Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[JustaRandomReindeer]

I have a question. If High Elves get the Human skeleton instead of the BE one would you guys play them? Asking out of curiositiy.

[Broken Fox]

I have a question. If High Elves get the Human skeleton instead of the BE one would you guys play them? Asking out of curiositiy.

Then they’d be Stick Up the Ass Elves instead of High Elves. Draenei males got it worse though.

[Blayze]

Then they’d be Stick Up the Ass Elves instead of High Elves. Draenei males got it worse though.

Could be half-elves.

[JustaRandomReindeer]

Could be half-elves.

Yeah that's what I was thinking. It seems like at this point the chance to get High Elves is pretty slim but if someone can come up with a good Half-elf model then people will have their fair-skinned pointy-eared long-haired blonde elf people on the Alliance and everyone will be happy I guess.

[Ithekro]

Why is everyone going off on blonde hair? I think both blood elves I've made have been redheads (one live, one in alpha)

[Zulkhan]

I mean not sure how much crystal clear-er both statements can be. They both bring across the same message.

Like, not at all. "Anything is possible" is a more vague, slightly unsubstantial statement compared to "It's always possible".

[FlubberPuddy]

Yeah that's what I was thinking. It seems like at this point the chance to get High Elves is pretty slim but if someone can come up with a good Half-elf model then people will have their fair-skinned pointy-eared long-haired blonde elf people on the Alliance and everyone will be happy I guess.

This has actually been a common suggestion from the many HE threads on US forums, and I think this is why most of the HE supporters were peeved by Ion's response. It focused too much on the model without acknowledging that people were willing to use human/night elf skeletons.

I'm not sure how much more often it needs to be said but, it should be very clear at this point that people who want High Elves want them more for their story over the model.

If all HE people truly wanted was blood elf model on the Alliance then there wouldn't be such a ruckus over having Void Elves, since those literally are Blood Elves on Alliance. Ion even re-iterates that.

For instance maybe this makes it clearer:

If I were someone that wanted the Night Elf story of how they forsake arcane magic and turned to druidic/natural magics as a people. Then I would choose playing Night Elves on the Alliance because they are the continuation of that storyline.

If instead I were someone that was more interested in the Night Elves that loved using arcane magic and made their civilization around it akin to the Highborne of old then I'd choose to play the Nightborne because they are the night elf group that carries this specific storyline.

Same goes for Thalassian elf side:

If I wanted to play the group of elves that took on to Fel in an effort to survive their almost extinct race. Then Blood Elves are the group of elves to play for that story continuation.

If I wanted to play as the group of elves that decided against taking Fel and stuck to their Alliance comrades, then currently that's not possible to play. These are the elves of the Silver Covenant, the Highvale, the Allerian Stronghold, and any Dalarani and Stormwindian High Elves that are in service to the Alliance.

Void Elves are the group of Blood Elves who go in an entirely different direction. While the Sin'dorei are now moving towards a more Light-based society, these Ren'dorei decided instead to pursue the Void and through a freak-accident are now Void-corrupted Elves. These elves have their own separate storyline apart from both the Blood Elves and the High Elves. If I wanted to play this Void-stricken storyline then I'd play Void Elves.

We see no major High Elf groups like the ones listed above joining their storylines into the Void Elves. Therefore that storyline for players isn't available and they wish it was.

Now whether it should or shouldn't be playable is another question entirely, and up for debate. But hopefully this clears up, in what I personally think, is why I see others asking for High Elves.

Models can always be worked around, but the story for these guys can't. And it's not sufficient to say "oh just imagine" because then you could say "oh just imagine your orc is mag'har" or "just imagine your dark skin bronzebeard dwarf is a dark iron" or just imagine X is any Y race.

It's clear that the AR system is there to give people more character customization for their favorite races but it's also clear that story plays a big part into it too. The developers are always mentioning how the storyline that is currently happening also factors into whether a certain race will happen or not.

[JustaRandomReindeer]

This has actually been a common suggestion from the many HE threads on US forums, and I think this is why most of the HE supporters were peeved by Ion's response. It focused too much on the model without acknowledging that people were willing to use human/night elf skeletons.

I'm not sure how much more often it needs to be said but, it should be very clear at this point that people who want High Elves want them more for their story over the model.

If all HE people truly wanted was blood elf model on the Alliance then there wouldn't be such a ruckus over having Void Elves, since those literally are Blood Elves on Alliance. Ion even re-iterates that.

For instance maybe this makes it clearer:

If I were someone that wanted the Night Elf story of how they forsake arcane magic and turned to druidic/natural magics as a people. Then I would choose playing Night Elves on the Alliance because they are the continuation of that storyline.

If instead I were someone that was more interested in the Night Elves that loved using arcane magic and made their civilization around it akin to the Highborne of old then I'd choose to play the Nightborne because they are the night elf group that carries this specific storyline.

Same goes for Thalassian elf side:

If I wanted to play the group of elves that took on to Fel in an effort to survive their almost extinct race. Then Blood Elves are the group of elves to play for that story continuation.

If I wanted to play as the group of elves that decided against taking Fel and stuck to their Alliance comrades, then currently that's not possible to play. These are the elves of the Silver Covenant, the Highvale, the Allerian Stronghold, and any Dalarani and Stormwindian High Elves that are in service to the Alliance.

Void Elves are the group of Blood Elves who go in an entirely different direction. While the Sin'dorei are now moving towards a more Light-based society, these Ren'dorei decided instead to pursue the Void and through a freak-accident are now Void-corrupted Elves. These elves have their own separate storyline apart from both the Blood Elves and the High Elves. If I wanted to play this Void-stricken storyline then I'd play Void Elves.

We see no major High Elf groups like the ones listed above joining their storylines into the Void Elves. Therefore that storyline for players isn't available and they wish it was.

Now whether it should or shouldn't be playable is another question entirely, and up for debate. But hopefully this clears up, in what I personally think, is why I see others asking for High Elves.

Models can always be worked around, but the story for these guys can't. And it's not sufficient to say "oh just imagine" because then you could say "oh just imagine your orc is mag'har" or "just imagine your dark skin bronzebeard dwarf is a dark iron" or just imagine X is any Y race.

It's clear that the AR system is there to give people more character customization for their favorite races but it's also clear that story plays a big part into it too. The developers are always mentioning how the storyline that is currently happening also factors into whether a certain race will happen or not.

That's a reasonable explanation. I fully support the addition of HEs to the game if they have enough different features to distinguish them from BEs.

[protip]

Why is everyone going off on blonde hair? I think both blood elves I've made have been redheads (one live, one in alpha)

The vast majority of Blood Elves in-game are blonde. Lor'themar, Halduron, Kael'thas, the Silvermoon guards, and so many more. When you start a new Blood Elf, in the first room there are (approximately) 8 blonde elves and 2 redheads. I'd say it's a pretty prominent feature of Blood Elves as they appear to players.

Edit: It also comes up a lot because like Blood Elves, most of the High Elves in the game also have blonde hair.

[FlubberPuddy]

SNIP

As I said, the storylines play a big part in why certain ARs get chosen over others too and it seems to be the part of ARs that people seem to skip over or forget. And again as I said too, they are rolling out "more visually distinct races" rather than extremely similar ones. It's why Orcs got a whole bunch of clans in one and why WH Dwarves nor High Elves were the first pick. Their comment about not wanting too many ugly races on one side means it's also probably why Ogres didn't get selected immediately as well.

I stand by Ion had to give the answer based on their current plans. It was absolutely meant to manage expectations, the High Elf topics were completely everywhere throughout the various WoW communities. This response put a huge reduction on the amount of talking happening on High Elves now that people know they aren't coming anytime soon at all.

And people understand that if High Elves are too similar then there needs to be more done to differentiate them, story wise and model wise. Hence my earlier response on agreeing with the Ron Jeremy guy that High Elves will probably need more development before they can be considered to be playable and my other response that their story isn't one that can currently be continued by the players.

As for your last mention on the plan thing, it did need to be commented on because the way some posters are speaking is as if Blizzard don't know which races they're going to add in the next patch or have already added like it was something debated until the minute of their reveal. That's also why the interview asked that question, "what is the long term plan considering people are already asking for many other races" and why they answered with they already have a set plan, though they're willing to dance around it if indeed there's enough demand to make it so, citing DI dwarves as an example and using the explanations that could be applied to High Elves as well.

This actually contradicts their earlier statements in which they asked players to tell them what they'd like to see. Since having it planned out means we aren't likely going to see any of the feedback we gave since Blizzcon taken into consideration until either towards the end of this expansion or the next. They cited DI was from years of players clamoring for it, not "recently we noticed an influx of people asking for this race".

That explanation was given to say: We are going to add the races we want, but we might also (if we feel like it and see enough demand) consider what the community is asking for.

[Darththeo]

So you do get it. Good for you!

Excuse me for having my own opinion and also believing that yours is wrong

Your opinion is factually wrong. You can believe that I am wrong for stating Ion didn't rule it out, but you would be wrong in that opinion.

You don't slam the door by leaving it open. You don't let people down gently by giving false hope. If you do the first, you are an idiot. If you do the latter, you are an ass.

[Byleth]

What I found a bit funny was the reaction from Ion and Lore when the question got brought up. I can see that they have been paying attention to this hot topic :>

You know, that's my favorite part of the interview too.

- - - Updated - - -

Your opinion is factually wrong. You can believe that I am wrong for stating Ion didn't rule it out, but you would be wrong in that opinion.

You don't slam the door by leaving it open. You don't let people down gently by giving false hope. If you do the first, you are an idiot. If you do the latter, you are an ass.

*shrug*

Again you're ignoring all the context surrounding that sentence, and making an assumption in isolation without all the facts.

[Arrashi]

I have a question. If High Elves get the Human skeleton instead of the BE one would you guys play them? Asking out of curiositiy.

They should make high elves using pandaren male skeleton. That would make them diffrent enough. They would be High (blood pressure) elves.

[JustaRandomReindeer]

They should make high elves using pandaren male skeleton. That would make them diffrent enough. They would be High (blood pressure) elves.

Yeah maybe they were so addicted to arcane that they ate a little too many mana cupcakes so they got chubby.

[Darththeo]

*shrug*

Again you're ignoring all the context surrounding that sentence, and making an assumption in isolation without all the facts.

That's literally what you are doing, not me. He completely avoided really any 100% definitive language ... a fact you ignore or you twist into "Well he was just being nice." Do you think Ion is an idiot?

[Aldo Hawk]

Ok, I've been extremely anti-High Elf, but after the possibility of San'lyan was reviled I recently I thought of a way to introduce High Elves and make both sides happy.

Perhaps in 9.0, Silvermoon is updated in the world and is integrated into the continent. All of Eversong Woods and Ghostlands have been forever changed. The Silver Covenant, lead by Vareesa Windrunner, have decided to reclaim their birthright and have launched a full-on assault.

So that's the story in a nutshell. What does this add for World of Warcraft?

Blood Elves/High Elves are now the 2nd Neutral race and will have an updated starting experience which will culminate in the player choosing their allegiance. A new battleground would be introduced around this story. This would also spark an alliance/horde conflict for w/e the new expansion is since the faction war will hopefully take a backseat after BfA.

To compensate the Horde for losing a core race they will receive a brand new race in Ogres. Perhaps the Gorian Ogres from WoD. Their starting area would be the continent in the bottom left of the Draenor map. Playable classes include: Mage, Warlock, Priest, Rogue, Monk, Hunter, Shaman, Warrior, Death Knight (Stone Maul Ogres). Racial Ability would be an AoE knockback.

The Demon Hunter Problem: When thinking of this I came to the issue of DH's. Right now they're the most racial exclusive class in WoW, one for Alliance and one for Horde. If Belves become neutral then how does that effect Blood Elf demon Hunters. Two solutions I thought of was A: All DH Belves are automatically Horde or B: the DH intro is updated with the training of new recruits, adding even more races.

Death Knights: In the quest where you speak to a member of your race, your conversation will be interrupted by an alliance elf who will try to influence you. At the end you choose which capital you head out to.

Allied Races: A: Gilgoblins will be the new Horde swap and mirror Nightborne H: San'lyan will serve as the mirror to Velves.

So lets recap. What does my idea add to WoW.

• New Horde/Alliance conflict narrative.
• New Battleground.
• 1 new neutral race/1 new horde race
• 2 new allied races.
• More demon hunter races

What does High Elf allied race add?

• N
• O
• T
• H
• I
• N
• G

So that's it. I strongly believe that this way or something similar would be the only optimal way to introduce Alliance High Elves. Using allied races is not the answer when the system is deigned for reskins or new models entirely, not copy-pastes. But, if Blizzard decides to leave it as it is then I won't lose a single night's sleep.

In Ion we trust.

This is headcanon @Obelisk Kai and others, so don't try to compare what others and I say with things like this.

[Varx]

This is headcanon @Obelisk Kai and others, so don't try to compare what others and I say with things like this.

Huh? Dude I presented what would probably be the most ideal way to introduce High Elves to WoW and you shut me down???

This is why you guys can't have nice things.

You get Void Elves, "fuck you"

You get Neutral uncorrupted Thalasian Elves, "fuck you"

[Aldo Hawk]

Huh? Dude I presented what would probably be the most ideal way to introduce High Elves to WoW and you shut me down???

This is why you guys can't have nice things.

You get Void Elves, "fuck you"

You get Neutral uncorrupted Thalasian Elves, "fuck you"

You were just inventing things and even adding things about other races and sugesting High Elves as a neutral race like Pandaren.

It is headcannon, not pointing anything to backup, what you did is Blizzard's work.

[Varx]

You were just inventing things and even adding things about other races and sugesting High Elves as a neutral race like Pandaren.

It is headcannon, not pointing anything to backup, what you did is Blizzard's work.

HAHA omg wow. And wtf does your kind do??? "lets add tattoos, High elves have more athletic builds, being away from the sunwell has changed them drastically, different Hair styles".

That shit isn't headcannon? Fuck you and the rest of the "High Elfers" in this thread. Literally nothing pleases you guys. Wouldn't be surprised if you bitched about actual AR High Elves because their Tattoos weren't cool enough.

Freaking toxic cancer trash.

Infracted [MoanaLisa]

[protip]

If I wanted to play the group of elves that took on to Fel in an effort to survive their almost extinct race. Then Blood Elves are the group of elves to play for that story continuation.

If I wanted to play as the group of elves that decided against taking Fel and stuck to their Alliance comrades, then currently that's not possible to play. These are the elves of the Silver Covenant, the Highvale, the Allerian Stronghold, and any Dalarani and Stormwindian High Elves that are in service to the Alliance.

I have a hard time accepting that reason, because it's not really a fair representation of what the Blood Elves did. The vast majority of them simply stayed in Silvermoon; there was no decision to use the fel. That was done exclusively by the magisters who rebuilt the city. If the Blood Elves themselves didn't know that the magisters were using fel energy, it's hard to imagine that the elves outside of Silvermoon would have that knowledge.

The only distinction that leaves is their support for the Alliance, which I just don't think is a good enough reason. Especially considering that in most cases that distinction appears to be based on where they were when the Scourge attacked Quel'Thalas.

This actually contradicts their earlier statements in which they asked players to tell them what they'd like to see. Since having it planned out means we aren't likely going to see any of the feedback we gave since Blizzcon taken into consideration until either towards the end of this expansion or the next. They cited DI was from years of players clamoring for it, not "recently we noticed an influx of people asking for this race".

That explanation was given to say: We are going to add the races we want, but we might also (if we feel like it and see enough demand) consider what the community is asking for.

Of course, but that's not a contradiction. It's just that they were interested in knowing what the community would want for the long term. Anything else would just be silly; they have to have a plan.