Official High Elf Discussion Megathread

[Alanar]

Nah mate, the point is that you don't have reading comprehension. That we have "a few high elf customizations available" doesn't meant blue eyed blood elves refer to themselves as High Elves within the universe. If you are unable to sepárate the aesthetics from the lore, this argument is pointless.

- - - Updated - - -



Again, I agree on the "should"-Modern High Elves should change their name to something else- not much more to say that beyond that, the point is that we have to deal with the reality as it is now, and in that manner is that I believe that "Thalassian" is a good way to refer to all the elves of thalassian origin, regardless of any political or biological differences -because it also includes void elves, and illidari elves- But yeah, overall it's an aside point to refer to elfdom of Quel'thalas as a whole.






I mean that's the point, that every prefix denotes origin; as I said, if High Elves dropped the "High", it would be replaced from the place/group they originate/come from now. Dalaran High Elves become "Dalarani Elves" like the Quel'danil HE's became "Highvale Elves", and the remaining HE's on the alliance could change their name to anything, more so if they band together politically.

- - - Updated - - -



And here lies your issue, you deem the discussion over, because to you is simply about aesthetics; you don't get to make a fuzz when I tell you that aesthetics is just one issue about High Elves; You keep making it just about the aesthetics to end the conversation "they both look like high elves now", great, what does that have to do with the lore about the elves that still call themselves High Elves and are either alliance or neutral?

Cause again, "lorewise" a Void Elf is also still a Void Elf -we don't even have solid confirmation that Void Elves have been recruiting High Elves in their ranks to specifically give them an alliance high Elf origin"; the whole point why "HE customization on VE's" has value on the first place for HE fans because we get aesthetics closer to the high elven groups already on the alliance, such as the highvale, silver covenant and others.

But as long as you keep pretending that aesthetics is the only thing that matters -and has mattered- in the high elf discussion for the last 1k pages, just reveals how much you miss the point of what people really want and are asking for.



Case in point. Not because you want the conversation to be over it will be over. Accept that and move on with your life.

Because after the aesthetics issue is settled, then we will be probably talking about what's next for the Alliance High Elves; change their name? merge with Void Elves? merge with humans and give us Half Elves?

Dude, the discussion about high elves will never be over, because people like to talk about high

The thing is.. I see the costumization options as a comprimise to suit both factions with the outcry from players(alliance mostly) to get their blood elf model.

Wether you want to continue the discussion talking about any future lore post shadowlandsbis up to you. I already told you its likely something they keep in the middle like they did for years. The future on that front will maybe get a few nods.. but cmon both factions have options to play a high elf now.. what else do we need? I thought the tag didnt bother you?

I mean merging has already happend.. void elves ARE high elves.Sure we dont have the holy blue post to confirm this , but cmon the new options prove this. Merging with humans or half elves is more like dream.on kinda thing imo, aka wishfull thinking.

Its more like others have said its that peoppe just WANT to talk about high elves. But wether they are alliance or horde .. ye thats done. They are both. I think prohelves should be happy they got something.. sure we might see more updates on that front, but high elves as a tag or seperate race just isnt happening imo.

They could prove me wrong, but for now its a win on both sides if you care about the blue eyes. There realy isnt much else to it.

Like I said lore will likely be updated in a future patch, but I could also see it happening like I said earlier that they will just keep it in the middle.

[Syegfryed]

You could make this same argument about Wildhammer Dwarves (who are hill dwarves) getting the current heritage armor which is focused on Ironforge Dwarves.

you could not because wildhammer are still the same race of irongforge, groups aside. And dwarf heritage is quite open to support wildhammer fantasy too

AKA, in the future we very well may get quests (and potentially new heritage armor) that explain these new customizations, but for the time being they've at least given us the ability to have the look.

thats seems rather pointless when they could aim their efforts in the customizations itself, and heritage to other races, the heritage we have already cover then fine. there is far worse ones like maghar being only thematic fit to warrior, this don't mean they will add 10 other heritages for each class to then.

[FlubberPuddy]

you could not because wildhammer are still the same race of irongforge, groups aside. And dwarf heritage is quite open to support wildhammer fantasy too

Being the same race doesn't mean you don't have different aesthetics. Wildhammer very clearly don't have the same aesthetics as Ironforge Dwarves, just like both of them don't have the same aesthetics as Dark Iron Dwarves, all 3 being the same race.

What's funny is you can keep telling yourself that as if it's fact but the developers themselves state otherwise. Which is the point of these increased customizations and the future opportunities to provide heritage like quests explaining those at a later time <- which again, the developers themselves have already stated.

Ironforge Dwarf here:

Very overtly different from Wildhammer Dwarf here:



and here



doesn't take a genius to see the obvious differences, from many official blizzard artworks to fan interpretations.

thats seems rather pointless when they could aim their efforts in the customizations itself, and heritage to other races, the heritage we have already cover then fine. there is far worse ones like maghar being only thematic fit to warrior, this don't mean they will add 10 other heritages for each class to then.

You can consider it pointless but Blizzard doesn't agree. As, and I'll repeat one last time -> they've already stated these customizations give them the opportunities to make those extra heritage quests to explain those customizations.

AKA, they'll get around to it when they can. Because obviously it would be utterly insane for someone to think they could do it all at once (release every single increased customization for every race and make heritage armors all for them on top of SL release). Danuser even stated, they wouldn't ever do the increased customizations if they had to make explanations for each new addition at the same time, the resources just wouldn't be there.

And if you consider maghar far worse off then that means you also realize 1 heritage armor doesn't fit every 'sub race' thematic. And your '10 heritage armors' is just hyperbole and strawman. No one said they have to come out with 10.

- - - Updated - - -

Trolls are another example of 1 same race that can vary wildly in armor aesthetic.



It's truly not any different in this video game as the various human cultures IRL can have drastically different aesthetics despite everyone being a human race.

Not sure why you vehemently seem to believe WoW needs to stay one note about it, especially when the game already provides diversity in aesthetic differentiation with its NPC races.

In the future the player races will get to have the same access, don't see how that's 'pointless' considering vanity is one of the major proponents of why people play this game.

[Vaedan]

you could not because wildhammer are still the same race of irongforge, groups aside. And dwarf heritage is quite open to support wildhammer fantasy too



thats seems rather pointless when they could aim their efforts in the customizations itself, and heritage to other races, the heritage we have already cover then fine. there is far worse ones like maghar being only thematic fit to warrior, this don't mean they will add 10 other heritages for each class to then.

Well, it was specificaly Wildhammer Dwarves who were mentioned by devs as the candidate for heritage armor, so they are most likely different to some degree. You know, even Dark Irons were considered just dwarves with black skin until they were added as separate allied race.

The chances are we will see a number of other heritages after each race gets one I guess.

[sammy18]

I don’t think a blue eyed blood elf on the horde would ever refer to themselves as a high elf. They would still call themselves a blood elf, in honor of the fallen that died protecting the sunwell. Any horde aligned blood elf, blue eyes or not would find the name high elf to be dated, or even dishonorable to their race. I think the blue eyed customizations are fantastic for blood elves, as it may reveal that the fel corruption is finally wearing off on the race (about time, it’s been forever since BC was released).

[Frenchvince]

Then explain to me why the void elf heritage armor is different to the blood elf heritage armor? According to your logic it should be the same (cause fashion shouldn't change) but with void coloring... alas it is not, and is actually quite different. Guess fashion of Quel'thalas does and can change when you become a void elf, as is apparent in their heritage armor. As such, I'd expect any jewellery void elves may get in the future to be different to the blood elves. I'm sure some of the jewellery may be similar, but things like the phoenix necklace should be restricted to blood elves only, as a phoenix would make no sense for void elves.

Blizzard said that the void elves are getting some high elf customizations, the high elves emblem is the phoenix.


I wouldn't be really surprised if Void Elves were given the same jewelry as Blood Elves later, of course with some modification, like blue or purple crystals instead of green.

[shoc]

Blizzard said that the void elves are getting some high elf customizations, the high elves emblem is the phoenix.


I wouldn't be really surprised if Void Elves were given the same jewelry as Blood Elves later, of course with some modification, like blue or purple crystals instead of green.

The choice of using red or blue colour isn't what differentiates High Elves from Blood Elves. The Sunwell and Silvermoon City had the red/gold color scheme from the time of the first High Elves, for most intents and purposes they were still Highborne Night Elves. Just waving a blue colored flag or wearing blue colored armor shouldn't differentiate a Blood Elf from a High Elf, which is kind of a pointless statement in the first place because Blood Elves and High Elves are the same group of people.

[Frenchvince]

The choice of using red or blue colour isn't what differentiates High Elves from Blood Elves. The Sunwell and Silvermoon City had the red/gold color scheme from the time of the first High Elves, for most intents and purposes they were still Highborne Night Elves. Just waving a blue colored flag or wearing blue colored armor shouldn't differentiate a Blood Elf from a High Elf, which is kind of a pointless statement in the first place because Blood Elves and High Elves are the same group of people.

The colors are there mainly to differentiate the factions H/A.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

The thing is.. I see the costumization options as a comprimise to suit both factions with the outcry from players(alliance mostly) to get their blood elf model.

Wether you want to continue the discussion talking about any future lore post shadowlandsbis up to you. I already told you its likely something they keep in the middle like they did for years. The future on that front will maybe get a few nods.. but cmon both factions have options to play a high elf now.. what else do we need? I thought the tag didnt bother you?

I mean merging has already happend.. void elves ARE high elves.Sure we dont have the holy blue post to confirm this , but cmon the new options prove this. Merging with humans or half elves is more like dream.on kinda thing imo, aka wishfull thinking.

Its more like others have said its that peoppe just WANT to talk about high elves. But wether they are alliance or horde .. ye thats done. They are both. I think prohelves should be happy they got something.. sure we might see more updates on that front, but high elves as a tag or seperate race just isnt happening imo.

They could prove me wrong, but for now its a win on both sides if you care about the blue eyes. There realy isnt much else to it.

Like I said lore will likely be updated in a future patch, but I could also see it happening like I said earlier that they will just keep it in the middle.

Here's the thing; whatever aesthetic advancements were made with this expanded customization, the conversation about the lore, and the future of the High Elves as a self-denominational group(s) will continue; not because be and ve get blue eyes people are going to stop talking about what will happen with the Silver Covenant in the future for example.

And it's totally cool if that doesn't interest you, but it's self evident the conversation on High Elves will continue, because that's true for every race.

[Varodoc]

Ren'dorei also have a phoenix as their symbol:

The void elf racial crest and banner resemble an inversion of the blood elves' Icon of Blood with the same avian imagery and overall shape of the crest.

The key difference is that the Sin'dorei phoenix points upward, representing their rise from the ashes. The Ren'dorei phoenix points downward, representing their fall from grace, as they stray further away from the shimmering light of the Sunwell.

[MyWholeLifeIsThunder]

The choice of using red or blue colour isn't what differentiates High Elves from Blood Elves. The Sunwell and Silvermoon City had the red/gold color scheme from the time of the first High Elves, for most intents and purposes they were still Highborne Night Elves. Just waving a blue colored flag or wearing blue colored armor shouldn't differentiate a Blood Elf from a High Elf, which is kind of a pointless statement in the first place because Blood Elves and High Elves are the same group of people.

I mean to a degree -for starters I wouldn't put forward anything from the Sunwell Manga forward as accurate representation when Sylvanas looked... like that, and chronicles itself put forward artwork with teal-roofed Silvermoon- but it's an obvious choice that Blood Elves lean aesthetically on summer/autumn palettes, and high elves on blue ones, to the point their sigils/banners follow that rule.

To pretend that in current time there aren't very noticeable aesthetic choices BE's and HE's made would be pretty darn disengenous -regardless if they made or not those aesthetic choices in times before the Third War-

That being said, HE assets are notorious recolors of BE ones that I wouldn't say they reflect anything but saving dev time -such as HE lodges just being NE ones- but it's clear that the intention that BE's and HE's favor different colors schemes in their presentation.

You just have to look at the game for that; every race has pretty much set aesthetic preferences.

[Syegfryed]

Being the same race doesn't mean you don't have different aesthetics.

and i didn't said they didn't, i said the heritage can acomodate the ildhammer fine, Heritage is something to be common and opened to also take every class

What's funny is you can keep telling yourself that as if it's fact but the developers themselves state otherwise. Which is the point of these increased customizations and the future opportunities to provide heritage like quests explaining those at a later time <- which again, the developers themselves have already stated.

the developers say a lot of thing and they don't do half of it, mind you, the dance studio still in the waiting room, im saying is highly unlikely that they start doing a new heritage armor just to pander different subraces or subgroups when we are eyars after the heritage system and normal races still don't have their own.

doesn't take a genius to see the obvious differences, from many official blizzard artworks to fan interpretations.

don't take a genius to see that wildhammer and ironforge are still dwarves and share aesthetics, dwarf heritage can be used by wildhammer fine, you may need to trade or hide some pieces but its not absurd.

You can consider it pointless but Blizzard doesn't agree. As, and I'll repeat one last time -> they've already stated these customizations give them the opportunities to make those extra heritage quests to explain those customizations.

as i repeat, i don't buy blizzard sweat talk until they do it.

And if you consider maghar far worse off then that means you also realize 1 heritage armor doesn't fit every 'sub race' thematic.

maghar heritage doesn't even suppot 8(?) of their own classes, let alone their different clans

And your '10 heritage armors' is just hyperbole and strawman. No one said they have to come out with 10.

not rly, is to show they don't need/have to create something to fit everything individually, one mor general should do fine.

Trolls are another example of 1 same race that can vary wildly in armor aesthetic.

they wildly differ and they are wildly similar, thats why one heritage armor with general troll aesthetic would do fine

In the future the player races will get to have the same access, don't see how that's 'pointless' considering vanity is one of the major proponents of why people play this game.

im simplistic, to me different heritage sound pointless, especially because you are talking about high elf heritage and not void elf heritage, this heritage would also be add to blood elves cause now everyone is high elf and we throw the simplicity away even more

that of course, is my opinion.

Well, it was specificaly Wildhammer Dwarves who were mentioned by devs as the candidate for heritage armor, so they are most likely different to some degree. You know, even Dark Irons were considered just dwarves with black skin until they were added as separate allied race.

The chances are we will see a number of other heritages after each race gets one I guess.

the only thing who could reinforce wildhammer were different was the rpg, and they throw that away

Look, before the other guy come in some stones, im not saying they will not do, im saying i don't believe blizzard in doing this shit, they often abandon their features when they see it will take some work.

Allied races? its probably we don't even get one this expansion, heritage? for other subgroups/subraces? they didn't even finish the heritage of the current races, im fully expect then to do some lame ass heritage and then finish this feature for good

[Wired-Lain]

Blizzard said that the void elves are getting some high elf customizations, the high elves emblem is the phoenix.


I wouldn't be really surprised if Void Elves were given the same jewelry as Blood Elves later, of course with some modification, like blue or purple crystals instead of green.

I've never been a fan of high elves using the phoenix honestly. Especially when its depicted before the third war. (Reforged, the movie etc) The phoenix was a very clear symbol for their people rising from the ashes, back from the brink of ruin, it fit the blood elf story perfectly. I get that its the same story, but I'd much prefer something different for them.

Void Elves however sure, they're an extension of tbc blood elf themes anyway.

[therealbowser]

How much you wanna bet they decided that if Void Elves get underwear options, everyone needs to?

They are probably working on an underwear customization slider.

lol, just lol.

I am amazed this is a thing.

[FlubberPuddy]

Look, before the other guy come in some stones, im not saying they will not do, im saying i don't believe blizzard in doing this shit, they often abandon their features when they see it will take some work.

Allied races? its probably we don't even get one this expansion, heritage? for other subgroups/subraces? they didn't even finish the heritage of the current races, im fully expect then to do some lame ass heritage and then finish this feature for good

If you're boiling it down to you not personally thinking they'll do so then that's completely different than some others who try to state it as some fact, so I can respect you there.

Either way, it becomes a "we'll have to wait and see" scenario, since literally that's all we can do. Yeah more OG races still need their heritage armors, but things are always getting added to the game. It'll eventually come because if we know one thing for a fact it's that Allied Races themselves were extremely popular concept/idea (might be poorly executed but that's a different topic).

And then when they unveiled increased customizations, it was even more popular. So much so that most of the playerbase were looking forward to new beta builds that included character customization rather than gameplay content.

Blizzard have acknowledged and come to realize the popularity of adding more vanity/customization. And typically when companies understand what 'sells' (aesthetics in this context) they prioritize more resources into it over time.

[Luck4]

Nearly 1100 pages and only five months before the 3rd Anniversary of this thread.

What a nice and turbulent journey!

[Syegfryed]

If you're boiling it down to you not personally thinking they'll do so then that's completely different than some others who try to state it as some fact, so I can respect you there.

its not rly "me personally thinking" is blizzard obtuse way of handling things and abandoning then half way trough or after an expansion, is the opposite of wishful thinking that they will do anything they said they will think about it doing, just like we stop getting allied races(despise all the begs for races who make way more sense to join) we will probably not even get a new one in shadowlands.

Dude, its probably that we will not even see more customizations after shadowlands is done, let alone they wasting their precious time doing other heritage armor

Either way, it becomes a "we'll have to wait and see" scenario,.

thats exactly what im saying, we will have to wait and see, but knowing their past record? i doubt they will do heritage for subgroups and subraces when they barely gave us the customizations for then, if so, expect some shit like color change, like they did with maghar.

[Ardenaso]

I've never been a fan of high elves using the phoenix honestly. Especially when its depicted before the third war. (Reforged, the movie etc) The phoenix was a very clear symbol for their people rising from the ashes, back from the brink of ruin, it fit the blood elf story perfectly. I get that its the same story, but I'd much prefer something different for them.

Void Elves however sure, they're an extension of tbc blood elf themes anyway.

but the Highborne crest was already prominent on the Aszhara days

[Frenchvince]

I've never been a fan of high elves using the phoenix honestly. Especially when its depicted before the third war. (Reforged, the movie etc) The phoenix was a very clear symbol for their people rising from the ashes, back from the brink of ruin, it fit the blood elf story perfectly. I get that its the same story, but I'd much prefer something different for them.

Void Elves however sure, they're an extension of tbc blood elf themes anyway.

The Blood Elves and the High Elves are all survivors, they are linked by the same story but they have chosen different paths.
This is probably why Blizzard chose the emblem of the phenix for both, or else, they are just lazy because they did not want to bother to make an HE emblem (the unicorn from Warcratf 2?) ... We'll never know.

[Vaedan]

The Blood Elves and the High Elves are all survivors, they are linked by the same story but they have chosen different paths.
This is probably why Blizzard chose the emblem of the phenix for both, or else, they are just lazy because they did not want to bother to make an HE emblem (the unicorn from Warcratf 2?) ... We'll never know.

I agree. Phoenix make sense for high elves too, considering they are also victims of Arthas' raid on Quel'thalas, but I have no doubts it was chosen as a simple recolor of blood elf symbol, which is the easiest way to do. All high elf assets are basically just recolors of blood elf or night elf assets - tents, banners, etc. The unicorn symbol is actually in game, mostly on wrecks of old elven ships (can be seen in Wetlands or Westfall). They could easily use the symbol of Silver Sun from Silver Covenant's tabard... which is the only high elf tabard we have now on the Alliance. I definitely would not mind getting blue version of Silvermoon's Tabard on the Alliance now.