What would you do if High Elf is a playable alliance race in the next xpac

[Stormdash]

Well, I for one wouldn't care if there was a race quantity imbalance, but I know most would. If people wanted to come at it by making an existing Alliance race playable for Horde, the only option that would make much practical sense would be human. A couple reasons --

1. Race population/demand. Bottom line is, human and blood elf are the two most popular races; make one cross-faction, make both.

2. Humans are, of the Alliance races, the one with the most independent interests outside their faction composition. I personally think the best opportunity for Horde-humans would be some ambitious group of Wastewander bandits, which are somewhat tribal anyway. Don't have to lock up the entire idea of Wastewanders in the "wild", because they are pretty relevant to the neutral goblin reps if I remember. But a group of them, bilgewater-esque, that ally with the Horde out of convenience, would be plausible. It would have to happen post-Garrosh, and even at that, lorewise, they would probably be an outcast group, certainly amongst the Orcs and Forsaken.

I think they could have done Worgen as a Horde race back at the writing stage, but there'd be no realistic way to asspull it with the events of the Forsaken invasion having happened.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

It would make sense in a way since HE's have been Alliance-affiliated throughout the entire game, plus given the whole 5.1 pre-Sunreaver incident where Varian was actually in negotiations to bring BE's into the Alliance fold before things went crazy in Dalaran. (A way to show some sort of progress without any actual progress being made! )

But yes, since Horde would have to be given something of equal value, I honestly don't know what would fit them from the Alliance races.

Humans? They already have Forsakened Humans. Some subset of Vrykul? Syndicates? Dunno.

Dwarves? Dark Iron is the only Dwarven faction that isn't staunchly Alliance-affiliated, but with Moira sitting in IF and all, not sure why they would swing to Horde.

Gnomes? Leper Gnomes are the only 'gnome splinter faction', and Horde already has Goblins to fulfil the 'short race' quota.

Night Elves? Highborne was the only real splinter faction, and they were re-integrated into Alliance in Cata.

Draenei? It's temping to say "Give Horde Eredar!" but Draenei already are the splinter faction of Eredar, not the reverse, so this doesn't really make sense. Although, given what the Orcs did to the Draenei on Draenosh during their ZOMG DEMON BLOOD RAGE RAAAARGHRTHGHGH! days of WC1/WC2, you could say they could either go with Draenei/Orc hybrids (ala Garona's retconned lineage) or just Broken. It would be a stretch either way, but at least it would use the other BC race for 'balance' sake.

Worgen? Don't really see it. Forsaken siege of Gilneas pretty much drove them directly into the Alliance, and the Worgen were supposedly immune to the plague or something, so you can't even say "Forsakened Worgen" or something silly. (Zombie Werewolves. lol)

Now, if you didn't care about trying to find an existing Alliance subfaction that would make sense in the Horde, the obvious Horde race would be Ogres, since they were the heavy hitting Horde units in WC2 (WC1? Dunno, only played WC2 and WC3)

Dwarf to me was always the most likely one.

Moira wants the throne for herself, she's shown that before in Shattering. If Muradin and/or Falstad made a move to keep her off the throne for good, I could see her defecting to the Horde.

[Justignoreme]

If this is how they'd get "Blood Elves onto the Alliance", I'd take it only to get my Blood Elves off the Horde, provided the race/class combinations are the same. That's about it though.

As for human Horde, ROFL at that idea. The way things are going down you will have a better chance of seeing an Orc in a Stormwind tabard than a Human in an ORgrimmar one.

[Immitis]

race change in a heartbeat. i play a death knight so i couldnt race change when my favorite race of all time pandaren came out so high elves being my 2nd favorite would be good enough

[xskarma]

Well High Elf would never EVER be able to be warlocks, so I'd just lament that fact. I'd love a nice looking new model race that actually works with gear (looking at you Worgen helm). If that race then also has some nice and fun racials I might actually leave behind my Human roots.

[Gothicshark]

If someday I play as Alliance It would be my choice for a race, no doubt, but it never gonna happen, based on the lore there are too few High Elves and the actual Blood Elves won't join the Alliance, in the third war they was betrayed by the lider of the Alliance in Lordaeron, Garitos and left behind to die, in an attempt to escape they was accused of treason and imprisoned in the Violet Hold, and now they was banished from Dalaran by Jaina Proudmoore...I believe the Alliance is no longer on the list of allies of the Blood Elfs.

According to lore books:

The Lands of Conflict RPG book (which takes place before World of Warcraft[10]), states that the high elven population is approximately 24,810 and the half-elven population is approximately 9,550, not including Theramore, Dalaran, and several less significant cities. Stormwind (pop. 200,000)[11][12] alone has the most, with a total of 20,000 high elves, and 8,000 half elves.

[Verdugo]

According to lore books:

RPG book is not lore book.

[Immitis]

RPG book is not lore book.

still the high elf population is still way more than the gnome and darkspear population. also most of the rpg stuff is retrofitted to current lore when they decide to use something from it (like the night elves being old allies with the pandaren that came from the rpg books)

[Combatbutler]

still the high elf population is still way more than the gnome and darkspear population. also most of the rpg stuff is retrofitted to current lore when they decide to use something from it (like the night elves being old allies with the pandaren that came from the rpg books)

High elves barely exist anymore, though that is no reason for them, not to become playable, just look at Pandaren the ones you play are a few dozen at best.

In consequence, there are so few high elves left on Azeroth today that they cannot be considered a race in anything other than the biological sense. High elves do not gather in any significant numbers, nor do they act as a coordinated whole. They are a very small group of individuals scattered all over the world. As such, they do not have common opinions or goals. Indeed, modern high elves cannot even truly be said to have a culture--only a past filled with glory and regret.[10]
As a people, the high elves are all but extinct: the remnants of the remnants of a fallen race.

[Sentinel]

After seeing my Belf since early Wrath, I don't think I can watch their animations any more. Only one for me, and he's already Horde.

[Solzan Nemesis]

I would rant and complain to Blizzard and on this forms of why this is a bad idea. Then I would be come a hypocrite and reroll my Night Elf Mage (Highbron) as a High Elf and rewrite her RP a bit.

[Justignoreme]

High elves barely exist anymore, though that is no reason for them, not to become playable, just look at Pandaren the ones you play are a few dozen at best.

That stuff is obsolete lore, written before Blizz created the Silver Covenant and High Elf lore. I'm not advocating a return of High Elves as a playable race, but, I think to use this lore which is clearly contradictory to the state the game is in currently, is wrong. There are a lot of High Elves out there, most are in the Alliance, one even patrols under the flag of Darnassus. Things have changed.

[Totle]

Personally, I'd like to see Horde get Ogres and Elves to become split like Pandaren - blood elves to Horde, high elves to Alliance

[Combatbutler]

That stuff is obsolete lore, written before Blizz created the Silver Covenant and High Elf lore. I'm not advocating a return of High Elves as a playable race, but, I think to use this lore which is clearly contradictory to the state the game is in currently, is wrong. There are a lot of High Elves out there, most are in the Alliance, one even patrols under the flag of Darnassus. Things have changed.

How does it contradict any lore you still rarely see them, they are no force to be reckoned with, and they are still splintered. It was written before blizzard created the Silver covenant, it was stated numerous times, that the high elves barely exist anymore, in canon books and by blizzard itself.

I mean you see quite a few highborne around, but they are very few.

[TheDangerZone]

Well, I for one wouldn't care if there was a race quantity imbalance, but I know most would. If people wanted to come at it by making an existing Alliance race playable for Horde, the only option that would make much practical sense would be human. A couple reasons --

1. Race population/demand. Bottom line is, human and blood elf are the two most popular races; make one cross-faction, make both.

2. Humans are, of the Alliance races, the one with the most independent interests outside their faction composition. I personally think the best opportunity for Horde-humans would be some ambitious group of Wastewander bandits, which are somewhat tribal anyway. Don't have to lock up the entire idea of Wastewanders in the "wild", because they are pretty relevant to the neutral goblin reps if I remember. But a group of them, bilgewater-esque, that ally with the Horde out of convenience, would be plausible. It would have to happen post-Garrosh, and even at that, lorewise, they would probably be an outcast group, certainly amongst the Orcs and Forsaken.

I think they could have done Worgen as a Horde race back at the writing stage, but there'd be no realistic way to asspull it with the events of the Forsaken invasion having happened.

I actually believe that Worgen crossing to horde could still be pulled. Just make Sylvanas offer a deal to the Worgen discontent with Crowley's leadership; offer them the chance to retake Gilneas with her help if they serve her, and the horde. I think there are worgen desperate enough to take such a deal.

Well High Elf would never EVER be able to be warlocks, so I'd just lament that fact. I'd love a nice looking new model race that actually works with gear (looking at you Worgen helm). If that race then also has some nice and fun racials I might actually leave behind my Human roots.

There's actually a high elf warlock in Dalaran: there's a difference between feeding of fel magic and manipulating it and I think it would be mighty interesting to explore with helf warlock, they would be like drug dealers with a strict policy of "don't try the product!"

I honestly don't see high elves as more judgmental of warlocks than humans, maybe even less so due to their not very religious culture. I think that the disgust of the fel magic comes because how Blood elves consumed it to satiate their addiction, it is just so unbecoming. I think they find it so reprehensible because they see it as a sign of weakness.

On topic, I would so want high elves to become playable; I could finally roll an alliance alt! But I disagree with the common idea that they are "good", or even better than their blood elf brethren. They just have different political beliefs and strengths. They have the strength of their convictions and are more ethically sound, but at the same time this makes them more prone to judgment of others. They are arrogant, and the fact that they have been able to compromise less of their ethics maybe has been made them even more. They are ruthless and resentful, specially of those who see as lesser to them. They are unwilling to compromise their morals, but at the same time, they try to justify their actions when ambiguous to fit their morals.

And are these things, and the juxtaposition with blood elves, which makes them fascinating from a narrative standpoint.

[Justignoreme]

How does it contradict any lore you still rarely see them, they are no force to be reckoned with, and they are still splintered. It was written before blizzard created the Silver covenant, it was stated numerous times, that the high elves barely exist anymore, in canon books and by blizzard itself.

I mean you see quite a few highborne around, but they are very few.

You don't need to be a "force to be reckoned with" to make up race, even by playable terms. The Darkspear were never a force to be reckoned with, they were an obscure tribe pushed to the edge of survival by the Gurubashi and nearly extinguished by the Naga. Just because Blizzard states things, doesn't mean they don't endlessly contradict the shit out of themselves; everyone should know that by now. High Elves were non-existant blah blah blah, oh wait nvm, here's a city full of them, and then some in Theramore. Ohai look at that they bring enough rangers to the Ghostlands that Vol'jin reaches out to them to help curb the Amani threat. Hey there are High Elves in Stonetalon under a Darnassus banner o.O etc. etc.

The crap written in Night of the Dragon is being contradicted by things in game.

[TheDangerZone]

Personally, I'd like to see Horde get Ogres and Elves to become split like Pandaren - blood elves to Horde, high elves to Alliance

Most sensible approach to the idea.

[Hyde]

Most sensible approach to the idea.

and Naga as the new neutral race, just to make up for another silhouette of a new playable race besides ogres.

[TheDangerZone]

and Naga as the new neutral race, just to make up for another silhouette of a new playable race besides ogres.

indeed, but maybe one expansion later.

[Combatbutler]

You don't need to be a "force to be reckoned with" to make up race, even by playable terms. The Darkspear were never a force to be reckoned with, they were an obscure tribe pushed to the edge of survival by the Gurubashi and nearly extinguished by the Naga. Just because Blizzard states things, doesn't mean they don't endlessly contradict the shit out of themselves; everyone should know that by now. High Elves were non-existant blah blah blah, oh wait nvm, here's a city full of them, and then some in Theramore. Ohai look at that they bring enough rangers to the Ghostlands that Vol'jin reaches out to them to help curb the Amani threat. Hey there are High Elves in Stonetalon under a Darnassus banner o.O etc. etc.

The crap written in Night of the Dragon is being contradicted by things in game.

It contradicts absolutely nothing, I guess there are a few thousand high elves left, that does not make them any less endangered. Since a few thousand people is as good as nothing.