Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[delus]

I don't really have any skin in the game in terms of high elves, but I am a little disappointed to see the Horde losing the uniqueness of one of their most popular races. It was already a little iffy for me before with the exact same silhouette, but now skin colors as well? If they give them light colored hairs then it's basically over. Nightborne are more differentiated from Night Elves than Void Elves from Blood Elves.

I feel that belves always ruined the identity of the horde and never really belonged on the faction.

[Broflake]

Come on dude:

-Kinda evident that Alleria's look is a throwback, as we don't see her look present in modern BE society at all. The whole point is "let's use this unused aspect than only an alliance aligned elf represents" and you go all "actually blood elves should have it." The point is literally about being VE's honoring Alleria and you go "makes more sense for BE's" unbelievable.

-The Blood Elf tattoos on the cover art are awesome, should be an option for Blood Elves, and look nothing like the war paint I'm actually talking about.

Well, if you've read my posts it is not BE should have it but BOTH should have it.
Let alone how is it that VE's have more sense honoring Alleria, over the BE's who have a memorial over her, and bemoaned her disappearance and continued to honor her when she reappeared?

This desire to try and say "well VE' should get this that and more" after already taking the appearance of a BE is just trying tot ake the mile after being given the inch.
If we're doing tattoos they should be for BOTH, and done in a way that can help highlight differences.

Considering nightborne have literally been a failure in terms of design both gameplay wise (racials), and in their appearance being terribly different from the actual NPCs, it wouldn't be appropriate to saythat for some unearthly reason, blood elves don't practice tattoos...when Alleria was originally one of their own as a high elf.
Or that that a blood elf i featured with a facial tattoo on the TBC box.

You can give BOTH parties the same thing but implement it differntly to make things unique.

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I feel that belves always ruined the identity of the horde and never really belonged on the faction.

Understandable, but I do think it helped to break the Horde away from the assumption of them being the monster faction, and it being more about their belief systems and how they approached problems. It shouldn't be solely about aesthetics.
At the time they released them I was a gnome on the alliance and it was really bizarre. Honestly i thought high elves would have been better, but I think the twist on the story was better long term.

[Aldo Hawk]

So...brightsun, and the quel'lithien high elves don't count?
What about auric sunchaser and the high elves at the sunwell? Do...they not count?
How about the fact that the silver covenant hasn't assisted the alliance since MoP?

The Earth is round, that is a fact.
Your claim is subjective and ignores everything around it.

Are there some high elves allied to the alliance? Yes.
But there are also humans who are allied to the horde.
That doesn't speak for the majority though.


I don't see how it is appropriate to say I am a nobody, but then demand your own be placed foremost. We all have the same equal voice bud.

I mean...you've long just been bitter people don't agree with your assertions, and rather than show how they might be wrong you just rail against them like now.


I mean....holding people accountable =/= wanting them to continue discussing what blizzard has made a decision on.
I am, however, going to point out the hypocrisy of said people.
You can't say you care about lore, then toss it aside to justify high elves, and then, continue to ignore high elves after blizzard makes a decision about aesthetics.
By your logic, Alleria is a high elf, which is clearly false given what has been written and stated by devs.
Pointing out hypocrisy is showing that the majority of helfers really were just acting in bad faith.

That is a particularly bitter thing for you to say given your history.

What relevance does you playing blood elf and shouting for high elves do?
I don't care about what you do or do not do since its irrelevant of the conversation and takes a personal tone that isn't appropriate.


You are on a public form, not discord.


You're spending a lot of time on it.


I mean, if you really blieved this you would spend more time demonstrating how my points are wrong, rather than complaining about them Aldo. You don't seem interested in having an honest discussion right now. Which is fine, that is your perogative, but I will point it out.


Probably because Dan user said he could rp a high elf on the horde now and made no notion about void elves? It is largely presumption on helfers part, just like the claim of high elves having some form of ownership of alleria's unique tattoo.

The empty spaces on the files seem enough to fit Ren'dorei and Quel'dorei.

Sorry, but this just seem to be you talking about what you want the discussion to be and playing at painting the other as random labels.

By the way, if it has not been clear, this discussion is dead on the spot. Sorry bud, High elves are here, maybe try to maintain a straight face the day one of them kills you in pvp.

[Syegfryed]

Just as wildhammer dwarves are being added without being added, it's pretty obvious that these new options are not for "void" elves, though they do get to reap the benefits. This is Blizzard adding playable high elves. And high elves has been with the Alliance since WC2 (and back 1000 years before that). Silver Covenant is the best example, but there are plenty others, such as the Theramore high elves that survived the attack.
Lore = high elves on Alliance
and now gameplay = high elves on Alliance

If the new name slot coding that was datamined allows them to be called high elves in game, more the better.

as far as we know, wildhammer never had different racials, just different hairstyles and tattoos, unlike high elves, who do not have void elf racials, so @Broflake is right about contradictions

And i doubt name change will be a thing, especially when both races would want call themselves high elf when blizzard could just erase it and start doing a a dichotomy on then

That group is certainly at least as large as the "crack squad" of void elves we have today.

hardly since they were already few and some of then were killed there and apparently many survivors got killed anyway later

[Broflake]

By the way, if it has not been clear, this discussion is dead on the spot. Sorry bud, High elves are here, maybe try to maintain a straight face the day one of them kills you in pvp.

I can't get killed by a high elf paladin since they're horde. The ones with the arcane racial torrent you know? The ones that high elves would have the same racials as given they're the same race?

Maybe if I get on my void elf who has tentacle hair, and bleeds purple sure. You know...the guy with different racials.


But hey, not surprising given the mass cognitive dissonance.

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as far as we know, wildhammer never had different racials, just different hairstyles and tattoos, unlike high elves, who do not have void elf racials, so @Broflake is right about contradictions

And i doubt name change will be a thing, especially when both races would want call themselves high elf when blizzard could just erase it and start doing a a dichotomy on then



hardly since they were already few and some of then were killed there and apparently many survivors got killed anyway later

Ultimately i would not be surprised. As I mentioned earlier, Blizzard walked back a ton of things with SL.

[FlubberPuddy]

I can't get killed by a high elf paladin since they're horde. The ones with the arcane racial torrent you know? The ones that high elves would have the same racials as given they're the same race?

The funny thing is that if they're the same race then it's pretty given they'd have the same customization options too across the board for the most part. After all, Void Elves are also the same race as High Elves.

I remember many individuals saying you have your High Elf of the Horde in Blood Elves and your High Elf of the Alliance in Void Elves.

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Returning to topic, what I see as possible additions to void elves in Shadowlands:

- Very likely: New hair colors. Probably different from blood elves': dark red, silver-blue, black, white, bege, dual color.
- Very likely: Ear length, copied from blood elves.
- Likely: New hair styles (when allied races get their turn)
- Likely: Alleria-like tattoos (when allied races get their turn)
- Unlikely, but Hopefully: Option to turn tentacles on/off for each hair style (maybe choose between tendrils and braids)

I think there's a chance for each allied race based on another existing model to get some small attention in 9.0. I think a few skin and hair textures additions are possible, and things like draenei tail length will probably be inherited from the parent race. New geosets, like jewelry, hair styles, beards and so on, however, will probably only come in a future post-9.0 pass.

I can definitely see Void Elves getting those new hair colors, and honestly a beige or dual-color, or silver-blue, silver, blue, black or dark red all fit for Void Elves as well as High Elves. Those would all fit very nicely with the human skin tone combinations for sure!

[Aldo Hawk]

I remember many individuals saying you have your High Elf of the Horde in Blood Elves and your High Elf of the Alliance in Void Elves.

It's funny to see that some try to 'keep people accountable' (whatever that means) while they forget about this one, hahaha.

Regardless, the discusion of wether or not High elves should be a thing is dead. It's obvious that saying they shouldn't always was pretty weak, and now they are trying to damage control by tangential points that nobody cares about anymore.

[Raivo LV]

Congratulations to High-elf fans, we finally got them in a somewhat compromised option. Interesting how Blizzard caved and basically gave High-elfs to both factions and called it a day. I think it is safe to say that high-elfs won't ever happen as a standalone race any more. I am happy with this. I would just like to have some blonde haircolors for Velfs as well, so I can really go with my Helf fantasy on Alliance.

[scubi666stacy]

Congratulations to High-elf fans, we finally got them in a somewhat compromised option. Interesting how Blizzard caved and basically gave High-elfs to both factions and called it a day. I think it is safe to say that high-elfs won't ever happen as a standalone race any more. I am happy with this. I would just like to have some blonde haircolors for Velfs as well, so I can really go with my Helf fantasy on Alliance.

Actually, this is a compromise I can live with, when both splinter groups of Thalassian Elves can be found as one AR with different visuals on the Alliance, while the main group of these people stays where it is and gets more options. My mages will be getting blue eyes because Arcane, but will still be proud Blood Elves honoring the sacrifices of the 3rd War.

[matrix123mko]

Actually, this is a compromise I can live with, when both splinter groups of Thalassian Elves can be found as one AR with different visuals on the Alliance, while the main group of these people stays where it is and gets more options. My mages will be getting blue eyes because Arcane, but will still be proud Blood Elves honoring the sacrifices of the 3rd War.

Exactly. I can now play proud blue eyed blood elf who uses arcane against Alliance.

[Garfurion]

I can't get killed by a high elf paladin since they're horde. The ones with the arcane racial torrent you know? The ones that high elves would have the same racials as given they're the same race?

Actually there are High Elf Paladin NPC's (e.g. Rulen Lightsreap) that depending on your level and faction can probably get them to kill you but High Elf Paladins are very rare lorewise so it may not be easy . However High Elf Paladin's don't necessarily know how to use Arcane Torrent since it is an ability that is taught to Blood Elves (during the quest "Thirst Unending"), not innate to Thalasian Elves.

So even though Blood Elves and High Elves are both Thalasian Elves it doesn't mean they need to have the same racial abilities. Void Elves were Blood Elves yet they don't seem to use Arcane Torrent anymore. Arcane Torrent clearly is an arcane type of magic that Void Elves would have no problem using. It seems unlikely to me they wouldn't know how to do it.

High Elves according to the still canon Warcraft Encyclopedia never used mana tap: "Blood elves no longer truly consider themselves high elves, and they tend to have different priorities and behaviors than their high elf kindred. Unlike high elves, blood elves have decided that in the absence of the Sunwell, they will feed their hunger for arcane magic by draining that magic from alternative sources."

This is also made clear by Taela Everstride in the Allerian Stronghold: "I'm a HIGH elf, not a blood elf. Don't worry, I'm not going to suck all of the magic out of you.".

So if High Elves didn't have the Mana Tap racial ability during TBC it seems to indicate that High Elves and Blood Elves already at the time of TBC had different racials.

We see the same with other species. Stormwind Humans and Kul'Tiran are the same species but have different racials. The same with Gnomes and Mechagnomes, Orcs and Mag'har Orcs. Racial abilities don't determine your race, they are there to give extra flavor to your character and the faction they represent. Racials are not necesarily innate to a race. Lore-wise they can be learned abilities such as Stoneform and Mana Tap or cultural such as the Dwarf "Explore" racial or some of the Goblin racials. Wildhammer Dwarves are the same species/race as Bronzebeard Dwarves yet they wouldn't have an "Explore" racial ability since they are not interested in archeology, nor would they need to know how to use Stoneform which as far as I know lorewise is an ability rediscovered by the Explorers' League when they were researching their titan origins, something the Wildhammers have no interest in.

[HailToTheKing]

When Void Elves get blonde hair, and the BE hairstyles instead of the tentacles they call hair now, and new voice lines and racials, then we have High Elves.

[DeicideUH]

I cannot see how given it is high elf in origination and thus, would make more sense for BE's culturally. Keep in mind BE also has facial tattoos featured on their art box in TBC. Let's not suggest VE shoul get exclusive stuff that would clearly be BE in origination That is just asking for more than they already received.

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Alternatively, give both tattoos and make the VE ones unique from BE.
Make it weird looking so it enhances the void nature. Otherwise, it just looks like it wants to take from themes already shown for the HE/BE group simply because "alleria has it" while ignoring it being featured on the blood elf expansion box.

The runes from the blood elf expansion box are different from Alleria's warpaint, thought.
I think it would be cool if the styles were different for each race: blood elves with arcane-like runes, void elves with celtic-like patterns.
But I'm not picky, I'm just trying to predict things rather than say what is acceptable or not. I just want some warpaint, that's all.

[Starla]

I don't really have any skin in the game in terms of high elves, but I am a little disappointed to see the Horde losing the uniqueness of one of their most popular races. It was already a little iffy for me before with the exact same silhouette, but now skin colors as well? If they give them light colored hairs then it's basically over. Nightborne are more differentiated from Night Elves than Void Elves from Blood Elves.

You make an excellent point. I was against the alliance getting the Blood elf appearance, it was a huge mistake, but now they're doubling down on it. Here's hoping they won't make it worse by giving Void Elves all the Blood Elf hair options.

[Frenchvince]

You make an excellent point. I was against the alliance getting the Blood elf appearance, it was a huge mistake, but now they're doubling down on it. Here's hoping they won't make it worse by giving Void Elves all the Blood Elf hair options.

Blizzard has unveiled only the new skin and eye colors for the void elves.
It is obvious that they will also have new hairstyles, new hair colors, new jewelry, new beards ect ...
Their customization options still have a lot of surprises in store for us.
I would be surprised if they did not get "more natural" hair colors.

[Yarathir]

Blizzard has unveiled only the new skin and eye colors for the void elves.
It is obvious that they will also have new hairstyles, new hair colors, new jewelry, new beards ect ...
Their customization options still have a lot of surprises in store for us.
I would be surprised if they did not get "more natural" hair colors.

I just hope that Blizzard doesn't now just dump only High Elf stuff into Void Elves as if they're now nothing more than a gateway into Alliance High Elves.

I'm happy for you High Elf fans, but I like the void part of Void Elves, so if the customization options only aim to add more options to make them more High Elfy, that's gonna be some bullshit.

[Frenchvince]

I just hope that Blizzard doesn't now just dump only High Elf stuff into Void Elves as if they're now nothing more than a gateway into Alliance High Elves.

I'm happy for you High Elf fans, but I like the void part of Void Elves, so if the customization options only aim to add more options to make them more High Elfy, that's gonna be some bullshit.

Apparently it is in this direction that they will go as they did for the wildhammer for example.

[ravenmoon]

I'm not even one of these die-hard high elf fans, so it's not really something that I'm "getting" with the Shadowlands to begin with. I simply like to see Alliance and Horde things be where they belong. But yeah, thank you for telling me beforehand Warcraft franchise-owner Yarathir.

I actually agree with you here... whiles i've accepted nihgtborne and blood elves on the horde, it's weird that the alliance night elves don't have more nightborne like features for their highborne NPCs and in player customisation - like the skinnier body which fits a caster more, the arrogant pose and arcane runes.

Elves have always been more an alliance thing, it's okay for the horde to have some to help the numbers, but it's not like it's a horde look or a horde thing, which si why it's never quite sat right with me why playable high elves were so heavily opposed. - and it utterly perplexed me that too many horde die hards failed to see that Nightborne were just skinnier night elves - I mean they were in a night elf city, with night elf culture (the fact that it's the highborne and pre-sundering one doesn't make it any less so) but the blindness was astonishing. I often thought to myself, blizzard should have just used the normal night elf model, that would have made it clearer for them.(but I was glad to get a night elf subrace at last, and a different model I always felt the highbonre night elf should have available,

IF the night elves get the skinnier model option to them and the Nightborne get a bulkier normal nelf body option (with their own ears ofc), then it will finally mark the end of all the elf faction jealously and jealousy wars. We can go back to lore and behaviour of the different groups as the main talking point when considering elves.

Gone will be most of the high elf threads, and most of the highborne night elf threads.

[shade3891]

Next High-Void Elf Demon Hunters? ^^ yes please

[ravenmoon]

I just hope that Blizzard doesn't now just dump only High Elf stuff into Void Elves as if they're now nothing more than a gateway into Alliance High Elves.

I'm happy for you High Elf fans, but I like the void part of Void Elves, so if the customization options only aim to add more options to make them more High Elfy, that's gonna be some bullshit.

Thank you. So do I. I actually like the void part of Void elves too. I want more lore for it, more options for it, and i am happy for the high elf crowd I use to be a guest of that this option is available, it should have come from the outset along with void elves, but tbh, when it became very clear the horde was the dominant faction everyone switches too, the need to have horde exclusive elves evaporated. Furthermore, the high elves and night elves on the horde have had an identity destablising effect on the faction. It will seriously help that the colour scheme of blood elves and the body size of nightborne are available on the alliance, - it re-enforces that elves are an alliance thing, and more like temporary guests on the horde, which would strengthen the hordeness of the horde .