Literally every enocunter I have with my DK.
People in RP tend to forget that Death Knights are the perfect killing-machines. Because their 20yo(in human years) Elvish Archmage/Archdruid/Mother character is very special aswell 
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This is a pet peeve of mine. If you are going to rp a more traditionalist elf, at least go all the way. How often my character has gotten negative responses after voicing a dislike for demonhunter X or Y. It would be fine if it were isolated instances, where one demon hunter might have managed to win the trust of the night elves they surround themselves with, but it happened more often that oneâd think.
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Ngl, I feel like a Night Elf traditionalist can be a really cool concept and fun to interact with.
My Highborne is somewhat traditional, although he has learned to embrace the fact the world is changing. Still, at times he will put his heels in the sand and buttheads with younger generation of Night Elves, who are more open to the changing world!
I mean playing a Night Elf traditionalist, at one point your character has to evolve, otherwise he will be stuck forever and nobody would want to interact with them anymore, which is something people also forget, I feelđ¤
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Youâre right, in theory. But have you ever been a druid in the Grove in Duskwood?
We have daily void creatures of all sort and power, we have flying primalists, flying trolls, even saw a three headed burning creature passing by. Multiple rogues, cultists in hiding, void cultists and then all matters of undead on top of the daily flavor of fiends.
And they all come knocking at the door, if it wasnât for the Illidari (because no one respect druid power level, eh, just tree-huggers), the population of the Grove would be zero.
I honestly invite everyone playing a traditionalist druid to join us, we need you. Come.
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Keep in mind that at this point, youâre looking at seven years of character development. At the beginning of her story, in late WoD on the onset of Legion, she was just a curious young hunter-slash-historian living in Astranaar, with a fondness for travelersâ tales. She even had markings back then. Her path to who she is now â an apprentice of the Kirin Tor with a thorough disdain for the Sisterhood â was long and eventful, shaped by RP experiences.
For you itâs a potentially lethal and unstable killing machine, for us itâs a Tuesday in Duskwood.
Ebon in Duskwood have been seen as rogue, working for cults, hiring dark rangers, killing druids (two years ago), stealing blood, antagonizing people and the Grove for a while.
Passing by and expecting a good welcome, is in my opinion too short of an experience to grasp the whole background of the region.
I am unsure who did this with you, but I am certain you should give it another go.
Edit: I speak for the Twilight Grove only, I do not know what other druids in the region are doing.
I wouldnât call it the night elf RP community though.
Itâs very clear there are four hubs for night elves in AD:
- Ashenvale
- Stormwind
- Duskwood
- Everyone else.
Come with male priests and female druids in Duskwood, we welcome you. Sentinels and Watchers included. We donât discriminate.
Absolutely. I have met plenty of traditionalists who were done in a compelling way and I will say that playing such a character really gives you a sense of belonging in a group. Not only that, in many ways it gives a contribution, it helps to create a world that feels alive, whereas playing a character that is too unique usually puts me out of that world.
However. Just because you use your racial archetypes, or because you are playing within the margins of your race, it doesnât mean that there canât be nuance: and this is where you have the two-dimensional characters so popular in the night elf community, in that they think that RPing a scenario where a night elf meets a death knight is repeating âwithered creature you should not beâ for twenty minutes straight.
Another example was a highborne who got recruited into my guild. The first evening of roleplay she wants to see a weapon I have, and then asks OOCly if she can steal that IC. I tell her, sure, go ahead, but keep in mind my character and her friends will be pissed at you and will chase you to have their item back. And she was like âOh, then I am not going to do thatâ - did she legitimately expect to just remain our friend after stealing from us? In the same vein, she kept saying how much she was there only to take advantage of us and stab us in the back - and no, not OOCly, but ICly. Like, why on earth would our characters have to associate with her again? They literally didnât need her, she just enters the scene and keeps telling us how she plans to harm us while âworkingâ alongside us. Thatâs playing a highborne wrong and is very dissatisfying to those around you.
But then why hate death knights who are offering to do the exact same thing: protect the land from demons?
If your character has had this type of development, in that he or she transcends her culture because she accepts outcasts for help, why push away other outcasts who are offering to do the same thing?
Ngl, part of the vibe I got is that the demon huntress is accepted because, well, she is a night elf archetype.
since I have role-played with the Grove for like twenty minutes I canât say itâs bad RP or anything, but the whole scenario could have gone way better with basically no effort.
And honestly itâs just a fresh reminder of all those bad encounters I keep having with Kaldorei, such as my human mage being called a âlesser beingâ (unironically) by a druid RPer, etc etc.
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Iâve answered in a previous post, but from our perspective, the Ebon in Duskwood arenât reliable. Itâs a sad state of affairs, I am agreeing with you.
We do work with the Ebon Blade though, but it doesnât mean itâs going to be all peace&flowers. If youâve got business with the Grove, itâll be done.
Iâll say it again, but please do come again. Not a day in Duskwood is the same and depending on the daily happenings, you may just find yourself having a warmer welcome. I would find it sad to be judged for twenty minutes of interaction, when we have month-long on-going stories.
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Iâd be curious to find out whether or not the people talking about the night elf communityâs reliance on fan made lore and exclusionary tactics have engaged with said community in recent times.
It was definitely my experience years ago that major hubs like Astranaar and Feathermoon could be really closed off, but again â that was years ago. I genuinely donât know what the scene is like now.
All I can really say is that the one constant since that time is the Nightblade Sentinels, and they were definitely welcoming to outside roleplay at the time.
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Most of the time, my characters who have a strong dislike for undeath will still cooperate. However limited it might be, it depends on what will generally provide more play at the time. I think playing two-note with certain things is a lot easier though. It can be quite hard to portray a strong dislike for something, while still playing with. Rather than against.
As for the difference between Illidari and Death Knights. Beyond my characters strict admiration for powerful and addictive magic. If confronted with her (potential) hypocricy. For she is more likely to be friendly toward Illidari. The way she has been taught about the balance. Is the Scourge was created by the Legion, which means they are undead + ultimately created by them. Wheras the Illidari were formed to oppose it. She never had any interaction or heard any stories about them before they were suddenly there in Legion, so to her. While she recognises it as a cursed and painful existance. It is better in her mind.
What makes them less reliable than the Illidari?
She would have also heard of how the Scourge itself betrayed the Legion and that the Ebon Blade betrayed the Scourge in turn, fighting on the forefront in the wars against both. A lot of the demon hunters also betrayed the Illidari and joined the Legion.
For one or two ârogue Illidariâ in Duskwood, we had thirty ârogue Ebonâ or more. We also have every undead trying to make our characters believe they are from the Ebon Blade. The demons canât pretend to be Illidari, so itâs easier to build trust.
Well established Ebon Blade guilds who are playing by the lore, are less likely to be mistreated as they are harder to impersonate by the various fiends.
Whatâs a rogue Ebon?
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Worth remembering that itâs totally valid for a character to hold a belief that doesnât hold up to OOC scrutiny based on our understanding of the lore.
If a night elf goes, âwell undead are less trustworthy than demon hunters so nyehâ I think thatâs an interesting twist on an established formula.
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I havenât roleplayed actively in hubs the past couple of years, but as for the observation of night elf communities in Kalimdor appearing closed off, I donât think for most roleplayers comes it comes from a place of malice either.
Thereâs a big enough population of night elf characters on the server that you see both players who love their character being actively part of the Alliance and make friends with all the races, and those who prefer focusing on night elf themes and atmosphere in their homelands, aka getting that feeling of living in a night elf community. And you usually find those focusing on the latter in places like Astranaar and Feathermoon, while night elves who are more outgoing wander around more, linger in other cities, and often find their home in multiracial guilds.
For example with Acrona, Iâm generally more interested in her relationships with other night elf characters since I enjoy getting immersed in the quirks and history of that particular race. Though, Iâve also hosted many events in the past in Kalimdor that welcomed people from all around the Alliance.
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Well naturally theyâd be Scourge. Ebon Bladeâs who have betrayed the organization they are part of.
Full disclosure, the idea that a Death knight must be part of the Ebon Blade or otherwise theyâre ârogueâ is entirely a player made headcanon with no bearing on the actual lore. We see plenty of Death Knights who hold no affiliation with the Ebon Blades, though in doing so you are limiting your own access to runeforges and the support of a group that doesnât actively hate you in a world thatâs strongly prejudiced against them, but the decision is one for a character to make.
Itâs another thing entirely if the Death Knight in question specifically betrayed the Ebon Blade, though Iâm a bit skeptical that literally 30+ Death Knight RPers in Duskwood are traitors of that faction.
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While I do agree that youâre correct on these counts, my point of view comes as someone who also primarily plays night elves. Theyâre my favourite race, with my favourite themes and lore. But even with that in mind, I found a lot of the roleplay in Astranaar and Feathermoon some years back to be quite exclusive and, on the basis of their commitment to custom lore, somewhat elitist.
I wouldnât attribute to malice what could more easily be explained as poor communication and group mentality though, for sure.
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Welcome to Duskwood.