(08-14-2016, 07:26 AM)Dante Abigor Wrote: TL;DR: The roleplay activity on the server tends to fluctuate with the age of the last major patch, and if activity seems low, you will likely have to be more proactive and poke people more than having them walk up to you.
Ive been playing this game since 1.0 launched, and honestly it seems to be more of a cycle to how Rp progresses per update, rather than an absence of it. Its a rough summary, but this is generally how Ive seen it go each major update:There are obviously exceptions to the bullets above, and in all of those times you can find Rpers and Rp, I just personally believe that it is easier during the first and third phases. It will also help you immensely if you get a hold of a Rp calendar of some sort, as Im pretty sure there is one (Or several) on this site. If you are looking for strictly random/walk ups however, I think it would be good to get a feel of how Rp is generally moving around the circle. Also kind of related is where you find it. The Quicksand isnt the only place people openly Rp, its just generally the most well known. As of the time of this posting I believe we are inbetween the second and third phase of the Rps activity. I hope this helped a little.
- People join/return/get otherwise back into Rp after an update. Maybe some story stuff happened, or maybe some sweet gear dropped. Whatever the reason people want to either try some new Rp ideas, write around the most recent story content in Rp, or join a neat plot.
A large portion of these people quickly get absorbed into FCs and group up with each other, or eventually lose interest rather quickly and either go back to the game, get into something else in another game, or otherwise get bored/busy with RL stuff.
Despite how that might sound this is usually when most of the open walk up Rps happen because the most people are on and a huge amount of people want to get their characters out there. Its like FC happy hour, but for like....weeks instead of actual hours.
- After the buzz dies down a bit thats when the clique Rp starts to rise up a bit. People have already found their Rp groups and friends and generally stay within those groups unless they are running a public event. Around this time I feel is the hardest to find open Rp because There honestly isnt much going on. Even most of the people I have personally seen active around this time openly are a part of a plot of some sort. (Not saying that means they cant be open to Rps but generally its my opinion it can make them harder to approach for newer characters or Rpers, as most of the characters part of a plot want to interact with specific types of characters to advance said plot.)
- And then there is the third phase where either a new update is coming soon or is otherwise around the corner, and hype for it is rising. Around this time plots are usually wrapping up somewhat or becoming more open, new plots are starting, and you have a mix of people leaving and joining the game. This "phase" tends to be the most ooc in my opinion because usually around now people are either grinding or trying to finish story content to get ready for the next batch of SE content.
This is also however the time when Rpers tend to start putting themselves back out there before the explosion of people being active after the update. I find this time a pretty decent way to run into new friends and people, but as people tend to be less proactive about finding friends at this point it would likely mean that you yourself would have to be more proactive in making those connections (Much to to the disadvantage of character types that prefer to be approached.)
I'm real curious about this RP life cycle and have been giving it a lot of thought recently. To me, it would go like so:
1. New patch drops, RP is low due to focus on new PvE etc. content. Overall population high from people returning for new content.
2. RP increases as people start grinding for gear and need breaks now and then.
3. Late patch lull. <--- This is when I would expect RP to skyrocket since we've gotten our gear/items/new stuff completed and have free time in game. But, as you've listed, this seems to be when many RPers disappear.
Can anyone explain why RP doesn't explode during the late patch lull?
