Interview: Ashiraya #5

Today we bring you the long awaited and very in-depth interview with Ashiraya. Enjoy!

Firewire: My first question for you is: A couple of people on the forums wanted to see me interviewing you. Why do you think they chose you? 

Ashiraya: I do not know for sure. I very frequently post on the forums, as I like forums in general. Perhaps I made a good impression?

Firewire: Could you tell me a little bit about your person? How long have you been playing WoW? When did you start role playing? Do you role play on other games as well? What is your RP background?

Ashiraya: I have played WoW since 2010. I began playing on the PvP server Sylvanas. My first ever character was an Orc warrior on a trial account, who I played to 20 before activating the account and rolling a new character, a Troll mage. I leveled the mage to 85 and played a little while, before I learned of Argent Dawn's existence.

I first came into contact with WoW role play by spotting the dedicated RP forum on battle.net. I read a bit and became curious. After a WoW break, I had a go at Argent Dawn and rolled a Tauren druid named Turan. I leveled him, too, to 85, and then went out looking for role play. I encountered the 'Light Watch Order' or something akin to that name, and I decided to try to join.

At this point, I didn't even know how to emote. Needless to say, my attempt to get recruited in character fell flat fairly badly. Despite the initial refusal, one of the officers took pity on me and invited me regardless, perhaps wishing for me to learn with them. However, I had become sorely discouraged when I realized how little I knew, and I took another break from WoW.

When I returned, I had regained my confidence. I rolled a DK named Ashiraya and sought out the Mok'lohn Command to try to join them. I succeeded, and stayed for a time, but it was clear it did not work very well. I had only limited time over for role playing, which did not always line up with event schedules. The Mok'lohn also had issues with its officers and veteran members being extremely detached from the recruits.

When I encountered Razkul and his Kor'kron guild, I decided to join it instead, which may have been my best decision so far on this realm. I managed to make my schedule a bit more flexible, and together with Razkul's expert leadership and the great nature of his guild, my role play thrived and I managed to reach officer rank in a matter of months. It was also there that I met Melynia, who was to be Ashiraya's first family member. It was a very good time.

However, at the time, antagonist role play was a largely empty niche, filled only with guilds that died rapidly. Encouraged by the success in the Kor'kron, I decided to have a go at leading my own guild, and began a long and extensive story line in which Ashiraya found and reforged a weapon that would allow the rise of the big bad named the 'Black Queen'. It was a very enjoyable story line to play out. The Kor'kron contributed well. I created the guild and named it Legion of Chaos. From that point on, things became ... less successful. Legion of Chaos functioned, certainly. From its founding back in 2012, it always did function at least to some degree.

But in the early years I made a lot of terrible mistakes. I made pretty much every mistake under the sun, actually, which continues to give that guild a sadly rather poor reputation even today. Regardless, I learned through mistakes. Things got better over time. Legion of Chaos fought Scarlets (back before they were eradicated) and Horde, Argents and Alliance ...

But eventually the story moved on. A year ago, the Black Queen was seemingly defeated in another long and complicated story line. Ashiraya was freed and now once more functions as the character she was before it all ... But about a hundred times more developed. The Black Queen survived as a separate entity and continues to exist IC, even if the guild's formal return is not planned to be until after Legion launch.

Firewire: You got a long history there. Let me ask you three questions about the things you said. You were talking about a family member that joined. Was that IC or OOC?

Ashiraya: It was IC. OOC we are friends, but nothing more. Since then, Melynia has been joined by Anierous, so Ashiraya now has two children. Obviously both born long before her undeath ...

Firewire: So you guys are married?

Ashiraya: No, Melynia and Anierous are Ashiraya's children. Love really isn't a priority for Ashiraya right now, so to speak ....

Firewire: The other thing: You were taking about mistakes you made as a guild leader. Could you tell us one or two of your biggest mistakes? Just so people can learn from them.

Ashiraya: The first one was putting quantity ahead of quality. I wanted a large and impressive guild, so I recruited everyone I encountered. It worked, the guild became very large, but as you can imagine it also amassed all kinds of other issues and it could not work in the long run.

The second was bull mindedness. I am rather stubborn in general, but back then I combined that with poor explaining and generally poorly thought-through words. No wonder I angered lots of people

As a third, my initial character concepts were, frankly, rather bad. I would not have role played with myself!

Firewire: I would like to know a bit more about the Black Queen. Is/was Ashiraya the Black Queen?

Ashiraya: Yes and no. What is known IC is not what is known OOC, and in order to prevent meta-gaming I did not reveal the right information ... Which was another mistake. The truth is that Ashiraya was possessed.

However, the being that orchestrated this wanted everyone to believe that Ashiraya was the actual culprit, and that was the story I told. Needless to say, when Ashiraya was eventually freed and returned, people complained much more OOC than they did IC, believing it to be a magically forgiven super villain. Ashiraya went through a large three day trial in Hearthglen when she was freed, to determine her fate, and she managed to survive that trial by a thread.

Firewire: Thanks for all these details. Moving on. How do you think about the RP scene on AD? What are your community highlights? Events, guilds, members.

Ashiraya: I think the RP scene could do with a lot less OOC agendas and a lot more focusing on making a big collective story. But that is just my opinion as a writer. As for community highlights ... I fear I've seen less than most, having spent two years in a mostly isolated guild and all.

Firewire: Lets talk a bit more about your idea with less OOC agendas then. What do you mean by that?

Ashiraya: Well, a lot of people have OOC motivations that I do not think should be focused on in a collective role play setting like this one. For instance, some simply desire OOC fame or command, and let that determine their IC actions. Others indulge in odd OOC politics that spill over to role play. This is no news, of course, but it's the main thing I wish became less prevalent.

Firewire: A question about game mechanics. What game play changes would you like to see from Blizzard for role playing in WoW?

Ashiraya: What any role player would want. Greater character customization. An animation control menu. Reduced toy restrictions (cooldowns, and so on.)

Firewire: How do you think about cross-faction communication?

Ashiraya: As my main role playing character as well as various of my alts are almost neutral, I am all for it

Firewire: I got four short questions to round up the interview. What is your favorite tavern? 

Ashiraya: The Tavern in the Mists.

Firewire: What is your favorite arena? (don't think PvP arenas only)

Ashiraya: The Crusader's Coliseum, I think, though the Highmaul one is very nice too.

Firewire: Who is your favorite NPC?

Ashiraya: Lei Shen, or Garrosh

Firewire: Last question. Who would you want me to interview next and is there a certain question you would like to see answered from that person?

Ashiraya: Razkul, perhaps, my old old guild leader. I doubt you'll find him.

Firewire: Thank you so much for your time and this interview!