I have been meaning to ask if high fantasy is being frowned upon in RP? Recently, I have been running into, let’s just say weird experiences. I should clarify I am not RPing with guild currently so that might just be it.
Few examples I could give, is that I was refused to join the guild when I clarified ooc,after being asked, That my druid is not a healer but uses nature magic offensively, which I get, not every guild is looking for magic users and they want more grounded characters. Or whisper I got in middle of Stormwind, after my druid used magic to make some flowers grow, saying that they are putting me on ignore and that my character would be arrested for doing so, or that he is OP for…growing flowers magically. Which I don’t think is true. Or less personal experience, most Dracthyr I encountered are more interested in being grounded bodyguards instead of army that uses magic of dragon flights to fight enemies of Dragons.
I know this is bit of a rant, that is because I wanted it to be. But I also wanted to find out what is consensus on high fantasy RP. And reasons why some dislike it.
Is it because mage is more powerful than some criminal with thousand revolvers strapped to his chest? Is it because it is harder to self insert into character that is not your regular Joe with some minor tweaks? Or perhaps because powerful characters of ten turn into god-emoting OP morons trying to impose their power over others?
Ignore eejits like that.
WoW is a High Fantasy setting. Objectively. End of discussion. Some people have it in their heads that GoT and other stuff are ‘low fantasy’ because they’re ‘gritty’ and full of swearing and excess violence and murder. They’re wrong, but that doesn’t stop them from spreading such codswallop around with a trowel, sadly…
Imagine a non issue solving itself
what a time to be alive.
People who whisper you like that are not worth the time of day.
Shoutouts to the idiot low fantasy human GM who literally said in-character that he had an allergy to portal magic.
Ecks dee.
But yeah, the low fantasy crowd generally sucks. Not every character has to engage with powerful magical concepts all of the time (or really at any time) but to act as if they don’t exist is just failing to roleplay properly.
For example pirate RP can tend to be more in that low-fantasy/non-magic environment, but it’s not because magic doesn’t exist but moreso that guns do, and most magic practicioners who aren’t warlocks probably don’t want to cast their lot in with a bunch of scurvy dogs. (and even then we see some high fantasy seafaring in BFA!)
I mean I am aware it is high fantasy. And I am returning to RP and want to dabble into more magical character, as soon as I figure out some concept. And the ignore whisper gave me good chuckle. I was just curious if it is common thing, and how much adversity I will face.
Excuse me. Alergies like that are very real and serious business! sarcasm
And yes. I agree that universe has low fantasy parts. Like the pirates. Or thieves/criminals tend to be non magic users, keeping low profile etc.
But it is hard to ignore that for past decade biggest enemy of Azeroth was army of magic demons hell bent on destroying universe. Or arcane magic having great part in shaping Azeroth as it is.
That is an issue among plenty of guilds on Alliance from what I’ve seen. For some reason they force people to rp low-fantasy, which I never understood. I don’t mind folks that rp more normal character that falls under low-fantasy, but they need to accept that the world itself is in a high-fantasy. So they will run into more high-fantasy characters. It is what it is.
Just cast more than one fireball at them and they’ll probably instantly disappear tbh
I would see this as an absolute win if I were you.
This might not be the case of low fantasy RP but rather the “Demon Hunter bouncer” case. People who RP in the hubs often prefer casual city RP, even if it doesn´t really make sense for class/race combo they´ve chosen.
Some people prefer low fantasy and there´s nothing wrong with it. However, some push it further and instead of simply enjoying RP style that they like (and which WoW can accommodate, there are places where WoW goes close to low fantasy, like Westfall), they instead interpret the entire Azeroth as being low fantasy. And, anyone who doesn´t do the same style of RP as they do is deemed bad RPer.
I´d say ignoring those kinds is the best option, but it seems like they´re already doing the job for you.
I can’t believe you’ve actually had your druid character grow flowers with magic… that’s just blatant god emoting and it isn’t fair towards other RPers around you. Almost as bad as casting more than two fireballs without immediately collapsing.
Truly it was this hayfever-inducing atmosphere that lead you to quit the game. 
The setting is High Fantasy. There are places in which a lower kind of fantasy could be easily roleplayed, all while acknowledging things are still happening in a largely High Fantasy world.
When it comes to more demanding spells like making portals, which do take quite a bit of preparation, reagents and mana than say, a pyroblast, you probably shouldn’t be casting one IC from back to back, but if people are getting mad at you for growing flowers as a druid, then kindly acquaint them with the existence of the log out button.
People just love to get mad at magic classes over hypothetical roleplay situations of hypothetical roleplayers of said class which happened in an emote fight which ocurred entirely within the confines of their imagination.
Do what you want, mate. Don’t worry about them.
No, you see, these rules for magic are important to make sure mages aren´t too OP in RP.
Please ignore Joe the Warrior who just spent 2 hours non-stop fighting mages 1v1, he can do that because he can´t do the OP things mages can do (also, he rolled 58 against your 49, which means your fireball did no damage to him).
Wow has steampunk style airships and tanks, magically floating cities, multiple styles of magic, portals, aliens and giant godlike beings which stab planets.
Anyone who tries to tell you that wow isnt high fantasy isnt playing in the same medium of the game universe and instead in some strange headcannon side universe.
Also lol at being arrested for growing a flower
Furthermore, imagine trying to play wow in low fantasy when gnolls, kobolds, murlocs, harpies and quilboar etc etc all have access to a wide range of elemental magic, and they are the basic “enemies” out in the world.
Youd get absolutely bodied just walking down to the next village/outpost
It sounds like you’ve had an unfortunate experience.
I feel that people often tend to conflate High Fantasy with character power and assume that if you take the setting for what it is (that being a huge/silly/fun mess of ideas) then you might cramp their style and solve any and all problems they face with a snap of your fingers.
I can understand the sentiment and it can be incredibly frustrating to have some little plot point or storyline solved with a single spell. Ultimately, it really just comes down to finding people who agree with your own outlook on the setting and what makes for satisfying roleplay. One of the pains of roleplaying in an established setting is that you very often spend more time thinking about the little mundane topics and areas within that setting than the actual creators do, which leads to arguments about whether or not it’s illegal to magically grow flowers in Stormwind City.
I’ll be devil’s advocate here (well, somewhat): WoW is undeniably high fantasy but that doesn’t mean low fantasy stories cannot happen; there are plenty of examples of such stories happening. I personally think that such versality is the beauty of the Warcraft setting, as much as I curse it sometimes. That said, preferring to stick to low fantasy characters and aesthetics is one thing, but denying that the high fantasy exists is downright delusional.
If you play a warrior IC and you can’t heroic leap IC - what are you even doing with your life?
i dont actually mind control people, all my opponents are just paid actors and we have laughs after the fight about the fools we’ve made of those who believed the ruse
The reason is Humans.
Their lore and characters until relatively recently have been far more comparable to "low-fantasy’ than any other Alliance race (even though these days that award probably goes to Dwarves) so it’s what’s expected of RP with them.
And so because Humans dominate Alliance RP to the extent that every race can and will be seen walking around as a Human in Elf’s clothing, that expectation gradually got extended to other races. First with Human-adjacent ones like Worgen but eventually you reach today, where some weirdos will have a go at Night Elves, Draenei and Dracthyr for… playing those races as those races and not as Human recolours.