World of Warcraft is full of events that the developers put in to help the game feel a bit more immersive and realistic. Sometimes, though, the community decides to make the events themselves instead of waiting for Blizzard to make them!
Such is the case with the annual Tournament of Ages, a massive roleplay event that primarily takes place on the Moon Guard server. As one of the most populated roleplay servers, Moon Guard serves as an excellent, heavily-populated launching point.
Of course, anyone is welcome, regardless of faction or realm. While there’s a general list of etiquette that you’ll need to follow, all are welcome, whether they’re roleplaying or not.
That said, the vast majority of players are in character as the character they bring, often utilizing a decent selection of addons to help bring that to life. Players also utilize potions that allow them to speak cross-faction, which is otherwise impossible with very few exceptions (Blood Elves and Void Elves can always communicate via Thalassian, for example).
The Tournament of Ages takes the form of a massive faire-style festival, more akin to a state faire than a true Tournament. Those attending aren’t forced to compete in any events, though there are several events to compete in, such as jousting and transmogrification contests.
There are plenty of vendors as well, trading and selling goods often via roleplay addons that allow players to create goods. Many also sell food, cosmetics, and even art of your character to have sent to you out of the game!
All in all, it’s the equivalent of a week-long Dungeons and Dragons shopping trip in the best way possible. With thousands of players in attendance, the servers were certainly pushed to their limits, but the event continued on with few if any hiccups.
As it came to an end yesterday, players left the tournament en masse to go from the holding grounds of the Argent Tournament in Icecrown to nearby Storm Peaks. There, the end of another successful tournament was celebrated with a massive in-character Ball.
Here, attendants continued to compete via costume contests as they danced, conversed, and at one point, created a conga line long enough to wrap back to its own start. The organizers of the event posted a public playlist for players to listen along to together so that everyone was listening to the same songs at the same time.
This created a specific hysterical event where someone had snuck a Dragonforce song into the playlist, causing dozens – perhaps even a hundred – players to mount dragons and fly around frantically as the song continued.
All in all, it was another fantastic Tournament of Ages, and players are now looking forward to next year’s to be certain. If you were unfortunate enough to miss the event, make sure you keep your eyes open for Tournament of Ages 2021!
