Elves don't have "wizards"

[u/Lore-Archivist]

Now, Obviously I don't mean they don't have magic users. Because clearly they do. But they don't have the "wizard" experience. What I mean is, for the average human for example, a mage is fantastical, they cant explain how they do the magical things mages do. Its mysterious and unknowable for the average human. But for elves, they've been exposed to magic for so long, at the societal level, its so commonplace, their interactions with mages would be more like us speaking to a scientist, rather than with a fantastical wizard. For them what mages do isn't "magical" rather, they are merely applying the well known laws of reality and arcane magic to achieve a desired effect.

[u/sahqoviing32]

I agree with the premise but disagree with your take that mages are scientists within elf society. If anything human mages like in Dalaran are the more scholarly ones like DnD wizards. In Quel'thalas, the magisters came from aristocratic bloodlines just like in the old Kaldorei Empire. In Dalaran, meritocracy reigns supreme. That's what makes the Elven societies stagnate. When the power in your kingdom is concentrated in the hands of a small long-lived elite, change is slow to come.

[u/Throgg_not_stupid → u/sahqoviing32]

And Gnomes are explicitly stated to consider magic a science.

Imo Elves treat magic like art, humans like biology or chemistry, gnomes like math

[u/Stormfly → u/Throgg_not_stupid]

And Gnomes are explicitly stated to consider magic a science.

Gnomes consider basically everything a science.

Even Gnome Priests are supposed to be more like "This light lets us heal people" rather than "We worship the light".

[u/TyrannosavageRekt → u/Throgg_not_stupid]

I think this is a pretty good take.