Officers' Quarters: It's IC in Northrend
by Scott Andrews 
Nov 17th 2008 at 1:00PM
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.
It seems like quite a few players are in a hurry these days. They're in a hurry to be the first of their class or race to hit 80, or in a hurry to be the first on their server to clear a raid. They use the most effective method of gaining experience over time, ignoring all other options until they achieve their goal. In this environment, the role-players are definitely a breath of fresh air. This week's e-mail comes from a reader who wants to know whether "IC raiding" -- or raiding in character -- will be possible in this expansion.
Hello, Scott. I'm a long-time reader, long-time guild leader, first-time send-question-in . . .er.
Anyway! I run a . . . not sure what you'd consider 'small,' so let's say small (around 30 people) RP guild on Moon Guard. How feasible would it be for small, semi-unscheduled, IC raids (Naxx10 and other 10-mans) in Wrath? I know it'd be hard to do in fights, but do you think a small(ish) roleplay guild could pull it off?
Thanks much!
--Maciah Banes
I will say up front, Maciah, that unless Blizzard decides to buff some of the early raids, you will have a much easier time succeeding with this type of raiding in Wrath than you did in early TBC. By all accounts (which are admittedly few at this point), Naxxramas, the Obsidian Sanctum, and the Eye of Eternity are far easier than Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, and Magtheridon.
Some people aren't happy about that, but I think it's a great thing. Five-player dungeons have always been trivially easy, and even in Heroic mode they never presented a terribly difficult challenge -- why should the first raids of an expansion suddenly take months of effort to clear? Why not increase the difficulty over a curve instead of over a cliff? There are, after all, plenty of achievements to earn if you want to make the existing raids harder for yourself.
Even so, to clear the raids in WotLK, you can't waltz in expecting free epics. Before you clear these raids and have them on farm, you need to encourage your role-players to treat the run as a life-or-death situation. Use whatever lore you need to accomplish this -- but make sure the result is that they focus on the job at hand rather than any character-specific conflicts between raid members. Also make sure the direness of the situation encourages them to come prepared with all the proper consumables, reagents, etc.
As a raid leader, you have two options. You can go into the raid blind, knowing very little of the dangers and challenges that you'll face. This is probably more realistic from an RP perspective, and it certainly makes things exciting. However, it could also be a bit frustrating if the raid is wiping frequently. So you could also come up with a plausible reason for your raid leader to know something about the bosses ahead of time. I don't know the lore enough to even attempt at coming up with such a reason, so I'll leave that to the experts.
Do role-players ever use add-ons? It's easier to raid without add-ons than it used to be, but they can still help a great deal. That's another situation to consider.
I'm a little wary of your plan to run these raids "semi-unscheduled." It really depends on how active those 30 members are. If you can consistently field 10 balanced classes (who aren't abstaining for RP reasons), then you can probably get away without an official schedule. But even then, it can be frustrating for members who really want to see these raids. They might feel like they have to be online every single night in case a raid occurs, and that's not really a healthy situation. Even a vague statement like "we'll only raid on Sunday, Monday, and Thursday nights" can help people to plan out their week.
I'd love to hear from some other role-players out there. Were you able to make this type of raiding work in TBC? What is your plan for Wrath?
/salute
Send Scott your guild-related questions, conundrums, ideas, and suggestions at scott.andrews@weblogsinc.com. You may find your question the subject of next week's Officers' Quarters! For more WoW Insider gameplay columns, click here.Filed under: Officers' Quarters (Guild Leadership)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ohnoto Nov 17th 2008 1:16PM
While I have never done the whole role play thing, I don't see why players that want to raid couldn't also role play inside a raid dungeon.
Yea, you will need to go over a stragedy prior to killing a boss, but I could see players role playing inside raids, even if its you running up to the boss giving insults about how they attacked your farm.
Analeia Nov 17th 2008 1:29PM
"Do roleplayers use addons?"
Yes!! I run around 200+ including various Roleplay only addons, PVE and PVP addons.
----------------------------------------------
I belong to a large Roleplaying community on The Venture Co (us) and yeah this can be done. Most of the time the Roleplay is random, and not storylined at all involving maybe only a couple members, but I don't see why a storylined Raid couldn't be developed either. I don't know if i would recomend for your first time in the raid being Roleplayed though, once everyone has learned the fights It would be easier so like mentioned people don't get frustrated with wipes leading to low morale.
If you Guild has an overall storyline perhaps you could attempt it a few times out of character, then muster your forces for the even In character later with your reasons for going wether it be you just stumbled upon this large whole in the ground and wanted to explore it with some friends, or you were sent there as part of a military troop movement for the warsong offensive, or whatever else you think up :)
Good luck!
Sean Riley Nov 17th 2008 2:06PM
Actually, instances (especially those with no respawns) are ideal for role-play. There's nothing worse that striking down a mighty foe, leaping into a role-play about how awesome you are, and then suddenly get slammed by the same monster when it respawns.
The thing is, it's hard (though not impossible) to role-play while fighting; you have to role-play in the gaps.
@ Analeia;
Horde or Alliance? I need to know if I should be befriending you or killing you.
For the Golden Army!
Mitch Nov 17th 2008 2:14PM
VeCo is 4 fite!
And for Sean, the MR member . . . Analeia mentioned the Warsong Offensive, so I'm guessing you can take something from that ;-)
Sean Riley Nov 17th 2008 4:34PM
You're right.
I'll see you in BATTLE, Analeia!
insomnifox Nov 17th 2008 4:54PM
Someone say world PvP with Reveries?
Melitha Nov 18th 2008 12:39PM
Ana will be totally willing to beat MR bum in Wintergrasp! Rawr!
Mitch Nov 18th 2008 1:25PM
Pipe down 'lock!
Wintergrasp will be held in favor of the Alliance!
. . . I have yet to go to Wintergrasp :-(
zappo Nov 17th 2008 1:22PM
Scheduling and attendance will probably be the biggest issues. If you don't have at least a few people who are dedicated enough to show up consistently, and become familiar with the fights, then you're not going anywhere.
I'd think if anyone loves to fawn over cool looking gear (as much as me), it would be people who RP. So that might be all the motivation you need.
Ogou Nov 17th 2008 1:34PM
Ogou too is a roleplayer from Moon Guard. Good to see you and which guild is it if you don't mind my asking?
Jeff Nov 17th 2008 1:37PM
Is anyone else still wincing from the pun in the title?
Sayce Nov 17th 2008 3:20PM
Yes.... it hurts.... a little like brain-freeze. It's humor-freeze.
Manatank Nov 17th 2008 1:40PM
Shouldn't you role players be taking your time leveling? Does it make any sense in your little stories that your character is fighting and running around so long without sleeping or resting of any sort? I get that YOU can sit at your computer for 20 hours a day to get a realm first, because physical exertion really isn't an issue, but how can your poor little character do it?
As for raiding... I always forget that RPers exist. It's like we share a hobby, but at the same time our hobbies are nothing alike. Do people RP other hobbies? Do you ever go down to the gym to play a pick-up game of basket ball and have a guy act like a total tool to you because he is IC (I learned that acronym from this article)? Maybe he throws the game because in his story his mother just died and he's really emotional about it? Would it be fair for him to get upset if someone else on his team gave him shit for not trying his best because of an imaginary story he created for himself? I don't think so, but I suppose that's why we have RP realms. More power to you guys. We quite literally are playing a different game, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Tenchan Nov 17th 2008 1:58PM
Except expressions like 'your little stories' and implications of RPers acting like 'tools' or RP realms being 'for getting upset at others' imaginary stories' are extremely condescending and belittling. Hollow catch phrases like 'more power to you' are not covering that up, sorry to inform you.
Cappy Nov 17th 2008 2:03PM
RP'ers raid too. The top two Raiding guilds on MG also sport some of the best RP'ers on the server. Both cleared through Sunwell although admittadly, the last two bosses were cleared after the nerf. I expect to see them clear the Wrath raids by Christmas at the latest.
Sayce Nov 17th 2008 3:25PM
Awww man, why'd you have to go and make yourself look like a jerk? People will listen to what you have to say when you're not being so "holier-than-thou" about it. The main thing someone can take away from your comment is that you feel like playing this game that you play in any way differently than your own play style is incomprehensible at best and perhaps worse, just stupid and a waste of time.
If that's how you really feel, why bother to write someone about it anyways?
Alderkin Nov 17th 2008 4:15PM
"Shouldn't you role players be taking your time leveling?"
Yes. We RP during that as well.
"Do people RP other hobbies? Do you ever go down to the gym to play a pick-up game of basket ball and have a guy act like a total tool to you because he is IC (I learned that acronym from this article)?"
When the hobby is called an MMO -->RP
Nikkodemus Nov 17th 2008 4:28PM
I think you make some good observations, even though it may be seen as condescending in parts.
This is the very dilemma of RPing in MMOs, because we have to RP /around/ the game mechanics rather than have a game like a tabletop or LARP where the point of the mechanics is to facilitate RP.
The problem with RP and Raiding is one of competing priorities. The primary goal of RP is consistent characterization and collaborative storytelling. The primary goal of Raiding is to kill bosses and obtain loot (to kill more bosses.)
At some point you have to weight those and give one preference.
Manatank Nov 17th 2008 5:52PM
It seems that parts of my post were misunderstood.
@Tenchan: "implications of RPers acting like 'tools'"
I wasn't suggesting the RPing was what made him a tool, but the idea that you'd have to put up with someone who is usually a nice person RPing a jerk. I don't know much about RP, but isn't it generally about projecting a role, even if it differs from your own personality?
@Alderkin:
I want to make sure my statement about RPers "taking their time" leveling was taken as I intended it. I didn't mean to suggest they should spend their time in WoW leveling instead of raiding. I meant to say that it seems like being IC would require leveling slowly for short periods of time each day rather than playing 20 hours straight (so your character doesn't get tired).
I admit I don't know much about RP, but sometimes when I'm playing I think about how hard it would be to pretend that what my character was experiencing was real. I mean that in the sense that something happens that seems completely unbelievable, and I think, "I'm glad I don't RP, because I don't think I'm creative enough to make sense of that."
"When the hobby is called an MMO -->RP"
I've always thought the MMORPG term was off putting. It is actually what kept me from playing WoW for a few years. I've always loved Blizzard games, but I don't really have an interest in escapism (again I'm making what may be a baseless assumption about the appeal of RP). After actually playing WoW, and doing so on a non-RP server I can honestly say that there is nothing about the game that makes it a RPG in my opinion (unless of course you choose to RP).
Several people commented on me being condescending. Sorry. As a non-RP sort of person I have trouble knowing what it is RPers are enjoying in WoW. I suppose an RPer doesn't think of their character's story as little. But the idea is that you are living out a story right? Or am I off on that too?
KirkJobSluder Nov 17th 2008 6:40PM
Well...
The beauty of games like D&D which begat diku, which begat WoW and a dozen others, is that there are multiple ways to play. You can play it as a number crunching exercise in combat with pre-scripted encounters (PvE), you can play it as a number crunching exercise in combat with other players (PvP), you can play it as an exploration game, you can play it to search for all the little Easter Eggs and pop-cultural references, or you can spend a few hours hanging out around the fire and engaging in IC small talk.