, or perhaps something you can toggle into, this would allow players interested in having a more immersive experience to opt-in. With that, comes the world feeling that much more alive and lived in, which creates greater engagement…
2. With the story you’re trying to tell. This is a war story at present, and while there are a lot of folks like myself who love neutral, peace-seeking RP, there are just as many who like the war story and want to play in that environment. Allowing communication across faction lines allows for ALL types of RP to flourish, and without trying to come up with workarounds that feel clunky or ungraceful (like going through a translator, btag, etc.).
3. It will make your playerbase happy. It’s as simple as that. While we RPers have a laundry list of things we’d -like- to see, ultimately we are not a hard bunch to please. We know you’ve listened to us before with legacy content sharding and that does NOT go unappreciated- please consider this for us as well, and we will be happy as clams.

If I think of anything else I’ll edit it and add it in, sorry for the wall!

[Owaeran-moon-guard (Owaeran)]

I endorse trying to bring this back to us. It made ToA absolutely amazing and brought some fresh new life to RP that was missing. The ability to actually really truly communicate with the other faction, which is standard in most games of a similar style anyway now a days. Plus all the aforementioned cross talk that already goes on between leaders and such as is.

[Adeim-moon-guard (Adeim)]

I fully support Cross RP and and had very favourable experiences with it. Much love and wish all the best!

[Gotosh-wyrmrest-accord (Gotosh)]

At first, the CrossRP add-on scared me almost. But as I finally began to use it, I saw just how wonderful, and beautiful it made this world. Cross-RP changed a lot of lives (well, virtual ones). As the GM to a neutral, multi racial, multi-faction guild dedicated to good- I was excited to finally implement a way to communicate with other people across borders especially during this time of BFA. BFA provides a very interesting story for us, especially role players and whether you are happy with the story or not it still paves a way for an interesting future.

Because in reality, there is no actual “language barrier”. Sure, the Horde/Alliance language barrier has it’s needs mechanically but in a reality sense there is no actual barrier. We are not all speaking orcish all the time on the Horde. How else would there be countless cut scenes of everyone speaking the same language (common). The add on allowed to explore this reality, to connect and to be in a world that truly exists in Azeroth.

If there could be a safe fix for this to allow this RP game-changer then I feel it should be implemented. It’s about time RP servers have something like this, and it’s about time we keep it.

Great work on the add-on, Tammya, I hope good things are paved for you in the journey to get this beautiful add-on back.

[Zandrae-wyrmrest-accord (Zandrae)]

So just to condense a lot of what I’ve seen today in various channels- here and in discord, for the ease of Blizzard devs/CS folks who will read this thread.

I’ve gone ahead and linked to your post up in post 3 in hopes to increase its exposure.

[Jenkitsune-moon-guard]

Full Support for Cross-RP and the addon’s developer, Tammya, who has created this thread as a peaceful, civil, and earnest plea to blizzard that they hear the voices of their community, and who has continually urged the community to be as polite and civil in voicing their support as possible. Cross-RP is an addon that quickly became pivotal for roleplayers through its functionality, safety and ease of use, as well as the care and respect put into its design to specifically not interfere with any blizzard gameplay mechanics. I have never seen an addon created with such consideration and care in my ten years of being subscribed to world of warcraft. If there is any addon or developer who deserves support and a sympathetic response from blizzard we have it here.

World of Warcraft is obviously beloved by many and fans continue to subscribe for the PVE and PVP content that blizzard gives us. But when the fans of a game enjoy it so much that they choose to make their own fun in the world, to create their own desirable content through Roleplay and give themselves and other players a reason to continue to subscribe all on their own through interpersonal interactions and user created events it is truly something magical. Cross-RP gave such a boon to this magical quantity, to this dynamic that had players eagerly subscribing month after month to world of warcraft simply because of the interactions they could have with one another on top of an already beloved game.

So it is to preserve the magic of roleplay, which for so many is the biggest reason that they purchase World of Warcraft game time and expansions, that I sincerely urge blizzard to hear and respond to the calm voices of this community, and that they restore Cross-RP’s functionality. Please restore Cross-RP and the enjoyment it provides to so many, and the reason it gives multitudes to continue to adventure together in Azeorth. Please show that blizzard is willing to accept and nurture the efforts of Tammya and other mod developers who expend their considerable time and effort out of sheer love of world of warcraft and the community that has been created within it. Please do not cast aside the hard work Tammya and so many others put into this project. Please do not turn a deaf ear to the community which cries out with such deep seated emotion. Please blizzard, do not break our hearts.

[Nyridian-wyrmrest-accord]

This addon was an amazing endeavor and performed without compromise for anyone who used it. I have never seen it used in a manner that would require it’s immediate circumvent. Blizzard, 8.1 is already underperforming and the true lack of additional content can be felt. Having a tool that lets you do something new and amazing does nothing but help the sustainability of the game. Not only does it help keep your numbers high, it keeps our moral at a decent measure where we’re not deciding to take our money elsewhere.

[Selfina-moon-guard]

CrossRP was amazing for me. I play Horde on MG. I used to pretty much play solo but when I stumbled into the ToA and noticed all these people using this new addon to talk it blew my mind. I began making friends right away. My Forsaken quickly made friends with market vendors from HLV. I was invited into a huge crossfaction group that shared dozens, if not hundreds of events this past year.

I’m not great at talking to people to begin with but this addon opened up a whole new world for me. I was excited to take my Forsaken to the Winterveil ball with some ally friends she made over the year and it sucks that I cannot now.

I understand sometimes things happen on the backend and things get mixed up. Still can’t stop me from being sad.

[Zenrao-wyrmrest-accord (Zenrao)]

540 likes in 9 hours, this has gotta warrant at least some attention. Which, I think, is all we really need.

I know people don’t have much faith in Blizzard these days, but I really do think, considering every aspect of the situation, they’ll do the right thing here, as long as it’s brought to their attention.

[Taeana-moon-guard (Taeana)]

Not to mention coming up on nearly 500 replies in that same time. I too hope it was either an oversight or something that they’ll address in some way. They’re already this close to just removing the barrier all together with the classes/races that can talk cross-factionally. The addon shouldn’t be needed. But until such day Blizzard catches up with the modern MMO world, just let us have our addon back please!!

[Tilliea-moon-guard]

As one of the twitch hostesses for this years Tournament of Ages, I cannot stress enough how amazing the add-on was for the community. While walking around and streaming, we were able to interact, speak with, and I even made new friends and found long lost ones due to Cross-RP.

Tammy is an absolutely amazing person who pours their heart out for this community, making add-ons for us Roleplayers to have a much better time while playing this game.

Blizzard, if you honestly don’t see how this has effected us as a community, then I strongly advise you to take the time to read each and every comment, because let’s face it, we deserve to have a voice.

[Targai-wyrmrest-accord (Targai)]

Seriously, Blizz. Just let RPers have fun. It’s literally only more money for you.

[Rishalia-moon-guard]

Support to the CrossRP creator. Man, thanks millions for that add on. I got into RP in AD EU and got very bored about it. There was far too much stereotypical characters. Worgen Nobles etc. I am not an RP elitist, but things never seemed to change.

But then Cross RP came around. Man that opened up so many worlds. I watched how war drums event went on. Then RP’d occasionally many characters. As a refugee from both NElves and Forsaken, an Angry Forsaken guard, an Orc supporting the Sylvannas, a Lightforge hell bent on destroying the horde. And Occasionally we had a nice crossfaction party for halloween where I was just a Nice druid trying to be positive in difficult times.

This was my world. I had insane fun with the CrossRP people. Now its gone. It will never be same. I wish Blizzard look into this. Because like… the game sucks. I dont have any content till the next raid. The lore was garbage. My fun on this down time was heading to a neutral zone and RP something. Now its gone

If this is gone for good, dear creator of the addon, thank you very much for the brief fun time you gave us. I had so much enjoyment using your addon than this stupid god forsaken dirt of an expansion being among people. I dont know how to thank you, but you have my support.

[Demetrius-wyrmrest-accord (Demetrius)]

I’m in full support of this add-on. Please allow it o live once more. This expands so much more interaction for the RP community in both a neutral setting as well as in the narrative as well.

[Derscha-cenarion-circle (Derscha)]

I’m the leader of a cross faction RP guild. We’ve got a long history on the server as being the group that helped facilitate cross faction RP; before bnet was introduced we’d be the one hopping into Vent or Mumble and cut-and-pasting conversations between Horde and Alliance players.

We loved the addition of Bnet and the old Bnet Conversations, even if they had small group limits. We were super sad when Blizzard took away conversations without any warning.

When Battlenet communities were announce? AWESOME. And then Cross RP? EVEN BETTER.

It’s been a huge boon to my guild. We’ve slowly been moving more Horde-ward due to how much fun it isn’t to be alt-tabbing into Discord or only having one-on-one whispers. It’s the first time in ages I’ve been able to attend events on Derscha without having to fire up the second account or rely on someone /whispering me everything.

Plus, we recently held our annual cross faction Armistice Ball and invited everyone to use Cross RP with us. It was a hit! It was easily one of the easiest managed and most fun balls I’ve run in all my years as the guild GM. I had to giggle a couple of times when someone forgot they were talking to someone on the other faction and tried to do a /trade for drinks

I would love to see this addon be saved from being yet another tale of nostalgia. RP is the main reason I’ve stayed with WoW for so long, and Cross RP brought back life to our little corner of the RP world.