Source
r/classicwow•
copunic

I played on a RP-PVP server back in vanilla - and it wasn't that great

Discussion

Disclaimer: I'm absolutely FOR these servers in classic. Their should be at least one RP-PVP server per region, simply because people ask for it and it isn't a big deal to set them up.

 

I'm seeing more and more posts about how these servers will be a glorious haven of immersive in-character open-world battles and be sure to attract a mature audience of like-minded roleplay aficionados. As someone who almost exclusively played on RP-PVP from back when they were introduced in 1.8 up until late WotlK, let me put my reaction to that notion in simple 2005 words: ROFLMAO.

 

Actual dedicated role-players made up around 10% of the server population, whereas the rest could be divided in two groups:

Group A: The RP-Tourist. "I dont want to engage in RP but I like the idea of playing on a server where I could rp! Yesterday I saw someone slow-walking through Stormwind, that was wild!"

Group B: The Insufferable. "Erm... cant you read? It is an rp-PVP server, you have the choice to either do rp or pvp .... I'm just here because I heared its easier to farm r14 here, don't bother me nerd!"

 

The realm forums were the deepest salt pit known to mankind. It was constant bickering between the RP-folk and the PVP-folk, the RP-folk and the RP-folk and mostly the RP-folk and the RP-folk. "You don't take RP serious! Your characters background story CLEARLY goes against established lore. Read 'Obscure Warcraft Comic 17' from 1996, chapter 3, page 73, you miscreant!" - "Hey quick question my character is a half-elvish noble who is secretly a dragon, what is the age of consent regarding half-bloods? Anyways, hit me up in Goldshire next time. Yours truly, Árwênn" - "WHY WON'T YOU NERDS QUEUE FOR AV, how am I supposed to get my Frostwolf Legionnaire's Pendant, I thought this was a PVP server, seriously CANT YOU READ??"

Also, if you thought faction balance was bad on your vanilla realm, oh boy would you be shocked to see the numbers on RP servers back then. It felt like 90-10 Alliance. So even if somehow there was an effort to stage these massive in-character epic battles you all long for, it probably would feel like it needs to have a 'brazzers' logo in the lower right corner.

 

Then again, when it did work out it was fantastic. I distinctly remember a very fun Scarlet Crusade guild that pretty much controlled Hillsbrad and would harass any Horde or even Alliance non-believers. One of my main characters actually never got past level 30 despite closing in on ~30 days /played, as she was a waitress in a player maintained tavern in Stormwind's park district. As much as I just trash-talked them, RP-PVP servers where my home in vanilla, I didn't look back to my previous server once they opened in October 2005. There was a real tight community (we had our own realm newspaper, the 'Gadgetzan Gazette' if memory serves) and there were weeks where I spent more time on the realm forum than actually in game.

I just wanted to give you some perspective. If you are mainly interested in RP, back then the RP-only servers definitely attracted a more dedicated roleplay community. And If you plan to join RP-PVP as a "tourist" - remember there will be nothing to see, if everyone just wants to witness other people's RP. Don't be shy and most importantly don't get disillusioned by elitist roleplayers who expect you to have a 400 page origin story. Just don't play underaged half-blood characters with hidden secret powers and we're all good.

 

Shout out to everyone who played on 'EU-Das Syndikat'!

Posted Mar 22, 2019, 7:57 AM UTC · edited

12580
CiderWaffle•

All I know is I was on Emerald Dream for years and the amount of RP fueled WPVP rivalries were amazing.

64
Kazzier•

I can second this. My main server was a RP-PVP server and it was far better suited to my playstyle than the other options (which limited my access to certain game elements).

12
Qiluk•

Defias Brotherhood on EU had the same.

Shit was poppin.

8
highmasterpie•

Hello fellow ED player! Was alliance on that server, did RP, did massive WPVP. Good times.

3
Reclue•

Ahh yes. The good old days of The Federation during wotlk. I joined in wrath so I can’t speak for the days in vanilla, although from what I’ve heard it was poppin.

3
FiyeTao•

Same. Was in Kingship if the East for WotLK and wpvp battles were more or less a daily thing. Flying mounts made it pretty dynamic because everyone had a "Fuck it, we're going in" attitude.

2
Reclue•

Kingship? Wow small world. I was in No Mercy Mafia and joined kingship in cata.. i actually still play with some kingship people, including Hinik!

2
FiyeTao•

Awesome. Seems everyone knew each other on ED somehow. When I first started on ED, I knew of Kingship and wanted to join, but they had a minimum level requirement.

One day, as a level 36 paladin I was running around in STV. Who do I come across along the road? Hinik himself! I hailed him and RP pledged my allegiance, /kneeled and everything. Still one of my best WoW memories.

Do you remember the name of the horde wpvp guild that had the Tauren druid GM?

2
ToasterWithAGun•

That was the realm I played on back in the day. Fucking No Mercy Mafia.

3
Reclue•

Hey I was in No Mercy Mafia! Those were the days man. Wpvp everyday and probably the most fun I’ve had in a video game.

1
Narthae•

Oh that's a funny coincidence, I've actually been RPing a paladin in that scarlet guild you mentioned! It was an all human guild taking on a view similar to the scarlet crusade. Narthae vom Scharlachroten Orden. Though it had its fair share of drama, as all RP guilds do, it's been the best time during vanilla for me!

We had purges of the blighted land where we would crusade to old Lordaeron, and I distinctly remember our struggles with an all warlock guild, and the city watch of Stormwind, who we'd argue over city administration with. I never looked back to the PvP server I came from. I would definitely want RP-PvP servers again, just because RP of that kind wouldn't work on a normal RP server.

25
copunicOP•

Oh man, that is awesome! The 'Scharlachrote Orden' (scarlet order) brought so much fun RP to our server, even though some people couldn't distinguish between IC and OOC and thought of you as elitist snobs.

Sadly I can't remember any specific character names from back then, but who knows, maybe we ran into each other? I actually was somewhat affiliated with the Stormwind city guards, I played a gnomish warrior who aspired to join them - safe to say, in character I wasn't too friendly with the Order. ;)

7
BattleNub89•

I wonder if every server had a drama filled Scarlet Crusade themed guild. We had <The Scarlet March> on NA-Maelstrom. I actually joined them for a bit in WotLK, by that time they had chilled out significantly.

3
lolastrasz•

Boy, have I heard some stories, lmao.

2
BattleNub89•

You would :P

1
FabricHardener•

wait wtf that actually sounds sweet

2
soldier_snake•

That sounds about right for all roleplayers on all servers of every game. They're like groundskeeper Willy in You-know-which scene.

21
Tyrakkel•

Damn Roleplayers, killing Roleplay!!

Seriously though, that's the beauty of it. Why stick to just PvP/PvE aspects of the game, when you can enjoy RP and watch these people viciously and verbally murder each other year in and year out over made-up storylines?

No joking, I live for it.

3
RickC410•

The amount of Rp on RpPvP realms varied from realm to realm. Most serous rpers tended to flock to one realm leaving the others basically as glorified PvP servers. This is why Blizz should have one or two max so there can be a healthy RpPvP community on those servers. Throughout WoWs history there were always Rp realms that were very popular with Rpers and those that were not.

​

All of which you described can actually be applied to regular Rp realms too. Some players are gonna choose those servers because they can obtain rank 14 there more easily. The only difference between Rp and RpPvP is that you can attack players of the opposite faction in contested zones which might hinder some planned rp in those zones. But a lot of people want this because it adds immersion to the world which is what rp is actually about.

20
copunicOP•

Regarding all RPers flocking to one server:

Maybe that's a regional difference. There were only two German RP-PVP servers in the beginning. Pretty quickly one was established as the Alliance-focused one and the other as the more Horde-focused (read: the one where there were more than 20 horde players). However I do remember hearing that when other RP-PVP servers eventually opened up, there was next to no RP and they became the glorified PVP realms you mentioned.

And yes, I concede the phenomena I described also applied to RP servers. I just remember always being a bit envious of (RP-PvE realm) 'EU-Argent Dawn' which was always hyped up to be the European hub of roleplay. And as I said, the constant discussions on the realm forum if "RP-PVP" meant that RP is optional.

2†
Chamelleona•

I'm so nervous about the server balance. Would suck to start a character, get attached to them only to realize you're on the wrong server. I really hope they keep the RP and (hopefully) RP-PvP servers to one or two.

7
copunicOP•

I don't think server balance in Classic will be as big of an issue as it was in vanilla. Sure, alliance RP will always attract more people than horde RP. But back than it was multiplied by a general imbalance of alliance popularity. I feel like the horde became much more popular over the years and especially in a RP context, I think the chance to roleplay in the OG pre-elv horde will surely attract more players.

And I completly agree with you - concentrating on one or two RP-PvP realms per region is key.

5
BattleNub89•

Some of us on NA were torn between the lack of RP on our RP-PvP servers, versus the cringe of Moon Guard's reputation. Eventually Wyrmrest Accord sort of became a happy middle-ground. I'm leveling there on retail now that there are no PvP servers on live.

3
RickC410•

I played on Kult der Verdammten back in BC. I don't know if this was one of the first RpPvP servers that had opened up, but there were quite some horde rpers (and not just bloodelfs). I can't say much about Alliance side except that we had some open world RpPvP events where we would have a huge battle with the Alliance for Northwatch.

To avoid the massive faction imbalance as you described it, it is probably best too have one dedicated RpPvP realm per region. Too many don't make sense since, like I said, rpers will flock to one server with the most rpers, leaving the other ones mostly empty of dedicated rp.

I think one large advantage the regular Rp servers had was simply that they were there from launch. So the Rp communities were already present on those servers and would not change to a RpPvP server, leaving them to be glorified PvP realms. If Blizz does not release RpPvP realms at launch, this could very well happen again. Just another reason ro add a RpPvP realm at launch.

2
NumbNumbrs•

Maaan Todeskrallen was my Horde Home :). Best Server I played on by far!

1
uaMarshall•

Deffias-Brotherhood EU, hail, hail, hail and kill! <Draco Fraternity> Alliance!

6
_Ritual•

That's where I played back in Vanilla! In a guild called The Orphans Grim. Great bunch of people, and a great RP realm.

1
Dcruize_rogue•

There was a great Horde rogue guild there, really nice people as well.

1
Funkytrip•

The first days there were absolutely glorious. Everyone was RP-ing in barrens chat even :D

But then, logically, RP died off to 10%, but the slightly more mature audience than normal PvP remained, so RP PvP is still better than PvP.

​

Amazing RP meetings tho with hundreds of horde in Gurubashi to decide which alliance city to attack.

1
Tiramisaur•

I used to play there on Horde trough TBC-WoD, It was known as a World PvP Capital for many years as it's faction balance was always almost perfectly split, I didn't play since I wonder how it is now.

RP was not as common but it was there.

1
djornson•

I was there day one! I was new to RP but I loved it. Being on a brand new server was so exciting. Was tauren shaman in Mistrunner tribe, then I switched to alliance, was a gnome called sprack can't remember what guild but I think got RP married.

1
djornson•

Remember after just a week or so highest level was 30, us Taurens and a big troll guild raided ashenvale and got wtf pwned. Some of my best gaming memories ever

1
JeanDoeShow•

Hail! Berry Talfoot from The Shining Strand salutes you! 😉

Edit: but man, Defias was amazing during vanilla -> WotLK. Had a lot of RP and PvP sessions on that server!

1
GuffnatGaming•

I played on several German RP-PVE and RP-PvP Realms during Vanilla (Zirkel des Cenarius, Die Nachtwache, Die Ewige Wacht and Kult der Verdammten) and one thing I learned pretty early on: avoid the forums as much as you can. The meta discourse about RP in the forums can and most likely will ruin your ingame RP experience in the long run.

​

​

6
Shadowz64•

I played on Lightninghoof back in the day, which was an RP-PvP server. I don't think I was a hardcore RP'er, but I did RP a few times. I like the option to have like-minded people to be able to do it if I do want it. Not to mention, it's kind of always fun to walk around and stumble upon a group open RP'ing and seeing what they say. Also, people tend to say RP servers have nicer people overall, which I'm not sure is true or not (it's still the interwebz), but that's the theory that goes.

6
T_Brick_OG•

In all my time playing games in general RP servers always have the best communities because the people put in more effort to make the game enjoyable. I’ve done this with WoW, ARK, Wildstar, and some others. It really makes a huge difference and I love to RP with people who are also into it.

2
SpoojyCat•

I too played lightning hoof US. What guild were you in?

1
Shadowz64•

Horde side. Praetorian then Fine Young Cannibals. Around TBC and early WotLK times. xD

1
SpoojyCat•

Yeah I left shortly after vanilla ended mid-early tbc I think.

1
[deleted]•

I don't see how this is an RP-PvP server issue. Those who are 100% RP or 100% PvP might find issues, but the problem is ultimately the inability to accept how others choose to play.

I started on an RP server (Scarlet Crusade) as a gnome warlock, and the Gadgetzan Gazette rings a few bells. I then made an orc shaman on Twisting Nether (RP-PvP) and while my memory is not 100% accurate, the game was fine on both.

That said, I wasn't interested in forum drama whatsoever back then; I'm still not, but tend to at least read that kind of stuff a bit.

A-holes and people who can't speak properly exist in the real world, so if I cared to be in character, it was light-RP and I didn't try controlling how others spoke or acted...unless they were in my group.

Ultimately, I don't see any issues outside the norm.

6
Askyl•

Sad to hear you have that experience, on Defias Brotherhood people really went all in on the RP most of the times and the toxicity was low.

People do know what RP-PvP stands for now as well, so saying it's RP or PvP doesn't really cut it as an argument anymore. But it's still somewhat of a valid point.

My experience with RP PvP is GREAT. And what me and many others expected to experience again :/

6
Kalearend•

I played Horde on Defias Brotherhood and I think the OP is pretty accurate, there was the occasional person making a solid effort to roleplay, and maybe some guilds/group-events, but not more than 10% of the playerbase. Still mostly tourists who liked the idea but didn't put in much effort (me included), or people who just read EZ-PvP

​

I do think the community was a bit more mature on RP(-PvP) realms, if only because most people at least take the effort to come up with a better name than pussydestroyer5000. So yeah, nice community but not some RP-heaven from my perspective.

2
Askyl•

I played Horde on Defias Brotherhood as well and our guild, everyone I met in game was amazing. We had a lot RP moments with Alliance guilds and other Horde guilds.

1
Quadstriker•

RP-PVP servers were the best because people there can write a complete sentence and they aren’t afraid of a fight.

6
zyzzyx89•

Iv always remembered the rp-pvp servers as pretty low population. but then again, maybe there were way to many of those servers in vanilla. if you would have combined them they would have been a decent server. ( i never played on one, this is just speculation )

5
BattleNub89•

Maelstrom and Emerald Dream, NA, both started out as high pop. Emerald Dream still is. Maelstrom declined (my server) and we've become merged with 2 other RP-PvP servers, we still feel small though.

5
lolastrasz•

Maelstrom declined during/after WotLK. Coming into WotLK, two Alliance guilds left. Before raiding started in WotLK, the third broke up. That meant the top three raiding guilds were gone.

Likewise, during/before WotLK, two of the three largest/most active Alliance RP guilds broke up. The Scarlet March was the only one left, and they kept going up to mid Cataclysm before becoming inactive.

Maelstrom during BC was fantastic. Totally took a nosedive after that, though.

1
BattleNub89•

Oh hai Roy (guessing). It's Balanor.

1
lolastrasz•

Haha, how ever could you tell?

I figured it was you based on the warrior icon. :)

1
IthinkIcare•

I played on Maelstrom from when it started til about 2 weeks after BC came out. Guild fell apart quickly after BC because of raid size changes. I really enjoyed my time on RP-PvP though.

1
MasahikoKobe•

Maelstrom was pretty solid horde side through BC and Wrath. Though when RI kinda died out the server seemed to have gone down hill from there.

1
BattleNub89•

Ya on the Alliance side we started to decline after Vanilla, but we were still pretty solid through TBC, and we were OK in WotLK. I wasn't around much in Cata, but by MoP it seemed to be a shell of it's former self. I miss RI keeping our server relevant in the global raiding community, even if I wasn't a raider myself :P

2
MasahikoKobe•

It was intersting to be part of the BC RI and see it grow into what it was. Sad to see them gone now but thats how it goes in modern wow. Maelstrom was always fun.

1
Chickenwinz•

Actual dedicated role-players made up around 10% of the server population, whereas the rest could be divided in two groups:

Group A: The RP-Tourist. "I dont want to engage in RP but I like the idea of playing on a server where I could rp! Yesterday I saw someone slow-walking through Stormwind, that was wild!"

This has happened to normal RP-servers over the years as well. People kept coming for the immersion and ''mature'' community and eventually they started outnumbering the actual roleplayers. The only way I see any significant roleplay community taking form is when Blizzard starts taking the rules for these kind of servers seriously. I doubt this is going to happen, considering they haven't bothered to enforce anything on the live RP-servers in years.

4
zlide•

I understand your disappointment but as someone who was in that Group A from very early vanilla I just want you to know that the experience was awesome and made me appreciate the good RP’ers on the server.

0
Reiyv•

I played on Ravenholdt EU and had a blast. I fully expect to play on a RP-PvP server come classic and would be quite salty if they didn’t open one.

4
azyrr•

Hello fellow Ravenholdtanian. I joined late Vanilla and started from scratch @TBC launch on Ravenholdt. What was your name? Azyr - horde, rogue here.

​

On topic, I find the RP servers much better because the population is balanced exactly right, so people actually know each other. Also the names stay way clear of the "XxXxxXPussyMagnetxXXXxZZ11!" stereotype and actually seem semi-realistic.

​

I'll be rolling on the EU-RP-PVP server, hopefully on Ravenholdt if they launch it again.

2
Reiyv•

Hi Azyr! I think we just missed each other since I transferred to Argent Dawn at the launch of TBC. My character was a human rogue called Avir and I had a bit of a name amongst the PvP crowd. I spent a lot of time with Nathan, Nameless, Dune, Matt and the House Harkain crowd, which may ring bells?

Either way, I’ve had a similar experience to you on RP-PvP and hope Blizzard change their stance and do release one RP-PvP server at least... It seems there is certainly a demand.

I hope we meet if they do! Going Horde again?

1
linenne•

Avir? I remember you. I played a night elf priest named Cele, if I remember correctly we were in the same guild at one time. Do you remember the guild name? We had some pre-made battleground groups and did Zul'gurub, etc. I quit playing during WotLK and have recently, inspired by classic wow coming up, been trying to remember my old guildies and guilds I used to play in. Your's is the only name I can remember from the times. Hope you see this message - had to make a reddit account just for this post. :-)

2
Reiyv•

Hi Cele! Your name does ring a bell somewhere. Could it be we were in The Harbingers together? Does the name Simarion perhaps ring any bells? Or perhaps we met in Nightfall Brigade? That’s where I did a lot of the pre-mades, with guys like Matt, Dune, Nathan, etc.

If you’re interested, a few of us are planning to roll on a RP PvP server (if they make one, fingers crossed). I’ve only been able to find Simarion of those days, but you’re welcome to join us!

1
[deleted]•

[removed]

1
azyrr•

Sorry, the names don't ring bells, even though I loved world pvp and had some frenemies. I suppose it's been too long.

Funnily enough my (albeit short) memories of classic are planted firmly in the alliance camp, so I'm thinking of maybe reliving that, I do miss ironforge.

Yeah, no rppvp would be a real bummer. The regular pvp servers were too crowded and also too hectic for my taste.

Oh well, we'll see I suppose.

1
EverydayFunHotS•

I sincerely hope Blizzard reconsider the baffling decision that they've made - based on the surveys there is plenty of interest in an RP-PvP server, surveys done far before this absurd announcement.

I for one was absolutely looking forward to rolling on an RP-PvP server and won't play unless they make one at launch.

If I roll a character on another server, wait months for them to ??then decide??? And maybe release one?? Then reroll? Sounds absurd.

3
Galious•

I tried to level an alt on a RP french server back in the day (Kirin Tor I think) it was quite awful: main chat (for low level and IF) was mostly group A and B insulting each other and most of the players didn't bother to RP at all. More over those who tried were almost all cliche characters who were orphaned because the opposite faction killed their family and took an oath to kill everyone and/or elf prostitutes making boring erotica

I'm sure some people had a great time and were able to find great group or guilds but for me it was more than disappointing.

3
zlide•

I was on an RP server (Cenarion Circle) back then and I cant disagree with your experience of most players not being dedicated RP’er’s. In fact, I was a solid member of Group A in your distinction (as was at least 85-90% of the server) and tbh I never saw that as a bad thing.

I think most of the server population respected that it was an RP server even if most interactions were OOC. Seeing RP’er’s RP’ing wasn’t uncommon and they were almost always left alone or even joined by players who wanted to give it a shot, and usually when people were rude they were ignored or told to stop by others.

What it seemed to offer for the average player was a common appreciate of the lore/story amongst the server population, more creative/immersive character names (well more often than you’d see on a normal server at least), generally mature players (again, relative to normal servers), the occasional fun RP event, and funny/cool IC trade channel ads.

If you were a hardcore RP’er then I can definitely see why you’d be disappointed but for most other players it was a fun, slightly more immersive experience.

3
Norjac•

I don't need someone to tell me that if I choose to go RP, then I can't be on a PvP server where everyone is flagged for PvP all the time. PvP is a game dynamic, RP is just how players communicate. It's possible to have both and I would like to have the option to enjoy WoW that way.

2
[deleted]•

[removed]

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
Neo_Metalsonic•

unbalanced faction realms are pretty bad for classic in general.

kills off world pvp and instanced pvp will have very long queue times for the dominant faction. Then again the under represented faction usually would have it quite easy to get r14 on and it could be achieved with just 5 hours a day on some realms that weren't very competitive.

1