Nightborne look pretty savage!

[ravenmoon]

Nelves would have been much more appealing if their ingame models were more on this level. Although you never really see these on this forum, the few times I visitedd the lore forums when they were talking about NElves, some guy keeps posting this.




I did have to look a while to find it, so I guess it's not that common. Looks more like a feral beast than an elf, can't see this fitting the night elves we got.

That's cos it's not the night elf we got, and no one sees them like that.

This is one of the early concepts for night elves Chris Metzen toyed around with and shared a few years ago, obviously they didn't go with that at all, because that is not at all what comes to mind when you think Elf. It could fit as an elven off shoot or hybrid morph (but then nearly anything can even if they don't look remotely alike)

What they went with is far better. Even the druid parts of the night elves aren't that savage, and they gave the race the highest civilized standard. All in all, far better if you ask me.

However some people want night elves to be like that, to them I say, what you're asking for is not an elf, and if blizzard want that, they should create a sub-race of night elf, because that isn't what the night elf turned out to be. In my opinion, night elf worgen could be that in a humanoid form and could come as a worgen allied race. Though I would first like to see highborne customisation and at least the Farondis or similar coming in as the second night elf allied race.

[Beloren]

That's cos it's not the night elf we got, and no one sees them like that.

This is one of the early concepts for night elves Chris Metzen toyed around with and shared a few years ago, obviously they didn't go with that at all, because that is not at all what comes to mind when you think Elf. It could fit as an elven off shoot or hybrid morph (but then nearly anything can even if they don't look remotely alike)

What they went with is far better. Even the druid parts of the night elves aren't that savage, and they gave the race the highest civilized standard. All in all, far better if you ask me.

However some people want night elves to be like that, to them I say, what you're asking for is not an elf, and if blizzard want that, they should create a sub-race of night elf, because that isn't what the night elf turned out to be. In my opinion, night elf worgen could be that in a humanoid form and could come as a worgen allied race. Though I would first like to see highborne customisation and at least the Farondis or similar coming in as the second night elf allied race.

They could do a half-Cenarian/worgen/night elf meld sort of thing as a race. Give them the torso upwards like the pic above, with the antlers, leafy hair bit from the cenarion, the savage primal teeth and strong jawbone from the worgen bit, and legs they could do a bi-pedal fawn like legs (from the Cenarion too), think draenei female or satyr. The colouring would be purple night elf, with night elf like ears - and they could be like a forest elf worgen hybrid race. The night elf worgen had some intimate moments with Cenarians over the thousands of years they were in the emerald dream, giving birth to a half-cenarion/worgen/night elf race.

Give that as the next night elf allied race, but do the night elves a very good highborne customisation for 9.0, so their fans are satisfied and no longer want to take nightborne back and even enough that they would no longer care about high elves.

I am agreeing that it is the lack of sophisticated, high magic night elves done pretty is why alliance keep craving high elves and even nightborne (though I respect their claims). Blizzard can fix that by giving them pretty highborne customisation and a gorgeous city of their own - make it a raid they have to do. Then we can finally have peace from the endless Nightborne or high elves should be on alliance threads and moans. And satisfy the savage cravers with their own allied race.

GENIUS !!

[ravenmoon]

They could do a half-Cenarian/worgen/night elf meld sort of thing as a race. Give them the torso upwards like the pic above, with the antlers, leafy hair bit from the cenarion, the savage primal teeth and strong jawbone from the worgen bit, and legs they could do a bi-pedal fawn like legs (from the Cenarion too), think draenei female or satyr. The colouring would be purple night elf, with night elf like ears - and they could be like a forest elf worgen hybrid race. The night elf worgen had some intimate moments with Cenarians over the thousands of years they were in the emerald dream, giving birth to a half-cenarion/worgen/night elf race.

Give that as the next night elf allied race, but do the night elves a very good highborne customisation for 9.0, so their fans are satisfied and no longer want to take nightborne back and even enough that they would no longer care about high elves.

I am agreeing that it is the lack of sophisticated, high magic night elves done pretty is why alliance keep craving high elves and even nightborne (though I respect their claims). Blizzard can fix that by giving them pretty highborne customisation and a gorgeous city of their own - make it a raid they have to do. Then we can finally have peace from the endless Nightborne or high elves should be on alliance threads and moans. And satisfy the savage cravers with their own allied race.

GENIUS !!

Except no one who likes /plays elves want that. The people who keep posting that pic would never play elves like that. They'd happily suggest it for the elf race they dont play, I can assure you.

Such a race is not really Elf, you would call it another name and could work as an elf hybrid or half elf race or a night elf progenitor race - the missing link between Elf and Troll - but you would give it a new name like Alf or a Dalari or maybe Trolves. The game has feral playable races, they're called worgen not elves. Trolls to can fit.

However if you wanted to make them playable, I think the emerald dream canarian/worgen route would be better - especially as it could fill the worgen allied race slot too - maintaining a night elf connection while the playable worgen are more involved in the human affairs they really are a part of

[Beloren]

Except no one who likes /plays elves want that. The people who keep posting that pic would never play elves like that. They'd happily suggest it for the elf race they dont play, I can assure you.

Such a race is not really Elf, you would call it another name and could work as an elf hybrid or half elf race or a night elf progenitor race - the missing link between Elf and Troll - but you would give it a new name like Alf or a Dalari or maybe Trolves. The game has feral playable races, they're called worgen not elves. Trolls to can fit.

However if you wanted to make them playable, I think the emerald dream canarian/worgen route would be better - especially as it could fill the worgen allied race slot too - maintaining a night elf connection while the playable worgen are more involved in the human affairs they really are a part of

I wonder if i'd play a savage half elf race. Not really my cup of tea. Maybe you're right, it wouldn't be elven, but then if it wasn't called that, it wouldn't matter.

[ravenmoon]

I wonder if i'd play a savage half elf race. Not really my cup of tea. Maybe you're right, it wouldn't be elven, but then if it wasn't called that, it wouldn't matter.

I think there are a few people who don't really get what blizzard means with the night elf.

They've not really paid attention to what the developer has said and shown consistently and miss the mark because they can't reconcile older with better and their modern mindset equates it with primitive, inferior or rural. They also don't factor in any of the night elven arcane side clear in their race origin, their history and the developers clearly stating the night elf is the best parts of the dark elf and the best parts of the forest elf - and they've showed that - it might not be obvious when you level in Teldrassil, but if you factor in all the other stuff they've shown and written about outside.

Not so here. With the night elves blizzard didn't go for a progenitor elf race, they went with the original elf. If the high elf is the more humanised elf, then the night elf is what a warcraft elf is in its purest form.

Now that has many general elven characteristic associated with elves, but it is mixed up a bit, they're more ruthless/savage, but the twist is they're good, and the confusion is they're also highly advanced. This is a juxtaposed theme. You have a more primal elf, yet more advanced.

In this world, the ancient or former things were greater, becuase the present is really a post disaster zone. You have to interpret the night elf from there.

He is given a greater magical aptitude and achievement - both the pre-sundering civilization and the long vigil reach heights of arcane and nature mastery the modern world hasn't yet. This underlines the primary magical ethos of the elves, it is more strongly recognised in these elves. They are more arcane obsessed (highborne types) and more nature/forest obsessed (druid types), religious zealot (priest type) than we ever see the high elves both in the less extravagant way the high elves used arcane and other magics, .

What are elven characteristics? Magical, agility/nimbleness/intensity of perfection/beauty - these are all shown in the heights to which demon hunters, highborne mages, druids go, and they're taller, actually immortal (when we meet them), and more focused. The high elves are more gentil in comparison, more humanised, more vulnerable, they've lost a little of their elven core , which their story explains for in the exile event.

It is from this you must interpret the night elf. A good analogy would be Aquaman movie's Atlantis. In a flashback of Atlantis in ancient times above the surface, we see that they are at the same time more antiquated with their beautiful elegant buildings, in a style we stopped using 100s of years ago (which is why it feels antiquated), yet they were at level of technological and scientific advancement that surpasses us today in so many ways, yet in some they haven't (like what industrialisation gave us). Just swap technology and science for magic and arcane, Atlanteans for night elves, and it's a very similar thing. They 10,000 were more advanced in a lot of things than we are today, and the discovery of their secrets in long buried ruins is what gives us today most of our magical advancements - yet we don't have everything they've had, which is why we're not up there.. or at least all the wars has not given us a chance to focus on the more creative side of the knowledge we uncover.



The kaldorei we meet are not impressed by high society, this is normal for them, though they haven't lived that way for yonks because of the long vigil, they're not impressed by modern civilizations even the high elves - especially given what happened to them. When they come out of isolation however they will now decide to rebuild, with the long vigil over, and arcane usable again, plus a cure to addiction, they can actually for the first time build a better society having learnt the mistakes of the past in awful ways and having being properly equipped in their multiple disciplines to have a society less likely to go of the rails.

is normal for them, though they haven't lived that way for yonks because of the long vigil, they're notimpressed by modern civilizaitons even the high elves - especially given what happened to them. When they come out of isolation however they will now decide to rebuild, with the long vigil over, and arcane usable again, plus a cure to addiction, they can actually for the firs ttime build a better society having learnt the mistakes of the past in awful ways and having being properly equipped in their multiple disciplines to have a society less likely to go fof the rails.

[LilSaihah]

Now an elf can be brutal and even savage

Those words are synonymous with feral tho

[rogueMatthias]

And both hopeful about and dreading the night elf heritage armor that is, in my opinion, inevitably to come in Shadowlands...

Yeah you know it's going to be SO over designed. Talking of heritage armour though, I really hope they add Void Elve "Wings" as a cape slot so I can add it to any other transmog sets.

Also, WHY hasn't Blizzard just released the "druid cinematic" set for Night Elves yet -

[Ielenia]

Yeah you know it's going to be SO over designed. Talking of heritage armour though, I really hope they add Void Elve "Wings" as a cape slot so I can add it to any other transmog sets.

Also, WHY hasn't Blizzard just released the "druid cinematic" set for Night Elves yet -

https://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/scree...mal/742394.jpg

Judging by how elaborate (and often "body-covering") the heritage armor sets tend to be, I imagine we're not getting anything like your image, there, unfortunately.

[Shakana]

Many won't agree with me, but i think night elves should have been horde since the start.

[ravenmoon]

Yeah you know it's going to be SO over designed. Talking of heritage armour though, I really hope they add Void Elve "Wings" as a cape slot so I can add it to any other transmog sets.

Also, WHY hasn't Blizzard just released the "druid cinematic" set for Night Elves yet -

I thought that set was for female fighter night elves, first seen in the sentinels in WC3 that's why both druid and huntress have it in WoT.

Druid sets for night elves are the most numerous, I would know, it's my main of 14 years of warcraft

[Beloren]

Many won't agree with me, but i think night elves should have been horde since the start.

Why? Because of the savage/forest? Many think blood elves should no be on the horde, but it was one of the best additions ever!

Night elves would have had much more development though if they had. Probably would look different.

[Fetus Rex]

Legion Nightborne looked pretty nice. On the other hand Night Elves, especially males look like caricatures with their terrible proportions. They need more savagery. Druid of the Claw body build, antlers and other shits that would make them look like uncultured savages they really are.

[ravenmoon]

Legion Nightborne looked pretty nice. On the other hand Night Elves, especially males look like caricatures with their terrible proportions. They need more savagery. Druid of the Claw body build, antlers and other shits that would make them look like uncultured savages they really are.

They really are? What makes you say that though?

Not all night elves are druids of claw, nor do all live or even prefer to live in forests. Also where is this evidence of uncultured? I have never seen it in the world of warcraft night elf. You sure you're not thinking of Feral worgen or one of hte other bestial races like Quillboar.

We've seen many types of night elves, and all seem to know civilization quite well. It's different when yo're in battle though, you can let the rage out

[Fetus Rex]

They really are? What makes you say that though?

Not all night elves are druids of claw, nor do all live or even prefer to live in forests. Also where is this evidence of uncultured? I have never seen it in the world of warcraft night elf. You sure you're not thinking of Feral worgen or one of hte other bestial races like Quillboar.

We've seen many types of night elves, and all seem to know civilization quite well. It's different when yo're in battle though, you can let the rage out

Their armours, architecture and traditions. All the great things they have come from the time that Azshara ruled them. Now they are tree hugging simpletons.

No, but those are their most unique looks. They are too skinny currently anyway. Even Claw crazies were more muscular, or at least better shaped.

Bunch of amazonian weirddos.

[Shakana]

Why? Because of the savage/forest? Many think blood elves should no be on the horde, but it was one of the best additions ever!

Night elves would have had much more development though if they had. Probably would look different.

No, more because of their roots, they were trolls before anything and i always have seen horde more about a faction where it had all this fantasy and alliance a bit more human related, even worgen is not just a simple animal as it's a human, dwarf, gnomes, dark iron dwarf, kultirans, all basically human related, and i always loved this on horde. And also since i'm horde i would love to see night elves being playable, but that's not the main reason at all. As i said, i know many won't agree with me, but i feel they would be better off on the horde. They simply didn't had the same views as horde but i think, horde is not the bad guy as it has been said for years, there's good people and bad people on our faction, since forever, even gul'dan turned who he is because of how he was treated so bad. Garrosh is like a baby that didn't had the love of a father and so on, and Sylvanas is just simply invincible on Blizzard's eyes. Night elves even on the commercials against horde, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRwNr9gp1jo it's about fantasy so they put the night elf instead of humans, regardless alliance being more about humans than anything else, but that was to balance things, they for me kind of belong on that fantasy circle.

[ravenmoon]

Their armours, architecture and traditions. All the great things they have come from the time that Azshara ruled them. Now they are tree hugging simpletons.

No, but those are their most unique looks. They are too skinny currently anyway. Even Claw crazies were more muscular, or at least better shaped.

Bunch of amazonian weirddos.

Soz, I never got that impression about that. Being forced to live without the conveniiences of societyt o prevent the legion's return did n't make them simpletons. They worked with dragons and demi-gods in a constant state of alert, using the tools they had to to sptop anyone from using their magical well which could summon the legion nback.


All evidence of their long vigil accomodations and behaviour seem tidy, neat and elegant, the barrow dens the druids sleep in that we see are simple but with necessities for a humanoid.

their behaviour as we witness is anythign but uncivilised, nor is it uncultured. Their society has very strict codes of operations, roles for men and women, their priestly tradition is unchanged from high society to the long vigil, and many of those highly civilised night elves make the best of their new situation, which changes after 10,000 years, where w e do not see them create mud huts andbamboo shoot abodes, nor tear thier pey with their bare hands.

no they construct eleganta homes, and start rebuilding cities and temples when their long vigil ends.

Their fighting styleis quite aggressive, and is savage, for sure, as it should be if you're a feral druid in an animal form or a sentinel nenraged by the stench of demonic corruption and use to fighting foes you can't be civilised about ..i.e. demons, but I have yet to see a night elf behave l ike a savage or an animal.

You have races like Quillboar, Wild worgen, Saberon - tha'ts what you're thinking, and one look at the night elves shows you even the forest dwelling druids are nothing like that, teh female sentienl and huntresses aren't either, and by no means would any highborne or temple priestess be like that.

Just saying.

- - - Updated - - -

No, more because of their roots, they were trolls before anything and i always have seen horde more about a faction where it had all this fantasy and alliance a bit more human related, even worgen is not just a simple animal as it's a human, dwarf, gnomes, dark iron dwarf, kultirans, all basically human related, and i always loved this on horde. And also since i'm horde i would love to see night elves being playable, but that's not the main reason at all. As i said, i know many won't agree with me, but i feel they would be better off on the horde. They simply didn't had the same views as horde but i think, horde is not the bad guy as it has been said for years, there's good people and bad people on our faction, since forever, even gul'dan turned who he is because of how he was treated so bad. Garrosh is like a baby that didn't had the love of a father and so on, and Sylvanas is just simply invincible on Blizzard's eyes. Night elves even on the commercials against horde, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRwNr9gp1jo it's about fantasy so they put the night elf instead of humans, regardless alliance being more about humans than anything else, but that was to balance things, they for me kind of belong on that fantasy circle.

Elves should have been their own faction. Night elvs are a huge race, to be bottled up as human yes men.

SEe how the Zandlari are written, Talanji and her peopel are pretty independent of the horde, they're ont "Yes, Warchief" , we are yours to command - people, they are a proud independent people.


Yeh, horde has changed, in the start, night elf views were very different, they were the "pure good", benevolent race, of elvs who'd done civilization to an extent that eclipsed Silvermoon and Quelt'halas which are the best the modern world had to offer. Thequarrels of young races would have seemed childish and petty to them, when they were about preventing inter-dimesnional planet killig armies like the leigon, or globally rsetoring and guiiding the evolution of the world with AZerothan guardians.


Even joinig the humans, coming out of isolation just felt wrong. I guess blizzard felt the horde would be less likely. As it was also an impossible conception for the high /blood elves at the time. No one expected it, and many people had problems with the blood elves going horde. But blizzard was very claer they wanted more people to play the horde and were going to put an attractive race. So they did the blood elf there, and changed tis model which was a night elf based model btw.. up until TBC, All elves shared the same model (with racial variations - i.e. high/blood elves were a litlte shorter , pale skinned and upright ears, but it was the same model/faces etc - just go check out classic. They then really enhanced the blood elf, making it th sort of thing we find cool or attractive in characters - hence the anime/barbie doll style, more conventional.

AFtert hat, it was possible to imagine the night elves on the horde. Tauren druidsm did not exist till wow either, it was purely a night elf vision of nature love tied in with its arcane and nature dualiity - remember even in the long vigil state, the arcane was still the centre of the night elvs, they are from it, the Well of Eternity was the main thing with their story, and Nordrassil was the tool to keep it hidden, not the main focus. THe moonwells , its waters were another key feature of the elves, and thier existene in the era that we saw them in their introduction in WC3 to end in the same event was dedicated in part to protecting and hiding the well, to stop people from using it and calling htem.

It's not blizzards fault that people don't read their lore about the race sadly and thing night elves are only forest elves when they had a very clear dark elf arcane side and warcraft 3 was the end of an era for them, so they could tell a new stage - which sees a 10,000 year old race begin to recover and return to what it originally was.. giving them the opportunity to show you far more about them than forest elvenhood. Which they do.

Everytime they develop the night elves, they've shown cities (Darnassus in classic), the arcane (moonwells, highborne in 1.1, then joining in 4.0), demon hunters (also in classic, tbc, cata, then in Legion), Priestesses, wardens, sentinels.

They are meant to have a very unique feel to them that's different both from the horde and alliance... and it is. They're not a savage feral folk like Worgen, contrary to what @Fetus Rex seems to think, but they have a hint of that, but also they have civilization, city style and culture, as well as forest one - they have the full range of living - and in an elven way - what you would expect elves to have, when it's rural, it's simple, but elegant in an elven way, when it's city, it's intricate and elegant , beautiful (look at Darnassus, look at Suramar, look at Zin'Azshari, loko at what ll the ruins hint at).

THe way they do both rural and civilization is unique, with a unique world, the night world, a moon goddess, thier own enemies tied to them, the legion, their fallen kin in the naga and satyr - even their magic and nature is done different to the horde and alliance.

Night elf mage magic - is very arcane star and moon based contrasting to alliance frost/fire emphasis
Night elf nature - is very deep forest magical in contrast to shamanism elemental.

The way it's done is different, it makes them a whole new world, they've got their own flying mounts, hippgryphs instead of Gryphons or Wyverns, their own bestiary set tied to Kalimdor and the broken isles - Sabers instead of horses or wolves.

Whereas blood elves feel pseudo human, not least because same skin colour approach, night elves feel more exotic, more a different race with further degress of separation like purple/dark skin (not human black which is a brown, but a deeper purple/gray/dark) and even when they are lighit skinned, it's different it's more a whitish or purple hued skin tone, not ot mention being taller but just more intensemagically wise, less associated with the way humans do civilization.

You get the same feel with the draenei - though they went with the futuristic feel for them. Both night elven civilization, properly shown in Suramar through th enightborne and Argus/Shattrath/Karabor - they all feel different to how human is presented in wow. The most similar t humans are teh blood elves sort of half way between night elf (nightborne) and human.

This is entirely intentional, everything is more primal, more "original" more vibrant.. almost like the pre-historic age when dinosaurs and tress were gigantic and vibrant- reflecting that the night elves were about then. this is what htey aimed for.

[Shakana]

Why? Because of the savage/forest? Many think blood elves should no be on the horde, but it was one of the best additions ever!

Night elves would have had much more development though if they had. Probably would look different.

If you ask me "how about draeneis?" Well they are totally completely different as i can see them always more related to alliance, and their principles are indeed more similar with alliance and their common faith in the light, and two races on the horde they don't appreciate: blood elves and orcs, because of their genocide campaigns in the past.

- - - Updated - - -

Soz, I never got that impression about that. Being forced to live without the conveniiences of societyt o prevent the legion's return did n't make them simpletons. They worked with dragons and demi-gods in a constant state of alert, using the tools they had to to sptop anyone from using their magical well which could summon the legion nback.


All evidence of their long vigil accomodations and behaviour seem tidy, neat and elegant, the barrow dens the druids sleep in that we see are simple but with necessities for a humanoid.

their behaviour as we witness is anythign but uncivilised, nor is it uncultured. Their society has very strict codes of operations, roles for men and women, their priestly tradition is unchanged from high society to the long vigil, and many of those highly civilised night elves make the best of their new situation, which changes after 10,000 years, where w e do not see them create mud huts andbamboo shoot abodes, nor tear thier pey with their bare hands.

no they construct eleganta homes, and start rebuilding cities and temples when their long vigil ends.

Their fighting styleis quite aggressive, and is savage, for sure, as it should be if you're a feral druid in an animal form or a sentinel nenraged by the stench of demonic corruption and use to fighting foes you can't be civilised about ..i.e. demons, but I have yet to see a night elf behave l ike a savage or an animal.

You have races like Quillboar, Wild worgen, Saberon - tha'ts what you're thinking, and one look at the night elves shows you even the forest dwelling druids are nothing like that, teh female sentienl and huntresses aren't either, and by no means would any highborne or temple priestess be like that.

Just saying.

- - - Updated - - -


Elves should have been their own faction. Night elvs are a huge race, to be bottled up as human yes men.

SEe how the Zandlari are written, Talanji and her peopel are pretty independent of the horde, they're ont "Yes, Warchief" , we are yours to command - people, they are a proud independent people.


Yeh, horde has changed, in the start, night elf views were very different, they were the "pure good", benevolent race, of elvs who'd done civilization to an extent that eclipsed Silvermoon and Quelt'halas which are the best the modern world had to offer. Thequarrels of young races would have seemed childish and petty to them, when they were about preventing inter-dimesnional planet killig armies like the leigon, or globally rsetoring and guiiding the evolution of the world with AZerothan guardians.


Even joinig the humans, coming out of isolation just felt wrong. I guess blizzard felt the horde would be less likely. As it was also an impossible conception for the high /blood elves at the time. No one expected it, and many people had problems with the blood elves going horde. But blizzard was very claer they wanted more people to play the horde and were going to put an attractive race. So they did the blood elf there, and changed tis model which was a night elf based model btw.. up until TBC, All elves shared the same model (with racial variations - i.e. high/blood elves were a litlte shorter , pale skinned and upright ears, but it was the same model/faces etc - just go check out classic. They then really enhanced the blood elf, making it th sort of thing we find cool or attractive in characters - hence the anime/barbie doll style, more conventional.

AFtert hat, it was possible to imagine the night elves on the horde. Tauren druidsm did not exist till wow either, it was purely a night elf vision of nature love tied in with its arcane and nature dualiity - remember even in the long vigil state, the arcane was still the centre of the night elvs, they are from it, the Well of Eternity was the main thing with their story, and Nordrassil was the tool to keep it hidden, not the main focus. THe moonwells , its waters were another key feature of the elves, and thier existene in the era that we saw them in their introduction in WC3 to end in the same event was dedicated in part to protecting and hiding the well, to stop people from using it and calling htem.

It's not blizzards fault that people don't read their lore about the race sadly and thing night elves are only forest elves when they had a very clear dark elf arcane side and warcraft 3 was the end of an era for them, so they could tell a new stage - which sees a 10,000 year old race begin to recover and return to what it originally was.. giving them the opportunity to show you far more about them than forest elvenhood. Which they do.

Everytime they develop the night elves, they've shown cities (Darnassus in classic), the arcane (moonwells, highborne in 1.1, then joining in 4.0), demon hunters (also in classic, tbc, cata, then in Legion), Priestesses, wardens, sentinels.

They are meant to have a very unique feel to them that's different both from the horde and alliance... and it is. They're not a savage feral folk like Worgen, contrary to what @Fetus Rex seems to think, but they have a hint of that, but also they have civilization, city style and culture, as well as forest one - they have the full range of living - and in an elven way - what you would expect elves to have, when it's rural, it's simple, but elegant in an elven way, when it's city, it's intricate and elegant , beautiful (look at Darnassus, look at Suramar, look at Zin'Azshari, loko at what ll the ruins hint at).

THe way they do both rural and civilization is unique, with a unique world, the night world, a moon goddess, thier own enemies tied to them, the legion, their fallen kin in the naga and satyr - even their magic and nature is done different to the horde and alliance.

Night elf mage magic - is very arcane star and moon based contrasting to alliance frost/fire emphasis
Night elf nature - is very deep forest magical in contrast to shamanism elemental.

The way it's done is different, it makes them a whole new world, they've got their own flying mounts, hippgryphs instead of Gryphons or Wyverns, their own bestiary set tied to Kalimdor and the broken isles - Sabers instead of horses or wolves.

Whereas blood elves feel pseudo human, not least because same skin colour approach, night elves feel more exotic, more a different race with further degress of separation like purple/dark skin (not human black which is a brown, but a deeper purple/gray/dark) and even when they are lighit skinned, it's different it's more a whitish or purple hued skin tone, not ot mention being taller but just more intensemagically wise, less associated with the way humans do civilization.

You get the same feel with the draenei - though they went with the futuristic feel for them. Both night elven civilization, properly shown in Suramar through th enightborne and Argus/Shattrath/Karabor - they all feel different to how human is presented in wow. The most similar t humans are teh blood elves sort of half way between night elf (nightborne) and human.

This is entirely intentional, everything is more primal, more "original" more vibrant.. almost like the pre-historic age when dinosaurs and tress were gigantic and vibrant- reflecting that the night elves were about then. this is what htey aimed for.

With how night elves are now, in terms with alliance, and horde, and Tyrande seeking revenge, we see they don't want to be stopped, they should have been or their own faction as you said, or be better on the horde and they would have avoid some conflicts, but then, even if blizzard decided to bad write as they did, Sylvanas, i don't think night elves would be safer in the horde either.
Zandalari trolls were the ones that actually exiled the forest trolls(dark trolls) and zanzil and they turned into night elves by being close to the well, the reason given about them being exiled was because of how savage they were. And you know zandalar, if you played horde, you can make a comparison with the savagery of blood trolls and dark trolls, they were a bit of the same, just different practices and way of living.
Night elves for me always made little to nonsense to be alliance, i love them in a way, but i always feel they were misplaced and it's one of my favorite fantasy race that i would love to see having a place on horde faction or one of their own, just as the forsaken sometimes it feels.

[maccajoe]

Its safe to say OP has no idea about Warcraft lore or history

[matrix123mko]

elisande looked pretty savage in the beta be4 they white washed her.

I guess the idea of a race of black addicts didnt lend it self well to todays pc climate..

I thought it would be more of a "final form" for bossfight. Like Rastakhan in BfA.

[Fetus Rex]

Soz, I never got that impression about that. Being forced to live without the conveniiences of societyt o prevent the legion's return did n't make them simpletons. They worked with dragons and demi-gods in a constant state of alert, using the tools they had to to sptop anyone from using their magical well which could summon the legion nback.


All evidence of their long vigil accomodations and behaviour seem tidy, neat and elegant, the barrow dens the druids sleep in that we see are simple but with necessities for a humanoid.

their behaviour as we witness is anythign but uncivilised, nor is it uncultured. Their society has very strict codes of operations, roles for men and women, their priestly tradition is unchanged from high society to the long vigil, and many of those highly civilised night elves make the best of their new situation, which changes after 10,000 years, where w e do not see them create mud huts andbamboo shoot abodes, nor tear thier pey with their bare hands.

no they construct eleganta homes, and start rebuilding cities and temples when their long vigil ends.

Their fighting styleis quite aggressive, and is savage, for sure, as it should be if you're a feral druid in an animal form or a sentinel nenraged by the stench of demonic corruption and use to fighting foes you can't be civilised about ..i.e. demons, but I have yet to see a night elf behave l ike a savage or an animal.

You have races like Quillboar, Wild worgen, Saberon - tha'ts what you're thinking, and one look at the night elves shows you even the forest dwelling druids are nothing like that, teh female sentienl and huntresses aren't either, and by no means would any highborne or temple priestess be like that.

Just saying.

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Elves should have been their own faction. Night elvs are a huge race, to be bottled up as human yes men.

SEe how the Zandlari are written, Talanji and her peopel are pretty independent of the horde, they're ont "Yes, Warchief" , we are yours to command - people, they are a proud independent people.


Yeh, horde has changed, in the start, night elf views were very different, they were the "pure good", benevolent race, of elvs who'd done civilization to an extent that eclipsed Silvermoon and Quelt'halas which are the best the modern world had to offer. Thequarrels of young races would have seemed childish and petty to them, when they were about preventing inter-dimesnional planet killig armies like the leigon, or globally rsetoring and guiiding the evolution of the world with AZerothan guardians.


Even joinig the humans, coming out of isolation just felt wrong. I guess blizzard felt the horde would be less likely. As it was also an impossible conception for the high /blood elves at the time. No one expected it, and many people had problems with the blood elves going horde. But blizzard was very claer they wanted more people to play the horde and were going to put an attractive race. So they did the blood elf there, and changed tis model which was a night elf based model btw.. up until TBC, All elves shared the same model (with racial variations - i.e. high/blood elves were a litlte shorter , pale skinned and upright ears, but it was the same model/faces etc - just go check out classic. They then really enhanced the blood elf, making it th sort of thing we find cool or attractive in characters - hence the anime/barbie doll style, more conventional.

AFtert hat, it was possible to imagine the night elves on the horde. Tauren druidsm did not exist till wow either, it was purely a night elf vision of nature love tied in with its arcane and nature dualiity - remember even in the long vigil state, the arcane was still the centre of the night elvs, they are from it, the Well of Eternity was the main thing with their story, and Nordrassil was the tool to keep it hidden, not the main focus. THe moonwells , its waters were another key feature of the elves, and thier existene in the era that we saw them in their introduction in WC3 to end in the same event was dedicated in part to protecting and hiding the well, to stop people from using it and calling htem.

It's not blizzards fault that people don't read their lore about the race sadly and thing night elves are only forest elves when they had a very clear dark elf arcane side and warcraft 3 was the end of an era for them, so they could tell a new stage - which sees a 10,000 year old race begin to recover and return to what it originally was.. giving them the opportunity to show you far more about them than forest elvenhood. Which they do.

Everytime they develop the night elves, they've shown cities (Darnassus in classic), the arcane (moonwells, highborne in 1.1, then joining in 4.0), demon hunters (also in classic, tbc, cata, then in Legion), Priestesses, wardens, sentinels.

They are meant to have a very unique feel to them that's different both from the horde and alliance... and it is. They're not a savage feral folk like Worgen, contrary to what @Fetus Rex seems to think, but they have a hint of that, but also they have civilization, city style and culture, as well as forest one - they have the full range of living - and in an elven way - what you would expect elves to have, when it's rural, it's simple, but elegant in an elven way, when it's city, it's intricate and elegant , beautiful (look at Darnassus, look at Suramar, look at Zin'Azshari, loko at what ll the ruins hint at).

THe way they do both rural and civilization is unique, with a unique world, the night world, a moon goddess, thier own enemies tied to them, the legion, their fallen kin in the naga and satyr - even their magic and nature is done different to the horde and alliance.

Night elf mage magic - is very arcane star and moon based contrasting to alliance frost/fire emphasis
Night elf nature - is very deep forest magical in contrast to shamanism elemental.

The way it's done is different, it makes them a whole new world, they've got their own flying mounts, hippgryphs instead of Gryphons or Wyverns, their own bestiary set tied to Kalimdor and the broken isles - Sabers instead of horses or wolves.

Whereas blood elves feel pseudo human, not least because same skin colour approach, night elves feel more exotic, more a different race with further degress of separation like purple/dark skin (not human black which is a brown, but a deeper purple/gray/dark) and even when they are lighit skinned, it's different it's more a whitish or purple hued skin tone, not ot mention being taller but just more intensemagically wise, less associated with the way humans do civilization.

You get the same feel with the draenei - though they went with the futuristic feel for them. Both night elven civilization, properly shown in Suramar through th enightborne and Argus/Shattrath/Karabor - they all feel different to how human is presented in wow. The most similar t humans are teh blood elves sort of half way between night elf (nightborne) and human.

This is entirely intentional, everything is more primal, more "original" more vibrant.. almost like the pre-historic age when dinosaurs and tress were gigantic and vibrant- reflecting that the night elves were about then. this is what htey aimed for.

There were others using arcane, Legion did not come because of it. They regressed to nigh quilboar state. It's just that as Elves they are more intelligent.

In comparison to Highborne they are low civilisation, low culture mongres who live in tree huts. they do tear their enemies with bare hands though.