I'm new to MMO's in general, so I've really just started to get the hang of things like general codes of conduct and how to actually be useful in a group. I have not, to this point, done any RPing, but I chose this server because I knew that it was something I wanted to try in the future. I'm not totally new to RP (just RP in an MMO setting). I played some D&D with friends in high school, which was a great time, and we still do every once in awhile when we have enough of the old crew together. By the end, we had a pretty established set of adventurers who had been together for a long time--we fell in love with dwarven lumberjacks in backwater towns, we fought with each other, we dealt with the deaths of beloved NPCs (as well as two long term partners in crime), we burned down no fewer than seven breweries, and, of course, we crawled through dungeons and slayed dragons. We only played a couple times a month, but I miss having that RP experience. I'd like to find a little bit of that somewhere again, and my hope is that I could find it here.
What I'm really asking, is how does RP work in the MMO world (or at least on this server in this MMO)? Do people tend to establish a regular group with characters that get to know each other? Is Cantina RP pretty much what's out there? If you approach a group of RPers you don't know, is that bad internet etiquette? Do people tend to RP a new character every night, or are these fairly established back stories? To get involved in a long term RP do I have to join a guild? Is that a big time commitment? Is there opportunity out there to RP through some Heroics and Flashpoints? (because nothing brings people together like killing something really, really big.) From players who have done both, how different is the RP experience online from RP in a D&D setting? Are there any specific tips for making the transition?
Sorry about all the questions, but I am way outside my RP comfort zone--which pretty much involves a group of dudes I've known since middle school, a table, some Mountain Dew (and/or beer), some Doritos, and a whole bunch of dice. I'm trying to figure out how all this works, so any tips/info I can get would be much appreciated!