[BFA Spoilers] Endless Void Elves

[Larynx]

Mind/Shadow/Void powers have been a thing since Vanilla. AQ had Mindflayers talking about the Void, TBC had insectoid Spriest and Void creatures in Netherstorm, WotLK had it's fair share of Void references in Ulduar and Old Kingdom, not to mention the Twilight's Hammer and Cataclysm. Then comes the Sha, Void references all over WoD and then Legion. All of these things I mentioned mention the word "Void".

As a Shadowpriest I have always complained that the Void/Old God domain was not respresented too well. Because of that, I get triggered when I see people boldly claiming that the "Void came out of nowhere".

The Void as a concept didn't exist until TBC. Even in TBC, the Void wasn't a cosmic force like it is today. It was thought to be a geographical location (like the Twisting Nether) or a some evil faction (like the Legion). A strong connection between the Void, Shadow Priests, and the Old Gods didn't come about until MoP/Cata, and it was still pretty weak or obscure. This is the earliest source I can find any information on that at least loosely connects Shadow Priests to the Void: https://wow.gamepedia.com/World_of_W...ume_I_Issue_IV. It mentions the Cult of Forgotten Shadow, but I don't know if it ever calls Shadow magic as "void magic" at any point.

It didn't come out of nowhere in Legion, but it definitely was barely developed at all before then.

If you want actual evidence, just look at the Void wiki page.

From 2007: https://wow.gamepedia.com/index.php?...d&oldid=769051

From 2012: https://wow.gamepedia.com/index.php?...&oldid=3042635

From 2013: https://wow.gamepedia.com/index.php?...&oldid=3128337

The Shadow magic page is similarly bereft of any information from before 2017: https://wow.gamepedia.com/index.php?...&oldid=3388055

In fact only after Chronicles was it ever actually updated to include references to the Void or the Old Gods: https://wow.gamepedia.com/index.php?...&oldid=4547580

Here's the article on the Old Gods from 2015, no connection to the Void or Shadow: https://wow.gamepedia.com/index.php?...&oldid=3548639

[RobertMugabe]

I think it does. Sort of a joke that they knew that VELFs would be a popular race and that tons of lonely nerds wishing they looked like vampires would reroll one.

And the virgins roll female Blood elf and the emos undead, everyone knows that. jk

[Steampunkette]

I have a feeling that they are some sort of illusion, for perhaps some sort of "Elf" shaped shade army.

Could be that they're just teleporting all over and thus appearing to be in multiple positions "At Once"?

They do all have a racial teleport.

[Raugnaut]

Mind/Shadow/Void powers have been a thing since Vanilla. AQ had Mindflayers talking about the Void, TBC had insectoid Spriest and Void creatures in Netherstorm, WotLK had it's fair share of Void references in Ulduar and Old Kingdom, not to mention the Twilight's Hammer and Cataclysm. Then comes the Sha, Void references all over WoD and then Legion. All of these things I mentioned mention the word "Void".

As a Shadowpriest I have always complained that the Void/Old God domain was not respresented too well. Because of that, I get triggered when I see people boldly claiming that the "Void came out of nowhere".

Void was around for long before, yes, but NOT as a shadow priest mechanic. If you go through in-game books, lore, ect, Shadow Priests NEVER dealt with the void, it was all mind-magic based, or Shadowlands based.

All the void shit priests got this expansion? Just a bunch of the new devs going "YOU KNOW WHAT BE COOL?" "WHAT?" "VOID MAGIC!" "YEAAAAA!" "BUT LORE!" "FUCK LORE!"

[rogueMatthias]

Lorthemar knows almost exactly how many Void Elves there are as he outcast them all. Sure a few more BE and HE have joined their ranks but it won't be that huge a number.

I doubt it's even an illusion. It's more likely they just opened a heap of portals and are flooding the whole battlefield with swarms of Voidwraiths or similar. Void creatures summon other void creatures all the time.

I think it does. Sort of a joke that they knew that VELFs would be a popular race and that tons of lonely nerds wishing they looked like vampires would reroll one.

Yeah we have vampires and werewolves now Horde just have zombies and cows.

[deviantcultist]

Void was around for long before, yes, but NOT as a shadow priest mechanic. If you go through in-game books, lore, ect, Shadow Priests NEVER dealt with the void, it was all mind-magic based, or Shadowlands based.

All the void shit priests got this expansion? Just a bunch of the new devs going "YOU KNOW WHAT BE COOL?" "WHAT?" "VOID MAGIC!" "YEAAAAA!" "BUT LORE!" "FUCK LORE!"

Mind magic was used by Old God minions since Vanilla. Whenever you interacted with those creatures, they all referred to the Void. If you make the obvious connection, you will realize that Shadowpriest is connected to it.

Also, MoP had Void-based skills for Shadowpriests and the Shadowfiend introduced in TBC has ALWAYS been a minion of the Void.

Once again I repeat: Just because some people didn't bother noticing, it doesn't make it an asspull.

- - - Updated - - -

It didn't come out of nowhere in Legion, but it definitely was barely developed at all before then.

Hence why I mentioned the lack of presentation. However, that minimal development had shown just that. It was there, but not quite there in the frontlines. If you listen to the Prophet in the Arcatraz, you will realize that the cosmic aspect of the Void was connected to the Old Gods.

I do admit that most things were loose before them being tied up later on. The first solid presence of the Void was felt in MoP. Apart from that, the Faceless in WotLK did still refer to it in addition to the Twilight cultists in Cata.

The only issue with the Void in the lore is that it is something that was born into WoW rather than the Warcraft franchise beforehand. Therefore, it required surgical effort to wrap things up and that officially took place in the Chronicle.

[Saverem]

Yeah we have vampires and werewolves now Horde just have zombies and cows.

Which is what's attracting all the Jr High kids to your faction and why we're seeing out of top 100 guilds in world, 80 of them are Horde.

Enjoy all the Twilight RPers sexing each other in Goldshire. We'll be here claiming the world firsts.

[rogueMatthias]

Which is what's attracting all the Jr High kids to your faction and why we're seeing out of top 100 guilds in world, 80 of them are Horde.

lol It's hard trying to claim a moral high ground here when half of Horde player are BE females

[Saverem]

lol It's hard trying to claim a moral high ground here when half of Horde player are BE females

At least BELFs have a gameplay reason to be popular. Not only do they have the undisputed best racials, but for many years they were the only race available to Paladins in the Horde, and now they're the only choice for DH.

[Soon-TM]

perhaps ya shouldn't have kicked them out huh, Lorthemar?
Not like you have shadow priests and warlocks running around your city after all.

Wait... Is there anybody actually running around in Silvermoon? It's a dead town

Now, I can bear witness of 4 out of 5 allies I come across while levelling being VEs...

[gcsmith]

"Endless" is a pretty strong word. It's usually used when you keep killing enemies but they do not seen to lose numbers. It's what you usually say in zombie apocalypse scenarios.

So, there must be some trick in this. Shadowy illusions, teleportation (to make the elves seen anywhere), or something else that makes sense in context. At least I hope so.

I wanna see void elves grow into thing good (lorewise), but it would make no sense if their numbers grow so fast to be called "endless". I mean, if the entire high elf population turned void, plus an equal number of blood elf defectors, it would still will only be 30% of current blood elf population.

So, I'm hoping "endless" is an exageration.

Maybe they have an elemental bow and keep firing themselves across the battlefield?

[Verdugo]

Mind magic was used by Old God minions since Vanilla. Whenever you interacted with those creatures, they all referred to the Void. If you make the obvious connection, you will realize that Shadowpriest is connected to it.

Also, MoP had Void-based skills for Shadowpriests and the Shadowfiend introduced in TBC has ALWAYS been a minion of the Void.

Once again I repeat: Just because some people didn't bother noticing, it doesn't make it an asspull.

Asspull that validated your headcanon is still asspull.

[Grenzstein]

Mind magic was used by Old God minions since Vanilla. Whenever you interacted with those creatures, they all referred to the Void. If you make the obvious connection, you will realize that Shadowpriest is connected to it.

Also, MoP had Void-based skills for Shadowpriests and the Shadowfiend introduced in TBC has ALWAYS been a minion of the Void.

No, we always believed the "shadow crap" to be demons like everything else. Just like the Voidwalker from Warlocks. They only started expanding the void lore in WoTLK and Cataclysm. During vanilla and tbc it was not as developed as you claim.

[Kazlofski]

Have people not seen that there are new high elves and blood elves in Telagorus training to become void infused? It isn't just the group that was with Umbric. Their numbers are growing.

Agreed, also between now and BfA scenario, we are getting the very first Void elves so with time they probably see that the risk isn't too high and so many Void elves are able to control their powers and not go entirely mad so I imagine more and more join the ranks, aren't afraid of the small risk any longer so we see the results we see in BfA scenario, loads of Void Elves.

[deviantcultist]

Asspull that validated your headcanon is still asspull.

Noticable things are not headcanons really.
@Shiroyama The AQ mobs mentioned the Void and so it happened in TBC.

[Raugnaut]

Agreed, also between now and BfA scenario, we are getting the very first Void elves so with time they probably see that the risk isn't too high and so many Void elves are able to control their powers and not go entirely mad so I imagine more and more join the ranks, aren't afraid of the small risk any longer so we see the results we see in BfA scenario, loads of Void Elves.

The High Elven population is small to the point that they don't even have a dedicated base, outpost, or anything. Even if 100% of existing High Elves joined the Void Elves, you might go from .5%-2% of the total manpower capability of the Alliance.

Blood Elves would be an even smaller amount - By becoming a Void Elf, they would never be able to see the Sunwell again. Religion is a pretty big motivative factor you know.

[therealbowser]

Alright, a few handfuls.

I'm just saying that the fact they exist implies that more void elves can potentially be created. Though I wonder if they'd intentionally go through with that? Do void elves want to be void elves?

[Theoris]

I'm just saying that the fact they exist implies that more void elves can potentially be created. Though I wonder if they'd intentionally go through with that? Do void elves want to be void elves?

It's probably the same deal as with demon hunters; a "To fight something you have to become it"/"fight fire with fire" kind of deal.

Besides, I can't imagine Alleria and Umbric are forcing other elves to become ren'dorei. Not yet, anyway.

[Ithekro]

So many Void Elves is funny considering how many were complaining about it being the "hardest" rep to finish due to Argus and it being 1/3 the number of Word Quests as the Army of the Light. Yet they are "endless".

Actually Highmountain Tauren I think is the hardest to grind out if you skipped a bit prior to Argus, since a lot of people just got it up to revered for the pathfinder achievement to get flying. It took me longer to get that rep to exalted from that point than it took me to get the two Argus reps to exalted from neutral.

[vertigo12]

The amount of void Elves will usher the unleashing of the old gods and the Void lords.