So I’m new to wow. Don’t know lore but would love to rp in this world.
Have a human rogue and a night elf hunter and honestly just don’t know where to start with their backstories. Let alone their rp. Any advice or guidance would be highly appreciated.
In regards to lore research I often use Wowpedia. It is often a good source to research things new and old, especially if you go into knowing what you’re looking for. Reading about notable characters, lore on the playable classes, their cultural variants or classes from the table top game can also help in providing inspiration for characters. There may be other good sources but I know of few that provide decent narrative info.
Here are links to the general lore pages on the races you mentioned:
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Human
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Night_elf
I’m also gonna link a thread that archives roleplaying guides. Considering what’s there I’m certain you can find something helpful. Be aware that some of the guides there are rather old by now and might contain outdated info:
Compendium of Roleplay Guides [WIP] - Wyrmrest Accord - World of Warcraft Forums (blizzard.com)
*drops in two coppers *
Yonara is right on point in her advice.
I’d like to also add, don’t be shy about reaching out to your fellow role players.
I’m sure you can find the rp community regardless of which server you’re on. They might even have a dedicated channel you can join.
Reach out to them and don’t be afraid to ask questions. There are a number of friendly rp’ers out there with a variety of experience who would be willing to chat with you about any question you might have about your race or class selection. Lore points to consider. Websites to visit. Addons to look at. All good stuff.
It’s also a good way to get your name out there and make the community aware of you. May sound scary, or intimidating, but it’s really for the best, even for a new player/rp’er. Go at your own pace though. Reach out when you feel ready, like you did here! 
The more people you know, the more people know you, the more resources you have access too.
We’re here to help where we can!
Generally I start with a vague concept and sort of work out my characters on the fly.
This guy started out as a subversion of the mad scientist trope. He’s an undead Apothecary with a German (Alteraci) accent. Who is actually a nice if weird doctor and cleric. And over the years I’ve gradually added more to his backstop, motivations and goals.
I’d also say never be afraid to retcon your own story. And if an ideas not working out or you’re not enjoying it, don’t feel bad about scrapping it and trying something else. We’re all playing make believe for fun here, nobody’s keeping score.
For example my undead warrior went through a lot of concepts until I eventually landed on a Vargul (undead vykrul) Berserker, as expressed through growth potions and the like. Just throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks.
And as for lore, you really don’t need to know more than your character would reasonably know. If you’re RPing a millenias old elf magician then yeah- probably want to familiarize yourself with some deep lore.
But if you’re an Orc Warrior who grew up on a Barrens pig farm, probably wouldn’t know much about ancient history or cosmic magics.
But above all else remember that RP is a cooperative and collaborative experience. So if you want to RP say a chaotic evil Warlock- that’s fine. But more sensible characters probably won’t want to hang out with a blatantly malevolent bad guy.
Whenever I start with a character, I don’t choose a race/class and then try to think of a background.
I think of what element of the setting I’d like to write about or what kind of stories I’m interested in exploring. Do I want to write about pirate adventures? Soap opera melodrama? Cult shenannigans? The idea of a soldier trying to find their place when all they’ve known is war? How a widower learns to love again?
It’s only after I get that idea that I then look at what kinds of characters are good for exploring that. The Human rogue would be a better fit for pirate shennanigans than the Night Elf hunter. For cult stuff, I may go for a Kul Tiran shaman and try that Tidesage/Inssmouth stuff. So on and so forth.
Because if you’re not really interested or invested in the stories you’re writing, no amount of backstory will help or really hurt. People don’t interact with your character’s past. They interact with your character’s present. By which I mean it doesn’t ultimately matter if your character is a Human raised by Trolls in Outlands and killed Deathwing–it’ll be the person speaking with a cockney accent who has a love of cookies and a tendency to stammer and has an affinity for knives that people will remember most.
Beautifully said Tammy!
Don’t start with the back story. That is the most common mistake that people make when they introduce new characters.
In fact, put the backstories on the back burner.
If you’re doing a story about a duo, write about their PRESENT first. Give us a reason to want to see their backstories by giving a present to engage us with.
When you’re introducing a character do it in a way that demands immediate attention, that focuses our gaze. And I will tell you that’s much more likely if they’re doing something interesting rather than me being forced to hear about their no doubt, depressing and/or boring pasts.
Or you could be a night elf mage who’s been sealed for millennia inside Dire Maul until recently liberated by a group of adventurers and be more ignorant about historical events than the average Human. (The news delivery systems for Eldre’ Thelas were the pits.)
Or just one who’s never travelled abroad.
Elves have lived mostly insular lives and only a certain number of adventurers and prominent figures have taken part in more recent events. That leaves thousands who’ve never travelled the world, learned foreign languages, or bothered to read up on foreign cultures and their history that doesn’t directly impact them. Why would they have to?
Or even better, have the character thinks they know all the lore, when they really only just have a surface level understanding. Classic Elven hubris.
On the flipside of this I’d also add be careful about meta knowledge.
One of the reasons I keep my TRP3 origins tab sparse if not blank (it’s usually what could feasibly be found through public records) is because multiple times I had other players reference stuff from it.
To which I of course had my character ask how they knew that, and there wasn’t a good answer to be had. Because there was no real way for their character to have that info.
Obviously as players we know much more about the Warcraft universe than any character in it could. And there might be something like say an upcoming expansion you’re excited for.
And I think that’s fine. But I’d put some thought into how your character might know. For BFA I had some toons sort of figure war was inevitable now that Azeroth’s greatest and most longstanding existential threat had been defeated.
And for SL I was very happy Goldem wrote in Terror By Torchlight that everything connected to necromancy was basically hearing ominous music playing. So all my undead didn’t know what was going to happen, but I wrote it sorta like dogs sensing tsunamis before they strike. A weird instinct they couldn’t explain screaming at them to scramble to somewhere safe right this instant.