I still like to have a backstory and character for my avatar though even if it’s something minor like a religous nutcase or a grumpy old man. It keeps it fun for me anyway.

Don\’t get me wrong, I like Spinks and I find the prot warrior very fun to play. But wow was it ever easy to tank on a death knight, even without being geared or specced for it. I admit it was only Mana Tombs and their starting gear is quite overpowered though Also, it does get you down eventually when half your guild are playing their DK alts and telling you how uber they are.

I like to think I\’ll have some rarity value eventually though. “What? Your guild actually uses a warrior tank? Madness!” (Note: We tried Vezax last night in 10 man, I tanked it and then a druid did. We proved the whole kiting thing worked but everyone agreed that it was significantly easier with the druid when no one had to move. To be fair, it would have been even worse with a palatank because at least I can intervene around the place.)

I\’d crave an RP-focused fantasy MMORPG with consistent lore, too. WoW sadly isn\’t it. When I was new to the game, I had this naive expectation that \”RP server\” meant everyone was a roleplayer and that rules-violations would be punished accordingly by the GMs.

Yeah, talk about a rough wake-up call.

And my server (Moonglade EU) was young and \”clean\” then, as far as RP servers go. Idiot names were rare, and even Stormwind wasn\’t yet overrun by lollertrons. Now, though … They might as well ditch the \”RP servers\” altogether since there is no visible desire to tangibly enforce any of the policies.

It\’s a shame that WoW, while having some fun content, is so … bland in terms of immersion and interaction. It has one-size-fits-all content with only a tiny number of class quests. A gnome mage can rub shoulders with supposedly magic-hating night elves. A Forsaken warlock can poison and murder civilians, druids, dryads and then happily interact with the \”neutral\” factions that are allies and brethren to his victims — not to mention that said factions should tear him to shreds for being a demon-humper, too. All this makes it really hard to RP according to the lore instead of \”let\’s all be best buddies and screw like bunnies\”.

And while I\’m ranting, let me say I really dislike the recent Titan-related techno-craze in the game. Yes, steampunkish tech has been in the franchise since WC2, but in Wrath it\’s really gotten out of hand. At this rate, they\’ll soon retcon Elune from \”one true goddess\” to \”Titan hologram\”.

Yes, I\’m bitter. I am a strong proponent of \”themed\” RP and emphasizing each cultures\’ and class\’ special traits. If everyone is just a human in a funny suit, what is the point of having different \”races\” in the first place?

That said, I loooove my DK for DPS, I am having a lot of fun gearing up in heroics.

I have a couple characters on RP servers, because I always enjoyed the laid back atmosphere on those servers. People generally are nicer. I know a bunch of people who go into great detail creating a great atmosphere on Forscherliga (my German RP realm). I have a lot of downtime on my characters these days, so maybe I should spend more time on my EU account.

You’ve just described one of my pet peeves. In about every game in the post-WoW era, I feel like I’m fighting against the system whenever I try to roleplay. I think the problem is that the gameplay has become increasingly linear and constrained, without much opportunity for choice or creativity. Also, many MMOs these days don’t really try to have internally consistent lore, and ignoring all of the cheesy pop culture references gets tiresome. While it’s still possible to roleplay, it’s hard to do it while actually playing the game.

Just out of curiosity, is there any graphical MMO that focuses on roleplay? I’ve been looking around and they don’t even seem to exist.

Great post, by the way.