From PC Games
https://www.pcgamesn.com/world-of-warcraft/night-elves
Looks like the Nelves being popular was an accident.But within Blizzard, “that was a really hard sell. The world accepted Night Elves better than most members of the team did. Because people were used to the Legolas types, the elves that are your typical elves – blondish, brownish hair, while we were going blues and greens and purple.