Players of Blizzard‘s World of Warcraft can finally partake in Warcraft‘s ever-expanding story through their characters. As players journey through Azeroth, their characters slowly become the Champions of their respective factions – the Alliance and the Horde. And while other players keep their eyes glued to endgame content such as Raids, other players try to keep things simple. Why, while they’re Champions of Azeroth, surely the world has more to offer than one battle to the next, right?
Interestingly, thanks to WoW‘s Roleplay server, players can “live” a fictional life in Azeroth. Their adventurers can take breaks off questing and just explore the breathtaking world Blizzard has built for their hit fantasy franchise. However, even ordinary players might want to take a shot at Roleplaying in WoW. In fact, the game seems to have a lot of secrets lurking in some of its most “mundane” locales.
10 Preparation Takes Effort
Aside from out-of-character discussions regarding backstories and organizing the narrative, Roleplayers themselves are expected to have a basic understanding of Warcraft lore. Unfortunately, “basic understanding” in the context of Roleplaying easily becomes an understatement. For Roleplayers, it’s not just about being familiar with an expansion and its features.
Before players even get deep into the Roleplaying scene, RP in World of Warcraft does lowkey demand a certain degree of familiarity with the lore for a character to properly fit in. Due to this, players planning their character’s backstory may need to go back to the time of the Ancients to understand just how Azeroth’s history may have affected their character’s growth.
9 Context Needs Active Study
Whereas players today enjoy World of Warcraft for its engaging story, Roleplayers take events to heart. Aside from studying the lore to form their character’s backstories, players also need to actively study how their characters react to certain situations through main story. For instance, Roleplayers within the Horde might feel apprehensive towards Forsaken characters due to Sylvanas Windrunner and her defection as former Horde Warchief.
Likewise, “minor” side quests and quest chains can also give insights on how certain races, classes, and factions interact with each other. For example, Night Elves may feel sympathetic to Worgen due to their unfortunate werewolf curse. Additionally, Dwarves and Gnomes have great – most of the time hilarious – relationships.
8 Suddenly Chat Is More Useful
Players often rely on chat for specific needs. For instance, [General] compiles random topics, [Group] and [LookingForGroup] emphasizes parties and Raids, while [Trade] facilitates in-game trading. Barely anyone uses the main chat, except perhaps for chatting with live companions. However, Roleplaying maximizes the game’s chat features – including shortcuts.
Essentially, Roleplayers rely on chat to express their character’s emotions and actions, as well as generate dialogue. In RP etiquette, Roleplayers in character barely use the mainstream channels, if at all. Instead, their characters say their lines with /say (/s), describe their actions with /emote (/e), or yell declarations with /yell (/y). Anything out of character should be discussed via whispering with /whisper (/w).
7 The Destination Determines The Journey
Fans who achieved the Universal Explorer achievement know it takes such a tremendous effort to explore all of World of Warcraft‘s areas. Additionally, some areas require specific flight licenses (e.g., Icecrown) or even quests (e.g., Raids) to get into. In turn, Roleplayers almost always need a reasonable goal to get them from one point of Azeroth to the other. In the case of “adventurers,” they can embark on a personal quest for growth and fame as a member of their class.
Interestingly, non-adventurers can rely on their professions or other character-motivated ideas to venture forth in the world. This observation immediately removes the “for the lulz” angle of exploring Azeroth. Instead, a destination that determines the journey adds a sense of depth to a character’s personality when Roleplaying with others.
6 Ordinary People, Legends Matter
Newcomers to World of Warcraft will almost always want to meet their favorite characters from the Warcraft games as soon as possible. Thankfully, getting into their faction’s main city and participating in the main storyline gives them easy access to these fan-favorite personalities. Why even talk to some random NPC when the Lich King and his Frostmourne is waiting at Icecrown Citadel, right?
Interestingly, Roleplaying adds depth to all characters people meet. Players who travel on foot or by land mount will appreciate seeing a random NPC or an entire town after trekking for miles and miles with no end in sight. Likewise, the “rarity” of getting into a popular city or location can add a huge value to meeting the “main cast” of Warcraft.
5 Every Penny Counts
Players who start leveling up from scratch would understand just how difficult it would feel to note have the spare gold for repairs and purchases. Thankfully, getting to max level and doing a few Raids can easily help players earn valuable gold. Interestingly, even the smallest expense will matter to Roleplayers who don’t want to become full-fledge adventurers.
For instance, a Mage who can create food and water becomes a godsend. After all, creating food from nothing beats Cooking and Fishing, or even buying food from vendors. Serious Roleplayers can even simulate real-world money problems in Warcraft. As an example, players may have to decide whether to buy this nice piece of gear they’ve always wanted to buy enough food to last them this next trip in the wilderness.
4 A Very Particular Set Of Skills
Players often look at Professions from an endgame standpoint – do they plan on taking up a profession to help them gear up or make money? After all, Enchanting and Jewelcrafting can earn dough when trading with the right people. However, Roleplayers can throw this mentality out of the window. Thanks to Professions, Roleplayers now have a better means of justifying their adventures. Fans of Engineering can aspire to become great inventors. Meanwhile, Blacksmithing enthusiasts can dream of building the strongest of weapons for fellow adventurers. Likewise, Alchemists can create powerful healing potions.
Likewise, players can actually take their money-making habits with Professions to the next level. Why settle for simple trades when Roleplayers can act out dialogue in negotiations? This simple Roleplaying factor adds spice to Professions, and may help Roleplayers feel like actual specialists.
3 The Wolf Of Auction House
Interestingly, even players obsessed with the Auction House can benefit from a little bit of Roleplaying. For instance, sellers might want to spice up their AH listings by advertising near the Auction House with creative Roleplaying. Likewise, aspiring “traders” might want to Roleplay their interactions with one another and the marketplace to simulate the idea of Wall Street trading.
Alternatively, even specialists can Roleplay business owners in their free time. They can go lowkey chasing customers with advertisements. Likewise, multiple Roleplayers can organize into Profession Guilds that can also roleplay external deals, corporate espionage, and even corporate expansion.
2 Power Becomes Political
Outside adventuring and businesses, Roleplaying in World of Warcraft also offers players the opportunity to become powerful figures. Interestingly, whether or not fellow Roleplayers will follow the whims of a self-proclaimed figurehead is completely up to them. As such, “power” in Roleplaying not only needs to be consistent with Warcraft lore but also consented upon by participating players.
Despite the tricky implication, successful portrayals of leaders may make for interesting politically-aligned stories. These include conquests, betrayals, and even spying for various factions. Roleplaying faction-based scenarios is undoubtedly one of the trickiest to pull off in WoW RP, but it’s also definitely one of the most fulfilling to pull off properly.
1 A Huge In-Game Community
Interestingly, the Roleplay Servers in the game prove that the prospective Roleplayer isn’t the only one enamored in Warcraft‘s extensive lore. In fact, outside RP Servers, fans can actually form communities, share stories, and even organize events through various roleplaying communities. For instance, r/WoWRolePlay serves as the primary Reddit hub for Roleplayers. Meanwhile, various Discord groups also exist that facilitate specific in-game events.
In turn, players don’t necessarily need to wander Azeroth to get the occasional roleplay or two. Sometimes, entire players organize stories and narrative arcs where their characters meet, grow, and even partake on journeys together.
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