Firstly, welcome to the weird and wacky world of RP, it isn’t as daunting as it can seem, trust me, I’ll go over your questions, then give a few bits of advice here and there.
Not really, but some good common sense rules of thumb are as follows;
Use/Say for what your character is actually -saying-, so like /s I see you are a Dwarf, in the Exodar,that is, unusual, how did you come to be here,anything I can help with? use /emote for what your character is visibly doing, so like /e rolls their eyes … Use /Yell only if it is something your character would actually be Shouting very loudly so like /y Mother of Elune, Someone just Shot me! In the Leg! I’m bleeding! Help, Help!
Use say for what you, well, say, emote for what you visibly do, and Yell only if you really have to scream something to the heavens!
Remember with emotes, keep it simple, a character might see your character roll their eyes in exasperation, they won’t know -why- they are exasperated though. Might be a bad day, they might be sick of being asked why they are in the Exodar as a Dwarf, they might be late for a business meeting, or they may be late for dinner with an angry wife with a rolling pin in hand…
Everyone starts off new. I remember, many, many moons ago, well, alright, more than 30 years ago, starting off my adventures as a level 1 character in Dungeons and Dragons, long before WoW and the Internet were really a thing. We all start off new, we all make mistakes now and then. Learn from them, and if someone sends you a message like “Hey, I notice you said your character was born on Darnassus? Darnassus was actually really new as a city, like, about 15 years or so, so unless you are playing a teenager, thats kind of unlikely, just saying” Then take it as advice “Ah! Cheers, I’m new to this, thanks for the tip”. Likewise if you find yourself in the presence of some perceived grandissimo of RP (Although anyone who thinks of themselves as such, is generally a jacka$$) then whispering them going “Sorry, I’m new to this, so apologies if I am slow at responding, any advice gratefully received.”
Most people, unless they are some mongrel type of low repute, will be happy to help a new RP’er out. More RP means more game for us all!
Backstories are good. Nothing wrong with writing a few notes down, can be awfully embarrassing to forget the names of your characters children mid conversation! (I have done this)
Throw yourself out there. Nobody gets anything if everyone sits there staring at their shoes like clubbers in the late 90’s. Someone has to make the first move. Might as well be you, chances are everyone else is as nervous.
Keep IC IC, and OOC OOC. You bump into Brigante in a tavern, he is normally the soul of joviality, wit, and friendly to anyone. Bump into him tonight, he is sullen, and careworn, he is worried about his unit(Guild) who are on a Mission in the Barrens, that he could not accompany them on (Because like hell am I going to Dm an event for 14 players -and- try to play their commanding officer at the same time) Sometimes characters will be in good moods, or bad moods, it does not mean the person behind the screen doesn’t like you, or is hostile, just that their character may be having a rough day. Who knows, you may alleviate their worries, or they may tell you to get lost. Doesn’t mean they hate you OOC. Sometimes great enemies as characters can be people who are best mates in real life. Keep it in character, act the way you would, which brings me swiftly onto…
You are a character, your character is not a suicidal idiot. Your Go-To response upon entering a social situation is not likely to be to pull out a shiv and start shanking people. Why would you? I mean apart from the criminally insane, who does that? Apart from anything else, most cities have guards, who take a dim view of people going all psychotic in a city.
Quirks are good, but don’t let them rule you. My Gnome is very jaded and cynical, he had to put a bullet through his wife’s head when she turned Leper. Don’t expect him to tell you that. Less is more. No one has a conversation that goes “How was your day?” “Well, I went to Steelgrill Depot and had to kill 12 Yeti’s to get furs for 1 silver and 12 copper” It would be “So how was your day?” “Oh man, you would not believe it, I was doing some freelance work, like an idiot I took the job based on the pay, good pay, but this guy wanted me to kill Yeti’s. Yeti’s! Have you seen the size of those things,have you ever smelt one? And then, and you will not believe this, he wanted their furs to make the cockpit of his Steam Tank more comfortable. Can you believe that? I’m risking my life out there so he gets a comfortable ride, so yeah, I’ve had better days, You?” You don’t blurt your entire backstory out in one go. I’ve been playing Brigante since TBC came out, but only about 3 living characters know why he used to hate Blood Knights, or why he hates talking about Wretched. Be natural with conversations…
Lastly. You are -NOT- ‘The Hero’. You did not kill Onyxia, or Kael’thas, or Arthas, Deathwing, Lei-shen or Garrosh, you did not defeat the Titan Argus. You can have been a soldier doing their bit, but claiming to have killed lore characters or having their weapons is generally very bad form.
2.Nope. Your character is as old as you choose, within reason. You want to play a veteran of the War of Shifting Sands, you crack on, you want to play a Night Elf who remembers the reign of Aszhara, you crack on, those are possible. You want to play an 18 year old Night Elf, you rock on. Just look at what your race was up to at the time and go “WHat was my character doing back then?” Brigante was a good loyal Alliance boi, at the tail end of the Troll Wars (Yeah, he pretty old) during Vanilla he was mostly doing relief work and helping rebuild Silvermoon, he never went to Outlands during TBC, he was in the Shattered Sun Offensive fighting on Quel’danas. In Wrath he was one of the Dragonhawk riders over Icecrown, or the ‘War of the Frozen Flesh’ as he calls it. During Cata he was doing basic Aerial Cavalry stuff, nothing special, During MoP he was one of the Dragonhawk riders over Thunder Isle, then part of the Rebellion against Garrosh, Just look at what your race was doing and go “How would I fit into that, at the time?” You’ll find stories write themselves if you do. Just ask Brigante why the Sin’dorei fliers over Icecrown were called ‘Blue-ears’ by the other Elves, don’t ask him about ‘ear-socks’ or how after initial mockery, other Elves asked if Brigante’s wife could knit them some as well.
Play what you are comfortable with. Your character does not have to start off as a level 1 scrub with a shirt on their back and a second hand sword and a dustbin lid for a shield, level them up, get a good set of kit that reflects the look you are going for, then go for it.
3.lifespans on Classic, as far as I recall go something like this:
Humans=Normal Human lifespan as per our world.
Night Elves= -Were- immortal, have just recently lost immortality (I’ll come back to this in your next question, as it is more relative there)
Dwarves= about 300
Gnomes=about 300
Orcs= Normal Human lifespan.
Trolls=Normal Human lifespan
Tauren= Normal Human lifespan but they -seem- to retain their physical robustness into old age, Cairne is the example here, he is over 100 years old, but can still pull a tree out of the ground with his bare hands.
Forsaken= No one knows. We still don’t know. In Classic, nobody would have a clue, I mean they are a massively new phenomenon. What we -do- know is that even if the body is trapped and does not age, the mind does, and Forsaken can lose themselves and have to be ‘put out of their misery’ by other Forsaken. I could hazard a guess that given that most of them were human, this happens at the point where their mind starts to have problems with their age, so older than a normal human lifespan, but they haven’t really existed long enough for us to know yet. Even the oldest Forsaken is not yet more than middle aged in human terms.
4 & 5. (As they’re the same answer)
Kaldorei and Highborne were immortal, for a very long time, (A blessing from Nozdormu, patriarch of the Bronze Dragonhflight, until the World Tree was destroyed. They then lost their immortality. Fandral Staghelm planted Teldrassil, in an attempt to regain their immortality. Problem is, All of the Dragonflights gave their blessing upon Teldrassil (Despite it being a corruption of nature, and Fandral really not being a nice chap) except for Nozdormu. As such, the Night Elves did -not- regain their immortality.
All Elves on Azeroth, Night Elves, Highborne, High Elves, Blood Elves, Void Elves now have the -same- Life expectancy. This is an ill defined figure of “Several Thousand Years” Now the problem there, is that you only use the word ‘Several’ in English to mean ‘At least three, but less than ten’, so the life expectancy for all Elves is between 3,000- 9,000. Obviously Kaldorei had a period of immortality, so they have -started- aging again, from where they left off, they haven’t all crumbled to dust, else Malfurion, Tyrande et all would be old bones by now. By the time of BfA, Night Elves have actually started dying of sickness and old age, by the time of Classic, this hasn’t yet started.
So any type of Elf apart from Kaldorei and Nightborne are pretty much definitely under 10,000, Those two can be older, but have started aging normally again.
Another thing about Elven Aging. There is no such thing as ‘Elf Years’, there are just years. A year is the same regardless of what race you are. Elves of all types are both physically, culturally and intellectually adult by at least 20 years old. Pretty similar to humans. Sylvanas was already a Farstrider aged 20, and we have no hint that Quel’thalas used child soldiers. Lorash Sunbeam a Blood Elf, is 7,000 years old, and pretty spry for his years.
- Thats tricky. I prefer RPPvE servers, so take my words with that dash of bias. You can choose to flag for PvP or not, you -can- roleplay with the other Faction, however not in Classic,only in Retail by using the Elixir of Tongues that allows you to speak and be understood by the other faction, purchasable from Dalaran. In Classic, apart from the stock emotes, afraid you aren’t really able to talk to them unless you have some third party method, like Discord or Skype.
Hope that helps, any further questions, ask away!
