Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[FlubberPuddy]

Alliance High Elves and Blood Elves will always be the same people. Blood Elves are High Elves. High Elves are playable.

Honestly if this were true then we wouldn't have stuff like this being said:

There is a chance that new customization options could be added to the Void Elves to fill the High Elf fantasy.

https://www.mmo-champion.com/content...layers-DLC-654

The matter of fact is that the "High Elves" being discussed here are the group on Alliance that continue to use that name. Conflating it to the race "High Elves" is being purposefully obtuse and disingenuous. Especially for someone like Obelisk who's spent a lot of time on this topic and knows what's being talked about by this point.

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Nozdormu gives off a definite High Elf vibe without being able to be mistaken for a Blood Elf in any way:



Crazy idea: just rework existing Alliance High Elf NPCs into the Nozdormu style say they got the aid of a bit of magic from bronze dragons. Blam, we have BRONZE ELVES!

[Katchii]

Honestly if this were true then we wouldn't have stuff like this being said

But it IS true, people just don't like that they're on the Horde and don't have blue eyes. All Warcraft lore supports this claim, that High Elves are playable in the Horde as Blood Elves. What happens if Blood Elves get a blue eye option?

I understand the desire to have the "High Elves" on the Alliance side, with blue eyes and maybe some tattoos or something, that would be cool. But the fact remains that High Elves and Blood Elves are literally the same thing, they are the exact same race.

The lore regarding Alliance aligned High Elves support Blizzards reasoning, that they don't have a large enough population or centralized community to make it conceivable to be a playable race, given the numbers of people that would play them. Since Void Elves technically pull from both Blood and High Elf populations that's how they got around that in implementing them.

The only way I could see, lorewise based on Blizzards reasoning, Alliance getting a High Elf type playable race is if they were the Half-Elven children born of the pairings between High Elf and Human characters, like Arator.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

The reason motivation is a topic of discussion is perception.

Saying you want Alliance High Elves due to how you see them in the story, their lore, that earns a measure of respect and is understandable. But agitating primarily for a fair skinned, blonde haired, blue eyed elf comes across as shallow. It is desire that exists because this group wants to play that aesthetically pleasing Elf in the similarly pleasing (to them) aesthetic of the Alliance.

I would argue that Void Elves gave a lot of credence to the idea that those driven by aesthetics constitute a large chunk of the pro High Elf movement. After all, following their introduction there was a backlash driven by how they look and huge swathes of feedback asking Blizzard to modify the Void Elves to be closer to the High Elf ideal.

I accept that there are those who want High Elves for lore based reasons. But the sheer amount of feedback on Void Elves, the stuff Blizzard saw, showed anyone who cared to look that the big problem with Void Elves was that they weren't the High Elves. And what is the most obvious difference between High Elves and Void Elves? Their skin tones. Their whole look.

Yet there are still people that have given their reasons, and feedback, based on lore, regardless. So to keep saying "Well most people seem to want them because aesthetics" is disingenuous. You keep propping what you consider the weaker argument as the most representative, to the point you justify no other feedback being heard. Feedback was given based on lore, for many months, Blizz doesn't gets a pass for focusing on surface rather than actually addressing the lore issues raised, as if they would be blameless for not actually trying to engage with their audience and just generalize. Like you continuously do.

The thing is about the aesthetics feedback was that it was the majority of the feedback of the time. The Unofficial Void Elf threads were mostly concerned with fixing Void Elves to be closer to High Elves. I still recall around this time last year DeicideUH, a prominent pro High Elfer who was active in these forums, rushed here to announce progress because he felt that one of the skin tones on a Void Elf NPC had been made more High Elf like (it later turned out he had taken the image while the NPC was lit by an external light source).

I can get that it is frustrating that your objections to Void Elves are drowned out by those who had a more superficial motivation, but that cannot be helped. I don't believe it is easy to so neatly segment the pro High Elf community into those driven by the lore and those driven by aesthetics. All share the same goal after all, playable Alliance High Elves. You cannot grant playable Alliance High Elves to those driven by the lore and withhold them from those whose motivation is purely looks. So while it is possible to recognize the different motivations, that does not change opinion on the desired end result.

As for your objection to the lore based feedback being ignored, that assumes everyone is on the same page and regards the High Elves as having a strong lore based case. Needless to say, many people disagree with that.

The conversation also was about giving Void Elves high elf background. Again, all you are doing is nitpicking one aspect while dimissing the whole rest of the conversation, which is again, disingenuous. And Decide if I recall correctly, also hoped for VE to be made out of HE, he also wanted the aesthetic. You are de-contextualizing what someone said.

I never felt that in the conversations my concerns were drowned by more "superficial" reasons. That's the narrative you are parading and I certainly object, cause it's obvious you are using it as justification as to why more "sensible" feedback wasn't heard. Feedback was given. On those same threads.

As I maintain, the sole difference between a Blood Elf and a High Elf is political. It was initiated in an ideological schism a mere thirteen years ago in game,

but that ideological issue was rendered moot with the restoration of the Sunwell

. This leaves only the political aspect of their divergence, whether they are Horde or Alliance.

It is not a mistake to conflate looking like a Blood Elf with playing a High Elf. Blood Elves are High Elves. They represent the warcraft ideal of the High Elf trope in fantasy.

An Alliance High Elf would have been born in and lived in Silvermoon for most of their life, so has every Blood Elf.
An Alliance High Elf would have an addiction to magic, so does every Blood Elf.
An Alliance High Elf would be sustained by the Sunwell, so is every Blood Elf.
An Alliance High Elf is a fair skinned, so is every Blood Elf.

I mean for starters the political difference is enough, but to say that the ideological differences are "moot" now, despite the consequences they had, it's just silly. It compounds.

Yet the high elf fantasy -the one people are asking for- is inextricably linked to their part on the Alliance. To say that the political difference is not enough when is THE reason for wanting High Elves, is simply not understanding why people want them on the first place. Cause the fantasy people want is about that loyalty, about choosing ideologically rather than follow your ruler. That you simply default to the mana tap schism shows you do not understand that for people that want High Elves is because of the Second War and the elves that chose not to leave.

That's the fantasy people want, that of loyalty to the alliance. Blood Elves will NEVER give that fantasy.

I could go on. In every respect, up until the point of ideological divergence, a Blood Elf is indistinguishable from an Alliance High Elf.
The fantasy of being a political exile does not create a new theme, aesthetic, culture or physical look. High Elves maintain all of that. What they are, is Alliance Blood Elves.

This opinion simply bothers me, cause you are really telling me that a group of expats living hosted by another culture and assimilating for you is impossible to lead to a new culture or aesthetic or themes. As if environment and context didn't affect ideology and way of living. Ack.

Forgive me for my poor wording. When I said minor consideration, what I meant was that while your motivation is genuine, it is not enough of a rationale to justify breaking the faction wall and undermining both the integrity of the Horde and the integrity of the Blood Elves by making their aesthetic, theme and culture de facto cross faction. While I know you believe that the introduction of High Elves would not do these things, I am absolutely of the belief that they would and as we know, Blizzard agrees.

Yet they gave the alliance literal Blood Elves in a costume. I am sorry but any qualms about "preserving faction identity" just ring shallow given that VE's exist, when their only difference is a blue hue and a transmog set. They are literal blood elves with less cultural differentiation than High Elves, but it is only because of shallow aesthetic reasons they are playable.

The presence of those scholars is implication enough...in fact a small grammatical note, this is a textbook definition of what 'implication' means.

im·pli·ca·tion
/ˌimpləˈkāSH(ə)n/Submit
noun
1.
the conclusion that can be drawn from something, although it is not explicitly stated.

It is not explicitly stated that the scholars experimenting with void energy are being trained in preparation for a full scale conversion, but the implication IS there. I have said before your best option is to make a leap of faith regarding Void Elves and roleplay your Void Elf as an Alliance High Elf who took the plunge. Whilst I would prefer it was stated explicitly rather than implicitly, I cannot agree that playable Alliance High Elves are a valid solution because of a lack of that explicit confirmation.

Even were it to be confirmed that Void Elves could not create new Void Elves, and that they are in fact all Blood Elves, I would still believe that the maintenance of the integrity of my faction and one of the core races of my faction, the Blood Elves, trumps your lore based desire to play an Alliance High Elf and deservedly so.

The only implication is that Blood Elves and High Elves are studying the Void. That's not implicating they can BECOME Void Elves. Again, implication is not speculation.

Also again with the faction integrity bit while we literally got Blood Elves. Sorry, it really rings shallow, because now you sound like the one considering aesthetics more relevant than lore.

I agree that Helf skin tones, even the likelier Helf-like rather than Helf-exact, would diminish the Void Elves. And it unsurprising for Blood Elf players to be against as it is part of their racial uniqueness to which every race in this game is entitled

I never said the pro High Elf side was causing all the pushback, as an anti High Elf commentator I have been responsible for a lot of pushback myself. I hope in fact that some of the feedback I have offered, and others have offered, was instrumental in the creation of the Void Elves, the thalassian elf that doesn't step on the toes of the Horde or the Blood Elves.

And yet we have literal blood elves. I really can't stress this enough. You keep talking about faction identity, but it seems more and so that for you that's only based on the aesthetic.

Pandaren were a one off, an experiment, conceived of as a neutral race with a story rooted in that neutrality. It was also an attempt to see if they could save Blizzard money and time in that they only had to create one starting zone rather than two for a pair of faction aligned races, and two rigs (male and female) rather than four for a pair of faction aligned races.

And it has been seven years since Pandaren were unveiled and six since they were added. One dev at least expressed that the cost to faction diversity as a result of the Pandaren was too much...and they were designed to be neutral. Turning a Horde unique race de facto neutral after eleven years is not the same thing.

Besides, the Allied race system with it's ability to reuse old rigs and lack of a need for a starting zone renders neutrality unnecessary as a time saving measure...and heightens the downsides of neutrality.

It's still precedent, that's the point, and as I said, I'm not asking for the same treatment.

Which firstly would still be a fair-skinned, blonde haired thalassian elf with an addiction to the Sunwell and secondly relies on a minscule level of difference as a justification. Stance and voice emotes does not justify a new Allied race and such a group would with one hundred percent certainty undermine the integrity of the Horde and the Blood Elves.

There is a minimum level of difference between an existing race and a variant to be justifiable and if you want to know what that minimum is, look no further than the Void Elves and the Nightborne.

You completely miss the point that aesthetically, a High Elf with a unique stance and animations would look as different as Nigthborne does from a Night Elf. The point is that the model can be different for difference's sake without biological reasons.

And again claiming that it would undermine the integrity of blood elves and the horde. More than Nightborne and Void Elves have done? That's the dissonance I feel.

When people say High Elves could differentiate, they propose High Elves creating a new culture by exaggerating elements that came from the Blood Elves, more outdoorsy, exaggerated tattoos. Traycor's work at the start of this thread show what I mean by this. Alliance High Elves are NOT differentiating from Blood Elves to create something new. They are either clinging to what they know or, when they DO change, it is to adopt some kind of human mannerism or custom.

Mannerisms and attitude is not enough. Those are individual traits, not racial. The gold standard remains that if a Blood Elf can do something you are proposing for High Elf differentiation, then it's not enough.

The point is that they COULD, Kai... to help differentiation. You say they are not different enough and then are against people that say "let's make them different enough." People want to make them different to make them playable, but it seems you want them to NOT be different enough so they never can.

That's my biggest gripe I'm having with you rn. Pro HE people have been all this time promosing ways to making them different enough, yet you dismiss that because if they could be made different enough... then they could be playable.

People are telling you they are okay with moving awat from BE themes and aesthetics, but you dismiss it out of hand because it actually solves what you claim to be your issue "preserve blood elven integrity."

The reason Void Elves qualified is that they were physically transformed. There was an outside stimulus that provoked changes. No matter how much a Blood Elf tries, without undergoing the transformative process there is no way they can simulate what a Void Elf is. Void Elves now have their own aesthetic, their own theme that is derived from that transformation.

Most importantly, that transformation turned them into Void Elves but it also turn them out of being a Blood/High Elf.

Alliance High Elves and Blood Elves will always be the same people. Blood Elves are High Elves. High Elves are playable.

Alliance High Elves are not playable Kai. No matter how much you miss the point about people wanting to play that exclusively Alliance fantasy they see in High Elves. Void Elves are still culturally Blood Elves.

As long as you don't get why High Elves are wanted because they are part of the Alliance, you are bound to misunderstand the point. It's not the model, it can be changed, it's not the aesthetic, that can be changed, It's about loyalty to the alliance, not leaving the alliance. Disagree as you may, but you have to understand that is the appeal, so anything that you say that does not addresses that will miss the point.

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Honestly if this were true then we wouldn't have stuff like this being said:



https://www.mmo-champion.com/content...layers-DLC-654

The matter of fact is that the "High Elves" being discussed here are the group on Alliance that continue to use that name. Conflating it to the race "High Elves" is being purposefully obtuse and disingenuous. Especially for someone like Obelisk who's spent a lot of time on this topic and knows what's being talked about by this point.

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Nozdormu gives off a definite High Elf vibe without being able to be mistaken for a Blood Elf in any way:



Crazy idea: just rework existing Alliance High Elf NPCs into the Nozdormu style say they got the aid of a bit of magic from bronze dragons. Blam, we have BRONZE ELVES!

IMO the problem is that some people like Kai don't understand that for some people that want High Elves is certainly about the lore over the aesthetics. Aesthetics can be changed, updated, redefined, a long as we actually follow the group of High Elves we want, which is, those High Elves that never left the alliance and remained loyal to it.

To continuously dismiss it as an issue about aesthetics, keeping the aesthetic inegrity of the blood elves, etc, just misses the point of why High Elves are wanted. Which is their lore, their context, their history, which is overall framed and stands aside from BE context, by being part of the Alliance.

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But it IS true, people just don't like that they're on the Horde and don't have blue eyes. All Warcraft lore supports this claim, that High Elves are playable in the Horde as Blood Elves. What happens if Blood Elves get a blue eye option?

I understand the desire to have the "High Elves" on the Alliance side, with blue eyes and maybe some tattoos or something, that would be cool. But the fact remains that High Elves and Blood Elves are literally the same thing, they are the exact same race.

The issue here is that for the people that want HE Ideology > Race

That's the crux of the issue, High Elves are a faction of a race from one side, in the other, with their own background and reasons for it. That IS what makes them appealing on the first place. They are conceptually attractive for that reason, so the arbitrary racial division of factions reveals itself as such when we see that groups of the same races can have completely opposite political views.

The lore regarding Alliance aligned High Elves support Blizzards reasoning, that they don't have a large enough population or centralized community to make it conceivable to be a playable race, given the numbers of people that would play them. Since Void Elves technically pull from both Blood and High Elf populations that's how they got around that in implementing them.

The only way I could see, lorewise based on Blizzards reasoning, Alliance getting a High Elf type playable race is if they were the Half-Elven children born of the pairings between High Elf and Human characters, like Arator.

Yeh the population argument doesn't float. Void Elves so far are ONLY from Umbric's group. So far the only High Elf that has gone void is Alleria, and we don't even know more VE's can be made. So for now, Void Elves are still a "crack squad."

I agree about Half Elves tho. As someone's who's priority is "to see the high elf story move forward" I think Half Elves are a good way to do so

[FlubberPuddy]

But it IS true, people just don't like that they're on the Horde and don't have blue eyes. All Warcraft lore supports this claim, that High Elves are playable in the Horde as Blood Elves. What happens if Blood Elves get a blue eye option?

Let me ask you this: Why haven't Blood Elves gotten Blue Eyes yet? If they did then that would ofc dampen the spirit of those who want playable Alliance High Elves. But as has already been talked about, Blizzard uses visuals greatly to show differences, and so far for the vast majority of the game and NPCs that inhabit it: Blue Eyes signify a High Elf and Green (now also Gold) signifies Blood Elves. Unexplained edge cases are just that - unexplained edge cases.

I understand the desire to have the "High Elves" on the Alliance side, with blue eyes and maybe some tattoos or something, that would be cool. But the fact remains that High Elves and Blood Elves are literally the same thing, they are the exact same race.

A lot of people against High Elves are making it about the race, this misses the point. Call the Alliance High Elves "Silver Elves" or "Human thot Elves" or whatever else you want to make it easier for you to understand that it's a specific group of elves that's currently and has been Alliance loyal is being asked for to be playable.

If High Elf fans just cared about the "race" then Void Elves fulfill that regard. That there is still continual talk and threads created about Alliance High Elves shows that the popularity and demand for them is still there.

Again if they truly wanted to shut the door on High Elves they could've done so in any number of ways: Blue Eyes to Blood Elves as a "High Elves rejoin with Blood Elves", not showcasing the Silver Covenant constantly and keeping them confined to Wrath expansion, not adding more High Elf NPCs to Alliance side, killing off Alliance High Elves through some disease/plague specific to them, etc.

That's not the case though, the case is there is some possibility that High Elf fantasy can come to the Alliance, and while the question was in context of VE customization, that doesn't stop High Elf fans from showcasing that it would be better to have Alliance High Elves be stand-alone AR.

The lore regarding Alliance aligned High Elves support Blizzards reasoning, that they don't have a large enough population or centralized community to make it conceivable to be a playable race, given the numbers of people that would play them. Since Void Elves technically pull from both Blood and High Elf populations that's how they got around that in implementing them.

Lore is always changing, dispersed High Elves right now doesn't mean dispersed High Elves forever. So many examples of this: Blood Elves are not the same society as when they were released and it only took within an expansion to change this. The Dwarven clans aren't still having animosity between all 3 clans and work together now. And wherever the lore has moved forward. Oh that Vereesa was invited to Tyrande's wedding to showcase that Night Elves and High Elves are getting better on foot.

You know what hasn't changed much? That High Elves and Blood Elves still hate each other for the most part and are loyal to their respective factions.

The only way I could see, lorewise based on Blizzards reasoning, Alliance getting a High Elf type playable race is if they were the Half-Elven children born of the pairings between High Elf and Human characters, like Arator.

Half-elves would be a dope idea and I would be all for it honestly because they would be unique in being the only half-x race as well as allowing for more freedom in aesthetics/builds.

I just think it was said somewhere by Blizzard that half-races are exceedingly rare that's why we don't see a whole lot of them around. But a continuation of the High Elf lore through Half-elves would be sufficient enough for me. Heck I already said that if VE were made from HE I wouldn't be here asking for High Elves in the first place. It just honestly wouldn't make sense for HE who admonished BE for relying on heavy chaotic magic use to turn around and willingly join VEs, unless they were somehow forced into it or had no other choice to survive.

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IMO the problem is that some people like Kai don't understand that for some people that want High Elves is certainly about the lore over the aesthetics. Aesthetics can be changed, updated, redefined, a long as we actually follow the group of High Elves we want, which is, those High Elves that never left the alliance and remained loyal to it.

To continuously dismiss it as an issue about aesthetics, keeping the aesthetic inegrity of the blood elves, etc, just misses the point of why High Elves are wanted. Which is their lore, their context, their history, which is overall framed and stands aside from BE context, by being part of the Alliance.

I agree, especially when he knows it's about the specific group on Alliance (not the race as a whole) and that being Alliance loyal is what makes a huge part of what they are.

[Evilfish]

The irony in this is palpable.

No doubt. But that does not change the fact that you were told what your options are. Now I don't mind you disagreeing with that, it kinda bothers me when you start imposing your version of reality on others as reality itself. One of your tactics being to ridicule something that does not meld with your reality.

I'm pretty sure some of you hate my guts and that's fine but believe it or not I do want a resolution to this issue of yours and don't misunderstand me, I'm not "feeling" for you guys. I want to at least attempt to stop another cloning of the belfs and I'm not just talking about the model.

[Deleted]

Yes. The more the merrier.
I've tried playing Blood elves but it always felt awkward to me. I've no problem playing an Orc, troll or tauren while i'm on Horde. En elf however just feels wrong, unnatural. So I stick to Alliance mostly where I feel like they make sense and fit in.

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I wonder why that is.

Blizzard gave the Horde a race that were originally part of the Alliance. A decision which ultimately led to the Horde being the more popular and successful faction.

Do you know what happened in WarCraft III? Some Alliance scum tried to exterminate Blood Elves. No way they would return to these people. High Elves have no pride, no self-esteem, if they want to play lapdogs and bitches to the people who would be happy to send them off on suicide missions.

Blood Elves have been a perfect fit for the Horde. They have been abandoned by their former allies, they had to go through the Hell of mana withdrawal and combat extinction. They had their prince betray them to the Legion. The Horde was the exactly right place for this race.

The Alliance at that point had Night Elves. Who also have expelled the predecessors of Blood Elves from their homeland in the first place. How do you think would that turn out, getting Blood Elves - arcanists! - into the Alliance?

This is stupid beyond redemption.

[netherflame]

This is your daily reminder that non-purple skinned elves are waiting for you on the horde side. These threads should just be locked because they are just a cesspool of arguing weird lore facts.

[Strippling]

Yes. The more the merrier.
I've tried playing Blood elves but it always felt awkward to me. I've no problem playing an Orc, troll or tauren while i'm on Horde. En elf however just feels wrong, unnatural. So I stick to Alliance mostly where I feel like they make sense and fit in.

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I wonder why that is.

Blizzard gave the Horde a race that were originally part of the Alliance. A decision which ultimately led to the Horde being the more popular and successful faction.

This isn't lotr bud.

Also, high elfs were never part of the current Alliance until after WoW... where you know.... the main high elven society joined the Horde. High elfs were loosely allied to the Alliance of Lordaeron (which no longer exists), and even then their allegiance was fickle at best. SOME of these high elfs preferred human potential above their own kin, and decided to remain with the humans following the destruction of Quel'thalas. So stop acting entitled by thinking the high elfs, known as blood elfs, were ever part of the Alliance. The sense of entitlement in high elf fans truly baffles me at times.

[FlubberPuddy]

No doubt. But that does not change the fact that you were told what your options are. Now I don't mind you disagreeing with that, it kinda bothers me when you start imposing your version of reality on others as reality itself. One of your tactics being to ridicule something that does not meld with your reality.

Yeah the options we were recently told were to "not give up" and "door hasn't closed" and "just because High Elves aren't in BFA doesn't mean they'll never be" so with being told those things I'd say High Elf fans are safe to continue requesting playable Alliance High Elves.

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The Alliance at that point had Night Elves. Who also have expelled the predecessors of Blood Elves from their homeland in the first place. How do you think would that turn out, getting Blood Elves - arcanists! - into the Alliance?

This is stupid beyond redemption.

Yeah it is pretty stupid beyond redemption that Blizzard added ex-silvermoon blood elves void elves into the Alliance. We see only the night elf shandris feathermoon speak to umbric and there's no animosity shown there.

Actually with the convo that Malf and Lorash had it seems Night Elves don't give a flying fuck about Blood Elves but Blood Elves still can't let go of the past.

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Also, high elfs were never part of the current Alliance until after WoW... where you know.... the main high elven society joined the Horde.

This section concerns content related to the original World of Warcraft.

The high elves are in a state of diaspora. Most reside in human cities like Stormwind, Theramore, or Dalaran. Others live in seclusion in the wild forests, often in hunting lodges such as Farstrider Lodge.

Nathanos Blightcaller sent Horde adventurers to ransack the Quel'Lithien Lodge in order to recover the [Quel'Thalas Registry], which contained his true identity before he became undead.[30]

High Priestess Aurora Skycaller, originally found in Northpass Tower helped the Alliance adventurers to recreate the [Crystal of Zin-Malor]. Later she moved to below Quel'Lithien Lodge as the tower became a battlefield.

Several high elves became assassins of the Cult of the Dark Strand.

https://wow.gamepedia.com/High_elf

High Elves were part of Alliance in Vanilla before Blood Elves existed on Horde. Blood Elves only joined Horde in TBC. Therefore High Elves were and are part of the current Alliance.

High Elves were part of the Alliance in Warcraft 3 as well.

Despite the high elves' official departure from the Alliance, some elves still remain true to their former human and dwarven allies. The altruistic priests of Quel'Thalas refused to abandon their roles as healers and agreed to remain in Lordaeron despite the edicts from their reclusive masters in Silvermoon. The high elven priests use their Light-given powers to heal the wounded and bolster the spirits of Lordaeron's fighting elite.[2]

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Priest_(Warcraft_III)

As with the elven priests, the elven sorceresses who remained in Lordaeron paid little heed to their race's departure from the Alliance. These female magic users, serving as agents to the Kirin Tor of Dalaran, use their arcane powers to aid the Alliance in times of peril. Although their powers are not always used directly in combat, the sorceresses are able to aid their comrades with a wide array of specialized conjurings and magical effects.[1]

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Sorceress_(Warcraft_III)

Since Warcraft 3 is what 5 years before WoW, and we see High Elves on Alliance from the very beginning of WoW it doesn't take much to deduce that these High Elves that stayed with the Alliance of Lordaeron stayed with whatever transitions occurred to the Alliance of today.

[Strippling]

https://wow.gamepedia.com/High_elf

High Elves were part of Alliance in Vanilla before Blood Elves existed on Horde. Blood Elves only joined Horde in TBC. Therefore High Elves were and are part of the current Alliance.

High Elves were part of the Alliance in Warcraft 3 as well.



https://wow.gamepedia.com/Priest_(Warcraft_III)



https://wow.gamepedia.com/Sorceress_(Warcraft_III)

Since Warcraft 3 is what 5 years before WoW, and we see High Elves on Alliance from the very beginning of WoW it doesn't take much to deduce that these High Elves that stayed with the Alliance of Lordaeron stayed with whatever transitions occurred to the Alliance of today.

Wait... now you're agreeing that blood elfs are high elfs? You are confusing.

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Wait... now you're agreeing that blood elfs are high elfs? You are confusing.

Also, the high elfs in WCIII became the blood elfs. I don't get why anyone ever uses WCIII as evidence for Alliance high elfs. Everything about the high elfs in WCIII became blood elf lore. Thus further proving that high elfs are not unique enough from blood elfs to be a playable race... adding high elfs will no doubt detract from blood elfs in many ways, shapes and forms... and there is nothing that can suggest otherwise.

[Deleted]

Do you know what happened in WarCraft III? Some Alliance scum tried to exterminate Blood Elves. No way they would return to these people. High Elves have no pride, no self-esteem, if they want to play lapdogs and bitches to the people who would be happy to send them off on suicide missions.

Blood Elves have been a perfect fit for the Horde. They have been abandoned by their former allies, they had to go through the Hell of mana withdrawal and combat extinction. They had their prince betray them to the Legion. The Horde was the exactly right place for this race.

The Alliance at that point had Night Elves. Who also have expelled the predecessors of Blood Elves from their homeland in the first place. How do you think would that turn out, getting Blood Elves - arcanists! - into the Alliance?

This is stupid beyond redemption.

Different alliance. SW alliance had nothing to do with that, and it was the actions of an individual, not an official stance.

So, for example a bully at school took your lunch: You now hate every human!

Kind of over dramatic eh?

[FlubberPuddy]

Wait... now you're agreeing that blood elfs are high elfs? You are confusing.

Nowhere did I say that. I'm sure I can be confusing if you utterly and terribly misinterpret or stay in denial of proof that High Elves existed on Alliance from WC3 to WoW and before Blood Elves joined the Horde in TBC.

Also, the high elfs in WCIII became the blood elfs. I don't get why anyone ever uses WCIII as evidence for Alliance high elfs. Everything about the high elfs in WCIII became blood elf lore. Thus further proving that high elfs are not unique enough from blood elfs to be a playable race... adding high elfs will no doubt detract from blood elfs in many ways, shapes and forms... and there is nothing that can suggest otherwise.

It was meant to show that there is a continued bridge of High Elves that stayed Alliance loyal before Blood Elves were a faction of the Horde.

At this point, either you will get it or you won't. I'm not sure what's worse in that regard honestly.

[Deleted]

Different alliance. SW alliance had nothing to do with that, and it was the actions of an individual, not an official stance.

So, for example a bully at school took your lunch: You now hate every human!

Kind of over dramatic eh?

Look out of the window and into the newspapers. Happens every day in all parts of the world. Why do you think WoW would be different? Wars have been started for less reasons.

Suck it up, Blood Elves are the true Thallassian Elves. The others are traitors and exciles. Some of them are not even in the Alliance, but belong to Kirin Tor. And the small part which is in the Alliance are whoring for "security" and "human potential". Really disgusting.

It's really baffling how people use some fringe exceptions to adamantly demand High Elves as a playable race on the Alliance, but blatantly ignore the majority of lore about that race which had happened in WC III and in WoW since TBC though it's there in their faces.

Blood Elves are Horde. Alliance got Void Elves. End of story.

[FlubberPuddy]

I think adding Void Elves just made this "issue" even worse. If you're still wanting High Elves on the Alliance, you're delusional.

One could only be delusional if they ignored what Blizzard has said recently. That Alex Afrasiabi said yes it can happen, don't give up for getting the High Elf fantasy onto Alliance (through VE customization context) and that Ion "door hasn't closed" Hazzikostas said not being in bfa =/= not being in wow forever means it's still possible for High Elf fans to get playable High Elves in some form in the future.

Add onto this that Jeremy Feasel has hinted at Wildhammer Dwarves coming (which would be a 3rd dwarf iteration) and all this adds up to is exactly how Ion said it in the High Elf Q/A: "When we add an Allied Race, there's a desire to have things be even more distinct especially between the two factions with the faction conflict being so prominent."

A lot of people didn't pick up on that whole sentence, Ion's saying basically in BFA because Horde and Alliance are at each other's throats - they care at this time making AR more different between the two than similar.

That we know Dwarves with blue tats are incoming at some point later, means we can expect to see less different AR manifest as well (aka High Elves) at some point later too.

[Kithelle]

One could only be delusional if they ignored what Blizzard has said recently. That Alex Afrasiabi said yes it can happen, don't give up for getting the High Elf fantasy onto Alliance (through VE customization context) and that Ion "door hasn't closed" Hazzikostas said not being in bfa =/= not being in wow forever means it's still possible for High Elf fans to get playable High Elves in some form in the future.

Add onto this that Jeremy Feasel has hinted at Wildhammer Dwarves coming (which would be a 3rd dwarf iteration) and all this adds up to is exactly how Ion said it in the High Elf Q/A: "When we add an Allied Race, there's a desire to have things be even more distinct especially between the two factions with the faction conflict being so prominent."

A lot of people didn't pick up on that whole sentence, Ion's saying basically in BFA because Horde and Alliance are at each other's throats - they care at this time making AR more different between the two than similar.

That we know Dwarves with blue tats are incoming at some point later, means we can expect to see less different AR manifest as well (aka High Elves) at some point later too.

Pretty much a wait and see thing I guess, only time will tell.

But in the meantime you'll still have the rabid players who will say no to High Elves of any kind for various reasons...

[Gurluas]

Wait... now you're agreeing that blood elfs are high elfs? You are confusing.

- - - Updated - - -



Also, the high elfs in WCIII became the blood elfs. I don't get why anyone ever uses WCIII as evidence for Alliance high elfs. Everything about the high elfs in WCIII became blood elf lore. Thus further proving that high elfs are not unique enough from blood elfs to be a playable race... adding high elfs will no doubt detract from blood elfs in many ways, shapes and forms... and there is nothing that can suggest otherwise.

Wrong, while it's a true that a few early Wc3 High elves became Blood elves, particularly those who didn't follow Jaina to Theramore or resided in the lodges, almost all Blood elves were from Silvermoon. The "Reclusive masters" that were referred to in that lore. The majority of High elves were Alliance since the second war and remained so.

[FlubberPuddy]

Bingo. Void Elves with more High Elf-like customization. Wildhammer Dwarves are a long stretch. Anything can happen, but no one plays dwarves anyhow, and you're going to triple them up?

It's not my choice whether to add something into the game or not, that's all on Blizzard. As we can see that WH are being hinted at and that High Elf fantasy can come to Alliance, both requests have the validity of continuing on.

As before, to say someone is delusional for it is to ignore the recent Blizzard responses on the topics themselves. I work with what Blizzard says because it's their game, not yours or mine. Doesn't matter if there's players that find High Elves boring as fuck. There's players that don't.

Just like how there's complaining of different gameplay systems (azerite gear/Pathfinder) and Blizzard still handles it how they want to handle it with given feedback.

- - - Updated - - -

Pretty much a wait and see thing I guess, only time will tell.

But in the meantime you'll still have the rabid players who will say no to High Elves of any kind for various reasons...

Yeah, definitely have to wait, I'm okay with doing that. My fun of the game doesn't hinge on whether High Elves happen or not, but it's definitely my favorite group in the game from when I first started.

I mean players can say no 100s of times if they want to, it's still counts as 1 "no" per individual that says it regardless if that individual has said it 50x or more. Same for me and others saying "yes".

I'm just pretty sure the only reason those who have said no before continue to come in and say memes or it won't ever happen or close the thread are just trying to get quick jabs the pro-community while they still can.

It's just like when people asked for things in the past with some community pushback: Transmog, Classic WoW, Demonhunters.

Ultimately it's what Blizzard says that's all that matters.

[Obelisk Kai]

The conversation also was about giving Void Elves high elf background. Again, all you are doing is nitpicking one aspect while dimissing the whole rest of the conversation, which is again, disingenuous. And Decide if I recall correctly, also hoped for VE to be made out of HE, he also wanted the aesthetic. You are de-contextualizing what someone said.

I never felt that in the conversations my concerns were drowned by more "superficial" reasons. That's the narrative you are parading and I certainly object, cause it's obvious you are using it as justification as to why more "sensible" feedback wasn't heard. Feedback was given. On those same threads.

If you do not believe your concerns were drowned out by those driven by aesthetics, I must disagree. When Ion rejected High Elves in the Q and A, he focused on the aesthetic desire of the pro high elf community by saying that if a fair-skinned elf was wanted, the Horde was there. While it maybe perceived as snark, as someone who did read a lot of the feedback on the US and EU forums I am absolutely not surprised that a predominating desire for the aesthetics was what he ended up with.

Remember, you accuse me of generalizing because I apparently focus on the desire for aesthetics over the lore based interpretation. This misinterprets my point. My point is that those seeking High Elves, through their feedback on multiple forums, created the impression that they were primarily driven by aesthetics and that lore considerations were marginalized as a result or seen as a respectable fig-leaf for that aesthetic driven desire.

This also presumes I believe the lore based arguments to have a greater chance of success in swaying Blizzard than the aesthetic based arguments and that I focus on the aesthetic based argument as I have a greater chance of undermining it than the lore based stuff. This is incorrect.

While I acknowledge the presence of a lore based argument, and respect it has more value than those who are driven by the aesthetic, I do not regard the lore based argument as being particularly strong. I am of the opinion that the High Elves do not have a strong basis in lore as a separate group. For a people whose history is several thousands years long, the divergence of this group from Quel'thalas is just over a decade old and the number of individuals who left has been confirmed to be exceptionally small.

I mean for starters the political difference is enough, but to say that the ideological differences are "moot" now, despite the consequences they had, it's just silly. It compounds.

As an absolutely fundamental point of disagreement, the political difference is in no way enough to justify Alliance High Elves as an Allied race.

During some quests of the Cataclysm some of the Grimtotem Tauren aided the Alliance in few quests. They were a group exiled from their home and reviled as traitors. As a hypothetical, imagine if that relationship had deepened a little to the point that the Grimtotem were seen as being in league with the Alliance.

Would you be arguing that the 'political difference' there would be enough to justify a Grimtotem Tauren Alliance Allied race despite the fact they would be culturally, thematically and aesthetically identical to an already playable Horde race? If you believe that political difference is enough, then you must say yes.

Yet the high elf fantasy -the one people are asking for- is inextricably linked to their part on the Alliance.

The High Elf fantasy is not predicated on political alignment. The High Elf fantasy is one rooted in expectation from other fantasy universes. Warhammer, Tolkien, Feist. Long lived, pointy eared, almost etheral beings with a talent for magic. The Blood Elf fantasy fulfils every aspect of the High Elf fantasy that matters. The fact that they are members of the Horde does not undermine that nor does the Alliance High Elf membership of the Alliance provide a different experience.

To say that the political difference is not enough when is THE reason for wanting High Elves, is simply not understanding why people want them on the first place. Cause the fantasy people want is about that loyalty, about choosing ideologically rather than follow your ruler. That you simply default to the mana tap schism shows you do not understand that for people that want High Elves is because of the Second War and the elves that chose not to leave.

That's the fantasy people want, that of loyalty to the alliance. Blood Elves will NEVER give that fantasy.

Political alignment will never be enough of a reason. It will never be a strong basis for an Allied race. While it is the foundation of your desire to play a High Elf, it simply doesn't pass muster. A political difference is ultimately an opinion and that does not alter the culturel, aesthetic or theme of a race. A conservative and a labour voters are both still British. A Republican and a Democrat are both still Americans. An Alliance High Elf and a Blood Elf are still the same people. You cannot create racial distinctiveness from a political opinion (nor should anyone try).

This opinion simply bothers me, cause you are really telling me that a group of expats living hosted by another culture and assimilating for you is impossible to lead to a new culture or aesthetic or themes. As if environment and context didn't affect ideology and way of living. Ack.

Again, that would all be internal and incapable of representation. World of Warcraft is a faction based game and the factions are based on race, not ideology. A Blood Elf is a High Elf, and an Alliance High Elf is the same race as a Blood Elf. An Alliance High Elf is simply not different enough to justify being considered a different race. There is also the issue that you seemingly consider their circumstances of exile as the genesis of something new. It is not, they are doomed to fade away. They face cultural annhilation as they assimilate into Humanity (and you may as well play a Human for that aesthetic) and biologically, as Elisande said, they are mixing their blood with humanity. I would not be surprised to learn that there are now more young Half Elves in Dalaran than there are High Elves for example.
A group that is ending is not the logical place to look for a new culture, instead they cling to their Silvermoon past or the Human present...both of which currently find expression in Blood Elves and Humans respectively.

Yet they gave the alliance literal Blood Elves in a costume. I am sorry but any qualms about "preserving faction identity" just ring shallow given that VE's exist, when their only difference is a blue hue and a transmog set. They are literal blood elves with less cultural differentiation than High Elves, but it is only because of shallow aesthetic reasons they are playable.

Blood Elves are High Elves. High Elves are playable. The High Elves in the Alliance have been separate from the vast majority of their people for a scant few years, but they have undergone the same withdrawal from the Sunwell, they still feed on it today to sustain their addiction to magic. Whatever happens to the Blood Elves as a result of feeding on a light-arcane based power source will happen to the High Elves. The same people bound to the same fate.

In contrast,Void Elves WERE Blood Elves (and maybe High Elves). There was an outside stimulus that produced a physical transformation in the Void Elves. This changed their aesthetic.
They have now been orientated towards the void rather than the light that sustains their former people. This is a profound thematic difference, a light based race and a void based race.
The fact they are cut off from the Sunwell, cut off from the light has led to a warping of their culture. It is recognizably thalassian in origin, but different.

Void Elves therefore have achieved the necessary level of cultural, thematic and aesthetic differences to successfully differentiate themselves from the Blood Elves. High Elves in the Alliance have not been subjected to this level of change because there has been no outside force to act as an impetus as happened with the Void Elves.

The only implication is that Blood Elves and High Elves are studying the Void. That's not implicating they can BECOME Void Elves. Again, implication is not speculation.

The implication is there, but implication literally means that it is suggested without being explicitly stated. I feel Void Elf numbers and presence in the Alliance, as well as the classes available to them, do not tally with the small group of mage researchers ambushed by an ethereal. The Void Elves physically converting others interested in their path makes sense. I will concede that without being explicitly stated we cannot be sure, but that goes equally for the idea they CAN'T convert others.

Also again with the faction integrity bit while we literally got Blood Elves. Sorry, it really rings shallow, because now you sound like the one considering aesthetics more relevant than lore.

And yet we have literal blood elves. I really can't stress this enough. You keep talking about faction identity, but it seems more and so that for you that's only based on the aesthetic.

As argued above, to consider Void Elves as Blood Elves is to deliberately miss the point. They were Blood Elves, just as they were High Elves not so long ago. Yet while Blood Elves are High Elves, Void Elves are not Blood Elves (nor are they High Elves anymore). They are their own thing. Just as Lightforged Draenei are not ordinary Draenei, or Orcs the same as Mag'har Orcs, or Mecha-Gnomes the same as Gnomes. There are differences that justify their existence as a separate group.

A Blood Elf/High Elf will never be purple. A Blood Elf/High Elf will never grow tentacles. A Blood Elf/High Elf can never be like a Void Elf without actually becoming a Void Elf.

Blood Elf aesthetics are an important part of what comprises their race. As is their culture and theme. Void Elf aesthetics were deliberately differentiated for a reason. Blood Elf aesthetics should remain unique, as every other race in the game has a right to a unique aesthetic.

It's still precedent, that's the point, and as I said, I'm not asking for the same treatment.

It is not precedent, it was an experiment. One that failed. They made a mistake. Just because they made a mistake once is no justification to repeat the error. As for asking for the same treatment, you wish to play a race present on the Horde within the Alliance and their sole difference is to be their ideology. That is exactly the same as the Pandaren, whose saving grace was that both groups were introduced at the same time and not thirteen years apart.

You completely miss the point that aesthetically, a High Elf with a unique stance and animations would look as different as Nigthborne does from a Night Elf. The point is that the model can be different for difference's sake without biological reasons.

Nightborne were differentiated by ten thousand years of separation and drinking from the Nightwell. Any stance and animation changes subtly enhance that differentiation, they are not the be all and end all of all differences.

And again claiming that it would undermine the integrity of blood elves and the horde. More than Nightborne and Void Elves have done? That's the dissonance I feel.

Not really. Void Elves were moved as far thematically from Blood Elves, a light based race to a shadow based race, as possible. Similarly Nightborne were moved as far thematically from Night Elves, a Druidic race who lives in the woods to an Arcane race who lives in a city, as possible. Both groups were granted unique cultures, themes and aesthetics to justify their presence as an Allied race that would not step on the toes of the Blood Elves or Night Elves. Was I keen for the models to be shared? Nope, I would have preferred them to remain faction specific. But that's part of the compromise represented by Void Elves, we lost a monopoly on the model but we still keep a monopoly on the theme, aesthetics and culture of High Elves as portrayed by the Blood Elves.

The point is that they COULD, Kai... to help differentiation. You say they are not different enough and then are against people that say "let's make them different enough." People want to make them different to make them playable, but it seems you want them to NOT be different enough so they never can.


That's my biggest gripe I'm having with you rn. Pro HE people have been all this time promosing ways to making them different enough, yet you dismiss that because if they could be made different enough... then they could be playable.

People are telling you they are okay with moving awat from BE themes and aesthetics, but you dismiss it out of hand because it actually solves what you claim to be your issue "preserve blood elven integrity."

The gold standard as I said is that if a Blood Elf can imitate any of the suggested changes, it is not enough. None of the changes suggested are beyond being replicated by a Blood Elf.

Tattoos can be replicated. Hairstyles can be replicated. Everything can be replicated in every single one of these suggestions.

The worst thing is that it undermines Blood Elf integrity simply by being labelled 'high elf'. Once again, Blood Elves are High Elves. Everything a Blood Elf is therefore is by definition High Elf. Once you have a playable race called 'high elf' then they become the true High Elves by virtue of the moniker alone and are able to redefine the concept. That is fundamentally unfair to what Blood Elves are, which is High Elves. Alliance players cannot be permitted to appropriate and redefine the culture of a core Horde race, which is what I mean when I talk about Blood Elf integrity.

Alliance High Elves are not playable Kai. No matter how much you miss the point about people wanting to play that exclusively Alliance fantasy they see in High Elves. Void Elves are still culturally Blood Elves.

As long as you don't get why High Elves are wanted because they are part of the Alliance, you are bound to misunderstand the point. It's not the model, it can be changed, it's not the aesthetic, that can be changed, It's about loyalty to the alliance, not leaving the alliance. Disagree as you may, but you have to understand that is the appeal, so anything that you say that does not addresses that will miss the point.

And Alliance High Elves are still culturally Blood Elves, as shown by their use of thalassian titles and connection to the Sunwell. The Alliance fantasy is being what is a Blood Elf within the Alliance. That is not justifiable in terms of faction diversity and Blood Elf integrity.
Loyalty to the other faction is not sufficient justification to break the faction wall on those terms. Differentiation can not be justified on these terms.


I personally believe the best solution to your issue is to agitate for Half Elves. They would have the space to be their own thing without triggering Horde players and could carry forward the legacy of the High Elves within the Alliance.

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Bingo. Void Elves with more High Elf-like customization. Wildhammer Dwarves are a long stretch. Anything can happen, but no one plays dwarves anyhow, and you're going to triple them up?

Void Elves with High Elf like customization is clearly a far likelier option than actual Alliance High Elves given that Void Elves give them something to work with it. I still oppose it, as the aesthetic is the clearest dividing line between Blood/High Elves and Void Elves but the possibility is definitely there.

If Blizzard were to seriously look at the possibility, the same considerations that drove the creation of Void Elves in the first place would return (the need to differentiate Alliance thalassians from the Blood Elves). This could lead to them abandoning the idea or returning with some horrible monkey paw result.

After all, I would caution there is a difference between High Elf like and High Elf exact.

Fair skin mottled with purple veins. Or purple hands, purple feet and dark shadows around the eyes. Things like that.

[Katchii]

Wrong, while it's a true that a few early Wc3 High elves became Blood elves, particularly those who didn't follow Jaina to Theramore or resided in the lodges, almost all Blood elves were from Silvermoon. The "Reclusive masters" that were referred to in that lore. The majority of High elves were Alliance since the second war and remained so.

The lore doesn't support this. Only a relative few supported the Alliance in the second war. Of those few, some followed Vereesa, Alleria or Jaina to be in Theramore, Dalaran, scattered to the winds or lost in Outland. At this point any official allegiance to the Alliance was tenuous at best, if not outright nonexistent, the only allegiance any had were on an individual basis not a racial faction allegiance to the Alliance.

Kael'thas then gathered most of them around the third war. During the third war about 90% of the entire High Elven population was eradicated, both through the betrayal of Garithos (which is why the race didn't ally itself with the Alliance) and through the Scourge invasion. It was in remembrance of this sacrifice and near genocide that Kael'thas chose to change their race name to Blood Elves. The only remaining High Elves who did not partake of this name change were never part of the conflict to begin with as weren't part of the Alliance and were just scattered to the wind, were living in Theramore or Dalaran or were stuck in Outland....the thing they all have in common is that they didn't witness the betrayal of Garithos, the impetus for driving the remaining Quel'thalas elves AWAY from the Alliance and ultimately into the Horde, though a few chose to leave Quel'thalas during this time as well.

Of the remaining few actual High Elves, scant few were actually officially allied with the Alliance, as opposed to just living their lives. "High Elves," as a race aren't officially allied with the Alliance, the ones fighting in the alliance are the individuals who chose to live in Alliance lands or were part of the Silver Covenant in Dalaran.

[Gurluas]

The lore doesn't support this. Only a relative few supported the Alliance in the second war. Of those few, some followed Vereesa, Alleria or Jaina to be in Theramore, Dalaran, scattered to the winds or lost in Outland. At this point any official allegiance to the Alliance was tenuous at best, if not outright nonexistent, the only allegiance any had were on an individual basis not a racial faction allegiance to the Alliance.

Kael'thas then gathered most of them around the third war. During the third war about 90% of the entire High Elven population was eradicated, both through the betrayal of Garithos (which is why the race didn't ally itself with the Alliance) and through the Scourge invasion. It was in remembrance of this sacrifice and near genocide that Kael'thas chose to change their race name to Blood Elves. The only remaining High Elves who did not partake of this name change were never part of the conflict to begin with as weren't part of the Alliance and were just scattered to the wind, were living in Theramore or Dalaran or were stuck in Outland....the thing they all have in common is that they didn't witness the betrayal of Garithos, the impetus for driving the remaining Quel'thalas elves AWAY from the Alliance and ultimately into the Horde, though a few chose to leave Quel'thalas during this time as well.

Of the remaining few actual High Elves, scant few were actually officially allied with the Alliance, as opposed to just living their lives. "High Elves," as a race aren't officially allied with the Alliance, the ones fighting in the alliance are the individuals who chose to live in Alliance lands or were part of the Silver Covenant in Dalaran.

I'm talking about the ones who did not rename themselves to Blood elves. The lore strongly points to this. High elves are the ones who remained in the Alliance for the most part. The only exception are the lordaeronian High elves who followed Kael and became Blood elves. The rest of the Blood elves are primarily from Silvermoon.

The High elves are ones who are: In Dalaran, Staying in the Lodges, Living in Theramore, Living in Stormwind, Part of the Alliance Expedition and the Silver Covenant.

The ones in Lodges are not part of the Silver Covenant, Quel'lithien was almost completely wiped out, so it's pretty much only Quel'danil. Quel'danil High elves do not use Arcane magic anymore, aren't part of the Silver Covenant but are 100% Alliance aligned.

The Theramore High elves are partially dead. Almost all combatants would have died due to Garrosh's manabomb, with the civilians being evacuated, most likely to Stormwind. The Allerian High elves are strongly Alliance aligned, having fought side by side with the Alliance for many years, and fighting Blood elves when they came to Outland. The Allerian High elves are not directly hostile to Quel'thalas, as we saw Auric Sunchaser being a representative during the Quel'delar event but they're still very much Alliance.

The Dalarani High elves are mostly mages and civilians. Unlike the Silver Covenant they do not really care about the Blood elves and have no problem being neutral with the rest of the city. They're implied to have been citizens of Dalaran for a very long time.

The Stormwind High elves are like the Dalaran High elves, Citizens of Stormwind. They live as proud members of the Alliance and are integrated into the city. Examples are Elsharin and Caledra Dawnbreeze.

The Silver Covenant are sort of an extremist faction led by Vereesa. They're staunch Anti-Blood elf and had no qualms purging them during MOP. They count both mages and rangers, and they're the strongest alliance supporters within the High elf race.

Finally...You have the neutrals, they're mostly in isolated camps or isolated regions. Examples include Captain Thalo'thas Brightsun.
As a whole, the race is very much Alliance, because those who aren't Alliance are either neutral or aren't High elves anymore.