High Elves are Blood elves

[Halyon]

I wonder if people would think about void elves differently if they were just a sub-race for now like we always have every expansion, and later then became an allied race.

Well, they kindof are... Same with Dark Irons. Granted, Void Elves is the newest sub-race of elves, and I honestly don't find that to be a problem. Sometimes unexpected things happen and you have to handle it on a whim. Allied races are sub/sister-races in all but name. Dark-skinned glowy eyes, dwarves, scaly, upright trolls, purple edgy elves, the high roller night elves...cows with antlers, draenei with fancier horns, trims and eyes...

snip

You're welcome to quote me w/o it resulting in an inbox notification, that does indeed indicate that you're conversing with me. Just copy-paste...

I’m fairly certain the screeching that they aren’t white with blue eyes would still be there.

Can't please everyone! If they want, they can just RP that one special high elf taking a dip in the void.

[Kathranis]

There are physiological differences, but similar to the differences between green and brown orcs, they're largely cosmetic.

There was a time, back when the RPG sourcebooks were still considered a viable source for new lore, when it was indicated that the blood elves as they currently appear are essentially the first stage of their evolution into a distinctly seperate species from high elves, a result of tapping into fel energy to feed their addiction. Their generally ruddier complexion and darker or warmer hair colors were sited as examples at the time, along with their shining green eyes, and certainly this was reflected in-game, especially with the old high elf and blood elf models in Classic.

Of course, even setting aside retconning, it's most likely that even if the blood elves were once on the path to becoming a new species, the cleansing of the Sunwell likely halted that process, if not reversed it.


That being said, if Blizzard were willing to introduce the high elves as an Alliance Allied Race, I think it would have been just as easily justified as Lightforged draenei, Highmountain tauren, and Dark Iron dwarves.

• Since high elves and blood elves differ culturally, they can easily be given different customization options, including different hairstyles and jewlery. They could expand also customization for both races by adding tattoos. Not only would this help distinguish them visually, it would be a chance to give them both more personality; perhaps the blood elves could tend toward runic brands and battle scars, while the high elves would have more elegant woads.
• In terms of physiology, the existing differences could be reinforced and exaggerated, with high elves tending towards pale skin and fair hair. Given that they've been disconnected from the Sunwell, it could also be argued that they may not appear as physically robust as blood elves, being more lean and lithe.
• In terms of silhouette -- nevermind that the other Allied Races don't have very distinct silhouettes without their Heritage Armor -- it's simple enough to create a new silhouette by altering their builds, hairstyles, and posture. I mean, consider for a moment how distinct the silhouettes of the 26 characters in Overwatch are, and then realize that 23 of them all belong to just a single race: human.

Of course, this is just me being a bit of a devil's advocate. I think with their decision to add the void elves it's obvious that they wanted to do something a bit more overt. But I think if everyone is honest with themselves they'll agree that the distinction between high elves and blood elves is ultimately not that different from the distinction between night elves and Nightborne or mountain dwarves and dark dwarves.

[Andromedes]

South koreans are North koreans.

[Mace]

There are physiological differences, but similar to the differences between green and brown orcs, they're largely cosmetic.

There was a time, back when the RPG sourcebooks were still considered a viable source for new lore, when it was indicated that the blood elves as they currently appear are essentially the first stage of their evolution into a distinctly seperate species from high elves, a result of tapping into fel energy to feed their addiction. Their generally ruddier complexion and darker or warmer hair colors were sited as examples at the time, along with their shining green eyes, and certainly this was reflected in-game, especially with the old high elf and blood elf models in Classic.

Of course, even setting aside retconning, it's most likely that even if the blood elves were once on the path to becoming a new species, the cleansing of the Sunwell likely halted that process, if not reversed it.


That being said, if Blizzard were willing to introduce the high elves as an Alliance Allied Race, I think it would have been just as easily justified as Lightforged draenei, Highmountain tauren, and Dark Iron dwarves.

• Since high elves and blood elves differ culturally, they can easily be given different customization options, including different hairstyles and jewlery. They could expand also customization for both races by adding tattoos. Not only would this help distinguish them visually, it would be a chance to give them both more personality; perhaps the blood elves could tend toward runic brands and battle scars, while the high elves would have more elegant woads.
• In terms of physiology, the existing differences could be reinforced and exaggerated, with high elves tending towards pale skin and fair hair. Given that they've been disconnected from the Sunwell, it could also be argued that they may not appear as physically robust as blood elves, being more lean and lithe.
• In terms of silhouette -- nevermind that the other Allied Races don't have very distinct silhouettes without their Heritage Armor -- it's simple enough to create a new silhouette by altering their builds, hairstyles, and posture. I mean, consider for a moment how distinct the silhouettes of the 26 characters in Overwatch are, and then realize that 23 of them all belong to just a single race: human.

Of course, this is just me being a bit of a devil's advocate. I think with their decision to add the void elves it's obvious that they wanted to do something a bit more overt. But I think if everyone is honest with themselves they'll agree that the distinction between high elves and blood elves is ultimately not that different from the distinction between night elves and Nightborne or mountain dwarves and dark dwarves.

Can't really argue with this. I didn't think void elves were high elves at first, but I've been grudgingly won over that they are Blizzards overt attempt (as you put it) to introduce the high elf. They could have made it more obvious, but chose not to ofc, and seems to make sense that this is because they wanted to do something more overt (as you put it).

I seriously doubt we would see a pure high elf as a separate allied race, but you never really know. Allied races really open things up, so who knows.

South koreans are North koreans.

Idd

[MechaCThun]

South koreans are North koreans.

and Canadians are just North Mexicans.

[Obelisk Kai]

Same old same old. An attempt by a few to imagine the High Elves are different enough from the Blood Elves to justify their inclusion as a sub-race.

They aren't, and that's from the Game Director himself.

Which for me is the end of this discussion. Oh sure, you may plan to campaign to get them just like the people who wanted classic servers but a.) there were a lot more of those folks (and I mean a LOT more. The pro High Elf guys here are the vocal chunk of the group that wanted High Elves, who are themselves surely much smaller now that a chunk of them would have been satisfied by Void Elves, which overall was a very niche desire amongst the wider WoW community prior to Blizzcon) and b.) the option to play a High Elf is already available, some people have just chosen not to avail of it. The equivalent would be a wow classic server that was on 1.10 but you wouldn't play it until you got a server on 1.12.

[Andromedes]

and Canadians are just North Mexicans.

Exactly, they are all the same. Same culture, same ideals, same skin color, same attire.

[Rhlor]

There are physiological differences, but similar to the differences between green and brown orcs, they're largely cosmetic.

There was a time, back when the RPG sourcebooks were still considered a viable source for new lore, when it was indicated that the blood elves as they currently appear are essentially the first stage of their evolution into a distinctly seperate species from high elves, a result of tapping into fel energy to feed their addiction. Their generally ruddier complexion and darker or warmer hair colors were sited as examples at the time, along with their shining green eyes, and certainly this was reflected in-game, especially with the old high elf and blood elf models in Classic.

Of course, even setting aside retconning, it's most likely that even if the blood elves were once on the path to becoming a new species, the cleansing of the Sunwell likely halted that process, if not reversed it.


That being said, if Blizzard were willing to introduce the high elves as an Alliance Allied Race, I think it would have been just as easily justified as Lightforged draenei, Highmountain tauren, and Dark Iron dwarves.

• Since high elves and blood elves differ culturally, they can easily be given different customization options, including different hairstyles and jewlery. They could expand also customization for both races by adding tattoos. Not only would this help distinguish them visually, it would be a chance to give them both more personality; perhaps the blood elves could tend toward runic brands and battle scars, while the high elves would have more elegant woads.
• In terms of physiology, the existing differences could be reinforced and exaggerated, with high elves tending towards pale skin and fair hair. Given that they've been disconnected from the Sunwell, it could also be argued that they may not appear as physically robust as blood elves, being more lean and lithe.
• In terms of silhouette -- nevermind that the other Allied Races don't have very distinct silhouettes without their Heritage Armor -- it's simple enough to create a new silhouette by altering their builds, hairstyles, and posture. I mean, consider for a moment how distinct the silhouettes of the 26 characters in Overwatch are, and then realize that 23 of them all belong to just a single race: human.

Of course, this is just me being a bit of a devil's advocate. I think with their decision to add the void elves it's obvious that they wanted to do something a bit more overt. But I think if everyone is honest with themselves they'll agree that the distinction between high elves and blood elves is ultimately not that different from the distinction between night elves and Nightborne or mountain dwarves and dark dwarves.

there are blood elves with blue eyes.

according to the director of wow the blood elves are high elves

[Obelisk Kai]

there are blood elves with blue eyes.

according to the director of wow the blood elves are high elves

Yes and those are very good facts, but you simply don't quite get just how much they really, really want to play High Elves on the Alliance.

Please adjust your facts to appreciate this desire.

[Rhlor]

Yes and those are very good facts, but you simply don't quite get just how much they really, really want to play High Elves on the Alliance.

Please adjust your facts to appreciate this desire.

we must ignore that blizzard carries several expansions adding some blood elf with blue eyes and some even reappear as lanesh we have it on Thunder Island and in suramar haha

[Hctaz]

Actually, she is blood elf, she believes in what the sin'dorei stand for, the philosophy the direction, etc - she just doesn't hate the humans or the alliance, and if I'm not mistaken, quite a lot of blood elves also feel that way too. Which is a bit of a problem. Isn't that right?

Not sure it's a problem but you are right. I think the only reason the Blood Elves didn't end up back with the Alliance is the fact that the Night Elves were there. Seems like those two groups can't get along. But their situation in the Horde with Garrosh got so bad that they almost abandoned them for the Alliance as well. That indicates to me that there is very little stopping them from actually swapping sides. My guess would be that their reasons were Night Elves, and are now Night Elves plus Jaina's actions in Dalaran where she blamed the wrong people and had them executed for it. That wouldn't be something I would forgive so easily either.

[Andromedes]

there are blood elves with blue eyes.

according to the director of wow the blood elves are high elves

So if it is all the same, why the director thinks, that we want to play newly created shadow priest blood elven race, instead established blue eyed elven race?

[Obelisk Kai]

So if it is all the same, why the director thinks, that we want to play newly created shadow priest blood elven race, instead established blue eyed elven race?

Blue eyes are going to be demanded by the Blood Elf playerbase as an option when enhanced customization comes in. I think they'll give it to us too. Maybe even several shades of it.

[Rhlor]

So if it is all the same, why the director thinks, that we want to play newly created shadow priest blood elven race, instead established blue eyed elven race?

maybe because the blue eyes are going to be a feature of personalization of the high elves that are already playable?

[Andromedes]

brick walls, brick walls everywhere

[Yousef]

Blood Elves are High Elves, since High Elves came into existence first.

[In Ogres We Trust]

I have been noticing some confusion (as often is the case when elves are involved). High Elves are Blood Elves.

If a Blood Elf deserts/exiled from Silvermoon he is automatically a High Elf as he rejects the current direction and regime operating out of Quel'thalas or is annexed from it.
If a High Elf returns to Silvermoon for good, he is automaically a Blood Elf as he accepts the current direction and regime operating out of Quel'thalas.

This has been clear from day one. Many high elves returned to Silvermoon becoming blood elves, and many left Silvermoon or were exiled/deserted becoming high elves once more.

You are politically a high elf if you leave the Quel'thalas regime and ESPECIALLY if you join up with the alliance. By default ALL VOID ELVES - whether they have been blood elves for the past 5 years or not, are now high elves politically because they have left Silvermoon as exiles.

If a Thalassian elf is exiled he becomes a high elf again. It's a politically disposition. His eyes don't have to be green or blue. We've been told many times, not ALL blood elves eyes are green, just that most are. And not all high elves' eyes are blue either.

By default all void elves are politically high elves. Void elf is the sub-race type, high elf is the political affliation. If you are playing a void elf in the next expansion, good luck to you, you are a high elf politically. It doesn't matter if you were blood elf for the last 10 years, or from the start of the movement, or you joined much later. You rejoined the alliance and are now politically a high elf.

Void elf is a high elf sub-race. Technically speaking it CANNOT be blood elf one.

- - - Updated - - -

Technically speaking, all darkfallen are high elves, blood elves were the majority of survivors. Also not all high elves are allied with the alliance, some are about doing weird shit and not very good shit either, they are not blood elves because they never joined up with the Sin'dorei movement - an example would be the necromancers in scholomance, they are all high elves. Cultists you saw in vanilla are all high elves too. Blood elves are a particular group of high elves united under this new purpose and they have control of Quel'thalas and Silvermoon City. They are possibly the largest group of the race.

However if you count all the unaffliated high elves together, including the sub-race ones like the Darkfallen and void elves, then who knows.

Most Fel elves are BLOOD ELVES, like pretty much all. The vast majority of Wretched are also blood elves. Only the Quel'lithien lodge wretched are high elves.

No, High Elves are High Elves; Blood Elves are Blood Elves. Is there a genetic distinction? No. Is there a cultural distinction? Yes. Can we stop posting nonsensical crap about the elves? Apparently, we can not.

P.S. Void Elves, outside of being pulled out of thin air, have nothing to do with the High Elves, and Blizzard should have given the Alliance fans what they wanted... that is... HIGH ELVES!

[Arrashi]

Another high elf thread ? Im not gonna say its time to stop, but its time to stop.

[In Ogres We Trust]

there are blood elves with blue eyes.

according to the director of wow the blood elves are high elves

Ion doesn't know WTF he's talking about. While the Blood Elves have natural eye colors ranging from amber to blue to green, etc. (just picture the plethora of European eye colors), almost all of them - due to Fel radiation - have a green aura surrounding them. The only way that a Blood Elf will have a blue aura is if: a) the Sunwell purged all of the Fel taint and b) if the elf in question is heavily involved in the usage of the Arcane.

[Obelisk Kai]

Another high elf thread ? Im not gonna say its time to stop, but its time to stop.

Agreed. This is getting ridiculous. The answer was 'yes, but not the way you wanted.' It's over and this is getting a bit sad.

Ion doesn't know WTF he's talking about. While the Blood Elves have natural eye colors ranging from amber to blue to green, etc. (just picture the plethora of European eye colors), almost all of them - due to Fel radiation - have a green aura surrounding them. The only way that a Blood Elf will have a blue aura is if: a) the Sunwell purged all of the Fel taint and b) if the elf in question is heavily involved in the usage of the Arcane.

I can't say much for your chances of getting what you want when the game director of the game comes out and tells you High Elves are already playable and that's why they weren't added directly. You can moan about his opinion all you want, but his opinion carries substantial weight.

But ignoring all that, High Elves as you want aren't happening. You can rage at me and others telling you this truth, but it won't change the final result.

Let it go.