Okay, first of all, welcome to the RP community.
Second, by your questions, I’m assuming you’ve not yet read this; Guide to roleplay for newcomers
If so, do it.
It’s very much the best way of getting to know the ropes of base concepts in RP.
But I’ll give you my takes on the answers too, just because I’m bored.
- Name; Your in game character name is not your IC (in character name, so the name your character would introduce themselves in an interaction). And you are correct, calling strangers by name is considered to be poor RP.
2 Writing backstory; You have to consider RPing as a cooperative writing and storytelling exercise. While you don’t need to be an author or a writer, skills learned from those will come extremely handy in making your emotes.
So reading books and other literature will actually most likely make your interactions have more quality.
For a beginner, just keep it simple. Look up what a normal, “average joe” night elf’s life would have been, what kind of significant historical moments they would have been present for or taught about and figure out the basics. Where their parents are, had they any siblings, or extended family, etc.
Research. A lot. Watch lore videos, read sites and discussions or get a hold of some of the related WoW novels.
RP won’t feel anything like doing content. Your OOC class (in game class and spec) won’t matter beyond your armor type for mogging, and if you play a non-combat role, not even that.
Uhh, not really necessary imo. Lots of night elves (and other RP characters tbh) speak in a more casual speech pattern. What I think matters, is keeping said speech pattern consistent.
Don’t make your character change the way they speak in similar situations from one day to the other without character development.
It’s fine to speak more venerably to a guard captain and more casually to a street beggar, though.
No. Absolutely not. Big, big, biiig no. Nope. Forget about it.
Yes and no. I’d say make a simplistic, easy backstory first. After you’ve spent some time with your char, you can add bits and pieces here and there to make it more intricate.
But I recommend leaving the more extensive and intricate backstories for later on, and for harder character concepts.
I have to suggest Stormwind.
It’s the most populated RP hub on AD and it’s the most likely you’ll get casual, walkup RP there. Try that out for a few days, see how you like it, learn some more ropes and then if you find you’re into it, you can move on to guilds.
One more important thing. Be sure to state that you’re new in your OOC information. People will be more receptive, more accepting of mistakes and more willing to help out and let you learn.