A slightly memey answer, and while I maintain it was an incredible way to shake up the status quo for Night Elf RP, the shoddy handling of the resulting story (focusing primarily on Saurfang, one of the perpetrators, rather than any Night Elves, with their subsequent narrative developments restricted to books and Tyrande in Shadowlands), definitely turned a lot of people off. This is partially because… Well, bad storytelling, but it also forces a narrative onto your character. That narrative isn’t a bad one (given it applied to my Night Elf characters while I still roleplayed them), but…
Your character now needs a very good reason not to be constantly pushing for vengeance against the Horde and for Teldrassil, a goal which will probably never be achieved given the glacial rate Blizzard updates the main world.
Having a goal which your character can never achieve isn’t really for everyone, I guess. Some people like it, and that’s fine, but it’s not for everyone. It wasn’t for me, at least.
There are still a lot of Night Elf guilds around, though I do think the community has definitely diminished somewhat. I can personally speak very highly of Mandala’dor and Nightblade Sentinels from when I was still involved in Night Elf roleplay. https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/night-elf-rp-mandalador/238981 https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/%E2%B8%B0%E2%98%BD-the-nightblade-sentinels-%E2%98%BE%E2%B8%B0-anu-kalimdor-%F0%9F%8C%99/19730
Would say it is a combination of different factors:
OOC disagreements & grudges splitting the community for a while now
Splits caused by the story (think peace advocates vs. characters pushing for vengeance), so a pretty volatile IC mix
Treatment of Blizzard, a good example is the above mentioned by Damoiselle, where you sort of have to pursue the vengeance arc on most characters, but at the same time see Blizzard completely neglecting that part and seemingly steering straight into a forgiveness arc for the Horde (while nelves will forever squat in Stormwind)
Lack of good hubs that aren’t too limiting.
Just overall a lot of disheartening things mixing in night elf RP.
Still plenty of night elf roleplayers around, just scattered. What comes to hubs, there’s not currently a regular presence because of guilds going about on their own adventures outside them, and nobody hosting recurring events in the settlements or bringing visibility to roleplay happening there that in turn would draw more people in. It tends to be a snowball effect.
I think the Mandalador are currently in Ashenvale and staying in Astranaar between their events. Also recommending checking out the links in Adelais’s post.
Plenty of Night Elf rp around and guild options too, hubs at present are primarily Feralas - feathermoon and a smaller one at Estulan, some at the ruins of Isiliden.
There is also some nelf rpers within Stonetalon and yes Ashenvale though that hub is reduced of late. The thread linked earlier:
Gives a good representation of the current activity.
Is “I just want to have a normal life away from all the violence and suffering” a good enough reason?
That said, it’s basically what you said. The War of Thorns irrevocably shattered the night elf RP scene as it existed before BfA, since at least Wrath, when I got into it. Both Darnassus and Astranaar had been consistently popular RP hubs until the BfA pre-patch, and their loss for what feels like an arbitrary plot twist for shock value may be disheartening to some.
I agree about the forced narrative. It forces your character to choose a side, and whichever one you choose, it will leave the other side angry. I’ve roleplayed with both pro-vengeance and pro-peace night elves, and putting both in the same location would be a powder keg waiting to explode.
Add to this OOC feelings of betrayal from Blizzard, tiredness of seeing night elves treated as punching bags from expansion to expansion, lack of trust in them giving the night elf story any justice further down the road, and the uncertain lore status of much of Kalimdor after the Fourth War. Is Ashenvale reclaimed? Would occupying Astranaar be lore-breaking? Does Windshear Hold still stand? The list goes on.
And speaking entirely for myself, the reasons my character doesn’t rejoin the night elf RP scene are part IC and part OOC. IC, she thinks (rightly or wrongly) that she wouldn’t be welcome back home after the choices she made during BfA. And OOC, my late timezone limits me to RP that is active during my waking hours, and the Kalimdor hubs, most prominently Feathermoon, generally aren’t.
Most seem to be traveling as part of their campaigns. One I recently found moved out as well due to little RP in Kalimdor hubs like Feathermoon.
Personally, I keep finding nelf RP really hard to approach unless you’re part of one of their guilds or have connections within nelf RP community that will make approaching and interaction easier. Dunno if I’m doing something wrong or just get tired of approaching if not properly interacted with, but most of these groups and guilds are like “yeah come and approach us when we’re at hubs” but when you do, you get responded with one-liners and passivity, or just get walked past unless you’re the one to approach all the time, which then comes off as a lack of interest. This has existed before covid though, just doesn’t encourage engagement with nelf RP community and usually ends up in frustration from my side, being an elf nerd after all.
Despite PCU’s reputation, Dirge’s people have been generally a bit more open for interaction without me always being the first to approach or feeling that I need to “force roleplay” in order to find some night elf focused RP. Evernight Aegis’s folks also left a good impression by simply dragging a loner along on their RP one night. <3
There are many approachable guilds and nelf rpers, but as said, they are scattered right now. I am aware NB’s are just back from their campaigns and the other Sentinel is on theirs. However, it doesn’t help that the /who command has been broken for months and it shows the region up as empty when in fact there has been roleplayers in it. As for one liners or passivity, I am sorry that has happened to you but it certainly isn’t my experience, the community has been very welcoming.
I can understand where you’re coming from and had multiple people tell me different stories related to that, also being in some of them certain situations at times as well. Some people might be hard to approach, but just remember there are people around who aren’t. The NE community is small so you might just be bumping into the former more than the latter.
There are people that are friendly, don’t mind being approached and all that jazz. It does happen, I promise. If I am about feel free to approach me any time ^^
TRP scan is better for finding RP than /who anyway, despite the fact latter is broken.
I’m not saying “all are like this” but a general experience that disencourages trying to further participate in nelf RP. While these people who bother approaching or conversing past a few lines casually, they are more encouraging to approach in the future as well. As I said, unsure if it’s just me or does anyone else experience this, but if it’s not just me, it would partially count for the whole.
I’ve historically found the night elf community to be quite difficult to engage with at times too, and I’ve tried a number of times over the years. I can attest to the Nightblade Sentinels being welcoming though.
I actually made a post about this in technical support. I knew it was broken, but the people there don’t think it is either. Quite confusing.
I think sometimes it can just be a matter of hanging around, being a part of the community, and showing that you’re not going anywhere which helps breaks this bubble eventually. At least I found, although Karth can be quite a bubbly character when it comes to talking, which helps as she can carry a conversation when someone else can’t.
