Just something that I’ve been noticing is that one of my buddies that I usually RP with made a new character that has some elements taken from the Shadowlands and I’ve noticed that a few people have stated that they don’t accept Shadowlands as canon and prefer to not roleplay with such elements. Is this a common sentiment?
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Outside of those guilds, characters and scenarios that deeply and/or explicitly tie into it, there is next to nothing that most people tend to involve themselves in that’s likely to utilize any lore from Shadowlands, so I see little reason to reject it when it’s already barely relevant.
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It’s Canon, but it’s horrible, so most roleplayers tend to avoid referencing it at all costs. It’s fairly common to just refer to ‘that madness beyond the veil a few years ago.’ And say their characters weren’t there. They were here on Azeroth, Doing actually important things.
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This is so interesting. I didn’t play Shadowlands. Maybe that can be part of the character’s backstory: he believes the madness was real, and that Azeroth is flat, and the ruling elite are secretly populated by evil dracthyr in visage form.
Generally, it’s accepted as to what happened. And DKs were present.
The part everyone has a problem with is: a PC claiming to of been THE Mawwalker. Since the dawn of WoW it was the Heroes of Azeroth that got all the big stuff done, we were apart of the whole. Not the whole savior, even in Legion the class campaigns were still parts, and still took the Mary Sue of that organization, that’s why that wasn’t hated as much for RPer. And why so many older RPers have a problem with being the “(x)lord of (x)” RP is a group story not specifically for one person.
TLDR; Mary Sues are not very well liked.
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We’re pretty much suckered into it, I mean we have visitors from the Shadowlands in SW and other places during the anniversary, and it’s pretty canon since so many named NPCs show up and what not. (Lorewalker Cho, Percy and the Arakoa, the Steelsparks, etc etc)
But they do need to go back and fix the story, it is TERRIBLE. As for SL being visible, no, most folks consider it a thing that’s supposed to be hush hush in general from the public, folks aren’t MEANT to know what the afterlife is like, for obvious reasons.
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I acknowledge it as canon on an OOC level, but my character has no reason to know the details of what happened personally. As far as he is concerned, the veil between life and death as he understands it is still firmly in place.
Shadowlands did irreparable damage to the foundational lore of this universe, so I avoid referencing back to it whenever possible.
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Shadowlands is one of, if not the most disliked expansions in all of the game’s history. It completely rewrote and retconned several beloved characters and storylines throughout its time, and has burned a lot of people off of liking it.
Playing a DK myself, I’ve had to skirt around it; specifically the retconning of the realm of shadows and the veil only because of the fact that the character is a dark rider disciple. Thankfully this is a very minor thing. Otherwise I have no interest in mentioning or touching anything having to do with the expansion.
I think it’s reasonable to assume most players will acknowledge it happened OOC, but because of the baggage you will be hard pressed to find many people that are happy to willingly engage in any of its core elements or events. There’s definitely people out there who like it though, for what it’s worth.
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OOCly and ICly it happened; one or two of my characters were involved as very minor characters largely ineffectual in the grand scheme of things, the rest stayed the hell away or were unaware of it, one or two ICly deny anything happened and believe it to have been a mass hallucination caused by N’zoth’s final death throes.
Ultimately I think there’s some neat stuff to mess around with in Shadowlands but ironically the player has to handle it a lot more delicately than Blizzard did (which to be fair is a trend which started really showing up around WoD when you’re the leader of your garrison, then in Legion where you’re the leader of your order hall, etc.) Whole lot more bathwater than baby but you still don’t want to just toss it all out.
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Schrödinger’s expansion. If it will make the scene we’re in better to reference it in some way, grab it. If it won’t, forget it. Generally I only think about Shadowlands if RP strays into big picture cosmology, and that doesn’t happen very often. I think it’s a failure of a story in a lot of ways though. All these characters pierce the veil and have so few questions? Don’t look for their loved ones? Don’t demand answers?
It was okay, but I don’t see people use it much.
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The general sentiment I’ve seen to Shadowlands by players is that broader strokes are accepted with finer details ignored. So yes all of the named lore characters were pulled across the veil by Sylvanas’s plan, the Ebon Blade was mobilized as the main ‘mortal’ force, and that there is an energy called Anima that exists. How ever the main 4 afterlives shown are neither the only after lives nor exactly what was portrayed, souls are not 'the strands of multiple universes braided into a single rope", and the runes of creation or what ever the knock off infinity stones were named do not control the forge of creation for all of the death realms.
In my personal experience, the less detailed your reference to SL as an expansion the more easily acceptable it is. For a specific example, I heavily imply that Thelydahlia witnessed the Ardenweald in her backstory with similar imagery but never directly state that it is 100% what she saw. This lets reader’s choose just how much of SL they want to accept as being canon and if she truly saw this afterlife or if it was just her imagination conjuring an image in her final moments.
Then again, the type of person who goes out of their way to tell you they aren’t RPing with you because they personally disagree with how you interpret the lore Blizzard has given us usually take bigger issue with me playing an undead “Druid” and don’t even get to the point of Thely’s backstory (^-^||).
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There are dozens of us. Dozens!!
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Not everyone was pulled over into the unknown is part of the acceptance or rejection of the shadowlands. Some stayed during the events so they saw/heard only stories, rumors, gossip, the ususal.
Some cannot embrace all the game offers into their stories being selective about some parts while denying others. The False RP’ers.
Its one thing to say you never been to the shadowlands but to say that it does not exist even with lore proof is just lying to oneself. You then can’t use mounts/ Transmogs/ titles/ etc if you don’t believe in that addon. Otherwise you are a Hypocrite.
Then there is the fact about knowing their actions have consequences based on the life they lived so they still would rather deny it. (Example: a god worshipper believing there is an afterlife vs an aetheist knowing there is only a final death.)
Finally there are those like myself who decided to use it as our origin story. Its a new perspective because if you think about it if someone has never been to the mortal realm, its a chance for a fresh start.
The term Outlander would be widely used (or visitor from another realm. Keep it short and sweet.) to describe those who are amazed at all Azeroth has to offer. They have no knowledge of the customs, people, food, etc. Easily manipulated by those who would take advantage of newcomers of course.
FYI: Did you know that since numerous kaldorei were imprisoned by the legion 10k+ years ago, they could have escaped and founded a world separate from azeroth. Refugees, survivors, settlers of a new world. Toss that into your creative story plot. Especially considering Elune was worshipped on other worlds. Ardenweald would be the link between other kaldorei worlds/settlements. #Mindblown.
Same can be said about Eredar/draenei after the fall of argus. I am here to free your mind from the Matrix!!!
I myself am a full-time resident of the Shadowlands. I don’t visit the mortal realm unless summoned of course to capture/ imprison/ or steal souls. (Necromancer or DK summoning from Maldraxxus or the Maw.)
And sure living in the realms of death make anything in the mortal realms irrelevant, like laws or power. Technically if you are dead and bound to the shadowlands you can be an evil player, die, return to the shadowlands and try again. Or be a hitchhiker soul who escaped the shadowlands to the mortal realm.
That soul cage stone that players uses to save souls from the Maw still works in all realms btw.
There is alot of potential that rewrites all laws and rules for some. It changes their functions, their goals, and their actions. It’s likely too much work so best to avoid/deny for some. I think of it as a worthy challenge.
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It’s definitely canon. For my part, typically if it comes up ICly my char will say “That’s classified, stop talking about it”. Usually works
I’m genuinely curious how that works. I came back to WoW during Dragonflight after skipping out halfway through BfA, so I did a onetime runthrough of SL just for the experience and to see what all the fuss was about. I still go back there now and then because honestly the one department where they really nailed it were the transmogs (many of which are locked behind some seriously grindy gates, but I hear it’s better than when it was released). And I usually do see others doing pretty much the same thing, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone just there RPing. Which is a shame because honestly half the people I see RPing in Stormwind would make a lot more sense being in the Maw rather than…yknow. The cemetery or the Cathedral.
Something that will always stick with me is when I ran through Maldraxxus the first time and got the explanation for Necromancy. Light, Shadow, doesn’t matter the school of magic. Necromancy is still necromancy.
Haven’t been able to look at it from a different perspective over this.
Just me though.
Probably. 
As a Mawsworn, or a soul that was tortured for an untold period of time then forged into a soldier for the Jailer, my purpose is limited to the Maw or its associated realms.
A soul bound to a suit of armor, much like how the Draenei souls are bout to vigilant frames, allows that creature or being to operate as any living mortal would without the consequence.
If i am defeated, my physical shell would be destroyed or the binding keeping my soul fused to the armor would be undone. Thus i would return to the Maw awaiting a new form. (If you are a fan of Full-Metal Alchemist, Alphonse is a good example.)
No different than demons of the Legion who are reborn in the twisting nether.
As a servant of the Maw, my duties are to forever remain torturing victims who are either sent or killed there for all eternity. Think of it as someone who delights in torturing others or making them suffer endlessly. 
If you are inquiring about the summoning part, this is a rough explanation.
When it comes to summoning, if i were to be defeated by a Necromancer or Death knight, i could be bound into service as summoned pet or ally. No different than a warlock who binds a voidlord, imp, etc to their service, or a Shaman who binds elementals to their will.
Suffice to say if i were called, I would operate within the limits of the contract for a determined period of time or a select event. While some demons may thrive on magical power, creatures of the SL rely on souls/anima for nourishment. When my service is completed, i am released from the mortal plane and return to the Maw.
If my master is defeated, i can claim their soul and return to the Maw prize in hand.
This is the general vibe from most of my characters too. When someone references it, they generally just politely reply with an answer that is pretty neutral one way or another, while internally going Oh… it’s one of those guys.
The Pook got stuck in the afterlife once. Turns out it’s just a great big shopping mall in the sky. I couldn’t even find the Orange Julius.
https://youtu.be/1RHvrk02VvY?si=ZbCkBGvBkubxe3xa
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I quit pretty early in SL because I didn’t like it at all, so once I dinged cap I just unsubbed and waited for the next expac.
So whatever happened in SL doesn’t concern me and I don’t acknowledge it 