And if the position in the last sentence there was the one most commonly reflected in your posts, we would be in a situation we we simply agree to disagree.
Instead, virtually all posts decrying playable High Elves as being impossible seek to factualize the idea that there aren't any distinctions between the groups at all.
An assertion which is narratively false, and enormously so, but which also presupposes that those who advocate for implementing playable High Elves actually want a clone of the Blood Elves (which, in case it isn't clear by the last 400 pages, is also eggregiously false).
It is also mildly curious that you're (and not only you, but the anti-HE crowd generally) stipulating here that you simply don't believe it is possible for Blizzard to depict High Elves as sufficiently unique from Blood Elves, despite there being 15-years of documented political and/or cultural divergence between the two which could easily be utilized to explain a myriad of unique aesthetics, but then simultaneously recommend that those interested in HE's should just learn to live Void Elves... a group of Blood Elves whom were made sudfciently unique from Blood Elves, and who didn't have the benefit of 15-years of narrative development.
This is basically addressed by my above statement. To my eyes, this assertion you're making reads a lot like this:
"I don't believe Blizzard is capable of depicting another group of Thalassians in a manner which is unique enough that it doesn't infringe upon the Blood Elves, so my recommendation is that you play this new group of Thalassians that Blizzard just implemented who are depicted in a manner which is unique enough that it doesn't infringe upon the Blood Elves."
You see how that position is flawed, no?
The vast majority of all posts citing Warcraft II-style High Elves are addressing the assertion that visual uniqueness between modern High Elves and modern Blood Elves is impossible.
They're not usually speaking to the culture at all, and instead are basically suggesting that in order for modern HE's to be made more visually distinct, they might become "romanticized".
This is basically little more than a musing on your part. Yes, sure, in theory there is nothing stopping someome from being both a disciplined fighter and an outspoken racist, but we are currently talking about modern High Elves.
I'm not sure if you simply don't play the Alliance, but the High Elves are depicted at almost all times as a generally humbled population.
Moreover, they tend to be portrayed as being aggressively defensive of their fellow member-states -- and while this next statement is likely to be dissected a thousand ways, the High Elves even showed up when danger lurked at the doorstep of Quel'thalas. The HE's were willing to work alongside a group who, by all rights was their primary enemy, because doing so preserved the possibility of reconciliation (in their eyes, this means BE's rejoining the Alliance; unbeknownst to them, this is a futile belief, owing to game mechanics.
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I wrote like 8 paragraphs in response to this, initially, but they were cut off by MMO-C. So the re-write is going to be exceptionally brief.
Basically, I should've been more clear about what I meant by "naturalist". I didn't intend for it to carry any of the in-game connotations (i.e. marked by the light usage of nature-based magic, as was common for "traditional Rangers").
I would much rather like to see emphasis placed on the presumption that the overwhelming majority of the people who would become BE's were individuals who utilized magic of any kind on a day-to-day basis (prior to the loss of the Sunwell), whereas the majority of the people who would become the modern HE's were people who did not use magic on a day-to-day basis (prior to the loss of the Sunwell).
This would actually go well with the idea of Vereesa Windrunner being a self-styled Ranger. Thus, it could be that playable HE's are depicted as adhering to a culture which is an extreme romanticisation of up there ancestral traditions, but which ironically has very little actual continuous relation to the original institutions.
I actually agree with your first point, that "traditional Rangers" being the driving for for a playable race would be superfluous, I just failed to properly articulate what I meant by "naturalist".
To the second point, I would agree that Farstriders are "a pillar of Blood Elven civilization" in the same way that the Highborne are "a pillar of Night Elven civilization".
The ladder didn't prevent the Nightborne from becoming a thing, so I see no reason why the former should prevent High Elves from becoming a thing. There are a few reasonable concerns with adding playable High Elves, but this isn't one of them. We haven't seen any significant grouping of Farstriders performing any notable feat since, what, TBC?
Edit: Also, the Farstriders were the frontline defense when Arthas invaded Quel'thalas. It is quite likely the majority of the original, "traditional Rangers" currently serve the Banshee Queen.