How would you feel if Night Elves and Blood Elves switched factions?

[MechaCThun]

Well, blood elves look more "human" than night elves, so aesthetically they would fit the Alliance look.

And also it would appease all of these over zealous "we want playable high elf" players who just really want to play white skinned elves on the Alliance.

[Syegfryed]

Where did this stupid joke come from anyway? One day I just start hearing it everywhere.

from the quests of the attack on teldrassil, the meme was so forced that is already cringe

[Kithelle]

Probably do some good if they were...Alliance Elves apparently are meant to be minute and meaningless while Horde Elves are meant to be classy and special.

But then again you can say that for every race in the Alliance that isn't humon...while every race gets at least a little shine in the Horde, and people say there is no bias lol.

[Powerogue]

from the quests of the attack on teldrassil, the meme was so forced that is already cringe

With Shandris Feathermoon? I went and looked it up and it was already cut from the beta dialogue, yet people still whine about it.

[Syegfryed]

yet people still whine about it.

and they forever will, is how it works

[Lochton]

The Horde is more naturey and wild, and the Alliance is more institutional and industrialized. I think thematically, it wouldn't be a stretch to say they would fit.

And if they did switch, the Night Elves could roam freely across Kalimdor again, and it would end the faction war since both factions would be more or less continent-locked.

But that's not what I'm getting at.

Hypothetical: Suppose for whatever reason they switch factions. If it made sense lore-wise, would you be okay with it?

Eh, dunno, honestly. It wouldn't make much sense.

[matrix123mko]

It would be logical for Vanilla. Now it's too late.

[Eazy]

Where did this stupid joke come from anyway? One day I just start hearing it everywhere.

No idea. Shandrish probably said something like that in the quest(?).

So far only two gave into the human potential, but I guess that is all it takes

Three most important - Windrunners!
They will follow their leaders.

[Rozz]

Night elves already have a strong bond with the Tauren. The are very in tune with nature and the elements.
If the Orcs met them under less aggressive circumstances, their mutual consideration for the elements could lead into something deeper and more mutual. It's not impossible, since the orcs were able to live with even the dreanei in peace before the legion.

The biggest source of conflict would be between the trolls and night elves, who have a lot of bitter history towards each other. But even that could be overlooked, if Night Elves wanted to use the Horde as a buffer to protect their lands. They could still feel superior and look down on the other races, but consider them worth while meat bags to keep humans and the magic abusing Alliance from their lands/shores.

There are many ways how this could've happened, but it just didn't and now it never will. Tbh it would've been pretty cool imo and since the Horde is a faction of begrudging alliances and conflict, it could've fit well. But the lore didn't go that way

[Gurluas]

Would make no sense at all, considering the nightborne joined due to the blood elves' compassion, and the night elves hate the horde for encroaching on their forests.

So it would not make sense lore-wise.



From the Warcraft 3 perspective, we know exactly why they favored leaving the alliance even before the horde reached out to them. Mainly due to one very infamous douchebag.

That was one person who commanded a remnant of the Alliance without any higher ups to keep him under control.
The High elves everywhere else in the Alliance even in vanilla makes it pretty clear they were still very open to be Alliance.

Warcraft 3 was more pushing for Belves, Naga, Fel Orcs and Draenei to form a new faction called the Illidari
while the Alliance was setup to be High elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Humans

Then you had the Horde, consisting of Orcs, Jungle Trolls and Tauren, and finally you had the Night elves and the Forsaken who were their own factions. The Night elves consisted of Night elves, Dryads, Furbolgs, Faerie Dragons, etc.

The Forsaken consisted of all sorts of Scourge defectors, from common Zombies to Banshees, Abominations, Nerubians, etc.

WoW was where what Warcraft 3 setup was mostly wiped away. The Night elves and Forsaken were extremely neutered to make them enter the Horde and Alliance. Most of the faction members were either retconned away or changed to no longer be as close.

Forsaken consist mostly of common Zombies now instead of all sorts of Undead for instance. And the Night elf faction members were reduced to being generic allies like Dryads, or to not even be allied at all anymore, like Mountain Giants, Chimaera and Faerie Dragons.

The High elves however, were still very much portrayed as Alliance members in Vanilla wow, with Blood elves instead being evil dangerous followers of Illidan, hostile to both factions or neutral.

[sam86]

since nelfs hate to orcs for 'killing' cenarius was bullshit since we later learn that cenarius doesn't 'die' and they only sent him back to emerald dream and chill for few days, it make nelf anger in first place on orcs has no weight or meaning

still by now specially with wow events (and u know, burning their tree), doubt nelfs want to join horde at all, maybe in vanilla (also back then we thought cenarius was 'dead')

and we literally have nightborn in that exact role, playable nelf for horde side, and alliance get emo elves

my feelings would still the same, neutral, since cata and (not sure who said it ? ghostcrawler or metzen?) the rule of 'kool' and lore bend its ass to gameplay priority i should also shit on lore and give up on it since blizz did that
In case u don't know, yes blizzard said that from that point forward since they had struggle/problem to represent lore in-game without harming gameplay, they will prioritize gameplay over lore, and bend lore to fit gameplay not other way around or many any compromise for it, they said that prior to Catacylsm, I don't remember who said it, but it is why we had a big apology for the Draenei retcon at TBC launch, while holy cows got 'go fuck urself' as explanation from blizzard

[Amnaught]

The High Elves were already members of the Alliance. The Blood Elves do not fit the Alliance anymore. They barely fit the Horde, and wouldn't if not for the Nightborne and Forsaken. I sincerely want them to take another hit. I fucking hate high elves, and want to go back to the demon-colluding mana addicted naaru-eaters The Horde allied with. I would be pissed if they went full high elf retard and joined the alliance, finally finishing off my beloved race of crazed monsters.

[Amathricus]

Given their early... we'll say lifestyles, the Alliance would never have let them join. They literally use to pull magic from things. It would be highly unlikely for the Alliance to accept that. The early idea seemed to be they were beautiful and dark. They had a narru held prisoner and were drawing magic to mimic the "Light" magic the Alliance Paladins used. And of course, given the Forsaken's presence in the Horde and the fact the Banshee Queen herself was once a Blood Elf, not to mention the quest-line to join the Horde in the first place is bridged directly from her, it makes sense for them to be in the Horde.

The Orcs have little trouble decimating a forest to build fortresses. They have little regard for nature in the way Night Elves do. The Night Elves just don't fit with in the Horde, much like the Blood Elves of old do not fit in the Alliance. They probably would now. With Kael'thas no longer the leader and Lady Liadrin has become a much more 'good' character compared to the bitter ex-priest turned Paladin she once was, it would make more sense.

As for my personal feelings, no thanks. I wouldn't want the Night Elves in the Horde. I don't like their leader and for the reasons above, they just wouldn't fit. The Tauren barely fit at this point honestly. If anyone would fit better in the opposing faction it would be them. Their connection with the Night Elves and druidism in general make them a better fit. Of course, their honor and their version of honor sync up with Thrall's sect of Orcs, again, in my opinion.

As for the Blood Elves in the Alliance? I personally wouldn't like it, I'm happy in the Horde under Sylvanas, rather than follow the Blue under Anduin whom I use to enjoy, but find insufferable now.

[Feril]

Blood elves already did that and it was one of the worst decisions Blizzard has had the misfortune of excreting.

[Shibito]

Blood elves already did that and it was one of the worst decisions Blizzard has had the misfortune of excreting.

Still mad you dont have your perfect blonde elf on alliance i see

[Dannihilate]

This. Though with the undead being undead, I am not sure how the story would have made sense if the humans were suddenly okay with the Forsaken being among them; they could have addressed this in a pretty similar way it was addressed for them joining the Horde. Have someone on the Alliance champion their cause, essentially sponsering them the same way the Tauren effectively sponsered the forsaken joining the horde. In hindsight; Vareesa could have been that character with her connection to Sylvanas; making it a positive relationship over what it became.

As for the Night Elves; no explanation is even needed. It made perfect sense for the Night Elves to be friendly with Thralls horde, especially considering Grommash was dead by then. They already had acceptable; if not outright friendly relations with the Tauren too. They would of course have been the odd-group-out, Thrall having to work with Tyrande and Malfurion to address the damage to Ashenvale caused by the Warsong during first contact; but that could have been used as an interesting story point for the horde story.

It would have been an interesting story, Horde taking the more "Nature's Wrath" kind of approach which Thralls horde absolutely fit and the Alliance taking the industrial approach. I would have enjoyed this direction; but it would definitely have been pretty far removed from the original horde; which I think Blizzard decided to try and capture more of instead.




But again; that would ONLY have worked at the beginning. Now? Impossible. Even if you replace BFA, still impossible. We'd have to go back to probably Wrath (at minimum) for that kind of switch to work.

Completely agree. When I first started playing back in vanilla, I never understood why the Nelves went to the Alliance, especially with the established Druid connection to the Tauren and the fact that the Nelves were described as being pretty savage. I would love to see this version of the game, where from the start the E.Kingdoms belong to the Alliance and Kalimdor is Horde. BC could have been completely different too, with the Belves joining the Alliance, giving them their precious Helves.

[Blizzard Moneybot]

I want the factions to end and everyone to remove their stinking non-purple asses from Night Elf land, be they orc or human.

[Feril]

Still mad you dont have your perfect blonde elf on alliance i see

So much projecting... do you do movies and business presentations also, or just personal family trip slides? :O

[AcidicSyn]

Completely agree. When I first started playing back in vanilla, I never understood why the Nelves went to the Alliance, especially with the established Druid connection to the Tauren and the fact that the Nelves were described as being pretty savage. I would love to see this version of the game, where from the start the E.Kingdoms belong to the Alliance and Kalimdor is Horde. BC could have been completely different too, with the Belves joining the Alliance, giving them their precious Helves.

Aye, and while the Helves could be explained in the lore. Have Stormwind denounce the actions of Garithos and have rebuilding trust with the elves as an interesting story point for the Alliance. I don't think the Horde would make sense with the Dranei, so either they would have had to receive a different race from Outland, or the lore created for the Draenei would have had to be different.

[Toppy]

But how else would Night Elves get all that potential?