How does Dark Elf as a race stack up against alternatives?

[nyclin]

Gnome 100% -- wall-peek without using shrink pots, mostly neutral starting faction, good starting stats, good newbie area, and access to tinkering.

Racial hide is nice for emergency AFKs, but why roll a char based on not playing it? The only time I could see this being really useful is if you're a new parent or if you're a caregiver for someone. At that point you're probably going to need emergency AFKs frequently for at least a couple years, so this could be considered a legitimate benefit.

Mages can summon Infravision items starting at 16, then Ultravision at 29 so having racial UV is basically useless.