With respect to Shadow Knight races, most of the things you worry about become less problematic with expansions. Shadow Knights gain a lot of good 1H options (plus an epic bash-enabled 2H) with Kunark or Velious so small-race SK's who want to bash, can. Likewise Ogre/Troll size is much less a problem in expansion zones. Both expansions have generally larger interior spaces than old-world zones had, probably on purpose. Even faction matters less.
As the owner of a "dark elf" Paladin on Blue my own opinion is that it's a largely irrelevant fluff item. The mask is nice for the vision buff due to the new human darkness system added last fall but otherwise it's fluff. Few people are impressed by it, and the few who are lose interest after a few minutes once the novelty wears off. It's not an item I consider worth getting bent out of shape over.
Danth
|