I’m not only a returning player to WoW but also RP in general! It’s been years since I’ve RP’d… so I’m pretty rusty but I miss it.
I’ve been looking at Wyrmrest Accord over MG for Alliance RP because I just find MG to be a bit overwhelming, especially as a returning RP’er. I’ve noticed the Alliance population is pretty small here and mostly congregated in Darkshire but I’m really curious as to why?
Like, I’ve read there used to be a more healthy Alliance community. Also, what made people move to Duskwood as opposed to anywhere else?
I’m not asking any of this in a judgmental or complaining way, I’m just genuinely curious! I like to read up on server history, especially RP ones.
Good evening! My name is Thomas Bates and I’ll be your guide to why the walk-up scene on Wyrmrest is now inexplicably centered in Duskwood. Spoilers, it’s all my fault.*
So back in the days of Legion and BfA, the server’s walk-up was centered around Stormwind, much like it is on MG. Back in those days, people lamented that there was no reason to go out into the world to rp. So I made a little ghost knight to patrol Duskwood, because that’s what I enjoy doing! We got a few regulars going, some who have gone and some who have stayed like any community does.
But then came Shadowlands. And then came the ABK Scandal in the middle of Shadowlands. Lots of Wyrmrest’s population, both Alliance and Horde, either left the game entirely or moved to MG as the population on the server went into a temporary death spiral. Stormwind rp still hasn’t recovered, though there have been efforts to help reignite it. (and weekly bar nights on Thursdays!)
Meanwhile in Duskwood, I decided to stick around and continue to do my thing during the crisis. And because of that, a few of my friends stuck around as well. And because there was still a small core group there every night, Duskwood’s rp scene has bounced back before Stormwind’s has. Now there’s a few guilds in Duskwood and an even larger core of regulars!
We rp in Duskwood in the evenings, are cross-faction friendly, and usually start around 6pm server time if you ever wanna join us! Or if you want to stay updated with the server in general, join the Wyrmrest Community Project discord!
Doomsayers, naysayers, and people not wanting to be the change they want to see. It’s far too easy to give up and jump ship at the first sign of taking on water. Like being down 2/3 flags in Warsong Gulch, people are happy to just roll over and call it quits. (PvP is the devil, btw)
Creating and fostering a community takes work. Thomasbates put in the work to make Duskwood a hub of RP as opposed to a city. It was quiet at first but now when people hear Alliance RP, they think Duskwood and Thomasbates.
People get older and people have jobs, kids, lives to attend to - less likely to put all that work in for no return, so why not go where the people are? The past expansion and the constant BS from Blizzard didn’t help, either. And when people stop playing, people lose friends and RP. It just snowballs from there.
I actually just came back to WrA and was lucky enough to immediately run into some rpers in Stormwind then find a guild. It’s certainly vastly different but I’m sure once others see people rping around Stormwind, more will start joining in and actually rp outside their guilds.
Lack of motivation and a decent LFRP feature definitely doesn’t help. It’d be nice to let the server know “I’m looking for this kind of RP in this place even though I know I’m currently questing in ___ or doing a keystone dungeon.”
It’s hard to have a good adventure when everything is centered around bars and perches. Walk-up culture is medieval- outdated and not as effective as it could be. Any accessibility at all for that would be wonderful so I don’t have to be lucky to catch someone in the right place at the right time. Searching or waiting for walk-up is… dull.
Thus, small communities, big events, and guilds are mostly where the RP happens.
Hmm, that’s an idea. Conan Exiles has a mod for RPers similar to TRP where you can tag yourself with what kind of RP you’re looking for on their map marker. Some of the choices are things like:
Military RP
Tavern RP
Meaningful RP
Character Growth
Criminal Activity
It’s just a quick and dirty tag we could use in TRP to tl:dr what someone is looking for specifically. It’d be a lot more informative than some of the “RPer with 20 years experience” comments.
Getting Stormwind going again would be something I could try but I also understand it’s the default for Alliance RP like everywhere else so I think I’ll appreciate Duskwood, at least as far as walk-ups are concerned.
