From why I understand it comes down to mainly a few reasons.
Frustration with griefing and not enough support to stop it.
Some 100 player multi boxers who was ruining servers and seemed to be intentionally causing trouble and server crashes(again no support from blizzard to stop it)
Toxicity among certain guilds seemed to cause issues. And certain features seemed to make it worse(Twitter and a few other stuffs,etc)
The expansions and many of the communities inside Emerald Dream getting frustrated and tired.
Emerald Dream seems to the be the cusp of RP mixed with W-PVP but the guilds that are gone like kingship of the east, Nyx, various other guilds seemed to have left a vacuum.
We RP-PVP all the time. Just like RL, you gotta know the right ppl. But the movement is growing. The key is neither RP nor PVP coming at the expense of the other.
The Report wars of 2017/18 were a factor for many to leave.
The Drama was another reason.
I have no clue how horde RP is doing, but I know for a fact Alliance RP is back on its feet again. Though divided by warmode. (Kinda funny that most of the drama that ran people off, is gone, wonder if it followed them)
Even PVPbro’s that once were dicks to RPers, seem to come to RP events but sort of just sit quiet and I like to believe they are contemplating if they should join in or not, either way I just consider them guards IC.
I mean though, some of those guilds you listed have been gone over 7 years already, the vacuum has been filled again and again. People cannot look to the past and want those times again, all we can do is, move forward, learn from the past and make the best of the present and future, which many of us are doing.
I still prefer Emerald Dream over wyrmrest accord anyday, even if I am the last player here, it will still be much better place. (personal reasons, most of the community there is awesome, just my past there and crud, I don’t want to be there)
We’ve rebuilt the community and from what I can tell folks are happy and thriving. Why folks left is their business, and I hope that they found what they were looking for and are happy too.
I just posted a baseline Horde RP events PSA the other day (8 different events in 11 days- not including guilds that were doing a private event that wasn’t open to everyone) through the 10th… and a couple of those are cross faction. From what I have seen on Horde side, there is a lot more RP now, and RP-PVP is starting to form up, just preferring to keep it on a smaller scale, and also using the RP as a way to bond first and give a reason to RP-PVP with different guilds, if that makes sense.
I guess I can’t speak to what caused the exodus as I was not here. But as someone that came later, you all have a great community and maybe you just don’t always see it when you are in the middle of it.
This is pretty accurate. When i transferred here in Cata I believe KotE were in their prime. I’m pretty sure the forums were also fawning over vanilla ED guilds at that time. Sort of like people do now with guilds from 7-8 years ago.
I think when people say that the server is changing (or dying), it’s more often than not that their circle of friends is changing. Whether it’s from people quitting the game, transferring servers, or switching factions. When you can no longer play with the same group of people you build a relationship with, it can definitely change the way you view the server.
We’re picked back up, though more support is always encouraged. Earth Mother knows I’ve put too much on my plate the past year or so and could use the support. Luckily Lohk has been doing an amazing job keeping the community calendar up to date, working his Redwood Times for the community, and been an over all very good shu’halo.
There are other things in the works, but we’d certainly like a few more to step up for this does not become the Redwood show.
Also hi Ravenhul! Its Immy!
Get back to your post and do elf things. I’ve been sorely missing a lackey!
The gossip I’ve heard is that the Horde guilds that left ED (this expansion) said it was because now all realms have PvP. They may have left for a more robust and deeper RP community and options opened up now that they can PvP anywhere. I didn’t know about all the drama they were having, and I don’t have any insight there.
As for Horde, the RP community has picked back up. I posted some graphs about it in the Horde’s RP discord and I’m thankful for Redwood Tribe for stepping up to be the backbone of the Horde.
I really love Emerald Dream and the RP that we have on both factions. If folks are saying there is not enough RP, maybe they as well as the rest of us should do MORE rp in the middle of Orgrimmar, Valley of Honor. If those who decide to start grieving us again with their overgrown mounts, well we will move inside which is a shame. Maybe get some of the bigger PVP guilds to help us out as well. IDK, but I don’t want to move because they say there is not enough RP. We have to make it happen. Maybe even get the alliance to make level 1s to come and help us out on the Horde side.
When they abolished the PvP ruleset and allowed War Mode queueing from any server, some thought that you might as well go to a more robust RP community.
Interestingly enough, whether it was certain guilds/players leaving or other reasons, the Emerald Dream community has improved quite a bit. We have had new guilds pop up and contribute to the community, and the WPvP guilds have actually made an effort to get along with the RP community. I don’t see any RP griefing guilds out there.
It’s certainly interesting that The Exodus improved Emerald Dream.
RP hubs would help. Ogrimmar, Valley of Honor has traditionally been our RP hub and it doesn’t seem as phased out as the rest of the world so it is a solid choice. I would also like to suggest using The Zocalo since it is in Dazar’Alor and has multiple bar/restaurant options (could be used to form rivalries) or the kitchen in the Great Seal so players can stop in for a quick bite between world quests. We want to be seen and seen being welcoming while also being convenient.
Another thing we can work together on would be forming a story arch that encompasses the players on our realm. We are always making history.
edit: Phasing is IMO our biggest enemy, not griefers. It makes it difficult to host walk in events and hubs if we can’t even see each other! My only suggestion is to just RP anyway.
We still have to group up in the Zocalo area to be seen by everyone. I have hosted a couple of bar nights there, and I love the area, but we have to be in a raid group. So we really have to advertise and then when we do advertise something we need to show up, not just at our own events, but at each others
Events are another can of worms.
I was thinking more about the everyday, quality of life, RP that could be going on all around us when we are in town. Public displays of RP and characters just being themselves out in the world makes being logged in fun. The basic building blocks for opening up and making RP available to those who are not RP confident requires that people can watch from a safe distance. By making it an easy, common, and reliable source of people to play with would open doors and make being in-game nicer.
I’m not talking about a planned event. That puts too much responsibility on new players to already know how to join in. What we need requires that we can’t use a raid group, that we assume we can’t use these forums or the Discord channel. Putting ourselves in the hooves of regular RPers who might not know anyone, who RP face to face in game when they are feeling brave, and just listen in when they are feeling shy.
We need an RP hub in the Great Seal. Our biggest problem is phasing. And by the Loa, all I’ve managed to come up with so far, my “brilliant” plan, is to ignore the phasing and RP with the people we can see.
Not off track at all. And it really is a frustrating problem. Workshop 101 maybe at different set times 2 or 3 times a week. Again it is an advertised event and we have to buy in as the people that are RPers to be there, but it would be a way for new people to meet up and ask questions and see they are not alone.
One thing that guarantees that nothing can get done in an RP community is OOC conflict between guilds and individuals. Everyone kinda goes their own way, does their own thing, and the “community” aspect is severely hindered.
As far as what caused the Exodus? I think people were looking for a more “community” feeling… but failed to realize that they could do that right here if they just took the right approach to it. No one’s gonna hand you a functional and inclusive RP community, you gotta build it up with like-minded individuals and guilds… that takes work, mutual respect for the time/effort others put into building something fun/constructive, coupled with a touch of humility.
That all goes a long way towards making the kind of open and friendly RP & RP-PvP community we’re getting to enjoy on ED today.
I didn’t go to WRA or MG, but I did go elsewhere. You’re not wrong in what you say, those are all factors, but there is more.
Don’t forget the War Mode changes. That introduced a few spins to the “WPVP cocktail”.
WPVP is now heavily CRZ so you see far less of “meaningful” people and guilds.
Fighting some guy from Twisting Nether that you will never see again can not replace ganking some known twerp your guild has a beef with.
War Mode being opt-in basically means all servers are “the WPVP server”, you just turn it on. Servers that offer other things (such as more RP or more PVE progress) now can come close to emulating what ED had to offer.
The War Mode systems and rewards are heavily slanted towards abusing the LFG system. Bounties, kill quests, etc. It’s become ingrained in the community so when you kill someone bam it instantly becomes a raid who poops on you. Totally unrewarding. In fact, it could be argued that it punishes success.
It’s been some time since i bounced so maybe things have improved, but anyways I hope that gives some insight.
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