So Long & Goodbye

Wyrmrest Accord
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Right, so.

It’s been an amazing 11 years everyone. This is my goodbye to the server.
TW: everything?

I’ve met some amazing…and I do mean absolutely WONDERFUL people on this server.

I have friends from here that I live a state or so away from, who are very connected to my IRL family. They know everything going on with me. They’ve helped me through being homeless, domestic abuse, living out of my car, everything you could imagine.

I’ve made some amazing friends here. Women I couldn’t even imagine. Men I couldn’t begin to describe.

There are so many I’d like to shout-out. They know who they are though.
They know how much they mean to me. Either I’ve told them, I told them then blocked them so I wouldn’t hurt them anymore, or they’ve been part of my past.
I’m a toxic person.
That’s a 100% true and real statement.
I’ve been working on it, but the thing is, it wasn’t something I learned from therapists. It was from one incredibly strong and inspiring group on this server.

If you know, you know. The best guild I’ve ever been in. Ya’ll know who you are.
Anywho! There’s something I really and dearly wanted to say to everyone on these forums before I go.

Lay off.
I don’t care if you’re fighting for the right or wrong thing, no matter the way you look at it.

It’s an echo box. This is a term I learned from this server, and it truly disappoints me that I learned it from something I used to take so SO MUCH pride in.

Those of us who have been around this server since Wrath…
Do you remember the community?
Do you remember all of us working together to put out a beautiful narrative? One we could all feel?
I do. Go back to the PLAGUE, heh. Anyways.

There’s a pattern I’ve seen on these forums. Its one that even I can’t ignore…and honestly this pattern is why I’ve faded more and more into the background.
I’ve done my best to even add a comedic flair. To add structure.

I’ve put over 80 logged hours into this server as far as forums go, PLUS events, videos, DJing back in the day. I love this server. I love it like my freaking family.
It’s been everything to me for over 11 years.

It breaks my heart to see what it has come to.

I remember when the most important part of this server was its community. You may not have been there for that, but trust me, it was the absolute…most wholesome thing you could ever imagine on World of Warcraft.

To me…when all hope was lost, there was WrA.

Back in 2012, all we really had was Facebook. We still had Teamspeak of course, but nothing like Discord. We had groups like FB and these forums.

So, I started the first WrA Facebook group. I was a huge fan of Trixxiz and crew. I started DJing with them occasionally but I was always better behind the scenes.
I did weekly-monthly server wide gatherings. It was my absolute favorite thing, to see everyone coming together.
Happy. Engaging. Caring. Passionate about the game. ABOUT RP.

Way back before we were even given the idea of Neutral RP from Blizz, we made it a thing here on WrA, because we genuinely cared about each other.

We were a small community back then. There were less than 500 members on the FB group alone before I asked Trixx and friends to take over.
You know what though? I ended up moving in a forum regular from this very server. She helped me get back on my feet, just like any real family would.

It breaks my EFFING HEART to see the way this community has shattered.

Some of you jump on any post you get the chance, if you see the possibility of drama.
I can give you an exact rundown of how any post will go on this server these days.

Why don’t we break it down in comparison to the way it’d be when I came here?

When I came here, when the server first formed:

  1. Welcome to our server!
  2. We’re so excited to invite you into this absolutely beautiful world that is WoW roleplay!
  3. Please, allow me to offer you links and help and tips and anything I can do to welcome you here.

Now:

  1. Someone makes a thread here
  2. Welcome
  3. Someone else: wait, did you notice this ONE WORD or SENTENCE or PHRASE?
  4. Everyone jumps on them for it
  5. Everyone else jumps on the people jumping on them for it
  6. everyone iS FREAKING FIGHTING
  7. its 100+ posts in, (one of us starts joking, i do this all the time)
  8. people are joking
  9. someone has a serious post in regards to the pre-jokes which were made to try and distract from everyone fighting
    seriously, why in the actual CARP are you all fighting
  10. the thread is locked by a GM

Welcome to WrA.
It used to be an absolutely beautiful place of creativity, love, and acceptance.

I completely understand everyone fighting against what they think is wrong.
I agree with it.

But this is just turning into an echo chamber, which is being springboarded into the drama sitcom of the week.

Please, for the love of those of us who grew…and learned…and… you know…DEVELOPED here. Please stop this.

It’s so easy as just ignoring that bait. You know they’re trolls. i freaking know you know they are. Don’t even try me on this.

Anyways. Until ya’ll decide to get your stuff together, I’m out.

I really hope, at least for this communitys’ sake, that you can. Those of us who have been able to stick around this long;
love you guys.
Please care about what’s been built here. We don’t want to see it smoldering down to ruins.
This is our family. There’s over a decade put into it.

Please. Think twice about screwing it all up.

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So you are getting banned or?

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See you at thanksgiving

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I’m sort of thinking the forums are the problem in response.

But there is good RP on WrA. I’d wager to say it is more isolated that you might think. The guild I’m in for example. We keep to ourselves, only momentarily gandering at org and silvermoon before moving on with our affairs elsewhere.

I’m probably the only one from my guild who even bothers to look at these forums honestly.

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What he said. The forums are trade chat light. Most of the actual community seems to be on discord these days.

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Thanks for being part of the community for so long. I hope you can find fun and fellowship wherever you end up next, Shay. You’ll be missed.

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I respect and completely understand your decision, Shay. Just remember that you can always message me over discord.

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You saved my life when I was going through some hard crap a year or so ago. And I’ll never forget that.

And I agree 100% this server isn’t what it used to be, that’s why I’ve retreated so deep into my own mind and my own RP and my own stories and hardly do things with the server anymore.

Stay safe Shay. You’ve always been amazing, and you’ve always been a staple here.

–hugs–

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You’re right, Shay. Reading your post… I hadn’t even realised it about myself but I think I’m too quick to jump on people sometimes… for saying things even slightly dodgy. I think I’ve allowed myself to get too caught up in the echo chamber myself. To get too caught up in the drama.

I’ll do better. I hope you can come back to a better community forum soon. I’ll do what I can to make it so.

  • Fal’therin/Sarestha
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So uh… you wanna join me on FFXIV?
Crystal Datacenter, Mateus?
Free trials can play up to level 60
: )

Edit: Okay, serious post:

As time goes on, we lose community members to time or greatly unfortunate circumstances. Though that alone is not enough.

When this server launched, we were all new, maybe had different names, maybe came from different servers. It was exciting. In time, we section ourselves off. Who we want to play with, who we don’t want to play with, who we blacklist - do we blacklist the guild? Is our guild demanding its members blacklist other players?
In time, we go from one large community to one MASSIVE community made of much smaller communities. In that, we may have another connected community or two we’ll enjoy, but we’ve also changed as people over the last decade of this server being around.
Many play by the rules that “Xyz’s grade of RP isn’t my jam and I would rather enjoy my small jar of jammy RP than the costco bucket of surplus that I’d have to pick through because time is precious”.

On snark and ridicule, which I am guilty of:
When this started, we fought hard for preservation of what we had. But trolls will be trolls, mon, and eventually, people lose patience with others (unfortunately).

However, your view on how helpful the server was in the beginning may vary from person to person. I - including many others - loved PvE and PvP. RP was fine, perhaps not a priority on our list, but we came here for a friendly community.
And we were told vehemently to leave. It wasn’t our place to be.

So I and others like me, had our first impressions of this community skewed to hell and back by people who would put RP and their concept of server purity over all else.
And I’ll step on twenty toes, but I will say: Roleplayers take themselves the most seriously out of any brand of player I’ve met.
For story and RP? I like that. Gods forbid if a Roleplayer doesn’t like something though.

For friendliness? That wasn’t there for a chunk of people. Some of us made due, adapted, RP’d, and stayed out of the Serious Sams’ hair. Others? gestures to everything

Maybe that pure community wasn’t all that pure in the first place.
I ramble.

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This is why I started muting a certain persons threads immediately when posted.

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bye (nlahblahpostmustbeatleast10words)

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Take care Shaysinn. It’s true what you said. I came to this server close to the end of Wrath myself, and I miss the community heavily. It is unfortunate that there is a loud and angry bunch of children on this server who like to deal in drama, and trade in it like anima.

But there are still good people and those are the ones I choose to stay for.

And as much as they wish, we will never get off what in their hubris they believed was “their server”. We know how those people’s brains are wired. Their the petulant kind who get physically ill when they see players they feel “uncomfortable” around just simply RPing and enjoying themselves in game.

Maybe you know such people from their rants on Tumblr, or their petulant behavior in game. Maybe you know them from being so arrogant that they think they can issue a DNI (Do Not Interact) command; as if they were some corrupt Medieval Pope issuing a papal bull to purge social heretics.

I will say what I have always said.

“I” will remain. “I” will continue to have fun, and “I” will by simply existing, continue to remind those sad, sad children that never matured; that they don’t get the final say on where we have fun.

I would also remind people that the only thing needed for bad people to win, is for good folks to say nothing. Sometimes you have to support an unpopular position. Think for yourself and ask the person accused directly. Never trust ‘word of mouth’. You’ll come away thinking X or Y player is a literal Antichrist. With first hand dialogue you’ll either get the truth, or come away with a confirmation you can live with.

That also means that sometimes you’ll also have to stand up to what public opinion says is not accepted. Sometimes you may have to outright oppose a mega-guild of sycophants. Maybe it’s because they try to squash all RP that doesn’t go through them, or maybe they are trying to drive off an innocent player that dared buck their presumption of power by disregarding them.

As is the case in society, when you take a hard position; you’ll almost always pay for it with a smear campaign against you, that is uplifted by a small cabal of hive-minds that know what their doing is wrong; but do not care. Their power is all that matters to them.

But. There is a spot of good news in it all. If you know your in the right, that’s the only judge that matters as long as your being intellectually honest with yourself. So for my part, I want to say thank you for all of your hard work. I do not believe we have ever met, but I rather wish we had.

Wherever life takes, you may you live long, and prosper. :love_you_gesture:

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Safe travels, Shay. You’re good people.

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There are many forum posters from WrA that I miss, too, and I can only hope to see them back at some point. I hope you come back as well, so long as the place doesn’t make you feel negative. Enjoy whatever you’re into next and give me a shout on discord if you ever need anything!

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Seconded.

It’s unfortunate to see you go, Shay, you’re such a positive perspective on the forums.

You have my discord, feel free to chat me up anytime.

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…hold up. Do you mean…?

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See you later, Space Cowboy.

Please stay in touch over Discord, OK? There’s a lot of folks who care about you, and if you’re feeling down just reach out.

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Living character switched to dead character. The plot thickens.

All sadness aside, it was a well written point. It would be a shame if the creator of the point did something silly like remove their potential and future contributions to society. If this is what we think it is. :x

edit: Silly is a poor choice of words for the subject, but the subject is kind of one of my big ‘peeves’ because of how many people I will never be able to see grow or interact with again because of itself.

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I remember when I first transferred to Wyrmrest. My character zoned into Ironforge and people were RP walking everywhere. Brotherhood of Iron was looking for signatures in chat. Times change over eleven and a half years. Some for the better, some for the worse, in and out of game. I had a Welcome to WrA thread as Loreynna/Harphamat on the newer old forums, ran some events and did a lot of stuff here.

But I think taking a step back from the community when things get to be too much to handle can be a very positive thing. When you’re up for it, it can be amazing. But ultimately, the people of said community are the real draw so I hope to encourage you to stay in contact with the friends you’ve come across along the way.

Good luck, Shaysinn. /salute

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