I was told Nightborne hunters can’t use bows in RP, or they can but it’s looked down upon on some guilds. Which guilds allow it?
According to Lore, Bows was not made in suramar for centuries until the barrier was down, where a Nightborne said he wanted to use one.
They said it was more a “night elf thing”, still Nightborne are known to be people of knowledge
So can I use one or not?
Short answer: Yes.
I don’t even think a lore justification is needed here. With the exception of warglaives being locked to DHs, thus locked to blood elves and night elves, I think every race is able to use every weapon type. Granted, I’d personally find guns a bit of a weird choice with nightborne, but maybe they’re sick of snooty magic types and just wanna pump 'em full of lead?
So yeah, you go ahead on this one, I’m pretty confident in that.
A spell bow works, so bow away.
Silgryn: “The night elves use bows! I do not think a bow has been made in Suramar in centuries! I wonder if they would let me use one for target practice…”
Victoire: “I saw the Sentinels doing target practice over in their camp. They sure can shoot…We never really embraced the bow. After all, who needs such primitive instruments when you can craft the fabric of the world to fire missiles for you?”
They likely refer to these quotes. It just means some Nightborne might mock them for using a bow, deeming it primitive or not a very effective weapon. Doesn’t mean you can’t use it.
A bow is primitive and a spear isn’t? What kinda elf logic is this lmao.
simple:
why shoot flint tipped sticks at people when you can just shoot magic at them
you cannot replace a spear with magic bolts.
Yeah, you can use one.
TL;DR: Nightborne had no natural resources, so even Spellblades/Duskwatch were using hard-light arcane constructs for weaponry (see armour). At that point, it makes sense to ditch a bow and start slinging spells exclusively.
In the wider Azeroth, however, where there isn’t always a source of magic to draw from. Likewise, there’s a LOT more variety of Spellbreakers/Anti-Magic units and situations to deal with, wheras in Suramar no one cut off mana because folks would Wither. It makes sense for a Marksman, or someone who’s self reliant in any way, to want to take up another weapon.
Yes. Bow is gud. Nobles will turn up their nose, but they’re only in power cause Thalyssra felt nice. They suck.
Victoire in specific was with the Duskwatch, arguably some of the more arrogant Nightborne. Silgryn is more curious than condescending. I wouldn’t necessarily take Victoire’s stance as that of the average Nightborne. Velravyn’s points are good. They didn’t have many natural resources to make any under the dome.
Short answer: yes, it is possible
Long answer: here’s the context. According to BlizzCon 2015, after Suramar was secluded, they endured a shortage of materials. That means steel, wood, and anything like that became a scarce resource. Even the Duskwatch doesn’t use blades of pure steel and, for the most part, focuses on blades made of pure arcane energy (like in the comic, or here: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/wowpedia/images/3/32/Early_Nightborne_concept.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/398?cb=20201226004949). So you have to explain how you’d have a bow – you built it on your own? An artifact from your ancient kaldorei’s lineage? If you’re in the Duskwatch, you likely did not have a bow when you were in service. And definitely, training in a city with a bow isn’t going to be practical. Consider that it -is- an oddity, but far from impossible.
According to friendly Duskwatch guards, bows are extremely rare (Lryen already linked the conversation) - and most of them believe that arcane magic can outperform bows. It’s not important if it is true, but it is worth noting that this seems to be the general consensus. Both Silgryn and Victoire declare these weapon outdated and very rare.
Worth noting that Silgryn is also a member of the Duskwatch
To further demonstrate how short these materials became, the nightborne who joined the Reliquary expedition on Zandalar had no clue what to do with a pick axe, IIRC.
Why use metal with stick when can just transmute stone away to get metal? 
Well judging by the lore, I can see why people favor Nightborne Mages. It’s easier to explain lol
Yeah. Nightborne are odd because almost their entire culture has magic in its barest bones. They’d even feed children Arc-Juice, because they were too young developmentally for Arcwine. Instead of employing Priests largely, the Duskwatch instead trained healers in basic Tempomancy (Chronomancy/Time Magic) to work as offensive casters and healers.
For Nightborne, it’s REALLY easy to multi-class as a Mage-X-Hybrid as they learn new skills. You can definetly get creative with a Bow because, at the end of the day, even if they’re casting enchanted arrows and someone pops up an Anti-Magic Zone, your Nightborne is still shooting lethal flying projectiles.
There’s quite a few NB RPers who break away from the ‘Suramar Standard’ and have made some very cool off-the-wall multi-class/Mage based characters who fall outside the ‘Caster’ archetype. It’s a race where there’s strong examples to draw from for every class, but then you can also bend REALLY nicely into other avenues as your Elf explores azeroth.
Surely there’s not guilds who’d stop you from using a bow because your Nightborne feels like using one?
Sure, there haven’t been bows produced in Suramar for a long time, but the same source where that tidbit originates from also shows one being curious, if not excited, about giving one a go - what’s to say yours wouldn’t be the same? Maybe they just like, or prefer, it over using a magic version or what have you.
I don’t think it helps that the bow I have in mind is Ironfeather lol.
I just think it fits because it has Purple feathers, which matches the purple Nighthold armor
Magic glowy feathers 
It looks suitably fancy to me!
I mean Tyrande isn’t the only one that uses the bow. Even Vereesa uses it
What.
What. x2
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So UH… Here’s a passage from “Shadows Rising”:
" She readied her blades, just in time for First Arcanist Thalyssra to arrive with her nightborne archers . Sira paused, red eyes aglow with the outrage of defeat."
Here’s the Wikipedia for what’s an “archer”:
" Archery is the art, sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows."
???
Can I have the names of those guilds because I’d like to avoid them, ty.
and what’s wrong with the ironfeather bow?