Make something less restrictive..?

[Etmosril]

Here, I would have to say races. There are so many others that would add a lot of flavor to the game. Not to mention with some of them, it would be impossible to play them in the same way one would a 'standard race'. You'd have to go to different places and do some different things.


After much consideration and bias, I have to say - don't change prestiges. I worked my rear end off learning to write a story properly, making sure I was a suitable candidate for the prestige I want, developing my ideal character through months of gameplay before deciding she was worth it, learning the background of it, and formulating a storyline that will be a good read.

Then I found out Knock was trying for Demon Hunter, and changed my focal point to Assassin with a different character out of respect for him (and because I wanted to make sure he was relatively unique).
Waited for a month for my accept/decline PM without getting results, before contacting Knock and negotiating to see if we could both play as Demon Hunters. (Demon Hunter was my first choice. I know the lore on them and I've been wanting to play one for years. Literally years.

It's not so much demanding that everyone go through trial and tribulation for a prestige as it is wanting to preserve them from becoming passé.

Sorry, that turned into a rant..

[Piroska]

I, too, would like to see more latitude in character creation and development. I'm not talking about anything lore-breaking, but instead taking logical leaps that would allow greater flexibility in creating a character. A lot of times things that are unlikely become immediately taboo (by both players and staff), even though there's a good chance that the topic at hand has occurred and can do so again. I also think that a lot of this is driven by a dislike of what is being portrayed, rather than an absolute rule established by the universe.

I know that I've posted something similar once before, but I'm a big supporter of latitude in roleplaying, as long as whatever is being roleplayed isn't directly contradicted by lore or perceived as being impossible for concrete reasons. I think it's important to realize that just because something isn't displayed in game or supplemental materials it doesn't mean that it can't -- and won't -- happen.

This could possibly allow for greater flexibility in how strong we perceive our characters. I have a sneaky suspicion that the greater portion of the community would continue to play less prestigious characters while the minority that has stronger characters wouldn't directly influence others. C'mon, we're already pretty cliquish as it is; you know that these people would be further ostracized and end up just roleplaying with one another.

I am, however, a stickler when it comes to concrete information established by lore. For example, dates are immutable (until the next expansion, at least!).

Greater latitude in character creation?

• Pros!
  • More potential in roleplay
    
  • More variation in character development
    
  • The ability to explore topics and situations that would otherwise be immediately vetoed
    
  • Potentially attracting more roleplayers due to greater flexibility
    
  • Less likelihood in losing players due to a perceived overly restrictive environment
  Cons!
  • Less restriction would potentially result in greater leaps that would be outright impractical or impossible
    
  • People may get cranky because things are being portrayed in ways they don't personally agree with, potentially resulting in OOC drama

I'll give the thread some more thought. There were a couple of other topics I want to explore, but haven't been able to properly vocalize yet!

[Jeff]

Less is more. To be honest, I don't want to see any "I am better than x" characters. A sword, from even a 5 year old, can kill a man. If you see what I'm saying. Those who feel restricted, just learn how to work with what you're given and make the best of it, you know? I mean there are some things in line that should be there. Like not being able to kill Van Cleef with a small number of people. I love this server due to the restrictions. I don't want to hear about heroes who go out and clear an entire camp of bandits alone, and come back with only the blood of their enemies on them because the mob is level 12. I want equality amongst people, and logic put into play. If a butler comes at you with a sword, and beats you, I don't wanna see "But my character is a veteran of all 3 wars" I want to see that it happened.

To quote the heavy of TF2

"Some people think they can out-smart me, hm... maybe... maybe... I've yet to meet one that can out-smart bullet."

Simply put, characters are what you make them. You don't need anyone saying who is stronger to actually be stronger. If you want to be powerful, work for it ICly, and if you want to be known for it, build up your reputation... but please, please be logical about all things.

[anji]

One thing I loathed about live realm RP is the lack of restrictions. One thing I don't like about CotH RP is the abundance of restrictions. On a live realm, a lot of RP fights turn into clashes of egos, between two players who both want to have the strongest character around. There's plenty of humble characters who can play fair, but there's nothing to stop a punk who thinks he's invincible. Here, though, it's almost as though we're supposed to be common soldiers or civilians.

I want adventure. I want to run into a dungeon filled with bad guys, assisted by a handful of idiots, and miraculously escape with a burlap sack filled with treasure. It's unrealistic, like something you'd see in a movie. But do you know why this is something you'd see in a movie? Because it's entertaining, and I like RP to be as entertaining as it is intriguing. I'm not asking to be powerful, important, famous, or anything - I just want to adventure.

[Hawk]

I'm not asking to be powerful, important, famous, or anything - I just want to adventure.

This I disagree with. Not because I'm saying people shouldn't adventure, but because you can already do this. Just don't go stealing from a treasure trove in Illidan's closet. You can host your own adventures as well, and they don't even have to be based on lore that's already made (but it still needs to be actually possible in lore. You can't create a portal that takes you to the RL world). You could discover some fancy jewel that some people are after and they try hunt you down or something. It could be anything. Just don't get something that has the power to blow up Ratchet. I mean, not too long a go ThePharoah Myself, Cressy and a lot of other players were all in this big storyline and it was great. And the person who started it was Pharoah. Me and Cressy were just helping set the scene and assist with summons etc. Furthermore, at the very start, it was just a Zeppelin journey being ambushed. We didn't plan for it to turn into a shipwreck event with some cool twists, it happened out of the blue. There's also nothing stopping you from say, going into a low level instance and pretending it's another place.

We only tend to restrict adventures that bring entire factions into it or just stuff that's high scale, because what if everyone was doing it? It'd be hard to keep track of and lore would be constantly changing, and most likely people would disagree with some new changes, then we'll get arguments. Then people will probably just do a load of insane stuff that makes them lore figure status, and we don't want that because we're not retail. If you think about what a lot of players have done, they've accomplished a lot, but they're not near a lore figure status.

To be honest, I don't want to see any "I am better than x" characters. A sword, from even a 5 year old, can kill a man. If you see what I'm saying.

This is one of my biggest worries about loosening restrictions. Personally, I'd like to see less restrictions because it'll make for some more interesting RP, such as going to more dangerous places and making a storyline out of it. But yeah, as said previously, I can see players trying to claim themselves better than other people and characters get killed, which'll lead to drama. I can also see people going over the top and trying to slay dragons single handedly (which we've had people try do in the past), or doing things that just won't fly. Sure, we're the heroes in this, but Warcraft isn't a fairy tale. It's fantasy yes, but not a fairy tale. If you go to some zones and see how many enemies are around, you'll see what I mean. The world is in chaos, and if it were easy enough to get by the lore figures would have taken care of the world by now.

[Elendril]

Just a peon's two doubloons.

CotH works, and it has for a long time. Don't go messing with it too much. If you really want to have a more significant character, form a small group with other like-minded individuals and create some private rules. I don't see any harm in RPing your small band in a ''parallel universe'' -- where you can form gigantic plots without your actions don't effect the rest of the CotH population. CotH works, don't mess with it.

[Aphetoros]

I like what Rensin said about the classes:

Pro:

• More RP, you need to RP to gain that 'heroic/abnormal' status.
  
  More fun, in my opinion having to work towards gaining that status is fun.
  
  More equality, at least at the start. At the start, there will be more equality due to the fact that no one is better than another, truly.

Con:

• Some people may not be willing/want to work for the status. (which in my opinion is kind of just laziness)
  
  Some people might not think it fun, I don't really see how, I mean, more RP is more fun, right?
  
  When people get more 'prestige' or become more powerful, it may seem odd if an apprentice mage throws a fireball at, say, an archmage, and the archmage gets hit and is horribly burned. This is because an archmage would know how to dismantle that spell, or counter it easily. Sure, there is always luck involved, but in roll fights I think that prestiges should get some sort of bonus. I.e. Rensin would've been harder for Krungar to defeat in that fight, at least in my opinion, he would likely be more formidable as a Gladiator, likely quite stronger and more agile than the average human.

Just my two cents:

[Brutalskars]

Most may already see my idea, since I practice it as often as possible. Heros are not measured by otherworldly strength but pushing through the enemies that are before them, from lowly rabble to viscious felguard shock troopers. Warcraft is a universe of clashing ego and conflict between mighty factions and new troubles come every day.

As those you march against these threats do so they take part in the wars and battles of the Warcraft Universe. Those who take magic and blade against the shadow of death are simply defending the ones that would not. Heroism is found in sparking blades, heroic armor, lowly rags and daggers all coming forward to answer the call. Heroism is Warcraft, Warcraft is Heroism. Without one you cannot have the other. Heroes are meant to get roughed up hard and push through just a bit longer, win battles and pull back to lick their wounds. Heroes and the lowly peons that choose to follow them are the same, it is just how they hoist themselves.

Less restriction requires players to just slightly restrict themselves. If you want to fight in glorious battles, in Warcraft they are not the most gruesome deadly expierence one may think, but they are deadly if you get to hot headed or you get stupid. This is why a hero never fights alone. This is why soldiers work in teams, why the Bloodsworn Honorguard and Lionheart Champions deploy in groups and alongside mercenaries and volunteers. War requires team work, heroes must stand together in order to weather the storm.

Those of you that would take an oath of Warcraftian Heroism in an age of blood and toil, in an age of glorious battle and amazing standoffs, I salute you.

[Knock]

Then I found out Knock was trying for Demon Hunter, and changed my focal point to Assassin with a different character out of respect for him (and because I wanted to make sure he was relatively unique).
Waited for a month for my accept/decline PM without getting results, before contacting Knock and negotiating to see if we could both play as Demon Hunters. (Demon Hunter was my first choice. I know the lore on them and I've been wanting to play one for years. Literally years.

I wish I had known all that before <3

I still stand by my statement that you should totally try for Demon Hunter too! Uniqueness is irrelevant, it should be an awesome class to RP

[Dilly]

Well... I'll have to say races. Of course, only the ones that have enough established lore to be playable, aren't overpowered, etc.

Pros:

• Races that do not lack lore (Ethereals, Goblins (Steemwheedle), etc.) would add -a lot- to the "colour" of roleplay.
  
• New races would open up a lot of possibilities for... different storylines.

Cons:

• Getting it to work in-game would be quite hard and "I'm this, but not really" (meaning, being, let's say, an Orc and saying you're a Goblin) miiiight take away quite a large bit of the fun.
  
• Everyone would play custom races and forget the original ones unless really strict restrictions would be put in place.

[Nexi]

Cons: People abusing it. Obviously, player X sees player Y, and thinks "OH MAN, ITS OKAY FOR ME TO RIDE A FLAMING DONKEY"

I laughed so hard.

So, this was an idea I had yesterday while at work, and forgot to post it when I got home. It was originally going to be a poll, but I figured making people think more and respond with some details would be more beneficial.

Anyhow, if there was one thing on the server that you would like to see be less restrictive, what would it be? It could be something like greater potential for characters (ie, being a bit more than the average Joe), less focus on racial restrictions, less restrictions on relations in profiles (ie, having some sort of relation with an NPC (BUT STILL NO MAJOR LORE FIGURE RELATIONS)), not as harsh on names, etc.

What I want is for you to state what sort of advantage this would provide, if whatever you offered were to come true, as well as a disadvantage if it were to come true. I want people to think in a bigger perspective, so I feel that offering both a strengthening argument and an opposing argument would be helpful.

I feel the server is already pretty lenient in many of these respects.

- The introduction of Prestige Classes has given Grunts the opportunity to become greater than the average Joe. True, for now we're only allowed one and we have to work hard to get it, but realistically speaking no one becomes great in a matter of weeks or months and without very hard work.

Pros: Users may progress their characters beyond what is average, allowing them to do some pretty neat things in RP, and by having GMs proofread their work we ensure we don't get people doing ridiculous things with their class.

Cons: I can't really think of any besides users growing upset if their application is denied, and while I can understand their frustration, it's necessary to maintain the quality of the server.

- Racial restrictions being lifted can open up a wider range of RP opportunities, but I really feel people should be allowed these races on a strict case by case basis.

Pros: It will increase variety and ensure that only the people who know what they're doing and can be trusted to not abuse the race's abilities can have one.

Cons: There will be those who feel the GM staff is playing favorites if their application for such a race is denied while another user's is accepted, and we are all very familiar with where these feelings ultimately lead.

- The naming policy has become pretty lenient, I think. A bit too lenient at times, IMO. Unless of course the IG names of the chars that come to mind are their nicknames ICly and they were chosen because the names they originally intended for the chars were taken, in which case I suppose we could let that fly. To an extent.

I can't really think of anything that really -needs- to have its restrictions lifted or even slightly loosened, but I can think of a few things whose restrictions could use a good tightening. However since this is a thread for -lifting- restrictions, I will say nothing on that. Hehe.

[PiesOfNub]

Cons:

• Getting it to work in-game would be quite hard and "I'm this, but not really" (meaning, being, let's say, an Orc and saying you're a Goblin) miiiight take away quite a large bit of the fun.
  
• Everyone would play custom races and forget the original ones unless really strict restrictions would be put in place.

Well, all said and done, implementation of graphical custom races is a bit hard, as we've experienced, Dilly. :3

However, regarding the shartstorm of people playing these "custom races", it'll be no different to the introduction of Death Knights. Yeah, they're all awesome and stuff, but after a while, people lose interest. Like Arathi/etc.

[Cressy]

However, regarding the shartstorm of people playing these "custom races", it'll be no different to the introduction of Death Knights. Yeah, they're all awesome and stuff, but after a while, people lose interest. Like Arathi/etc.

And I think that is a reason quite a few GMs are put off by the idea...It is like, we put so much effort into something only for people to lose interest after a few days. :<

Just my two piece of pie! :B

[Etmosril]

But if it isn't a specific activity like Arathi, and instead a character or a character option, you won't find that kind of resistance.
If this was true, Death Knights and prestiges wouldn't exist, and there would be no appeal in playing custom races on other servers either. But they've all survived and are played.

Witness the popularity of DKs on this server. Check how many prestiges-in-training there are. And look at another RP server to see how popular custom races are. People love them.

[Baltaj]

We've got ten races, seven classes, three specializations for every class... and near to infinite ways to roleplay them. Do we really need custom races to create something interesting? hock:

Just my two coppers, anyway. ops: