Reasons of absence

[Kozgugore]

Heya all, orcs!

As some of you may have been noticing as of late, activity is seriously dwindling in-game. We have seen very little random RP to begin with, and when people do show up for scheduled events at all, it's nowadays rarely any more than two to three people. This has been a trend that's slowly been going on for a few weeks now, and if things keep going like this, they will surely only get worse.

As the officer team, it's our job to ensure this guild remains alive and well. However, it's never up to the officers alone to do this. A large part lies just as much so with the community itself, and that's why I'm coming forward to pose you all this question here to try and get to the root of the problem and see what we can all do together to get things up and running again. It's a team effort, so any input whatsoever will be more than welcome!

So the big question I'm meaning to ask you all is: What is your personal reason for no longer showing up to any random RP or RP events in-game? There's no wrong answer here and no one will be looked down upon for whatever the answer given will be, so please do feel free to answer honestly! Is it a lack of interest in RP, the content that Legion has offered so far, the increased interest in PvE, phasing, or even simply personal circumstances? We would love to hear from you all, so that we can do whatever we can to get things back together again!

[Kozgugore]

Now it would only be ironic for me to ask this question and not try to justify my very own absence, because I'm quite certain that has not gone unnoticed either. In regards to my own, that is primarily to blame for a very busy real life period that I'm facing right now. As of this year, I've started going for my Master's degree at my university and there's no room for slacking in it. In addition to that, there's of course what few, occasional visits that I can pay to my dear Sinami in real life, which make it difficult for me to show my face in-game when I'm abroad as well.

Now, I'm well aware the absence of a leader figure/GM may very well be one of the causes of decreased activity as well and I do sincerely apologize for my continued absence, but do bear in mind that being an officer continues to be a job behind the scenes as well. We officers still have our weekly meetings and discuss these exact things, and while I do feel guilty about leaving all the in-game matters in the hands of Kogra and Kargnar, I'm hoping our recent creation of an OOC officer group may at the very least help mitigate things. Nonetheless, I'm hoping to make a more proper return sometime later this year, but the "when" of it is one big, mysterious question mark. Admittedly, my lack of time for WoW in general has resulted in a corresponding lack of interest as well due to what little time I can invest in it, but I do still hope that I can at least afford to show my face a little more regularly in the future.

In regards to the general lack of attendance, I do have several theories in my own mind that involves a sum of multiple causes, but I will leave this part blank to see what other people will give for their own, personal reasons. Have at it, orcies!

[Kogra Windwatcher]

I feel obliged to give a response in this thread as well since I haven't been that active as of late. I only managed to host a few events and haven't been engaged in random RP as much as I'd like. The reason for this being that I am quite busy with University and to be fairly honest, I am not enjoying Legion too much. Whilst the new content is refreshing, the repetitive world quest grind everyday and the fact that pvp, which usually kept me around for long times, has not been that much enjoyable. PvE being much more rewarding than actual PvP in PvP.

[Nosh'marak]

Personally, I really just... Can't RP, in a way? Whenever I try I find I can't really communicate either IC or OOC, which just leads to RP being boring for both me and the people around me. I've got no idea what causes it, but if I combine that with the fact that I have school and work some weekends, it just makes me want to not RP anymore. I'm hoping to come back soon, which I definitely will do at some point.

[Wornag (Kronnor)]

For me it was work, since they hired lots of new people and some of us had to show them what they had to do and it just tired me out. Now that we passed that phase I tried to come back to RP but probably the small number of people showing up just put me out of the mood to RP. I came to a couple of "events" which just turned into a riddle showdown between Kogra and Mok. And it's a bit hard for me, given the fact that in Romania it's already 21:30 when we start an event, so I usually end up staying awake until midnight and it's harder when I need to wake up at 4:30 AM to go to work. So I'm not that eager to commit to RP knowing there will be only 3-4 people around (maybe not even that number) and probably the event gets cancelled due to low attendance and it turns into Kogra-Mok riddle night.

[Groshnok]

Uni is starting to big up on assignments, so they're starting to take up more time, and while I still do enjoy RPing, I guess the main problem I have right now is I'm not quite sure what our goal is, since the main "find the sceptre" quests are very far and few between. I think we could really do with joining some campaigns to root ourselves in a proper story arc.

[Karak Stormsong]

I am not available on Tuesday and Thursday nights and no-one seems to be around for random RP. Phasing does not seem to affect central hubs like Thunder totem so I suppose we can use that, or perhaps looking at changing event days.

I've had a few comments from newbloods say they didn't feel welcome, too, so I'm not sure what's happening there.

[Bamm]

I kinda echo a lot of sentiment already said here. While i like legion its just not keeping me interested. My rp enjoyment has declined mainly due to my own burnout and feel no need real need to do anything beyond mythic lvl1 and emerald nightmare felt lacking, after reading so much about it in books and such. Plus my studies are while not that time consuming i am enjoying devoting more of my free time to it gotta get that phd just to prove i can to myself. I have took a break to recharge the batteries. I'll be back soon-ish^tm

[Rashka]

I think my main reason for abscense is my drive to RP Rashka currently is 0%. I'm not quite sure where to go ahead with her, and feel that the majority of our Orcs has a great dislike for her, of course this is mainly IC, but the way people treat her sometimes (which sometimes obv has its causes) can't help but affect me too IRL sometimes.. I may just seem like an complete arse to some people, but I really ain't, and even if I was, I still have feelings. I've also felt like there wasn't much to progress towards for Rashka anymore guild-wise, she's kinda stuck in her position, and sure, she could probably step up and lead things, but for me there's always been a problem with whenever character progress comes to an end, I get bored. Put simply; I need to be able to 'earn' IC fame/coolness/progression w/e you wanna call it, to be interested.
On a more OOC matter, there are some people in the guild which I simply can't cope with, which of course is rather normal as we can't all like eachother, but I feel it stops some kind of character progression as well, since it comes off on the RP as well, from both parties.
Again I've also had a lot of irl things to attend to, which includes being gone from home quite often to see my fiancé.
And when I'm finally online, I mainly just do some pvp/pve, and then that's it.
No hate
Rashka

[Rhonya]

Well, my answer is quite simple actually! I've just lost interest for now, I'm trying out some Overwatch again and I once again opened drawing commissions to be able to finance things here at home a bit better (wellfare still, blergh) so I spend a lot of time behind my tablet as well.
I tend to swap a bit between these moods really, my interest will probably eventually return again, so far it always has after a while.
Call it a burn out, I suppose. Was so active before and after legion launch (the latter more ooc) that I just needed a real break. xD

[Groshnok]

I think to call a spade a spade, the majority of us here in this thread have been in the guild for a long time. Been through many plots, but as we're all getting older and responsibilities are mounting up, burnouts are certainly more easily induced.

[Therak]

Same thing for me as many else. I got burnt out.
It got to the point where I was getting very irritable and my girlfriend reacted. Just the thought of logging on gave me an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach and I ended up less and less active and then decided to take a break. Which was one of the best choices I've made.
I still don't feel comfortable logging on Therak most of the time, and I won't be back until that changes.

[Drakada]

While I, in a sense, like Legion from a PvE standpoint as it's been the best it's been since Wrath from an RP standpoint it's probably the worst expansion ever for it. I don't think Broken Isles is very RP friendly as everything scales to you and people below lvl 100 cant even get there. I generally tried at the beginning but it was just highly unenjoyable when compared to all the different characters I got to see lounging around in the barrens. I wouldn't say I've hit burnout (Maybe from a PvE standpoint) I've just not been enjoying the way things have been proceeding.

I've had a few comments from newbloods say they didn't feel welcome, too, so I'm not sure what's happening there.

Also to this statement I can confirm, when I was talking to a few people about the guild when they were looking for information their general opinion wasn't too great.

[Gashuk]

Very similar to everyone else; since my promotion to management roughly 6 months ago, I'm extremely busy at work.

Before Legion, I managed to keep "active" IC, as there was nothing else to do ingame other than RP. Now Legion is here, there is so much to do, that I feel with my limited playtime, I barely have time to play the actual game let alone commit so much time to RP. I'm also finding Legion rather laggy; textures load slowly, loading screens take eons and with everything combined I'm hitting a brick wall with the game which doesn't inspire me to log on anymore. (Which is bizarre, as it's full of new content).

I agree with Groshnok, perhaps jumping in on some larger scale plots might help buffer the lack of activity, at least when people do log in, they won't be just relying on OotRB for their random RP.

[Mozrogg]

12 hour shifts at work, either starting at 6am or finishing at 1am the last thing I want is to then log on and get sucked into RP which truth be told isn't all that engaging right now, it may sound harsh but events just simply don't feel as compelling as they used to