So what are the blood elves for now that they have been neutered?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Very few Horde races haven't been treated badly by the nu-lore.

• Orc players are constantly hamulated by being promised that the Orcish race is going to change their ways, only to backslide into being the warmongering aggressors, and yet never really getting to win.

• Darkspear Troll players had their one notable NPC killed off and then were supplanted by the Zandalari, who have been soaking up all of the troll attention. Only lore nerds know who Rokhan is.

• Forsaken players had their edgy leader replaced by an Alliance puppet.

• Huojin Pandaren were forgotten after the Wandering Isle intro zone.

• Every allied race besides the Zandalari pretty much ceased to exist after their recruitment scenario, and judging by how the Huojin Pandaren have been treated, are unlikely to get anything more.

The only Horde races that have come out okay are the Tauren and the Goblins.

• Tauren are the only Horde race that don't look like bumbling fools, haven't had their lore trampled, and still have some interesting NPCs. They just haven't gotten focus since MoP.

• Goblins likewise haven't been ruined and still have fun characters. Just no focus since MoP.

Blood Elves being neutered is sad but it could be worse. They still have Lor'themar, Aethas, and Rommath. They haven't gotten any focus since MoP, but pretty much every Horde race besides Orcs, Forsaken, and Zandalari haven't gotten focus since MoP.

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Everything in the game has been neutered, as far as playable races are concerned anyway. These days, you are either an acolyte of Anduinism (including Thrall the sockpuppet) or a lunatic moron. There can be no middle point, no nuances, since Azeroth is a Morally Grey™ world.

Alliance races have overall fared better than Horde. The only blue races that has been treated badly are the Night Elves, with them getting genocided and now being told that they have to forgive and forget, and the Tushui Pandaren who have been forgotten. Everyone else hasn't been neutered; they just haven't gotten any focus (Gilneas and Gnomergan still haven't been retaken, Blizzard doesn't know what to do with the Dwarves).

[Shadowtwili]

Don't forget that the Draenei were apparently so badly beaten after the Argus campaign that they couldn't even move to assist their night elven allies.

[GreenJesus]

Don't forget that the Draenei were apparently so badly beaten after the Argus campaign that they couldn't even move to assist their night elven allies.

I mean, the draenai were basically the only race that blizzard decided to allow to be on the Argus campaign. Besides a handful of named NPC'S, the draenai were the only race that took on the legions homeworld. I don't remember seeing any orcs. Man it would have been cool if the Argus campaign was a team of Azeroth races that were fucked by the legion. There wasn't really an orc representative there that did anything. Really disappointing to not have Thrall or something there take down a pitlord.

[Kithelle]

The weird part to me was them adding the Nightborne to the Horde after the fact. Arcane masters that split away from the Night Elves ages ago was already the schtick of the Blood Elves. The Nightborne just feel like better Blood Elves at the end of the day.

Mana addicts that capture beings of pure light to siphon of its power to fuel their addiction and grant them magic was at least a unique trait. It made them morally questionable, and their desperation could be a fun storytelling hook. Hell, add in the betrayal of their monarch, and you have a people that are struggling, really struggling at almost every avenue of their existence.

Now, they're just... the pretty ones in the Horde. It's bland. They're the tea biscuits of WoW races. Fine, I guess. But not exciting and pretty drab overall.

Well...you may find it boring but it was a draw for a lot of people, plenty of people who wanted to be edgy but pretty

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snip.

You can say those kind of things about almost every playable race in the game, the devs just don't do a good job on racial lore. They focus on a few while many get burned or flat out forgotten.

[Super Dickmann]

I mean, the draenai were basically the only race that blizzard decided to allow to be on the Argus campaign. Besides a handful of named NPC'S, the draenai were the only race that took on the legions homeworld. I don't remember seeing any orcs. Man it would have been cool if the Argus campaign was a team of Azeroth races that were fucked by the legion. There wasn't really an orc representative there that did anything. Really disappointing to not have Thrall or something there take down a pitlord.

Yeah, Legion suffered enormously from how the orcs, one of the two main races, had zero involvement with either the main traitor to their people, Gul'dan, or the guy who corrupted them in the first place in KJ. Nevermind fighting fodder mobs, if they wanted Sadfang's story to resonate have him encounter Gul'dan, the guy who was behind his chopping down of children.

[Shadowtwili]

Honestly, they messed up both Argus and the Army of the Light.

First off, Argus should've been the ultimate end goal of the entire Warcraft franchise, secondly the Army of the Light should've been an actual army of all the (alien) races led by the Naaru to take the fight to the Legion, with the sky filled with dragons etc as seen in Velen (or was it Anduin's?) vision.

Alas, we got Draenei that were more draenei.

[united]

There's no cool slightly edgy feel to them anymore, they feel just like high elves but with green or yellow eyes + blue roofs on their houses instead of red roofs. No addiction to manage, no manaweed whatever it was called, i don't remember but ghostlands should be fairly clean of scourge by this point, or maybe it isn't. No paladins doing their own unique thing by draining naaru.

You said it all yourself. They're redeemed now and have rebuilt nearly everything they lost in a better way.

[jellmoo]

Well...you may find it boring but it was a draw for a lot of people, plenty of people who wanted to be edgy but pretty

But that's just it. They used to be edgy and pretty. Now they're just pretty. The story undid pretty much everything that made Blood Elves unique and different. Being addicted to mana to the point that they enslave a being of pure Light to leech off of it whilst they deal with the trauma of what happened to their homeland was one hell of a hook.

Now? They're what? The level headed race in the Horde? What else?

If all you want to be is on the Horde side and pretty, sure, they're an option. But the Nightborne are also there now too, and they've taken over the edgy, mana addicted magic expert niche that Blood Elves used to have. Which is a shame, because there was a ton of potential in making the Blood Elf story more intricate, darker and more desperate. Instead we have the Horde version of Humans. Woo.

[Feanoro]

According to the devs, they're for all the Asian players' girlfriends who didn't want to play an ugly monster race.

Their story ended in the Sunwell raid, and Blizz hasn't had a clue what to do with them since.

[Zuben]

But that's just it. They used to be edgy and pretty. Now they're just pretty. The story undid pretty much everything that made Blood Elves unique and different. Being addicted to mana to the point that they enslave a being of pure Light to leech off of it whilst they deal with the trauma of what happened to their homeland was one hell of a hook.

Now? They're what? The level headed race in the Horde? What else?

If all you want to be is on the Horde side and pretty, sure, they're an option. But the Nightborne are also there now too, and they've taken over the edgy, mana addicted magic expert niche that Blood Elves used to have. Which is a shame, because there was a ton of potential in making the Blood Elf story more intricate, darker and more desperate. Instead we have the Horde version of Humans. Woo.

Well, the nightborne don't really have those things anymore either. Their new magic tree cured them of their addiction and they're rid of the Legion and those who wished to collude with it. What they do seem to be doing lately is taking over as the magic experts, yes. I wrote about their assets being used by the Reliquary in another thread and I doubt that will change as long as blood elven assets are old-looking shit from 2007.

Tbh, if we look at the best-known reps from both, blood elves do seem like a race of action, while the nightborne are more scholarly. Oculeth is a telemancy expert and comes off as a nerd, honestly. Valtrois seems to be some sort of researcher too, if more capable for combat than Oculeth. Thalyssra is of course an all-around badass. On the sin'dorei side we have Lor'themar, who used to be more a politician, but at some point started to take lead on campaigns (let's ignore his latest endeavors are about writing poetry). Then there are Rommath and Halduron, who are all about action. If there's one player request I would love Blizzard acted on it would be raising Rommath to prominence. Maybe bring Astalor along with him.

Blood elves have also, in-lore at least, lost their allure for frivolities, which is unlike we've seen in Suramar. It was noted in Before The Storm, when Lor'themar stated why their contribution to the victory celebration over the Legion would be short and to the point. I think if blood elves were given fresh assets they could reclaim their place from the nightborne. They'd be the battle mages of the Horde, while nightborne were more like the Kirin Tor, researchers of magic.

EDIT: It dawned on me that with this I'm contradicting my earlier posts in this thread. New ideas do that. No, it's the nightborne who are the Toreador of Warcraft elves.

[Kithelle]

But that's just it. They used to be edgy and pretty. Now they're just pretty. The story undid pretty much everything that made Blood Elves unique and different. Being addicted to mana to the point that they enslave a being of pure Light to leech off of it whilst they deal with the trauma of what happened to their homeland was one hell of a hook.

Now? They're what? The level headed race in the Horde? What else?

If all you want to be is on the Horde side and pretty, sure, they're an option. But the Nightborne are also there now too, and they've taken over the edgy, mana addicted magic expert niche that Blood Elves used to have. Which is a shame, because there was a ton of potential in making the Blood Elf story more intricate, darker and more desperate. Instead we have the Horde version of Humans. Woo.

Well being pretty is still important, more important than being edgy to some people. I guess a LOT of people really enjoy staring at the ass of their character while they play lol

[jellmoo]

Well being pretty is still important, more important than being edgy to some people. I guess a LOT of people really enjoy staring at the ass of their character while they play lol

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If that's what players want, then more power to them and I'm honestly happy that they enjoy it.

For me though, I just feel like Blood Elves have lost what made them interesting. Magic addicts that will do anything for a fix, including teaming up with those that had been their enemies just to survive in the world, and developing a far more sinister and menacing undertone than they previously had was a lot more narratively interesting in my opinion. But that is absolutely just my opinion. Which is a little weird to be honest, because I am kinda sick of 'dark and edgy' in WoW.

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Well, the nightborne don't really have those things anymore either. Their new magic tree cured them of their addiction and they're rid of the Legion and those who wished to collude with it. What they do seem to be doing lately is taking over as the magic experts, yes. I wrote about their assets being used by the Reliquary in another thread and I doubt that will change as long as blood elven assets are old-looking shit from 2007.

Tbh, if we look at the best-known reps from both, blood elves do seem like a race of action, while the nightborne are more scholarly. Oculeth is a telemancy expert and comes off as a nerd, honestly. Valtrois seems to be some sort of researcher too, if more capable for combat than Oculeth. Thalyssra is of course an all-around badass. On the sin'dorei side we have Lor'themar, who used to be more a politician, but at some point started to take lead on campaigns (let's ignore his latest endeavors are about writing poetry). Then there are Rommath and Halduron, who are all about action. If there's one player request I would love Blizzard acted on it would be raising Rommath to prominence. Maybe bring Astalor along with him.

Blood elves have also, in-lore at least, lost their allure for frivolities, which is unlike we've seen in Suramar. It was noted in Before The Storm, when Lor'themar stated why their contribution to the victory celebration over the Legion would be short and to the point. I think if blood elves were given fresh assets they could reclaim their place from the nightborne. They'd be the battle mages of the Horde, while nightborne were more like the Kirin Tor, researchers of magic.

EDIT: It dawned on me that with this I'm contradicting my earlier posts in this thread. New ideas do that. No, it's the nightborne who are the Toreador of Warcraft elves.

Huh, I didn't realize that they were completely cured of their mana addiction, to be honest. For whatever reason I thought it was a case of it being managed, rather than outright cured. Well, you learn something new every day I guess.

I do kinda dig the point about the Blood Elves being more 'action oriented' as that would be a great hook for them. I don't really feel that it's well represented in game though, outside of a handful of NPCs. The Blood Elves tend to get really overshadowed when it comes to this sort of thing by the other other Horde races, which is a shame. It would be fun to see some of it expanded upon, with a closer look at Blood Elf society in the game world now. Something that shows that sure, maybe the Nightborne are the better mages when it comes to the esoteric or the mysterious, but when you want to get shit done, when you want to decimate the enemy, the Blood Elves are the go to masters of the arcane. So much of their recent history has been borne out of necessity. Reshaping their magical idenity to that would be a fun story to tell.

[Maljinwo]

Blood Elves are High Elves that decided to honor their fallen brethren with a name change

[dope_danny]

Isn't the whole actual point of blood elves just so in asians regions the game wouldnt be 99% alliance by giving the horde a "beautiful race" in response to a poll from back in the day?

I mean unless they become the bowl of fruit race that seems they are still fulfilling the only reason they were ever added as not-forsaken to begin with.

[Ealyssa]

There's no cool slightly edgy feel to them anymore

Yeah, they became adults. It happens.

[Zuben]

Huh, I didn't realize that they were completely cured of their mana addiction, to be honest. For whatever reason I thought it was a case of it being managed, rather than outright cured. Well, you learn something new every day I guess.

I do kinda dig the point about the Blood Elves being more 'action oriented' as that would be a great hook for them. I don't really feel that it's well represented in game though, outside of a handful of NPCs. The Blood Elves tend to get really overshadowed when it comes to this sort of thing by the other other Horde races, which is a shame. It would be fun to see some of it expanded upon, with a closer look at Blood Elf society in the game world now. Something that shows that sure, maybe the Nightborne are the better mages when it comes to the esoteric or the mysterious, but when you want to get shit done, when you want to decimate the enemy, the Blood Elves are the go to masters of the arcane. So much of their recent history has been borne out of necessity. Reshaping their magical idenity to that would be a fun story to tell.

Ironically, that's the original distinction between high elves and humans back when they taught humans magic after the Troll Wars. Elves excelled at subtle high arcane, but humans quickly turned out to be masters at the practical, destructive ways.

To bring home how action-oriented blood elves are, another thing they should emphasize (and pretty much have) are the blood knights. I forgot to include Liadrin among the more well-known sin'dorei, but she's the best example of action-oriented elves. From how she appeared in Legion and BFA it looks like she's over her Light-zealotry too. While they're no longer the naaru-sucking blood-aura paladins of TBC they can still be a force to be reckoned with.

[Ielenia]

Which is still hilarious to me, since neither Jaina, Dalaran, Sunreavers or Silver Covenant were members of either faction at that point and still the Alliance got blamed for it by the Quel'thalas blood elves.

"Hmm, the Sunreavers (pro-Horde, part of Dalaran, neutral) got purged from Dalaran (neutral), by Jaina (pro-Alliance, one of the leaders of Dalaran, neutral), with assistance of the Silver Covenant (pro-Alliance, part of Dalaran, thus neutral). Ofcourse the Alliance is too blame!".

Like... what?

Well, think about it this way: would accept to become roommate with a guy who is friends with and regularly invites over another person who hates your brother's guts (and yours, by proxy) and has beaten him up badly just last week?

[jellmoo]

Ironically, that's the original distinction between high elves and humans back when they taught humans magic after the Troll Wars. Elves excelled at subtle high arcane, but humans quickly turned out to be masters at the practical, destructive ways.

To bring home how action-oriented blood elves are, another thing they should emphasize (and pretty much have) are the blood knights. I forgot to include Liadrin among the more well-known sin'dorei, but she's the best example of action-oriented elves. From how she appeared in Legion and BFA it looks like she's over her Light-zealotry too. While they're no longer the naaru-sucking blood-aura paladins of TBC they can still be a force to be reckoned with.

My issue with the Blood Knights is that post BC, they did very, very little to differentiate them from Paladins. It's a little too 'wink wink, nudge nudge' how they are viewed as different but essentially the same. They may not be sucking their holy juice (that phrase did not work well...) out of captive being of pure Light anymore, but it would still be a welcome addition to the story for them to showcase that the Blood Knights are essentially different.

We don't gain a super great look at how the order is perceived within their own culture or within the Horde as a whole. Or even better, how Alliance forces on the other side of the battlefield might see them. They're an interesting group that gets very little attention in the game, sadly.

[Khaza-R]

I rather miss the darker Blood Elves. They at least made sense on the Horde back then. Being driven to do morally questionable things and being outcasted because of it and later finding refuge with the Horde races. Now they kind of just feel awkward on the Horde.

But then again the Horde as a whole since BfA feels spiritless and empty.

[Soon-TM]

But then again the Horde as a whole since BfA feels spiritless and empty.

Well, as of BfA Anduinism has taken over the entirety of the Horde (with just one or two exceptions that will surely be cut down to size sooner than later), exactly like it had swallowed all of the Alliance not too long ago.