Regarding the "lore breaking" point (i.e. don't try to RP as Arthas' long lost brother or Zul'jin's secret daughter)...

There's another reason to keep your characters free of close lore entanglements. You have no control over how Blizzard decides to take the story in the future, and you may find yourself dragged along with a plot development you dislike.

Say you have a character who is Magni's mistress. You could play along with that for awhile, until one day...oops, Blizzard turned him to stone. Or you're traipsing around playing as the son of the great paladin Bolvar, and then suddenly Varian is back and Bolvar is crispy/frozen.
You have two choices: roll with the story as it changes in a way you may not like, or abandon the character.


I've been there. I don't really RP but some of my characters have stories in my own head. A few of my characters have lore-breaking Mary Sueish family connections, but I never force their stories on anyone else and I would certainly never include them in add-on descriptions. I just doodle little cartoons or skits about them for my own amusement, and make goofy screenshots that are funny to me given their supposed backstories.
That's not to say that all my characters are Illidan's second cousin's old girlfriend's lovechild. Most of them are pretty average citizens just finding their way in the world. But there are a few that--again, only for my own private entertainment--I imagine as being family to major lore figures.
One of them is still clinging to a vaguely plausible plot loophole to justify his existence. One is deeply grieving the loss of a beloved canon character but is forging ahead as best she can. Another is pretty much dead in the water thanks to recent lore developments.

At least new lore only messes with my own silly fanfics. I can only imagine what a pain it would be if I was part of an RP group where multiple people were impacted. So, all the more reason to keep your characters separate from lore figures.

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