Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Traycor]

I thought it would be fun to take some of the ideas going around and try to mix them all together in what it might look like if high elves were playable and these were their options. Some things I copied more directly than others, and I know I could have gone further in some areas, but this ended up taking longer than I thought.

Faces


I decided to not only play around with some scarred options, but I put one in there with shorter ears. In the classic Warcraft II artwork of a high elf fighting a troll, the ears were much shorter. I used that as inspiration along with the dialogue from Elisande about high elves mingling with lesser races. I also made an aged option, since that's something missing on current elves that could help reinforce these as much more world-weary.

Hairstyles


For the men, I tried to take inspiration from different cultures than the blood elves, though I don't think it turned out too well. I thought a little 80s stuff would make them feel more wild, and tried to put some more curly stuff in there. For the women, I tried to do some shorter and more combat-ready hairstyles, as well as some messier ones and braided ones.

Hair Colors


For the hair colors, I tried to go with earthier tones, as well as some very light and silvery ones. I tried to avoid red outside of a dark auburn to create distinction from blood elves.

Beards/Accessories


I went a bit crazy with the beards. The idea was to again take Elisande's dialogue about the high elves being peasants who mingle with other races, and decided that could mean they have much larger and more wild beards (whether that be because human blood allowed them to grow larger beards, or that larger beards are simply not in style with the higher class blood elves). I'm not really happy with the accessories I made for the female elves. I tried to take various ideas like more subtle jewelry and feathers, but most of them sort of disappear into the hair unfortunately.

Skin Colors


I tried to create some strong extremes here. The idea was to have some tanned options from living in the wild more, as well as some extremely pale options to create some strong contrast. Perhaps some of these options are also a result of human blood somewhere in their heritage.

War Paints


As much as the war paint is central to what I like about the high elf pitches in this thread, I didn't feel up to the challenge for very many options. Each one is based on an existing design, whether that be Warcraft II or one of Alleria's several variants. I also added in symbols from the elven runestones in a couple of places, but ran out of ideas after that.

You went to TOWN! This is great stuff.
I'm going to resize some of this for formatting in the OP. The face variety is outstanding. Hair styles for male and female is a win!

[Theodarzna]

I thought it would be fun to take some of the ideas going around and try to mix them all together in what it might look like if high elves were playable and these were their options. Some things I copied more directly than others, and I know I could have gone further in some areas, but this ended up taking longer than I thought.

Faces


I decided to not only play around with some scarred options, but I put one in there with shorter ears. In the classic Warcraft II artwork of a high elf fighting a troll, the ears were much shorter. I used that as inspiration along with the dialogue from Elisande about high elves mingling with lesser races. I also made an aged option, since that's something missing on current elves that could help reinforce these as much more world-weary.

Hairstyles


For the men, I tried to take inspiration from different cultures than the blood elves, though I don't think it turned out too well. I thought a little 80s stuff would make them feel more wild, and tried to put some more curly stuff in there. For the women, I tried to do some shorter and more combat-ready hairstyles, as well as some messier ones and braided ones.

Hair Colors


For the hair colors, I tried to go with earthier tones, as well as some very light and silvery ones. I tried to avoid red outside of a dark auburn to create distinction from blood elves.

Beards/Accessories


I went a bit crazy with the beards. The idea was to again take Elisande's dialogue about the high elves being peasants who mingle with other races, and decided that could mean they have much larger and more wild beards (whether that be because human blood allowed them to grow larger beards, or that larger beards are simply not in style with the higher class blood elves). I'm not really happy with the accessories I made for the female elves. I tried to take various ideas like more subtle jewelry and feathers, but most of them sort of disappear into the hair unfortunately.

Skin Colors


I tried to create some strong extremes here. The idea was to have some tanned options from living in the wild more, as well as some extremely pale options to create some strong contrast. Perhaps some of these options are also a result of human blood somewhere in their heritage.

War Paints


As much as the war paint is central to what I like about the high elf pitches in this thread, I didn't feel up to the challenge for very many options. Each one is based on an existing design, whether that be Warcraft II or one of Alleria's several variants. I also added in symbols from the elven runestones in a couple of places, but ran out of ideas after that.

Want this so badly. <3

- - - Updated - - -

Then you dont know blizzard at all

Perhaps. I do think if they are too antagonistic it runs certain risks. Plus Blizzard is trying to strengthen their subscriber count, I am unsure they want to risk it.

[Traycor]

I thought it would be fun to take some of the ideas going around and try to mix them all together in what it might look like if high elves were playable and these were their options. Some things I copied more directly than others, and I know I could have gone further in some areas, but this ended up taking longer than I thought.

Pasted your entire post into my second post on the first page. The elements are being slowly worked into the OP. It's a major rework, which is exciting!

Beards/Accessories


I went a bit crazy with the beards. The idea was to again take Elisande's dialogue about the high elves being peasants who mingle with other races, and decided that could mean they have much larger and more wild beards (whether that be because human blood allowed them to grow larger beards, or that larger beards are simply not in style with the higher class blood elves). I'm not really happy with the accessories I made for the female elves. I tried to take various ideas like more subtle jewelry and feathers, but most of them sort of disappear into the hair unfortunately.

Love the 4th beard option with the chops! Beard 1 trips me out, but they did have beards like that in the manga. It might feel a bit too 'Night Elf' to have a full long beard like that. The last two female accessories are my favorite, probably because they stand out the most.

[Niroshi]

I really need those tattoos and hobo beards in my life.

[Friendlyimmolation]

Perhaps. I do think if they are too antagonistic it runs certain risks. Plus Blizzard is trying to strengthen their subscriber count, I am unsure they want to risk it.

Now you're severly over estimating the strength high elf fans have.

[Traycor]

Hairstyles


For the men, I tried to take inspiration from different cultures than the blood elves, though I don't think it turned out too well. I thought a little 80s stuff would make them feel more wild, and tried to put some more curly stuff in there. For the women, I tried to do some shorter and more combat-ready hairstyles, as well as some messier ones and braided ones.

One of the biggest challenges with making High Elves and Blood Elves into separate things is the silhouette. These hairstyles do a great job of changing the silhouette to something new and different from Blood Elves.

[Combatbutler]

One of the biggest challenges with making High Elves and Blood Elves into separate things is the silhouette. These hairstyles do a great job of changing the silhouette to something new and different from Blood Elves.

Yeah lets reflect this canon material of high elf lore that people conveniently tend to forget all the time

This is not to say, however, that withdrawal from magic would leave the high elves unharmed. On the contrary, permanent mental or physical damage is possible.

[Theodarzna]

Now you're severely overestimating the strength high elf fans have.

Not really. In the WoW forum itself its enough capped threads and one with a radically extended cap and Blue posts, as well as a very well made argument in favour by a fairly popular and prominent youtuber about WoW. I don't think any other fan requested race has such an enduring fanbase. Plus it would come off as an insult directed at Alliance players broadly speaking, after all, it already seems like the development team is catering and coddling the Horde side by giving them pretty much every long time fan request.

[FlubberPuddy]

Not really. In the WoW forum itself its enough capped threads and one with a radically extended cap and Blue posts, as well as a very well made argument in favour by a fairly popular and prominent youtuber about WoW. I don't think any other fan requested race has such an enduring fanbase. Plus it would come off as an insult directed at Alliance players broadly speaking, after all, it already seems like the development team is catering and coddling the Horde side by giving them pretty much every long time fan request.

Yup, as I stated in the other thread, I can't see this recognition of the High Elves for Alliance request leading to nothing at all now. They've finally openly acknowledged the recent incredible demand (I say this because point me to another race that garners this much fervor, both for and against ) and are even encouraging discussion on the matter.

They're also moderating posts that go back and forth and talk about going against the proponents of the High Elf thread by requesting Blue Eye Blood Elves. They want the thread to stay on the topic of whether you are for or against High Elves on Alliance and from my peeks into it, there are many more fresh-faces in support than the fresh-faces against. Exciting times!

[Theodarzna]

Yup, as I stated in the other thread, I can't see this recognition of the High Elves for Alliance request leading to nothing at all now. They've finally openly acknowledged the recent incredible demand (I say this because point me to another race that garners this much fervor, both for and against ) and are even encouraging discussion on the matter.

They're also moderating posts that go back and forth and talk about going against the proponents of the High Elf thread by requesting Blue Eye Blood Elves. They want the thread to stay on the topic of whether you are for or against High Elves on Alliance and from my peeks into it, there are many more fresh-faces in support than the fresh-faces against. Exciting times!

The faces against seem to be entirely griefing by people treating the whole idea like its some competition and if Alliance gets something they've often asked for the Horde loses or something. It is not a Zero-Sum game guys.

[Traycor]

Yup, as I stated in the other thread, I can't see this recognition of the High Elves for Alliance request leading to nothing at all now. They've finally openly acknowledged the recent incredible demand (I say this because point me to another race that garners this much fervor, both for and against ) and are even encouraging discussion on the matter.

Back when Neverwinter Nights from Bioware came out, Aribeth was a controversial character. She got debated back and forth. Bioware was asked during a Q&A their opinion on making controversial characters and their answer was very interesting.

Aarin Gend was the spymaster in the game and a major character. But no one talked about him, no one debated him, and no one cared. He was just forgotten among the noise. Bioware said that a character that generated lots of buzz, debate, or emotion like Aribeth was a good character to use, because people cared, whether for or against. But a character like Aarin, that no one cared about, was a dud. Obviously, they don't want characters that are mostly reviled, but a controversial character with a strong following for and against, those are seen as a win for the IP as a whole.

Horde hate High Elves (a big plus for PvP) and High Elves have a strong, enduring following. Plus Blizz has shown a continued willingness to include High Elves in their narratives. The heavy investment on all sides makes for a perfect Allied Race to add to the game.

[The Stormbringer]

Sorry Jokubas, some of those hairstyles are just... way off for me. The bald elf is particularly hilarious, as are the old man beards.

The warpaint and green undies look fantastic, though.

[FlubberPuddy]

The faces against seem to be entirely griefing by people treating the whole idea like its some competition and if Alliance gets something they've often asked for the Horde loses or something. It is not a Zero-Sum game guys.

I believe that many of them understand how popular High Elves are over Blood Elves and don't want to see that become a reality. Nothing is lost by additions. Especially not a deeply entrenched Alliance race like High Elves.

Back when Neverwinter Nights from Bioware came out, Aribeth was a controversial character. She got debated back and forth. Bioware was asked during a Q&A their opinion on making controversial characters and their answer was very interesting.

Aarin Gend was the spymaster in the game and a major character. But no one talked about him, no one debated him, and no one cared. He was just forgotten among the noise. Bioware said that a character that generated lots of buzz, debate, or emotion like Aribeth was a good character to use, because people cared, whether for or against. But a character like Aarin, that no one cared about, was a dud. Obviously, they don't want characters that are mostly reviled, but a controversial character with a strong following for and against, those are seen as a win for the IP as a whole.

Horde hate High Elves (a big plus for PvP) and High Elves have a strong, enduring following. Plus Blizz has shown a continued willingness to include High Elves in their narratives. The heavy investment on all sides makes for a perfect Allied Race to add to the game.

This is actually really great contribution! You should share your ideas with the High Elf thread Traycor Shows that no matter which side of High Elves people land on, one thing is true: High Elves have the highest engagement over all other Allied Races.

[Theodarzna]

I believe that many of them understand how popular High Elves are over Blood Elves and don't want to see that become a reality. Nothing is lost by additions. Especially not a deeply entrenched Alliance race like High Elves.

As said in other threads by another brilliant poster:
I already did the math, and even if 25% of all eligible Blood Elf characters at max level were faction changed to High Elves, the end result would actually be a reduction of faction imbalance, not an increase. To be fair, it'd shift the numbers in favor of the Alliance, but instead of a 3.8% gap in favor of the Horde, it'd be a 3.3% gap in favor of the Alliance, for a 0.5% reduction in faction imbalance.

And that's only assuming that the absurd number of 25% were to actually happen when in reality the number of eligible Blood Elves which would be faction changed to High Elves is likely far smaller than that. At the end of the day, approximately 30% of eligible Blood Elves would have to faction change in order to have a detrimental effect on population numbers (Well, at least in terms of hard numbers. As Ion himself has already said, that's no longer a concern as far as Blizzard is concerned, so it's pointless to talk about that).

The funny thing about that argument, though? Is that they're effectively convincing Blizzard that they should do it. After all, every single faction change is $30 for Blizzard. If 25% of eligible Blood Elves were to actually faction change to High Elves? That'd result in a $7,401,780 profit for Blizzard. And all to reduce the degree of imbalance between the numbers of the factions? Sounds like a Win-Win for Blizzard, to me.

So its a win-win for Blizzard and reduces faction imbalance.

[Blazindragon1737]

I think you forgot to list the Classes that they can be. Also I suggest you make an Imgur for all this concept art so you don't lose any of it and so you can have what you feel is most important or whats newest on the front page

[Theodarzna]

I think you forgot to list the Classes that they can be. Also I suggest you make an Imgur for all this concept art so you don't lose any of it and so you can have what you feel is most important or whats newest on the front page

Classes are likely to be constricted, I would be suprised if its a flat Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Monk, Mage and Priest.... though I'd love either Paladin, Druid or Shaman.

[FlubberPuddy]

Classes are likely to be constricted, I would be suprised if its a flat Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Monk, Mage and Priest.... though I'd love either Paladin, Druid or Shaman.

Monk needs to leave and be replaced with Paladin

[sammygm]

Again, Paladins are a must. High Elves are part of an Alliance which created the first Azerothian Paladins and already had members join The Order of the Silver Hand before the third war. Priest, mage, rogue, and hunter are obvious choices. Shamans are possible through Wildhammer Dwarves. Druids and Warlocks wouldn't really fit in I believe. Druidism isn't something they're known for, and for Warlocks, I doubt they want to go the same route as Kael'thas. As for Death Knights I'm not too sure about.

[FlubberPuddy]

Warrior is given too. Warrior and Hunter are given for every race, Blizzard has made them "baseline" when they added Gnome Hunters explaining it so. If you look at every race and class options since then, all have Warriors and Hunters, even all of the allied races.

So I wouldn't really call Warrior/Hunter as options. Definitely feel mage/priest/paladin/rogue at bare minimum. If High elves could have those 6 classes and no more, I would be completely content with that.

More could be opened up later, but I think those 6 should be at release

[Traycor]

I think you forgot to list the Classes that they can be.

We've been debating classes. So far we haven't reached a consensus that I was satisfied with. Probably I should just list class possibilities with the appropriate background.