Conquest of the Horde

Back when I first joined CoTH, the server still had that "new" smell, and was just getting used to being open to anyone who happened upon it. Back then, I was only just turning 21, and most of my roleplay experience was either pen and paper games, in which I was more concerned with what rolls I'd need to punch through a boat, rather than the quality of my roleplay. Or, with a website called "Gaia online" where I was used to being the "head of an apartment for demons/angels/animal people!". Or, the general WoW RP, in which I played a female who was the mother of someone that looked to be the same age, reason was my female was possessed and never aged because of it.

When I came to CoTH, I rolled a Tauren. Hoofrot was a Tauren that was in love with the human lifestyle. The architecture, the lifestyle, and subsequently ended up living with them for a while. Back then, this was considered fine.

I also rolled Rensin shortly after. I wanted to give him fist weapons, and... well. I found a pair I liked, and when I'd fight, this would happen.




I thought this was amazing. I wanted to make Rensin a weretiger. I started to play him as this, and it wasn't until someone said to me "that doesn't really... fit" that I changed my mind.



That's great Rensin. Thanks for the story. What the hell is your point?


Ahem, oh...

My point is this. Everyone starts out being "new", not knowing how things go. Sometimes when you're new, you get this hubris, or the idea that you're doing things correctly or great, when really, you just come off as being silly, or doing silly things. Some players are rough around the edges, and think they are doing amazing things, when other people just can't stand what they are doing.

Be lenient. Don't automatically dismiss people if they are rolling funky things, because that person still has potential... they want to roleplay, and they are putting an effort into it. If I was dismissed, I'd probably have quit CoTH, and never came back. Instead people tried to encourage me in a more positive manner.

To this day I by no means think I'm that great of a roleplayer. I put half my mind into the stuff I do, and still constantly try to push myself to do -different- things that are within the boundaries of what's possible. Part of growth is experience, and if a person doesn't have any, it's not our job to discourage them...

We should encourage players, and never, ever try to make them feel bad for expressing creativity, instead we need to show them how to focus it. CoTH has never been about being elitist, despite some trends that even I have propagated; it's about helping others and doing what we enjoy.



Now, don't take any of this the wrong way. I don't see it happen often where someone discourages another roleplayer, and I only bring this up because I was sifting through some old screenshots I had, and remember the stories behind them.


But, to sum this up. Give newbies a chance. Help 'em out. Don't dismiss people for not knowing automatically how everything works. If people did when I joined, I wouldn't have stayed here for four years.

Oh man, I remember my first CotH days. Ol' Pollie was there to help, show me around OOCC --then, GMI-- and get me into RP. All the time. And secretly whisper me if I did something wrong, and what to do instead. Damn, those were good moments.
Sure, I had ideas stuck in my mind from before CotH. But they were rule-pushers, so I hid them. To this day, no one knows 'em but Pollie.
And now, I remember old Davon, whose profile --I think-- is still on the wiki (lol). Made him a warrior, then wanted to make him a death knight, so he could, like, be in two different timelines, as another one of my ideas was making an event of going back in time.
...with all the little I knew about RPing. I was an utter noob then, tripping into the smallest RP traps and the likes.

Hah, good ol' days.

When I first joined I wanted to make a telekentic Night Elf. True story.

I'm sure Rensin remembers that. He was the poor bastard I sent PMs to asking about it.

Rensin probably remembers more of my past than I do..

BUT I WAS AWESOME. SEVEN PEOPLE TAKING DOWN ANUBISATHS. EFF YEAH.

Just before I joined CotH I wanted to make an immortal pacifist before being smacked by a friend of mine.

And I'm not even as old as the real oldies.

(06-01-2012, 09:53 AM)BountyHunter Wrote: [ -> ]And I'm not even as old as the real oldies.

You calling us old? >:(

And, if I could.. Could I ask people to refrain of using lots of "..." when they try to explain something to someone?

Like "...But that doesn't work <explanation>" I guess maybe it's just me, but I always read that as.. That first few dots means you're sounding a little condescending and are just surprised at the idea and think it and the person are dumb.

Now.. I definitely read too much into stuff, so I'm probably crazy. But that's kinda how I read things like that. <Shrugs>

My first time on CotH. My first three introductions have been decline (lolol), and even before I introduced myself I downloaded my second WoW with all the patch upgrades. When I first joined, I made Bingles (yesyesmyfirst) and I seen the teleporter. I went to Mimiron's Anchorage and got lost.

I hearthed back to Anvilmar and began to level. I didn't know how to get gear because I was levelling SO quickly. I wasn't even questing, so I went on LFG and asked anyone if they could run me through the Deadmines, then someone said come to Hyjal. . . I was like "what?" then they showed me who yatta yatta. Recieved a Bronze Token and some gold (1000).

I didn't know addrpitem or the vendors on the side of OOCC so I used my level 1 armour and goggles I made through my engineering (which I spent all my 1000 gold on). I didn't really RP because I was too shy going on LFG but I did RP in Booty Bay and Tinker Town.

I wanted to start a PvP 2v2 Team then, and to this day (PM if interested) but I noticed no one pvpd.

My first week on CotH, I was ignored when I asked where I found anything, having made a dwarf. I asked rather often, running a dwarf hunter through the starting quests. The only response I really got was 'Ratchet'.

I went to Ratchet on multiple characters, not really getting into the mix of things for a while. Every group was pretty much closed off, and the ones that accepted me I didn't stay in for long. Nothing captured my interest. I did make a tauren druid and play him for a while, but I learned that I was playing him terribly wrong after interacting with the Lakota Arikawa. So I made a tauren for them.

Said tauren was knocked up on her first night of roleplay. I didn't have much of a character for her then, so I was trying to work her out despite going through all these bodily changes. Had no idea what I had gotten into. Because of who the father was, she was trying to be the neutral party in a conflict between him and pretty much anyone who went into Ratchet, as she was significantly more peaceful than he. She begged him not to kill anyone. She begged her 'friends' to not kill him, who probably weren't really her friends in some cases. The father stopped logging on with him, probably was getting sick of my roleplay. Ended up giving his character amnesia so to get out of the whole situation.

Fortunately I joined the Bloodsworn with another character, Dagrim. She was pretty much loathed by everyone in the group, as she was a very arrogant orc. She didn't take crap, and people expected her to take crap. Didn't work out. Fortunately she clawed her way to her current point, having a few friends and a decent position in society through dedication and not taking 'no' for an answer.

Then I rolled Arianna, the elf among orcs, who was the token Blood Elf of the Bloodsworn for a long time. I won't get into her backstory, but she became one of my favorite characters.

No one held my hand. No one really offered help either. I was a nuisance. A gnat. Something that just flew into the room and buzzed about the ceiling that you desperately wish you had the tools to remove. But, here I am, a GM. God knows how that happened.

I still wonder why people believe a character needs special powers to be memorable. Why it needs to push the boundaries of the lore. To me, it's a crutch. A character doesn't need to break conventions to be interesting. It doesn't need to be the 'best' either. Just... gotta breathe some life into it. And from there, let the character act on its own. So many characters become self-fulfilment fantasies, people putting too much of themselves into the toon. Granted, I can only use my own personal experiences to power my character, and I do feel a bit bad when their lives go down the drain, but... to get so attached to a character... well, it's not something would do. Half the fun of a character is letting it develop, and not letting your OOC desires get in the way of things.

Granted, I still don't like the idea of torture in my roleplay, so take that as you will.

Went terribly off topic, sorry. Ahm, I agree with the main post. It's nice to get help when you're new.

Though I still don't really feel like a part of this community.

(06-01-2012, 10:21 AM)SunThas Wrote: [ -> ]I wanted to start a PvP 2v2 Team then, and to this day (PM if interested) but I noticed no one pvpd.

What about our PvP team we were discussing today?!

oh yes! I'll make a thread see who is interested.

My first times on CoTH were... surprisingly good, compared to most people's. But, I had it good on all sides - the people were so supportive and so nice that it would've been impossible for situations not to turn out awesomefun.

Back in the days of The Expedition, I had Werewolf1 and Angorianka helping me out, as well as Therios(who was organising it all). I had friends. I had met Skaar's Skaar and Atun, and Jason's Nathaniel and so many others. I was received with open arms, but to tell you the truth, I was the hesitant one.

You see, on my first day here, I went to Elwynn and just watched. I wanted to see how the RP here was done properly. I literally just watched RP for a couple of hours, from behind the Lion's Pride, as someone got into the Commoner's Party and was offered a colored bandanna. I was scared to actually interact with people.

...And then a lil'ol Dwarf by the name of Scotaidh found me. And it was amazing.

Scot gave me gold. Scot helped me into a guild(The guild at the time). He introduced me to the Silver Token system and explained eeverything about Shatterspear/WSG/AB/Etc. Adventures continued, and I got to meet great people. NoSecrets' Naiti, Cellenar/Triblade, Xetre, and even some of the Lambent Sovereignty of old, as well as one of the Walluce Banebeards, Mikhael, Kayluu, Bremus, Antaana, Roove and co.

Now, that was Alliance-side. Horde-side, I had Pharaoh. And some lulzy-awesome adventures. The RP practically went awesome from the get-go with him. A BElf Hunter and a Forsaken Rogue walk into a bar, and meet up with a BElf DK and a Troll Shaman(Ros'fon). It was magical.

But yeah. Horde-side, I got to spend a lot of time around Zunaj and the rest of the Echoes. Saw the BSHG get formed and rise, always from the sidelines, whilst I was entrenched in crazyfun storylines Novalight-side. And for a time, it was good... Heck, I still remember my failDK Erisong first meeting Xigo's Paota. "Do not trust the cake. It lures you with its lies." ring any bells?

But that was in another age. In another time. Times change, people change, and the server itself changes. I wonder if anyone'll get quite the warm welcome I did...

I wish I had something to contribute to this, but I can't even -remember- my first days on CotH.

That being said, when it looked like I had no real purpose for my main character, Clovis, at the time when I first joined, I found the Bloodsworn Honorguard with Taje. And that was pretty much what kept me glued to CotH for as long as it did.

That being said, I personally think I've always been 'the quiet guy' on CotH. I may of had a few people who 'hand held' me, but for the most part, I kept to myself and asked forgettable questions in Chat or BarrensChat when I needed answers.

(06-01-2012, 10:02 AM)Piken Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-01-2012, 09:53 AM)BountyHunter Wrote: [ -> ]And I'm not even as old as the real oldies.

You calling us old? >

And, if I could.. Could I ask people to refrain of using lots of "..." when they try to explain something to someone?

Like "...But that doesn't work <explanation>" I guess maybe it's just me, but I always read that as.. That first few dots means you're sounding a little condescending and are just surprised at the idea and think it and the person are dumb.

Now.. I definitely read too much into stuff, so I'm probably crazy. But that's kinda how I read things like that. <Shrugs>

IT'S TRUE. GAH!

"...seriously?"
"...you can't do that."
"...NElves don't work that way, you know."
"Um... that... makes no sense."
"...is your name Woopertinger?"

But yeah, RPing here is scary at first. I was, and still am in many ways, a horrible derp, but ya'll helped ol' Aphey a little, .

And Flammos; dat cake...

(06-01-2012, 12:03 PM)flammos200 Wrote: [ -> ]But that was in another age. In another time. Times change, people change, and the server itself changes. I wonder if anyone'll get quite the warm welcome I did...

I certainly did.

When I first came to COTH, all I had was my ever-present Kapre. I had only two introductory RPs before I really officially became part of its RP canon, my first first my "testing the waters" RP which I don't consider canon at all. There, I was in Shattrath in an all Draenei RP, and it was there I picked up how to RP in those particular surroundings. For example, in PVP/E, I could run and jump all over the place and not think twice about injury unless it's a massive fall that depletes HP. But in RP, I so much as stand dangerously close to an edge without thinking, I was warned IC that I may fall and seriously break some bones (when OOC, the fall damage is insignificant). Though I was probably obviously a n00b back then, I don't think anyone really remembered me being there besides Wuvvums, so while the test was a success, it's decanonized.

The second RP session I ever had was one of the best and my most favorites. Kapre walks into Booty Bay wearing an orc mask and is already deemed a derpy dolt on principle (this was intended). He removed the mask, saying he's just amused to find it but otherwise is hoping to connect with the people on this planet. How did he connect? By taking up Carana and Kilik's offer of smoking a whole bag of bloodthistle (Kapre was a peacebloom/tobacco smoker). He got drugged up, and Carana thought it was a good idea to sell him as a slave. Reigen bought him for 5 Gold and assigned him as her mount, but an hour later, a draenei vindicator bought him out and freed Kapre. All of this took a span of less than 3 hours, but it was so memorable.

I felt COTH was the place for me to be because despite my nubhood at the time, everyone was so happy to greet me and invite me for RP. I wasn't sure if it's because of Kapre or because of me, or both. In my feedback thread, Grakor was the first to give me any, and it's because Kapre is a "humble" character, which I'm told by others that it's a rarity. Nevertheless, everyone was so warm around me, and so helpful. The only times I think I caused any trouble was whenever I RPed Kantado because I kept botching up RPing a druid (he shapeshifted into a rabbit, then a half-cat, then talked while in shifted form).

It baffles me when others are not greeted with the same warmth as I was. I don't know if it was timing or simply because I was "noticed". I still don't know even now.