The Void Elves are a great addition to the Alliance.

[Myta]

That dialogue is meaningless lorewise as the void elves are part of Azeroth's post-Argus timeline, whereas all the questing you do to reach 110 happens before we got to Argus. There is no test lorewise to begin with as the void elves come into play only after Argus. That being said, your character's presence in all the Outland, Northrend, Cataclysm, MoP and WoD questing is not canon.

Yet you are experiencing history, it's happened, and you've seen it happen. Leveling in past content is treated as a caverns of time sort of thing, where you are assuming a role in events of the past, then when you get to max level you help shape the present.

Regardless of whether it's canon doesn't matter, it happened, and your character saw it happen, and Alleria knew that it happened, and you experienced it as if it happened to you.

[Deleted]

And then the people who do pay attention to the lore would realize, there is no reason the void elves would join the alliance. There are only a handful of void elves in lore, period. And they all came from silvermoon and wanted to help protect it, and was the reason they were researching the void, so they could help protect silvermoon. There is no reason they would ever join the alliance.

The story is shit, plain and simple. Thats why they barely have an introduction then your put into stormwind. It's lame.

Yea. pretty much this. Their entire motive for becoming a Void elf is to help silvermoon, even if banished they would probaly have stuck around to defend silvermoon, not to join it's enemy.

Also it sucks that the alliance get a "allied race" when it is barely a race, it is allied 21 people

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

To say "large numbers" of them are going back to the Alliance is an exaggeration. Its a small group of exiles with a few reckless pilgrims joining them.

Sounds sorta like the Orcs who migrated to Kalimdor. Or the Darkspear Trolls. Or the Tauren. Or the Gnomes. Or the Goblins.

[Leodric]

Sounds sorta like the Orcs who migrated to Kalimdor. Or the Darkspear Trolls. Or the Tauren. Or the Gnomes. Or the Goblins.

I feel like Blizzard is doing a poor job portraying those actual numbers. Especially considering with the Tauren it wasn't even all tribes, same with the Orcs having not all clans and the Darkspear trolls being a single tribe themselves. Yet they still pop numbers out of their ass after many wars.

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

I feel like Blizzard is doing a poor job portraying those actual numbers. Especially considering with the Tauren it wasn't even all tribes, same with the Orcs having not all clans and the Darkspear trolls being a single tribe themselves. Yet they still pop numbers out of their ass after many wars.

Yeah thats why I see the "omg its only a small population!!!!!!" argument against X or Y race really lame and disingenuous... because if I recall.. the Orcs fleeing from their internment camps were very little. They had what, 3 ships or something? And then they picked up a small band of trolls. Those troll for instance were all that started the troll player race. Then think about Gnomes.. just refugees that were lucky enough not to get infected. The number of Orcs that were available in Org would have been low as well.

[Big Mama]

The Void Elves are a great addition to the Alliance

No, they are not. And everyone who thinks that is completely delusional. They were made up at the last second and they are so low-effort it hurts. I honestly don't have nothing against them visually, I am not making fun of people who play them. I don't get why people are bitching about Vulpera who popped up all of a sudden but are completely calm about some Ren'dorei who were made up in like 5 seconds and will never be developed any further.

[Varodoc]

They were made up at the last second

Yeah, right, because you are a Blizzard developer and so you know precisely when they were created.

and they are so low-effort it hurts.

Funnily enough, the general consensus is that Void Elves are much more beautiful than the other base Allied Races. They have many more customization options than Lightforged, Highmountain and Nightborne (the last of which are quite controversial since their current model is vastly different from the Legion counterpart). It is clear that the developerse invested a lot of time and resources in this race from a visual standpoint -- and from a story perspective, since they gave Alleria Windrunner a key role to play in Mac'aree to introduce Void Elves.

but are completely calm about some Ren'dorei who were made up in like 5 seconds

The idea of Blood Elves messing with the Void is an old one that dates back to The Burning Crusade.

and will never be developed any further.

Wrong. They will play a pivotal role in the Battle for Lordaeron, since their arrival will even the odds against the bulk of the Horde army and King Anduin himself was glad to see that Alleria and her Ren'dorei forces had arrived to the battlefield. In addition, the Ren'dorei have sent an expeditionary force called 'The Riftrunners' to Boralus, so they will have a presence in the next expansion.

[Deleted]

Yeah, right, because you are a Blizzard developer and so you know precisely when they were created.

Funnily enough, the general consensus is that Void Elves are much more beautiful than the other base Allied Races. They have many more customization options than Lightforged, Highmountain and Nightborne (the last of which are quite controversial since their current model is vastly different from the Legion counterpart). It is clear that the developerse invested a lot of time and resources in this race from a visual standpoint -- and from a story perspective, since they gave Alleria Windrunner a key role to play in Mac'aree to introduce Void Elves.

Lmao.

Knowing Blizzard, they probably pulled Void Elves out of content they were already doing for BFA anyway. Which is probably also why their story makes so little sense, and why they weren't present on Argus, where they easily could've been some of Alleria's High Elves. That would've made a ton more sense. But nope .. instead they're Blood Elves from Silvermoon. Lawd.

The Nightborne model fiasco is further proof that Allied Races were cooked up post Legion launch, long after Suramar content had already finished development. The complete lack of faction balance in content for the Allied Races is also evidence that none of these races were originally intended to become faction affiliated, let alone playable. The complete lack of Void Elf development in Alleria's story in Mac'Aree similarly indicates that Blizzard didn't even start working on Allied races until after Argus finished production.

The idea that Void Elves somehow created a story hook for Alleria is nonsensical and completely counter to how Blizzard does character development in WoW. It is far likelier that Void Elves were made possible only because Alleria's role for BFA, dealing with old god stuff, was already set up far in advance and had already finished its development stage for Argus, long before Void Elves were even a concept, and that at some point a developer went "hey, it would be cool if we had playable Alleriasses who are also voidey".

And then, finally ... the suggestion that Void Elf appearance development requires any large amount of time and resources invested is hilarious. It's about the effort you'd expect for a bunch of random mobs in a themed void dungeon, which I'm sure we'll see at some point in BFA and will explain what Void Elves were originally developed for in BFA. The 'many more' customisation options are recolours of the same template. It's literally just adjusting one slider in an editor. Sure, they recorded a bunch of new audio stuff for them, but they had to do that for all races anyway. Meanwhile, the Telogrus Rift is one of the laziest locations in all of WoW, and by far the laziest one for a playable race, because they literally had nothing they could recycle for them ... which also indicates what an incredible rush job they were, just like the other Allied Races.

But this is what Blizzard does now. They rush a bunch of skins for already existing races and release them as "Allied Races", increasing their race change sales.

At least they're putting more effort into Zandalari Trolls and Kul'Tiran humans, but WoW's pattern of releasing races related to the expansion, in combination with the extensive amount of work they've received compared to the other Allied Races, indicates that they were originally intended to be released as 'standard' races anyway, similar to the ones from TBC, Cata and MOP.

I'm sure it's nice to pretend that Blizzard put tons of effort into your new favourite race, but really ... they haven't. Void Elves just stand out because they're less underwhelming than the other three.

[Deleted]

Some people might look at Void Elves and think that they are a useless ally to the Alliance in the coming war just because they currently have low numbers (although their ranks are growing, as Quel'dorei and even Sin'dorei can be found in Telogrus Rift pleding their cause to the rising Ren'dorei). But this is not the case. The Void Elves will prove to be a vital ally to the Alliance.

The Void Lords are the greatest threat to Azeroth. With the defeat of the Burning Legion, that was keeping balance in the cosmos, the road is paved for the Void Lords' arrival. And once they do, the Void Elves will prove to be the most resourceful and precious ally that the Alliance has ever had. They are the first mortals in the history of the cosmos to successfully defy the shadows' whispers, and possess extensive and elaborate knowledge in the field of the Void, as well as powerful allies such as the ominous and secretive Locus-Walker. Mark my words: The Void Elves will turn the tides and prove to everyone why they are worthy of being members of the Alliance.

Just how far can their powers go? The powers that apparently will astonish even the Horde defenders at the Battle of Lordaeron. Just how much are they willing to sacrifice for the well-being of the Alliance and Azeroth? Rest assured that, once the Void comes to consume all, the Void Elves will prove to be the most useful ally of the Alliance, and they will be at the front of this battle.

This was so cringe to read. Almost as cringe as the void elf fanboys. Oh wait...

This should be in the RP section, this isn't lore. It's something you pulled out of your ass

Infracted.

[Magnagarde]

Yet you are experiencing history, it's happened, and you've seen it happen. Leveling in past content is treated as a caverns of time sort of thing, where you are assuming a role in events of the past, then when you get to max level you help shape the present.

Regardless of whether it's canon doesn't matter, it happened, and your character saw it happen, and Alleria knew that it happened, and you experienced it as if it happened to you.

Once again, I don't argue whether you've seen it, but your character seeing it is not canon. The only reason you can see it with your character lies within the gameplay and the reasons behind it have no relation to the lore whatsoever.

In other words, you character experienced none of that lorewise.

[Zulkhan]

Void Elves could have been an interesting concept if only Blizzard planned them in advance. The Void Elves could have been the High Elves of Allerian Stronghold joining their leader in the Twisting Nether, getting transformed for some reason and having 1000 Nether-years of time to develop a new identity, culture, civilization and whatever you may think about. They could have turned out pretty great, in that way.

Unfortunately, the canon incarnation of Void Elves that we got wasn't clearly planned at all and is a deliberate asspull. Too many things have been pulled out of nowhere, in such short amount of time, to justify their existence. It's clear that Blizzard simply exploited the return of Alleria and her fresh development regarding the Void to finally come up with an idea to give the highly popular Blood Elf model to the Alliance without wasting an Allied Race spot on the carbon copy of a Horde race (High Elves).

[Deleted]

Void Elves could have been an interesting concept if only Blizzard planned them in advance. The Void Elves could have been the High Elves of Allerian Stronghold joining their leader in the Twisting Nether, getting transformed for some reason and having 1000 Nether-years of time to develop a new identity, culture, civilization and whatever you may think about. They could have turned out pretty great, in that way.

Yeah, this.

[Deleted]

... But this is not the case. The Void Elves will prove to be a vital ally to the Alliance. ... They are the first mortals in the history of the cosmos to successfully defy the shadows' whispers, and possess extensive and elaborate knowledge in the field of the Void, as well as powerful allies such as the ominous and secretive Locus-Walker.

*leans in to Knaifu* She says its bollocks.

A more serious response just entails that. Any Shadow priest has been resisting those whispers for ages going as far back as classic. The artifact weapon with its knowledge dating back to the time of the Black Empire. As it seems to be a conscious being (though selective with what it says) it probably would be the greatest source to learn something about the old gods. In addition it's Alleria not the Void Elves interacting with the Locus-Walker. Essentially the story of Alleria (because that's what it is) would work without all of the Void Elf nonsense. It feels like the Alleria storyline was done and someone used it as a hook to introduce Void Elves while trampling the priest lore, Natalie Seline, the shadow priest artifact and some more things. Are we going to see yet another version of the "that's the class fantasy for shadow priests" turn?

I think the Void Elves will be a great chance for Azeroth's citizens to further research the Void and the lore going forwards may be good.

So, I'm playing a Voidelf with what we have at the moment and hope for the best, but I sure as heck won't pretend that they didn't kind of come out of nowhere and there weren't other ways to introduce people who study the void, because we need to.

Pretty much what I already wrote above. With an actual entity going back to the old god times itself there probably isn't much use for whatever Void Elves have to offer in regards to lore for the void. But it seems like you're skeptical enough on your own of the whole thing.

What's the difference between "pulling them out of their asses" and "creating new stories and expanding the lore?"

If you want to create new stories and expand the lore do so following a certain logic that is not chaos. Do you really want another Volume of Chronicles each Addon to retcon whatever doesn't fit with the last expansion? If you want to introduce a new race that's coming from a known location give it some time and background. Let people get familiar with it. Setup a context to have some kind of idea to what's coming before you introduce them.

Mag'har could have been done MUCH better. The way you get them is they join the Horde as a Thank You for saving AU Draenor back in the day.

I haven't followed the Mag'har thing. Could someone give some more context? Wasn't the point of AU that nothing from AU could (easily) leave it and that's part of why Yrell had to stay there?

I try to remain hopeful for the Void Elves, they have a lot of potential, but Blizzard isn't kind to Alliance Races that arn't human. Seeing how they used Dwarves and Night Elves as punching bags that need Stormwind's aid all the time. Followed sharply by the lack of presence/relevance of gnomes, draenei, and worgen. I've little faith in blizzard's storytelling to make Void Elves stand out. As they don't seem keen to make races that will shake the moral ground the Alliance always claims.

Take into account the flaws:
- Their Introduction was most certainly an ass-pull and a proxy to give the Alliance the Blood Elf model.
- Their numbers or population does not seem even remotely high. Even in a worse status than regular High Elves.
- Their powers or abilities are not defined as of yet, and show to be much more different than Alleria. They were forcibly corrupted, unlike Alleria.
- They are not physically different, nor culturally different from your average Blood Elf. As seen with what elves are seen. They're still the same blood elves, just darker.

Blizzard needs to expand on the void elves big time, or this is just a failed race. Lightforged Draenei are in a similar predicament, but they lack an identity that the regular Draenei already accomplish.

Void Elves need the following:
1. Lore on their classes, especially priests. As to why they can use holy magic despite being infused with the void
2. Emphasis on their former ties to the Horde. whether its mistrust or military intrigue of Horde Efforts
3. Detailed history on their exile, as to why so many blood elves could be exiled with nobody knowing at all.
4. Prominent presence in the war effort to show their use as an allied race.
5. Show the risks of void elves not in control of their emotions. As seen in Telogrus, emotions can be abused to corrupt.
6. Darker involvement with the Alliance. This includes absolute mayhem that makes the Alliance question the very ties they have with the Void Elves. I want to see real power at play that makes the Horde worry.
7. Partnership with the dark iron dwarves. As both groups have a bad history with the Alliance. I would adore to see Dark Iron Priests discover their own ties to the void. As seen in Grim Batol's history with Xal'atath.
8. Focus on their disposition of fighting their own kin. They were researching the void to protect Silvermoon, as well as offer a new tool for the offense. To be exiled and now at war with their own home is a struggle. Let us see it in effect.

That post is a good summary on what's needed for them. At the same time I don't expect anything from that to actually happen.