No High Elves because of copyright reasons?

[Queen of Hamsters]

No race is copyrighted. Why would they copywrite a race name?

Pretty sure races that Blizzard came up with, are copyrighted. Draenei, Tauren, Pandaren etc.

Otherwise we'd probably have a few MMORPGs out there with the same kind of races to try and draw people from this game.

[Life-Binder]

Eldar becoming "Aeldari", Dark Eldar becoming "Drukhari".

this triggers me still

[Obelisk Kai]

No, they don't.

Kul'Tirans do, because they've been living on Kul'Tiras for literally generations. Their people evolved physical differences from their predecessors.

Thrall is about to not have a unique model, because for all intents and purposes, there was no reason for straight backed orcs to not exist. (Other than "It takes dev time" that they didn't want to spend back in the day.) For all intents and purposes, straight-backed Orcs have always existed - We just never saw them in game.

High Elves and Blood Elves have not been divergent for long enough for it to make any sort of physical difference. Their models in game are Blood Elf models with light skin and blue eyes. Their animations in game are Blood Elf animations. Their voiceovers are Blood Elf voiceovers. Lorewise, all (minus a select few, very young indiviuals) of the remaining high elves literally were Blood Elves at one point in time. (They never CALLED themselves Blood Elves, but they were in Silvermoon even up to the point that Arthas attacked - And it was immediately after this that the split occurred.) They're not suddenly completely different physical beings - They are the exact same people. Period.

Actually does anyone have proof of any High Elf children outside Silvermoon? We know there are Half Elves but no canonical High Elf kids.

[Deleted]

Kul'Tirans do, because they've been living on Kul'Tiras for literally generations. Their people evolved physical differences from their predecessors.

I'm sorry but that's nonsense. They're just people. Biologically they're the same as Stormwind humans. They haven't "evolved", they just have stronger, hardier builds from a different lifestyle. Although even that isn't true, we've seen the thin humans and regular human models there too. So it isn't some blanket 'evolution'. They just have more variety than the stock humans 2004 limits.

I mean we've already seen these guys and they're not Kul'Tiran.

High Elves and Blood Elves have not been divergent for long enough for it to make any sort of physical difference. Their models in game are Blood Elf models with light skin and blue eyes. Their animations in game are Blood Elf animations. Their voiceovers are Blood Elf voiceovers. Lorewise, all (minus a select few, very young indiviuals) of the remaining high elves literally were Blood Elves at one point in time. (They never CALLED themselves Blood Elves, but they were in Silvermoon even up to the point that Arthas attacked - And it was immediately after this that the split occurred.) They're not suddenly completely different physical beings - [B]They are the exact same people. Period.

They have Blood Elf models for the same reason they used to have weirdly reskinned night elf models. (And indeed, still use nelf voices) Because it's the closest we have and it gets the job done perfectly well for NPCs. Players are held to different standards. My point is player races in WoW are not representative of an entire race. They can't be. We're all essentially clones with a few different hairstyles and mildly different faces. We all stand the same, move the same, sound the same. We're all the same height, build etc. Are you saying that in lore, all Blood Elves are literally the Blood Elf model we have? None of them are thinner? All of them have that stock kitty smile? They all have the same slouch posture? The entire race sticks to a bare handful of hairstyles and all of them run like copy pasted robots? Of course not.

What I'm saying is that High Elves could easily be visually distinct. They aren't a different species, but they'd be a different identity. The stock High Elf guy would not have to be the same as the stock Blood Elf guy because entire races don't work like that.

Obviously it's not happening, cause Blizzard sadly would just take the lazy option, plus we have an Elf overload right now. But the argument they'd just have to be copy pasted belfs is lame.

[Soon-TM]

What if you are really high and an elf?

A pre-Sunwell belf? *scratches his chin*

[kraid]

If copyright was a problem they would have renamed all other races.

[Syegfryed]

Kul'Tiras as a nation was founded 2700 years before the Dark Portal opened for the first time. That is MORE than enough time for biological differences to come out.

just add that prob kul'tirans - the different ones, who will be playable - have something to do with vryrkul or the drust, maybe they share bloodlines or their magic affect this specific group of kultirans

the rest you comment is pretty well explained, just wait for the HE fans starting the theory that HE of dalaran had 2700 years of difference between the elves of silvermoon, and after the city was evacuated in the scourge attack, they obviously, with no proof, are now alliance all along.

[Deleted]

Unlike real life, the races of WoW ARE fairly constrained with how they look. Stormwind Humans are all near-to their displayed models. Orgrimmar Orcs are all near-to their displayed models. Blood Elves are all near-to their displayed models. High Elves are all near-to their displayed models.

I don't think you're really grasping what I'm saying. I'm saying each base race model, male/female represents essentially one character. From their posture, animations, silhouette, voice work - it all goes to representing a very basic identity. The basic Blood Elf character identity is pompous and haughty, so they move, stand, cast to reflect that single idea. Of course races have individuals and diversity, to suggest otherwise is ridiculous. I'm sure in lore theres fat dwarves for instance, we just don't have them. Remember when Grom was meant to be tall and lean? Then WoW hit and he got saddled with the same model as everyone else.

You can't take gameplay limits to heart, Stormwind isn't really full of identical clones who all spew out the same lines in 2-3 different voices. That's freakish. And we've seen that it isnt the case with the alpha models slipping out and the occasional defias goon. When they have the chance to make someone unique, they do it.


Again, it isn't about racial differences - but individuals, character, identity, even politics. They don't have to be clones of the belfs.

[Dhrizzle]

Tauren are basically Minoutar though.

Nah, the minotaur had a human body and a bull's head, it was a one-off monster guarding a maze not a race like the Tauren who are more like Warhammer's Beastmen or any of the dozens of anthropomorphic animal races from fantasy.

[Gaidax]

Ok, apparently because some derps here did not get the memo we have races like orcs, trolls, goblins, undead and more and fuck me if you gonna claim they and “human” are copyrighted or “copyrightable” by Blizzard I’ll like... look at you with pity.

Of all outlandish theories why High Elves are not a think - the OP one is so retarded that I have no clue how some here picked it up, unless it’s some sort of veiled sarcasm.

[Deleted]

You won't find a Stormwind Human who is the same build as a Thin Human Kul'Tiran, because they don't exist.

It's a video game. Is the stormwind beggar supposed to be a jacked 6ft guy? Or did they just slap him with a generic model because it was there?

We've already seen fat and thin Stormwind human npcs slipping through the cracks and Kul'tiras is a cocktail of muscular giants, boney thin guys and the bog standard human model, so it isn't ludicrous to say diversity exists. The game and its limits say we're all clones, I'm saying it doesn't have to be that way and logically probably isn't. (Chronicles has some very strange looking upright thin Orcs even) Honestly just having High Elves stand differently, have their own animations and hairstyles and a different build. That'd be enough. It isn't breaking lore to say people might look different from each other.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

If they had an easy get-out like that, they'd have used it as an excuse by now. They don't want the Alliance to have High Elves.

[Musta]

It is STATED in the chronicles that Blood Elves are indeed High Elves. Stop with this nonsense

[Enkrypt]

Can't copyright a High Elf.

Elves smoke pot all the time.

It would seem, however, that Blizzard copyrights its original creations. Which makes perfect sense, or else we'd be having low-budget games running around with those names to "compete" with WoW. That being said, Elves have existed in games, movies, stories, etc. before WoW, therefore rendering them unable to stamp their name on it as their property.

[Magistrate]

Quick question tho
Are races created by Blizzard such as Draenei copyrighted? I mean, I dont think another game could get away with naming a race like that

There's probably a realm of applicability in which terms fall, where judgment is passed based on context intelligently.

It could also be that Blizzard likely has a sizeable legal team and probably works with outside firms to establish intellectual property boundaries. I would imagine specialized names fall under that umbrella, and while they aren't going to sue every fan artist's depiction of a draenei that they get a commission for, they probably would for a game company/book/movie that uses the made up word to the letter.

General terms, like high elf, have been in fantasy for decades. But if they saw someone writing a new book with a lot of "quel'dorei" in it, or Thalassian, I would imagine something would happen.

[MechaCThun]

At some point you have to ask yourself if these constant high elf threads are being posted simply to keep the words "high" and "elf" relevant enough to search for.

[Obelisk Kai]

At some point you have to ask yourself if these constant high elf threads are being posted simply to keep the words "high" and "elf" relevant enough to search for.

In previous years what would happen is this.

1.) We would enter the run up to Blizzcon and the announcement of a new expansion. At this point High Elf threads started appearing.

2.) Four to five months of flame wars.

3.) Blizzcon (or the GDC for Legion) arrives, High Elves aren't playable but nor where they ruled out, hope was kept alive and the subject went into abeyance for about sixteen months until the cycle began anew.

Two things happened with the last announcement to alter the calculus.

1.) Allied races are not necessarily bound to an expansion and could be released at any point in the game's lifecycle. High Elf fans no longer had to wait to try and apply pressure.

2.) Void Elves happened. No matter how much pro High Elfers want to pretend otherwise, Void Elves were clearly intended to give the Alliance the long requested model without giving them the actual race itself. While Blood Elves and Void Elves look very similar, they are thematically poles apart. The logical implication of Void Elves therefore is that Blizzard had no intention of giving the Alliance High Elves. Else why create Void Elves. So what is also driving the spam this time is the shock of denial, a lot of these posters simply cannot accept this end state and believe that if they make enough noise, Blizzard will cave into them. It's the death of hope.

That is my belief as to what is driving the spam.

- - - Updated - - -

I believe we've seen High Elf children during the Orphan week? Not positive on that, and CBA to look it up.

I'd find it really silly to believe that not a single High Elf has procreated over the years without it being with a human though. There's likely a few High Elf children at least.

I can't recall any High Elf kids. I've seen Blood Elf kids, but no High Elf kids but I also could be wrong about that.

[Kieldon]

It's been some time since the last high elf thread. Nice.

[Azen]

It's been some time since the last high elf thread. Nice.

I think the irony of his post is totally lost on him.

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

Yes Lor'themar has the copyright and won't release it.