How Do You RP A Long-Lived Race?

[JacobusRex]

Dwarves, Blood Elves, Night Elves and Draenei all live hundreds to thousands of years. Magic can certainly play a part in extended lifespans but that's not what this is about. I'm asking how one would go about RP'ing a sentient being who can and/or has lived for centuries without this individual being mary sue. You see the way I have it in my mind, if I were to plan on RP'ing a Night Elf Demon Hunter along with integrating established lore, I'd also have to account for this person's memories and experiences for the last 400 to 10,000 years. How would a Night Elf who's trained in combat and/or magic and survived all this time, not be monstrously powerful, supremely wise and quite well known? The same could be said twice over for Draenei characters who age EXTREMELY slowly and live for tens of thousands of years. Prophet Velen is some 30,000 years old, a teenage Draenei would be some 800-1000 years old.

I mean, these races must either have really bad memories or are extremely lazy if they aren't walking demi-gods. Is there a reason why that I haven't learned? What's stopping an 8,000 year old Night Elf Warrior from being the greatest arena champion, other than another Night Elf or Draenei?

[Gourmandise]

I don't think living older necessarily means you follow some strength curve to infinity. You're just in your prime longer and have more time to learn/train.
In general, I'd say that the older races should be the strongest/wisest if I were to try and RP.
Do RPers run around having humans be the best because they're Naruto underdogs or something -_-? Ohhhh the human spirit, we're so diverse and have the strongest will that even the oldest and wisest races can't comprehend-bullshit.

[JacobusRex]

This question is really for me but I hope it will help others who might wonder the same thing.

As for me, I'm wondering this because I'm a relatively new-novice RP'er and though I really want to dive into the Demon Hunter when the xpac comes out, for now I'm debating which faction and class to play until then.

If I were to roll Alliance, among the several characters I have in mind, I had the idea to do a lead-up/preparation character in the form of a Night Elf Rogue that leads to the Demon Hunter down the road. The same for the Horde with a Blood Elf Rogue. Either character would follow the same basic idea; a civilian Night Elf who desired to change his life and enter into the service of the Night Elf Highborn as a duelist and assassin. Eventually he found his way into the Illidari after the demonic invasions as he believed in what Illidan was doing. However, he and the other Illidari joined Illidan in that cursed life of a Demon Hunter and after the events that occurred at the Black Temple, he was imprisoned along with Illidan and his Illidari. This character would have to be almost exclusive among other Night Elves (or Blood Elves) when in-character because this is all leading up to the Demon Hunter. Get where I'm going with this? SO this is where the age issue comes in for me. This all happened thousands of years ago and when the Demon Hunter is released, he will effectively be the same age he was back during his imprisonment, but still hundreds of years old regardless. How SHOULD this character act, feel and think if he is/was/will be hundreds of years old? (Comparable to ~25-30 in human years as a Night Elf in appearance.)

[Kelthos]

This question is really for me but I hope it will help others who might wonder the same thing.

As for me, I'm wondering this because I'm a relatively new-novice RP'er and though I really want to dive into the Demon Hunter when the xpac comes out, for now I'm debating which faction and class to play until then.

If I were to roll Alliance, among the several characters I have in mind, I had the idea to do a lead-up/preparation character in the form of a Night Elf Rogue that leads to the Demon Hunter down the road. The same for the Horde with a Blood Elf Rogue. Either character would follow the same basic idea; a civilian Night Elf who desired to change his life and enter into the service of the Night Elf Highborn as a duelist and assassin. Eventually he found his way into the Illidari after the demonic invasions as he believed in what Illidan was doing. However, he and the other Illidari joined Illidan in that cursed life of a Demon Hunter and after the events that occurred at the Black Temple, he was imprisoned along with Illidan and his Illidari. This character would have to be almost exclusive among other Night Elves (or Blood Elves) when in-character because this is all leading up to the Demon Hunter. Get where I'm going with this? SO this is where the age issue comes in for me. This all happened thousands of years ago and when the Demon Hunter is released, he will effectively be the same age he was back during his imprisonment, but still hundreds of years old regardless. How SHOULD this character act, feel and think if he is/was/will be hundreds of years old? (Comparable to ~25-30 in human years as a Night Elf in appearance.)

I might be misunderstanding this, but your character would not have been imprisoned for more than a decade (actually a little less unless there is a time jump for this expansion) if they got captured at the Black Temple.

As for RPing a long-lived race, I would come up with a rough outline for what they have been doing for the last several thousand years, but do not try to nitpick it too much. You'll go crazy. This is what I do with my Night Elf characters and it works pretty well!

[JacobusRex]

I might be misunderstanding this, but your character would not have been imprisoned for more than a decade (actually a little less unless there is a time jump for this expansion) if they got captured at the Black Temple.

As for RPing a long-lived race, I would come up with a rough outline for what they have been doing for the last several thousand years, but do not try to nitpick it too much. You'll go crazy. This is what I do with my Night Elf characters and it works pretty well!

Oh, certainly he was only imprisoned for the recent years after the events there. I am also referring to the imprisonment on Outland too. Sorry it was unclear. I didn't explain it very well.

And I still have this burning question though. What prevents these people from becoming far more powerful because of their long lives? That is, in relation to those like humans, gnomes, orcs and goblins who have a more traditional lifespan of 80-110 years but still manage to become quite powerful. It just seems like a blaring plot hole for anyone who wants to RP a Nelf, Belf, Draenei, Dwarf or Troll.

[Deleted]

You forgot gnomes. They live longer than dwarves.

[Techno-Druid]

You forgot gnomes. They live longer than dwarves.

Gnomes, trolls, dwarves, tauren and pandaren can live about a few hundred years.

Humans and orcs live less or around a hundred years.

Draenei, blood elves and night elves live for a few if not many thousands of years.

Forsaken are technically immortal, but begin to loose their minds as they get older until they can no longer function.

Worgen may possibly be immortal or extend life expectancy shown on Genn (who's 80 years old)

[Al Gorefiend]

Gnomes, trolls, dwarves, tauren and pandaren can live about a few hundred years.

Humans and orcs live less or around a hundred years.

Draenei, blood elves and night elves live for a few if not many thousands of years.

Forsaken are technically immortal, but begin to loose their minds as they get older until they can no longer function.

Worgen may possibly be immortal or extend life expectancy shown on Genn (who's 80 years old)

While we're making a list, Goblins are confirmed to have a >20 year lifespan

[Jaspias]

While we're making a list, Goblins are confirmed to have a >20 year lifespan

"The life of a Goblin is about as long as the fuse of his greatest Invention."

[Deleted]

Try to imagine old people. They have EXPERIENCE. This doesn't necessarily make them smart, however. You learn from experiences, so to roleplay a draenei for example realistically, requires them to have seen a lot and learned from them.
Not much would surprise them, but that's something you need to figure out yourself. Where have they been? Where have they NOT been?

[Deleted]

Gnomes, trolls, dwarves, tauren and pandaren can live about a few hundred years.

Humans and orcs live less or around a hundred years.

Draenei, blood elves and night elves live for a few if not many thousands of years.

Forsaken are technically immortal, but begin to loose their minds as they get older until they can no longer function.

Worgen may possibly be immortal or extend life expectancy shown on Genn (who's 80 years old)

Dwarves have a lifespan of over 200 years, Muradin was 221 during the third war, which makes him 232-233 now. Gnomes would have about the same lifespan.

Tauren, pandaren and humans are confirmed to live for over a hundred years, but not quite any more than that. Cairne was 107-108 at his death, Liu Lang was 122

Greatmother Geyah and Drek'thar were middle-aged and described as elders during the events of Rise of the Horde, and now they're in their 80's and Drek'thar is in a wheelchair. Eitrigg is also described as elderly and he's in his fifties. So orcs have a slightly shorter lifespan than humans, tauren and pandaren, at least that's what it looks like.

Draenei can live for several thousand years, do remember that a lot of the draenei alive lived on Argus, which they left 25k years ago in lore, that's a lot older than every single elf out there.