Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[protip]

Not to mention the fact that they believed that withdrawal would kill them, with good reason. Choosing not to die to an addiction that wasn't even your choice isn't remotely morally ambiguous.

[elbleuet]

I previously pointed out Thalo'thas Brightsun who is a high elf NPC in ratchet who gives Horde players a quest to kill Alliance sailors.

Thalo'Thas is friendly to both factions. He just expresses some animosity toward the humans of Northwatch Hold.

I forgot to point out Gilthares Firebough, a high elf NPC in the Barrens who is friendly to the Horde and neutral to Alliance.

There's also a lot of friendly blood elves in Dalaran and Telogrus Rift with the Alliance. What's your point ?

There's also Gilveradin Sunchaser, a high elf NPC in the Hinterlands who does not care about the ALliance and is on good terms with a pair of orcs from Orgrimmar. He also gives quests exclusively to Horde players.

Yeah ... and ? https://wow.gamepedia.com/Renzik_%22The_Shiv%22 An alliance goblin is the SI: 7's second in command. Does that mean goblins are part of the Alliance and thus an Alliance race?

These are just a few high elf NPCs who are not on the Alliance, and either have a better relationship with the Horde or are outright hostile toward the Alliance.

You're wrong. The 3 high elves mentionned don't hold any grudges toward the Alliance. They're either friendly or neutral with Alliance players. And one of them is just a drunk high elf who prefers alcool over former allegeances.

And most importantly, none or them are tagged Horde, nor fight for it.

[Doffen]

So that's acceptable but draining mana from creatures is "morally wrong"?

Oh brother....

Yes, draining mana from creatures are okay too. Man arrives, animals die.

[scubi666stacy]

Oh brother....

Yes, draining mana from creatures are okay too. Man arrives, animals die.

You know, I would have understood the High Elves moral high ground if the Blood Elves would have siphoning mana / energy from other Elves, or from Humans (who have been their Allies now and then). It could even have been a problem if they have used Trolls, who at that point have been enemies of Elves.

But they used animals instead. Which is perfectly fine for a society which also kills animals for meat and other things. It's the same moral level. I really don't get why the High Elves suddenly have thought the practice to be abhorrent. If at least some Elves have perished without the mana / energy from the Sunwell, then it was justified to ensure the mana support for your people, and to stop their suffering.

It' surely not nice, but on the brink of extinction many things happen. People even turn to cannibalism, which had not happened - or was prevented by using animals instead. IDK what you think, but for me killing your own kind is much worse than killing animals which are anyway subject to the predator-or-prey-rule. And High Elves in their arrogance would have preferred their people to die or to be forced to commit worse things than just some "animal cruelty". While having no problems with hunting animals for whatever reasons, probably also just for sports.

[Luck4]

I think Blizzard could've made Void Elves an awesome race if instead of Blood Elves they had used the High Elves, and instead of making them "voided" all the time they should've made them like Alleria.

I mean, they said they made Void Elves because of the feedback and hype around Alleria story development, but Void Elves are nowhere near close to Alleria, she doesn't have tentacles in her hair or is voided all the time...

Had Blizzard made Void Elves a more fair compromise, everyone could be a little bit happier now. I know some hardcore High Elf fan would still ask for that specific group, but Blizzard could've avoided all this by giving Alliance players something more close to what they've been asking for.

But after "Fat Humans" and "Diaper Gnomes" as Allied Races, I have strong doubts that Alliance will ever receive anything good/appealing, lol.

[Ignaz]

Been a while, but from memory the bear is hanging around so you're sent to kill him. Not the most "moral" choice if the bear was living there before the high elf was.

I would have to see the quest to understand why

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@Ignaz you still here man haha What are you talking about in here lately? :P

I think we are talking about the high elves nutritional complexes. Haha

[Strippling]

Thalo'Thas is friendly to both factions. He just expresses some animosity toward the humans of Northwatch Hold.



There's also a lot of friendly blood elves in Dalaran and Telogrus Rift with the Alliance. What's your point ?



Yeah ... and ? https://wow.gamepedia.com/Renzik_%22The_Shiv%22 An alliance goblin is the SI: 7's second in command. Does that mean goblins are part of the Alliance and thus an Alliance race?



You're wrong. The 3 high elves mentionned don't hold any grudges toward the Alliance. They're either friendly or neutral with Alliance players. And one of them is just a drunk high elf who prefers alcool over former allegeances.

And most importantly, none or them are tagged Horde, nor fight for it.

How about you read the comment I was responding to before getting so defensive?

Your reply is completely out of context.

This is the comment from Manariel I was responding to: 100% of High Elves NPC are Alliance. None are Horde.

I then proceeded to list a handful of NPCs off the top of my head who are certainly not Alliance high elves (albeit not Horde either but certainly have a closer relationship with the Horde than the Alliance), to prove that Manariel's statement is false (given he/she loves to post blatantly false info based on a biased agenda).

[Kithelle]

snip

Yeah and even more recently he said they could happen, just not in BfA since it's a really faction centered expansion...like I've been saying, blame him not the players who want High Elves.

[Strippling]

But after "Fat Humans" and "Diaper Gnomes" as Allied Races, I have strong doubts that Alliance will ever receive anything good/appealing, lol.

Void elves are the most popular AR, so there really isn't anything to complain about in the way of Alliance ARs.

And void elves were made to look different to Alleria, to offer some visual distinction between them and their parent race (blood elves). Making them look like Alleria would essentially just be giving the Alliance a core Horde race who turn purple occasionally. A permanent skin color difference along with tentacles and a permanent void thematic was deemed a sufficient distinction. If you want a light skinned, blonde high elf, the Horde is waiting for you.

[Luck4]

Making them look like Alleria would essentially just be giving the Alliance a core Horde race who turn purple occasionally.

I know, but this would've worked if instead of an occasional racial proc their Entropic Embrace/Void Form was always active in combat like the Worgen does. Blizzard could've even added a toggle that Void Elves only exit Void Form if the player pushes the "Two Form" button as the Worgen does.



The Worgen can only turn into Human outside combat, but this only happens IF the player uses their Two Forms ability, that's why we rarely see anyone playing as Worgen using their Human form.

This change alone would've made Void Elf players 80% of the time voided but the option for RP'ing as a High Elf would still be there, for those just walking around.

But, it's not like it's going to happen now anyway...

[Resident Rump]

Void elves are the most popular AR, so there really isn't anything to complain about in the way of Alliance ARs.

And void elves were made to look different to Alleria, to offer some visual distinction between them and their parent race (blood elves). Making them look like Alleria would essentially just be giving the Alliance a core Horde race who turn purple occasionally. A permanent skin color difference along with tentacles and a permanent void thematic was deemed a sufficient distinction. If you want a light skinned, blonde high elf, the Horde is waiting for you.

Then they should have made Alleria look like the Void Elves after her void entity sucking moment, but they didn't. Instead they decided to make a contrived story that in no way connected the VEs to their leader. In fact, her story has nothing to do with them prior to her showing up to Telogrus Rift after the fact.

Void Elves are literally devoid of lore because of some petty issue. Nightborne got to look like Night Elves and no one objected. I really think if we were being fair, the Nightborne would have had to have Blood Elf skin tones while their leader did not.

[delus]

Void elves are the most popular AR, so there really isn't anything to complain about in the way of Alliance ARs.

And void elves were made to look different to Alleria, to offer some visual distinction between them and their parent race (blood elves). Making them look like Alleria would essentially just be giving the Alliance a core Horde race who turn purple occasionally. A permanent skin color difference along with tentacles and a permanent void thematic was deemed a sufficient distinction. If you want a light skinned, blonde high elf, the Horde is waiting for you.

The tentacles are optional. All that really sets them apart from blood elves are blue eyes and blue skin.

[Strippling]

Then they should have made Alleria look like the Void Elves after her void entity sucking moment, but they didn't. Instead they decided to make a contrived story that in no way connected the VEs to their leader. In fact, her story has nothing to do with them prior to her showing up to Telogrus Rift after the fact.

Playable undead look nothing like their leader (now ex leader). They've been in the game since vanilla, why should void elves be given special treatment that undead players weren't given? And the void elves story connects with Alleria in that they were all high elves who have now embraced the void. The void elves were in need of a leader (ie Alleria) who could show them the way... just as the forsaken were in need of a leader (ie Sylvanas) who could lead them into the future.

Nightborne got to look like Night Elves and no one objected. I really think if we were being fair, the Nightborne would have had to have Blood Elf skin tones while their leader did not.

Nightborne are as distinct from night elves as void elves are from blood elves. Blizzard initiated a trade, the night elf model for Horde (with some changes) and the blood/high elf model for Alliance (with some changes).

And again, undead haven't been able to look like their leader... please tell me why void elves should?

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The tentacles are optional. All that really sets them apart from blood elves are blue eyes and blue skin.

Regardless, there is visual and thematical distinction between them and blood elves.

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This change alone would've made Void Elf players 80% of the time voided but the option for RP'ing as a High Elf would still be there, for those just walking around.

Orb of the sin'dorei already allows for RP'ing.

[FlubberPuddy]

why should void elves be given special treatment that undead players weren't given?

Well you said it yourself here

Void elves are the most popular AR

And we see that Blizzard caters a lot to the races that are popular. So I'd say Void Elf fans get to ask for it since they are the most popular AR Also the suggestions given by Luck4 and Resident Rump are often seen among the Void Elf players of what more customization they'd like to see for Void Elves. Even that one Void Elf fanatic poster in this thread would like appearance options on Void Elves to look more like Alleria.

I don't think that Blizzard can avoid giving more high elf-like options to Void Elves when they keep touting how increased customizations are based off of what's been asked forever and so that you can look how you want to feel. Since a lot of Void Elf players also happen to RP themselves as High Elves or High Elves who became Void Elves.

This is really the elephant in the room, and as there are Blood Elf players going on about how they have every right to ask for whatever customizations they want for the race they play, there's no difference there from Void Elf players who want whatever customizations they want for the race they play.

Anyways, I have a little theory with Night Elf with customization that may or may not confirm what happens for customization when it comes to Void Elves, but I'll have to wait and see how they handle the Night Elves first.

[Ielenia]

Been a while, but from memory the bear is hanging around so you're sent to kill him. Not the most "moral" choice if the bear was living there before the high elf was.

Well, "from memory" isn't exactly a strong argument when said "from memory" is a crucial part of it. For all we know, the bear could be attacking the locals. Or got infected with something and needs to be put down.

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Making them look like Alleria would essentially just be giving the Alliance a core Horde race who turn purple occasionally.

You don't think them turning a glowing purple for twelve seconds every minute would be sufficient differentiation?

A permanent skin color difference along with tentacles and a permanent void thematic was deemed a sufficient distinction.

You don't know what. For all we know, less than that was deemed "sufficient" but Blizzard decided to go one step further. Or more.

[PalliesThrowStuff]

What are your ideas? What unique design elements could be added to Silver Covenant High Elves to make them stand out?

While I believe that inclusion of Shaman is novel, and to my personal taste, it would be pretty sweet. I do disagree.

I'm not against high elves as an AR inherently, but I do believe that they should be included as visual customization options for Void Elves, with the Void Shift racial optionally having a distinct visual that makes it look naturey or arcaney instead. Maybe some of those blue tats we see High Elves rocking in the strategy games.

Classes: Would insist on Druid, there's a lot of reference to druidic magic in High Elf lore, being 'rangers' not just 'hunters' kind of leans towards the nature magic realm, and while Shamans might fulfill that aspect, I'd say that Druid is the go to. Druids do some Arcane damage via Balance spec, and many of those powers are sun-themed, like pretty much everything in Blood Elf/High Elf culture. This demonstrates a needed dichotomy against the Night Elves' more Moony theme, and would really tie the Druid class together neatly, IMO.

Cat form as the same Lynx seen in High Elf/Blood Elf homeland which conveniently already have elf ears. Flight Form can be a more expectable golden/white bird, or I'd rather see a Dragonhawk form. Bear form's harder to be original, but Darkhounds never did get explained other than that they are magical beasts that appeared around the same time as the Scourge, alongside Demons, and for some reason or another the Blue Dragonflight used a whole ass bunch of them in WotLK content as 'Magehunters'. Following that theme, they might also be the default tame for High Elf Hunters, give them a cute name that fits like "Spell Hound" or "Mana Tracker", and make a similar mesh to the Darkhounds' that fits onto a bear skeleton like the ZTrollBearDino.

[Obelisk Kai]

Yeah and even more recently he said they could happen, just not in BfA since it's a really faction centered expansion...like I've been saying, blame him not the players who want High Elves.

That was the time he told that guy from the helf discord at blizzcon the same things about helves he said previously except phrased in such a way that it didn't ruin his day. Again,right now they have no plans, they have no intentions, 'anything is possible' means 'no and if it ever turns to yes it is for reasons we cannot foresee' and if you think it is some kind of promise then I am afraid this is a case of why false hope can be damaging.

[Resident Rump]

Playable undead look nothing like their leader (now ex leader). They've been in the game since vanilla, why should void elves be given special treatment that undead players weren't given? And the void elves story connects with Alleria in that they were all high elves who have now embraced the void. The void elves were in need of a leader (ie Alleria) who could show them the way... just as the forsaken were in need of a leader (ie Sylvanas) who could lead them into the future.

Nightborne are as distinct from night elves as void elves are from blood elves. Blizzard initiated a trade, the night elf model for Horde (with some changes) and the blood/high elf model for Alliance (with some changes).

And again, undead haven't been able to look like their leader... please tell me why void elves should?

They will soon get Lilian Voss who looks exactly like them, especially since the talk of Calia and Derek definitely not joining the Horde. All the more reason to add the options to Void Elves if even Forsaken get to look like their leader in the future.

[Kithelle]

That was the time he told that guy from the helf discord at blizzcon the same things about helves he said previously except phrased in such a way that it didn't ruin his day. Again,right now they have no plans, they have no intentions, 'anything is possible' means 'no and if it ever turns to yes it is for reasons we cannot foresee' and if you think it is some kind of promise then I am afraid this is a case of why false hope can be damaging.

So in other words "I don't want the game to have High Elves...I hate them and don't want people to have fun...so I'm going to pretend what he said means something completely different even though time and time again things have proven they can change."

Noted.

[Obelisk Kai]

So in other words "I don't want the game to have High Elves...I hate them and don't want people to have fun...so I'm going to pretend what he said means something completely different even though time and time again things have proven they can change."

Noted.

The game already has high elves. Blood elves are high elves. They are actually the most popular race in the game and so a huge number of people have been having fun. Anyone who wants to play a high elf and isn't and is not having fun is inflicting that choice upon themselves. What you are complaining about is the faction those elves are on rather than their absence. Anyone who wants to 'have fun' can move to the horde.